I was sitting on the couch watching TV on Wednesday, March 28 when I started getting ringing in my ears. I haven't had a good night of sleep ever since. I'm probably going to remember that date the rest of my life.
My allergies were pretty bad at the time, so I assumed it was something related to that. I also had pressure and movement/fluid in my ears. I was also under a lot of stress at work. I saw my primary care provider and my allergist, but they could offer no solution other than antihistamines.
Desperate, I made an appointment with the first ENT I could find. The audiologist gave me a hearing test and said my hearing was fine. When the doctor found out I had nasal polyps, he became real interested in those even though he said they weren't the cause. I had to steer him back to the main reason I came, the ringing in my ears. He flat out said there was nothing he could do.
I got a referral from my allergist and saw a second ENT a few weeks later. Another hearing test, and the audiologist said my hearing "was great". However, the doctor said the tinnitus could still be due to age-related high frequency hearing loss (mine seems to drop off somewhere above 12kHz, don't know how typical that is for age 50). We even discussed me potentially having eustachian tube dysfunction, but still he said there was nothing he could do.
When this started, I was in a panic. I was not sleeping at all, and I was desperately afraid that it would be permanent. I had difficulty concentrating at work. I was not eating enough and rapidly dropped 15 lbs. I even started developing a nervous twitch in my leg.
Over a few weeks, I learned to get some sleep with white noise going. The ceiling fan seems to work best for me. Still I get maybe 3-4 hours of actual sleep, wake up, then maybe 1-2 hours of very light sleep. I don't particularly feel like doing any of the activities I did before this happened. I'm just in a cycle of eat, work, trying to sleep, then try to get through the next day.
I've been seeing a therapist, and that has helped a little bit. Still, I'm now three months in and starting to realize this is probably permanent. That has sent me into a new funk. My doctor started me on anti-depressants, but we'll see how that goes.
I still want to think this is only temporary with all the issues I am having - allergies, ear pressure, stress, etc. However, I am probably deluding myself. The audiologist may have said my hearing was "fine" or "great", but that may have been in the context of not needing a hearing aid. The reality that this is probably here to stay is making it very hard for me to move forward.
My allergies were pretty bad at the time, so I assumed it was something related to that. I also had pressure and movement/fluid in my ears. I was also under a lot of stress at work. I saw my primary care provider and my allergist, but they could offer no solution other than antihistamines.
Desperate, I made an appointment with the first ENT I could find. The audiologist gave me a hearing test and said my hearing was fine. When the doctor found out I had nasal polyps, he became real interested in those even though he said they weren't the cause. I had to steer him back to the main reason I came, the ringing in my ears. He flat out said there was nothing he could do.
I got a referral from my allergist and saw a second ENT a few weeks later. Another hearing test, and the audiologist said my hearing "was great". However, the doctor said the tinnitus could still be due to age-related high frequency hearing loss (mine seems to drop off somewhere above 12kHz, don't know how typical that is for age 50). We even discussed me potentially having eustachian tube dysfunction, but still he said there was nothing he could do.
When this started, I was in a panic. I was not sleeping at all, and I was desperately afraid that it would be permanent. I had difficulty concentrating at work. I was not eating enough and rapidly dropped 15 lbs. I even started developing a nervous twitch in my leg.
Over a few weeks, I learned to get some sleep with white noise going. The ceiling fan seems to work best for me. Still I get maybe 3-4 hours of actual sleep, wake up, then maybe 1-2 hours of very light sleep. I don't particularly feel like doing any of the activities I did before this happened. I'm just in a cycle of eat, work, trying to sleep, then try to get through the next day.
I've been seeing a therapist, and that has helped a little bit. Still, I'm now three months in and starting to realize this is probably permanent. That has sent me into a new funk. My doctor started me on anti-depressants, but we'll see how that goes.
I still want to think this is only temporary with all the issues I am having - allergies, ear pressure, stress, etc. However, I am probably deluding myself. The audiologist may have said my hearing was "fine" or "great", but that may have been in the context of not needing a hearing aid. The reality that this is probably here to stay is making it very hard for me to move forward.
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