Hello from MN and a Long-Time Tinnitus Sufferer

So I finally decided to sign up on this forum. Okay this is going to be long, I'm going to dump this all into one post.

Let's see, to start off I THINK my tinnitus started when I was a teenager. I remember getting a bad ear infection that spread to both my ears. I was put on antibiotics and told it should clear up in 3 days or so... but it didn't. I told my parents this but they wanted me to finish the medicine first to be sure. So for two long weeks, I kept taking the medication which I think kept the infection at bay somewhat but it didn't really improve. I had a horrible ringing in my ears the entire time, my ears were clogged, it was painful and I could barely hear anything. Finally, they took me back to see the doctor and he prescribed some stronger medication. After a couple days, my ears cleared up, but the ringing stayed. It dulled a bit, but stayed it.


Years went by and I got used to it... so used to it, I never really thought about it. I thought having a ringing in the ears all the time was normal. until recently, when I saw someone on tumblr talking about it... I began asking around to my family and friends to ask if they always had a ringing in their ears and the generic response was, "If it's quiet, I can usually hear a slight ringing. So it's normal"... but... the thing is, what I have isn't what they have. It doesn't matter if I'm in a quiet room, or watching TV... I can hear the ringing all the time. Even when I watch TV, I can hear it over the TV sometimes, but as I said, I got so used to it, it didn't bother me.

I also sleep with a fan on (not because of tinnitus but just cause I like to have a noise there), but again, I can hear the ringing over the fan usually, but it's not really troublesome.

I feel like a lot of people don't really understand tinnitus unless they experience it. The responses I get are usually, "Oh I get that sometimes too. It's no big deal" or "Just ignore it" or "Yeah sleep with a fan on!"... and just very unhelpful stuff. Or they make jokes about it. I almost wish I could make them experience it for a while to make them realize it's not just a ringing that goes away and that it's quite loud at times.



I have noticed a few things

1. It gets worse when I lay down. No idea why
2. Clearing out my sinuses will help sometimes. Today I had a sharp ringing in my right ear, so I took some nasal spray, and it helped it calm down a bit.
3. If I shake my head fast, it gets louder for a bit
4. Sometimes cleaning out my ear will also help
5. It's noticeably worse in my right ear than my left.
6. Wearing ear phones will almost always make it worse for a bit


I also suffer from TMJ, and I think that can effect it sometimes but I have muscle relaxers for that. I never really noticed much of a difference with or without them.



So yeah, there's my story. Sorry it's so huge XD It's nice to meet people with the same problem so I won't be dismissed. I'll be around to talk a bit, and hopefully we can come up with a cure together. ^_^

 

Hi, I just joined today too. A lot of the stuff you posted about sounds really similar to what people talk about here, so I think you'll find quite a bit of understanding and no one discounting your symptoms. It's kind of awful to live with T, though we find ways to deal with it. I've seen both sides—had pretty good hearing the first 35 years of my life—but now that I have pretty severe T as of three months ago and getting worse every day, I'm not happy at all; and, like you, am looking for help and answers here. It's a big community, so I'm hoping you'll get some savvy responses.

 

Welcome. You could have those close to you experience some of what you experience . There are many free frequency phone apps that allow you to create sounds at different Hz levels. My tinnitus rings at around 7500 Hz. Pick the frequency closest to yours, put on headphones to adjust the volume nearest the perceived volume of your tinnitus and give the headphones to others for a listen reminding them that it's like that for you 24/7.....