Hi, My Name's Kiyan, and I Need Help...

I'm 14 years old and going to turn 15 in about a month.

My story is a little weird as I'm not sure when all this really began. I'm almost certain the reason I may have tinnitus is from exposure to very loud music from my ear buds for about 1 to 2 years now.

Over these 1 or 2 years I've noticed that whenever I listened to the very loud music ( And keep in mind this only ever happened when I listened to my music on my ear buds) my right ear would start buzzing not in a way where I would hear sound in my head but to where it would actually buzz and do this weird spasm and this would only last about 0.5 to 1 sec. This would only happen 1 time during my jamming out and I can recall that it would sometimes happen twice, but for about the time that this would all happen I thought nothing of it and would just take out my right ear bud and then proceed to put it back in. I can't recall a moment where my left ear would ever do the same which weirds me out more.

Even now I'm not sure if this is just some weird response my right ear would have to loud music or it was the headphones themselves.

And the reason I say that is because (I forgot to mention this) but when I had the earbud in my ear it would make a weird static like noise in my right ear and once i take it off it goes away. So eventually, my curiosity got to me and a month ago I tried searching up what this was and I would type it in exactly how I described it and I saw tinnitus. At first it scared me and I looked into it more and did my research, when I saw "buzzing" it meant an actual sound and it didn't mean the weird spasm I was experiencing in my right ear. And I read somewhere that it didn't always mean you were going deaf, I felt relieved that it didn't seem that serious at the time.

But I'm not entirely dumb, even though I misread it I had a talk with my best friend and we came to the conclusion that I should still cut down on the volume I listened to on my headphones, and at the beginning of June I switched my ear buds to headphones that went over my ears because they broke, and since the beginning of June I've stopped having these weird little reactions.

A little recently I've noticed my ears feeling a little clogged and feeling like I could've hear out of them better in the past than before and I've felt like this for a while but about 1-2 weeks ago I just completely lost the headphones and decided to just listen to music without them and because of all the panicking and overthinking about going deaf. So fast forward to today where my entire would just went crashing down, I noticed this little ringing noise that wouldn't go away, I start to get scared and a little anxious.

And I started to go to the internet to look for answers. Like if anyone else hears ringing in almost quiet environments. And all I got was websites and forums to tinnitus and at this point I'm absolutely terrified.

So many questions running through my head as to how this is happening, and why it's all happening now, and like this. I tried asking my brother to stand in a silent room with me and he said he also heard a small ringing too and as we go upstairs into the kitchen where it's a lot more noisy I ask if he hear a small ringing not a super loud one and he eventually said no, and then I go to my room and start losing it.

I really think to myself I do have tinnitus, and I start crying, I don't want to live with a constant ringing inside my head for the rest of my life. And I read that paying attention to it will only make it worse. And pay attention I did, my anxiety sky rocketed, I was crying for a little, and before this I have been struggling with depression and other problems.

This didn't help my situation at all, and what makes this even more complex is that I'm pretty sure I've heard this ringing before in quiet places, but it never bothered me because I thought everyone else heard this in quiet places.

I'm also pretty sure I've heard this as I try to sleep but it's NEVER bothered me and I can sleep with ease and I can only remember times where I never heard it.

So what's happening? Am I going insane? Is this all in my head? Do I really have tinnitus? If so why wasn't I bothered by this earlier and wouldn't notice it? I know I probably have lots of earwax build up but I'm not convinced this is why I'm hearing ringing.

I feel so alone, I know other people have tinnitus but I think I'm alone in this type of situation. I'm young, I want to go to concerts and listen to louder music than the normal. (not extremely loud like I did before, never) But I want to have fun, I'm terrified, I've been crying, and I feel like I'm losing my mind.

I've told my parents what's been happening and my mom is going to make an appointment with the doctor tomorrow morning asap.

Can someone please help me? What's going on with me? I noticed as I type this I subdued the ringing because I wasn't paying attention to it at all even though I was talking about it. But it still comes back as I think about it.

