Hi... My Experience — Any Help Appreciated

[Flexi]

I have had t the last 6 weeks or so and have been trying to cope with it. Everyone here is very supportive and i have gained alot of info through reading posts and other websites.
Unfortunately i started reading a bit too late as i did some silly things which probably made my t worse.

Not being able to sleep aand anxiety/stress is the worst part. My t seems to be triggered or worsened when im tired and have not had enough sleep. Of course then when i try to sleep i cant because of the t.

It started of as few seconds of loss of hearing in my left ear and a low pitched sound which then disappeared in few seconds. I thought nothing of it and carried on through the day. It then happened couple of days later and again i thought nothing of it. It was only till the 3rd time i started to wonder what it was.

I started to read a few sites on the internet which said it could be tumors etc and i began to panic and constantly listen out for this sound of t. I couldn't hear it but the more i listened out for it it a eventually appeared but only in the left ear. Also just few days prior to this i went to hospital due to pain in my leg which was sciatica and i was given diazepam and dihydrocodeine and another tab. I only took a few of these and the pain went away but keep wondering wether this caused my t.

I suffer from anxiety for years and this gave it a good boost. To relieve myself i told myself its just ear wax and so started to put in olive oil drops. IT MADE IT WORSE!.
Phoned the Drs surgery and asked for my ears to be syringed!!! it made things worse.

Stress and anxiety i just cant get rid of. There was 1 week where my mind was on totally on something else and i was sleeping fine and i was sure it had disappeared until i read more scary info on the net and anxiety kicked in and there it was again with a vengeance.

Now its in both ears and most days only bothers me when i try to sleep.
Some days whenever i speak or hear some sounds around me my left ear squeaks?? does anyone else have this.

Also a few times the same sensation of my hearing dulling out and instead of a low pitched sound ive heard a beep.....this freaked me out it goes away after about 10 seconds.
Also does anyone notice it getting worse only when they are lying down?
As far as my hearing goes its absolutely fine, I can probably hear a clock tick from another room!!

Sorry to bore you guys this is my first point of support as my ENT appointment is 6 weeks away.
This is taking over my life. I am overweight alot and my new year res was to lose weight which i was doing absolutely great until t brought everything to a halt. I am now eating crap again because of stress and started smoking again which i also quit.

Are my symptoms normal with t as all sorts of stuff is going through my head right now.

Any support, help, advice is greatly appreciated with all my heart.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Flexi, and welcome!

To answer your question, yes, your symptoms are not anything unusual in the world of tinnitus sufferers. Most of us often experience strange beeps and other sounds that come and go. It's hard to say what causes these fluctuations, but I'd say that most people with tinnitus have them.

I'm sorry you've had so many problems. Like you, my tinnitus may have gotten worse after taking a drug. In my case, it was blood pressure medicine. It's hard to say for sure that it is what caused it, but there are many ototoxic drugs out there, that could cause an already-sensitive ear to begin ringing.

Also, it isn't unusual for your tinnitus to seem to get worse when you're lying down. It may be because things are very quiet, and there are no other distractions to take your mind off the tinnitus. To remedy that, you might want to listen to some sort of background noise when trying to go to sleep. For many, brown or pink noise works well. For me, it is water sounds.

Please don't get discouraged and give in to bad habits just because of the tinnitus. Those things (some high-fat foods, smoking) could actually exacerbate the tinnitus! You don't want that to happen, so it would be best to try to eat moderately and as healthy as possible, and to try to get away from the smoking, if at all possible.

I'm glad you have an appointment with an ENT, but if he is unable to help you, I would suggest going to an audiologist to see if he/she might be able to let you try a masking device. That might help you during the day with your tinnitus, and help you to feel better.

We're glad you joined us, and I'm sure others on this forum will have additional suggestions for you.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[Tom KW]

So sorry to hear of your pain Flexi.
your initial response to the T is pretty much quite normal for most people, I know when mine first started I was quite depressed not thinking I could live with this sound in my head. i've had my T for about 10 months now, I still hear it in my head some days it actually goes away of course it always comes back, I think maybe I'm just starting to get used to it, but Karen's advice was quite right, you must continue to eat well and healthy this is better for your T. hang in there because it could also just one day go away. after a while your conscious mind will just learn to ignore it. and I am one with a positive thought, I do believe a cure is just around the corner. hang in there, you'll be okay.

- Tom