Horrible Week

Hello fellow sufferers. Excuse my spelling and grammar I'm writing from my phone.

The last few days my volume or at least my perception of it has gone up . During the last weeks I usually fell asleep within 30min but the last 2-3 days I got severe problems falling a sleep and staying asleep. I'm also starting to notice my T during activities like during the first week I got it.

It started after my doc sent reference to the hospital but I was sent to a tinnitus info group that lasted for 7h instead for an ENT appointment (can't go to an ENT before early August...). Before and after this group meeting that I really didn't get much from its just gotten worse after weeks of getting better, really breaks my happiness.

I got another weird thing that also disturbs me. In the start i had T in both ears but now my right ear is mostly silent (the one where i had etd problems. Could not equalize it) but now my left one has taken over for both ears and blast at 2x volume. I also have rather loud clicking in this ears when I swallow. Could this be ETD as well?

One last thing from a disturbed mind: for the last 1.5 years I've used way, way too much otrivin spray (kinda like the American Afrin). I've now gone 3 weeks without cold turkey by changing to Nasonex spray for ETD. Could this have made permanent damage to my eustachian tubes / sinuses?


All the best,
Rolf.

 

I am really sorry you have such a bad time, but you are not alone, we all have phases where Tinnitus really kills our nerves no matter how strong we are. But in 95% it will get better in time .. The big issue is know one knows why Tinnitus happens and why it spikes sometimes, a lot of things about the ringing is just pure assumption as sad as it sounds. Do you tried to use masking, which helps me a lot at the moment and a lot other people you just have to find the right ones. There is also a thing called residual inhibition you can find tones that makes you tone disappear for a minute or two .. headphones can become your best friend at low noise levels.

Most of all stay positive and do not get disturb too much, live healthy do sports eat healthy always works to calm it down and try somehow to get proper sleep .. which is one of the things which is most important for me at least .. bad sleep results always in a louder Tinnitus somehow... maybe try using salt water showers instead of spray maybe?

All the best from Bangkok
Wojtek

 

When I was in this acute stage, I took amitriptyline (10 mg) as a sleeping aid. It is non-addictive, and one doesn't feel drowsy in the morning.

 

First tip is you need a masking sound. I have an I-phone and i have an app called white noise that is my holy relic (i dont wear headphones**). It has some sounds you should experiment with. Cricket sounds worked well for me in the beginning and then I recorded some running water/steam sounds from my sink/heater which the app turns into a looped masking sound file. The 2nd tip which i have recently been using is setting your masking sound below your T (should always do this if possible) and then if you have a ceiling fan put that on as well (strongest setting). If your bed is directly underneath it the 2 sounds together create a nice light atmospheric sound that fills up the room. My right ear is where my T focuses the most on and I usually avoid laying on that side but with this new setup I can lay on it with no issue. Hope this helps.

 

How good did it work, or how fast did it put you to sleep?

 

It is an antidepressant (which is supposed to kick in after 2-3 weeks), with a side effect of drowsiness. I would be asleep within an hour. I guess I ought to also mention that I took 0.5 mg of melatonin too. But taking that antidepressant made falling asleep easier compared to when I took just melatonin. I would wake up one or two times during the night, but would be noticeably sleepier than when I didn't take the antidepressant, and so I would not take long to fall asleep again.