Hello! New to the Forum — Tinnitus for 50 Years

I was in rock 'n roll bands in my youth and have had intermittent tinnitus for 50 years or so. I'm now a performing arts photographer and sometimes am exposed to loud music. Wear earplugs which help but sometimes it's so loud, even they don't help.
In recent months it has gotten worse - louder and constant. Some days better than others, but seems to be getting steadily worse.

Doing a lot of research. Anyone had luck with notch filtered sounds or music? I had a hard time finding my frequency tone taking the AudioNotch.com site test - it kept asking me to start over. Found something close at TinnitusNotch.com but curiously the tone seemed to do more good than the notched white noise. Only used for a short time, so maybe that's irrelevant. Found the Tinnitus Mix and tried it briefly, but it didn't help - a lot going on in that one!

Anybody have any experience/advice about these treatments? Much appreciated!

 

Welcome David.

 

Welcome David. You are an old soldier of sort in living with tinnitus that long. Sorry for the spike. Have you noticed anything different before your spike? Taking any new drugs or having ear/sinus issues? How about stress/anxiety issues?

 

Hello billie48. Thanks for the welcome. Yes, been dealing with it a long time, but except for occasional and temporary spikes, it was relatively mild and I could ignore it mostly. No changes in drugs or stress (beyond the usual, my job is often stressful) but developed a painful problem with neck pain radiating into trap muscles last July. Maybe has something to do with it. After doing physical therapy, massage and continuing with chiro, it's manageable now. The tinnitus didn't get worse until a few months ago... Can't pin down a culprit for sure, it just got slowly worse. Hoping Lenire gets to market soon! Notched sounds and masking don't seem to help, seem to make it worse.

 

As far as the reason for the T increase, there are many possible causes, single or combined, which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including by not limited to drug reaction or side-effects from ototoxic drugs, ear wax build-up, inner ear infection, Eustachian tube infection or ETD, ear drum injury, fluid build-up in ears feeling pressured or fullness, sinus infection & congestion, TMJ, TTTS, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma/shock, head trauma & injury, neck injury or muscle problems, SSHL, gradual hearing loss due to aging, Meniere's Decease, barotrauma from sudden change of air pressure such as during landing & taking off on flights especially with blocked nose causing failure to balance the pressure changes, slapping of the ears, deep grief for the loss of loved ones, untreated sleep apnea, extreme, extended stress, anxiety & panic disorder, sleep deprivation, etc., etc. T can also be caused or made worse by unhealthy diet such as too much salt, sugar, caffeine, MSG, alcohol etc. or by lacking some mineral or vitamin supplements, such as Magnesium, Zinc, B12, D3 etc.

 

Thanks for the laundry list. Of all those things, neck/muscle injury and or spring pollens/sinus troubles seem most likely. Went to ENT and checked out fine except some moderately severe loss in high frequencies. - age related. Only drug I take is Colchicine for chondrocalcinosis in knee - 4 years now. Perhaps after the winds and pollens die down, things will improve.