Hello! Just Got Tinnitus for the Second Time

I'm 38 now and the first time I got it was back in 2005-6ish. It lasted for a few months but was not very audible during the day. After it went away I could still hear it if I tried. Recently I have had the feeling of water in my right ear, but the ENT told me there was nothing there. When I was using my netipot after seeing the ENT, I felt some water go in my ear and when I blew my nose to try and get it out I could feel the water ram into my ear causing very sharp pain.

This pain last only for a few seconds, but the ringing has been persistent ever since (about two months now).

Strangely, even though this happened in the right ear, the ringing is mostly in my left. It moves around from side to side and the volume increases and decreases.

After the first four weeks thee was a decrease, but it has since plateaued and not decreased except for short intervals.

With my first bout of tinnitus, I couldn't hear it unless it was silent but I have the fans blowing and the tv on and I can still hear it right now.

I'm trying to come to terms with the fact that this might be my life now, but also, the anxiety I have that something is really wrong. I get my hearing tested on Tuesday.

 

I have retained water before, using nasal washes. The reason why i retained it, was because I had an underlying cold that was lingering. Tinnitus is not an easy ordeal. Anxiety, depression can set in if we are not careful. If you are concerned then possibly see your ent again and voice your concerns.

Your situation might either get better or might stay the same, all of us face this in life and we can adapt and manage. Controlling our emotions with tinnitus is VERY important. As someone that suffers from intrusive tinnitus, I should be angry 24-7, but I am not. I am at peace, I take out my frustrations in the gym and in my martial arts. Unfortunately for me, my intrusive/loud/hell sounds will not go away.

Whatever your situation is now or how it turns out in the future, you can adapt, accept and still live your life. Tinnitus can be very difficult to deal with, but we can slowly move forward.....it's never easy but we can do this...

 

Hi Fishbone, thanks for the response. In my experience the more I worry about tinnitus, the worse it gets. It's when I stop thinking about it for a long period of time that it eventually goes away. This time it feels louder, and I still need to make peace with the fact that it might not go away at all. And if that's the case, that's fine. I will deal with it.

 

@Zuben I also had water stuck in my middle ear very often using neti pot. I have quite a deviated septum and my sinuses are pretty narrow. So I used to have a whole process after the wash. I would lay on the bed and let my head hang from the edge freely and then I would blow my nose in that position. After that I would lay on one side and then on the other. Then I would do a headstand. Sometimes I would do a front roll. A cartwheel would also be great but I always sucked at those. And in the end I would just lay sideways and the water would run out. Sometimes it would get stuck for days and it would release in the middle of my yoga class while I'm in some pose.
And then there was this one time when my T went really loud after neti poting and and I had piercing pain in my ear. It took a few months to get back to its normal level. I never did neti pot again.
So I recommend to experiment with poses and move your body in all directions. You just have to move your head by 360 degrees. It's like one of those little maze puzzles where you have to bring a ball to a certain point.

 

Hey, glad to hear your spike got better! Mine seems to ebb and flow. Sometimes it is barely there and other times it is quite bad. So we'll see. The water doesn't move in my head much, but if I plug my nose and blow (gently of course) I can feel it swell up in my right ear.

 

I sometimes get that sharp pain from my Neti if I blow my nose after using it. I don't think it's related t0 my tinnitus, but I did get tinnitus the first time around the same time as I started using the Neti