Someone please help.

 

First, you need to calm down. Freaking out will only make your tinnitus worse and make you feel worse. Drink a cup of chamomile tea and take a warm shower. Most of all, just stay calm. If you can talk to your parents or sibling, friends if that helps. Cry on your mom's shoulder. But try and find something to calm you. Put on nice soothing background noise. That helps a ton. When you go to bed play some white noise at a comfortable level. Wait to speak with a doctor but even then you need to stay calm.

 

Would you rather do the above, or would you rather not have to listen to tinnitus 24/7 for the next 50 years? Do you really want to take that chance?

 

You're right, it's just disappointing seeing other people get barely affected by loud noises and then there's just us.

 

I agree...

Perhaps in two-five years you can start to be less careful. If I were you, I would give my body time to heal.

 

I'm trying to stay calm as much as I can. I appreciate the advice, it's just how the tinnitus was brought up and how the situation unfolded. It just makes it all the more scarier.

 

@Kiyan I can imagine. I have my moments but I know that the more upset I get, the louder the noise in my head gets and my anxiety can really take hold too. We all freak out. Do some breathing exercises. Put your hand on your belly and breath on deeply and out. Do this when the panic hits. Find a distraction. Talk about the latest gossip at school with your friends . It helps. Trust me.

 

Yeah that makes sense. I mean I try to pay attention to the success stories and look at how people have recovered from tinnitus and beaten it, but I've also noticed those posts of people having it for up to 7 years and getting worse, and like Jesus that terrifies me.

 

Most people who recover and never have any problems don't register at this forum. People who are having a hard time with tinnitus are over-represented here.

 

@Kiyan I advise you stop listening to music through earbuds or headphones for at least 6 months not even at low volume. I would even go further and suggest to never ever use them again, even at low volume. If you knew the misery what some people in this forum go through because of tinnitus then you would follow my advice. I also advise you to keep away from loud music. If you continue to listen to music through headphones without giving your ears a rest, or going to places where music is played loud. You risk the tinnitus becoming worse and will be permanent. It is your choice.

Click on the link below and read my article on tinnitus: Tinnitus, A Personal View.

I wish you well
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

I also had those weird spasms and vibration of my right ear. I had it for an entire year before I got T.

 

I also believe that's the best option for me at the moment. At the moment my tinnitus is a small ringing noise that can be easily blocked out. I'm taking it as a very good sign that my tinnitus isn't loud. Last night I didn't have lots of trouble sleeping because of the fan I had on that was blocking out most of the noise, it was more the discomfort of just having tinnitus in general that was keeping me from sleeping. The tinnitus also led me to having bad dreams related to the tinnitus, I'm honestly not sure what to think. I read your article and I've just been confusing myself more. Does everyone hear that super small and faint ringing noise in a quiet room just because there is nothing else to hear? And I mean this as in regardless of wether a person has tinnitus or not.

 

Yep! Same here, and this only ever happened when I had listened to music with earbuds. It never happened with anything else loud.

 

@Kiyan Keep away from loud sounds and give your ears a rest from earbuds and I think you will be alright.
All the best
Michael

 

My path to tinnitus was similar to yours. You're allow freak out because your emotions while they might play an immediate impact will not effect your tinnitus long term. No most people don't have faint ringing. Welcome to the suck. The key takeaway is to protect your ears and wait for regenerative/restorative options to be available. There is not much else to be said beyond that.

 

I will say this much. you are very young and have a low tinnitus noise. Please protect your ears and don't make the mistakes I made and many others. If you keep listening to loud music, then your ears could get worst and increasing the volume of tinnitus is very painful.....

Yes, you want to live your life, but having louder tinnitus is not the way to go and I would do all I can to not further damage my ears....

B well.....

