Hello Everyone!

My name is Miguel and I've been reading the TT forums for just over a month and have even participated in a couple of threads recently. So I thought I'd come here and introduce my self.

I've had T since the start of November. About three months prior to this I was getting the occasional ringing in the ears that would go away after seconds. But I noticed they started to happen more often than normal. Sometimes two to three times a day every other day or every 3 days. Also, I sometimes could hear my heart beating in my left ear from time to time whenever my heart rate would go up from physical activity. But I didn't think much of it as this would all go away when it happened. One afternoon I got one of those high pitch ringings in my left ear that didn't go away after seconds or minutes. It lasted several hours and eventually went away. Then around the 1st of November I got the same high pitch ringing in the same left ear except this time it didn't go away. I made no big deal out of it because I thought it would eventually disappear. But after almost 3 months it's still there. It didn't really hit me until after about a week that it may be permanent. That drove me to google "rining in the ears" and we all know how that goes. I went through the anxiety and panic attacks as well as the mandatory depression stage that goes along with it. This obviously spiked my T to a more pronnounced level, which made getting sleep very hard. So before you knew it, I was stuck in that loop everyone goes through in the beginning. First month was hell with all sorts of emotions of doubt and hope. Hyperacusis also kicked in, but I was able to manage that rather quickly. I also had a short vertigo situation when I was sleeping and woke up in the morning with the room spinning around. It lasted seconds and then it stopped when I got out of bed all freaked out. I did go to my GP who, after looking at my ears, told me I had no infection or wax build up. I hadn't been to the doctor in ages, so they did a full check up on me. Blood work came back with me having high D vitamin deficiency and good cholestorl being low. Diet, excercise, D3 supplement and nasal spray were prescribed and audiogram was scheduled. After that first month I started to cope better but what still worried me was the fact that I was still getting those temporary ringings on both ears pretty often, still two to three times a day that had me wondering if eventually one of them would stick around like my main T the month prior. This made me very uneasy. I was also experiencing other bizarre sounds in my hearing. Lightsaber sounds as well as some frequency resonance on ambient, tv and radio sound. Fullness of the ear and slight dizzyness too.

Eventually, I ended up going to an ENT outside my insurance network because I didn't want to wait for the referral. Between the referral approval and scheduling the appointment, it would've taken a long time to see the specialist and I didn't want to wait that long. The ENT I went to had hearing loss her self, so she looked concerned with my symptoms. She thought I may have menier's desease due to the vertigo moment I experienced that one time. Anti-biotics and prednisone were prescribed for a couple of weeks as well as a request for audiogram which was already scheduled by my GP. The medicine didn't do much for me. In fact, it made me feel slightly worse during the period I took it. After the medication stopped I felt much better, but I think it was because I stopped taking the medicine.

When I went to the audiologist, the results of the audiogram came back normal. No hearing loss. I also went back to my GP for a follow up and to go over the results of the audiogram. But again, he didn't find anything wrong with me and referred me to the ENT. I informed him about my previous ENT visit. I also let him know that a friend of mine at work had ringing in the ears for 8 months before she started taking mutli-vitamins that made her T go away after a month. So I asked if it would be ok for me to take them, he said it wouldn't hurt and suggested Lipoflavonoid. I've been taking it for about a month and a half and while it hasn't gotten rid off my T, the other momentary ringings that I was getting in a consistent basis have now diminished to once every week. It's been over a week since the last time I noticed one of those. My T is very quiet during the morning and creeps up as the day goes. It's at it's loudest at night before bed, but I would assume not as loud as some of you have it because I can still sleep through it.

Just as I was adapting quite well to T, a couple days ago I was producing music in my computer and had a late and long night session with my headphones on. I tried not to turn the volume up too loud, but I think I might have gone a bit further than my ears would have liked because right after I was done, a new fluctating low frequency T was now present. It's very low and it's like a very slow morse coding kind of pattern. I thought it may be pulsatile T, but it doesn't go in sync with my heart beat. It interacts with other low frequency sounds around me. Fridge and air conditioning sounds get amplified and it's now interfering with my sleep. So now I have to get used to this again. On the plus side, it has taken away my attention from my high freq. T and I don't notice it as much. It still fluctuates through out the day, but it doesn't bother me as much. The new low freq T on the other hand will provably take some getting used to. I think I'm done with my headphones.

During this whole ordeal, I've come across multiple people who have gone through T. All the ones I talked were able to rid them selves off the T. As I mentioned already, a co-worker had it for 8 months before she started taking multi-vitamins. After a month it was gone for her. I work at a hotel. One of our guests told me that mine would go away eventually as he had it too and it went away for him. Didn't tell me how long he had it for. One of the singers I produce music for said he also had it. Started taking B12 and Gaba and went away in two months. My uncle had it too. His lasted 5 years though.

Anyways, sorry for the long post. I hope everyone is coping well.

Miguel

 

It is always nice to hear from people who have a positive attitude towards their futur! I also notice that my tinnitus is the quietest in the morning and louder in the evening on whenever Im tired or stressed. It is a strande phenomenon but rather common I think. Can you explain to me what is Gaba?

 

Hi Stina, I hope you are well!! Here's a fact sheet on GABA from the ATA. I have been looking into lately myself. Not sure what to make of it yet. The theory, especially as it applies to idiopathic T sounds solid.

http://www.ata.org/sites/ata.org/files/pdf/Gabapentin_FACT_SHEET.pdf

Peace,

Jeff

 

Welcome Miguel!! Glad you've joined the collective conversation here on TT!!! Your story is all too familiar! So sorry for what you've been thru bro!! You have a lot of friends here on TT that can TOTALLY relate! That's the beauty of this forum, you can hang and chat with people who "get it"!!

Keep up the positive attitude and stay connected, lots of fantastic people and information on TT!!

Best,

Jeff

 

@Stina, @Jeff M. , thanks for the welcome. Stina, I don't know what GABA is. Jeff, thanks for the link. I'll do some research as soon as I get some free time.

By the way, I'm 37 years young and live in Escondido, CA. So I'm pretty close to ya Jeff. I work at the Four Seasons in Carlsbad. Cheers everyone!!

 

Hey Miguel!

Right on, local T dude!! The Four Seasons is sweet!! I will let you guys know what I find out about GABA as well! Have a great weekend!!