Hi, I'm Alyssa and I Have Tinnitus

Hi all!
So I'll give a little history with me and T. In October 2016, I went to a concert and developed tinnitus immediately after. Before this, I had never even heard of this condition, but when I did some research online, I was mortified. I thought my life was over. When almost a week had passed, I went to go see my doctor, he checked my ears and told me it would go away. I felt so blessed! And after about a week and a half, maybe two, it completely went away.

Jump forward to March 2017. Now, I don't know what exactly caused my T to come back this time around. Except that it's been longer (About a month and a week now). I think it was due to loud noise again (because my dumb a** wasn't thinking) but when I went to see a doctor a week after I first noticed because I was miserable again (I'm a worrier. Once again, I thought was life was over at 19). He said it was due to ETD (Like I had some fluid in my ears), and it wasn't anything permanent but could last a few months. I was just so happy to hear him say that that I didn't even ask anymore questions (which I really wished I would've). Shortly after my appointment, I went online to read about ETD, and I had none of the symptoms. My ears were just ringing, but I could hear fine and they weren't clogged or anything? So for the past four weeks after that, I keep going back and forth thinking "He was wrong!" "He's a doctor, could tell!" "Doctors are wrong ALL the time!" (Again, I'm a worrier and the tinnitus does not help let me tell you). Needless to say, I have another appointment this upcoming Friday.

Anyways, for this past month, my emotions have been all over the place. From being so stressed out I couldn't eat, then to "I'm not going to let this get the best of me! I've still got a life to live!" But even just creeping on this forum for the past month has brought me tons of relief. It's nice to know I'm not alone. Everyone in this forum and with this condition are strong individuals and I'm proud of the silent daily battles each of you take, whether it's been 3 months or 30 years. You give me hope and strength, and I wanted you all to know <3

 

Hi @alyssalee97,

First off, welcome to the forum.

You are very young, yet have a very resilient outlook on things and express yourself well! Good for you. Your parents did an excellent job in raising you.

Generally speaking, once you already have (or in your case had) tinnitus, you should protect your ears at all costs. This means staying away from any and all loud noises for example if you can help it.

Regarding doctors, they are human beings like you and me. Naturally, your mileage will vary with every doctor you go to based on their level of experience, their personality, their training, and how busy their practice is (usually very, unless a particular doctor is purposely cutting back his or her hours due to age or other obligations).

As a general rule of thumb, you should do as much research as possible on whatever is bothering you and bring it with you the time of the appointment. That way, the more you know, the more you can communicate to the physician, get their opinion, and really feel you got your time and money's worth out of the visit. This in turn can save you the experience of "gee, i forgot to ask him this" or "why didn't I ask him that"?

For example, today I went to see my family doctor and spent all weekend Googling everything I could about my issue. This way, I was prepared to engage in a productive dialog and explain my particular circumstance in a more clear and articulate manner with the goal of helping him make the right suggestion for me.

 

Welcome to the forum. Yes, you are at the right place as many of us understand your struggle for we have been where you are. Your nervous reaction to a new T is normal among new sufferers. If you read the success stories you will see that many people had it worse and yet they eventually got better and wrote their success stories. Your attitude of blending in and willing to learn from others will help you get to habituation much easier than having negative attitude of resisting the T reality threfore creating more stress and anxiety which will just prolong the T suffering. Keep up the positive attitude. Positivity and time plus some good strategies will get you there someday. Take good care. God bless.