 

For me it was different. Certain sounds at certain frequenies could trigger my eardrum to go bananas, it wasnt all types of sound.For instance I could listen to a song, and at a particular part of the song my ear could start vibrate and not anymore, when I went back to that certain sound/part of the song it would make my ear vibrate again. I could trigger this vibration myself by doing an "ooooo" sound with my lips.

 

What i've also read is that if you have sinus/allergy problems it can cause certain parts of your ear area to get swollen, and this can cause the swollen part to press against the eardrum which causes it to vibrate.

 

That sounds interesting. And just as an update for everyone, my tinnitus that I'm experiencing might be the case of an ear infection. I've looked over the symptoms of an ear infection and I notice that I've been getting most of them if not all. For a month now I've been experiencing this fullness and blockage in my ears and it's been switching to other sides and it sometimes feels like I can hear out of one ear better than the other. About a week after that I tried things like forcefully yawning and id notice it hurt my jaws, and I tried doing things like tugging on my ears a little and my ear only makes popping noises. Can you believe after all this I didn't even try to pay some attention to it?? I'd know it was always there but I thought it would go away after a while. Also I'm pretty sure that I have a lot of ear wax which excessive ear wax can press on the drum and result in tinnitus. And this also causes an ear infection. I don't take care of my ear wax, and now I'm experiencing symptoms like ear pain and discomfort and some itchiness, and my ears are irritated more to sounds that shouldn't even irritate me at all. And now I'm getting tinnitus, it's been a while since I've listened to music on my headphones and with it coming out of nowhere like that you wouldn't really expect noise induced tinnitus to just appear all of a sudden without having been exposed to a super loud noise recently. My mom has set the appointment, and I'm just praying at this point. I've gotten a little hope from this, I hope I can make it out soon.

 

I never did before I got tinnitus from a rock concert. A significant number of people might experience that phenomena but I suspect it is do the the excessive noise in modern day society. What's normal is not always healthy. And auditory system damage is cumulative.

 

I'm Kiyan, I'm 14 and I've been struggling with tinnitus for the past 3 days now. Now for a little bit I thought my tinnitus was noise induced but just recently me and my parents have checked with doctors and noticed the years of ear wax build up in my ears, I got my ears cleaned out and my doctor noticed a bad ear infection, and I think it's worse in my right ear than my left.

About 3 weeks ago before my tinnitus I started experiencing the first symptoms of an ear infection, I payed very little attention to it and that made it worse eventually up to the point where I got tinnitus. Now up to this point I've experienced about every symptom of an ear infection.

However theres still a chance it's noise induced and that scares the sh*t out of me.

But also the month before that I started cutting down on my volume i listened from my headphones and by the next week I basically just completely lost the headphones.

And the week leading up to the T I didn't even expose my ears to the teensiest bit of loud, and it just showed up out of nowhere.

So today I started taking my medication to get rid of the ear infection, I know T doesn't go away quickly and it takes time, but I'd rather take several weeks over a few months.

Me and my mom are going to meet with the GP on July 10th and were going to tell him everything that's been happening. At this point I'm just praying it's the ear infection causing the tinnitus, now not gonna lie the atmosphere of this site is very depressing and it hasn't been helping me at all, seeing other people saying theirs is getting worst and they aren't improving isn't helping.

And I hate googling everything about tinnitus and I just hate coming back to this site.

Don't get me wrong, the people here are so wonderful and I love how they're so willing to help people get through this, I've received many helpful comments and I appreciate it everyone doing their best to try and help.

I just need to know, how can I cope and make myself feel better until I start getting the real answers?

 

Stop using headphones/ ear buds. Stop jamming out for quite a while. Let your ears heal some. I used to fall asleep with headphones/ ear buds in at max level many, many times. Your way way to young yet to be having problems already. Take it easy for awhile, your young your ears have a good chance of healing.

 

I guess the most positive place on this site is the Success Stories section. There you will learn from each poster how they get better. You can learn to copy success by applying some helpful strategies relevant to your case and see how they will help you. Take good care. God bless.