How Did I Get Tinnitus?

Since no one in the medical field have been remotely interested in finding the cause of my T I will ask the forum if anyone have any idea what type of approach I should have to understand how I got this condition. Any specific reports I should read? Any well proved theories? Any medical suggestions from the research industry? I'm interested in this because my impression is that the prognosis depends on it. I believe there's a difference in the prognosis based on the causes that lead to my specific T. For instance, I've read stories from T sufferers that think they got it from stress and mental trauma and when they started to focus on the psychological aspects of their personality the T went away. This process could take many years but many ppl. still claim that they started a healing process when they finally came to terms with what the reasons behind the condition were.

I know that the mental aspect has a considerable weight in any type of T but I'm referring to a particular T caused by stress and/or long term mental pressure and not a hearing loss or audio trauma. I'm left with this large gap in my understanding of my condition, all I was told in medical assessments was "you have incurable tinnitus." The other thing is that I didn't have hearing loss according to the test I took the same day. This leads me to speculate in so many different causes. Could it be a mix of them? Could it be tired inner ear nerves and/or "semi broken hair cells in conjunction with a level of cortisol in my system due to severe stress?

I got my T in June this year but it's a bit tricky because I tick a lot of boxes. I have been listening to music for a very long time trough headphones but since I don't enjoy loud levels I've been listening 45-50% of max. I never used plugs but always headphones with a gap between my ear and the ear pads. I have been struggling with depression and anxiety in the past that I believe I have managed to deal with. I have been taking pain killers with codeine and Ibuprofen the last months cause of shoulder pains, I have been under substantial pressure and mental stress for the better part of the last 4 years. In the months before my T started I went trough a great deal of pressure and stress because I was dealing with so many different problems at the same time. I wonder if my T is mainly caused by mental trauma and stress, perhaps the fire alarm that went of repeatability for false reasons in my building kick started the T in conjunction with a high level of cortisol in my system? When I open my mouth and raise my jaw the T level goes up in volume and pitch. I have a crunching sound sometimes inside my ear and sometimes it feels like a vibration as well. I rub my teeth together when I sleep and also when I'm awake without being aware of it, my jaw moves quite a bit during the day from side to side I guess, teeth against teeth.

I remember I almost jumped out of the bed every time that alarm went ringing, it scared the living daylights out of me to be honest. I've also been really jumpy the last 6 months or so, always expecting the worst to happen around the next corner and every external environmental sounds have been a potential threat. Sound of cars coming fast behind me, sirens, people shouting suddenly and unexpected etc. It's even worse now because of the Hyperacusis condition that I also got with the T. I've felt like a nerve wreck in the months before I woke up with my high pitched loud T. I actually believed it was the echo of that crazy fire alarm, the bell was placed outside my door, and then about two metres further down the hall, so I wasn't standing next to it or anything, it was just ringing for no reasons several times and it happened for many weeks, perhaps a couple of months. Could this be the reason? Could it have put my system in a fight or flight modus over and over?

Well, I guess I can go on and speculate wildly here but what I'm trying to get my head around is why I got T or what could be the actual cause of it. Perhaps I will never know but since I got T recently I guess I'm full of questions. I'm still in shock I guess. I just woke up and there it was! I did not have any concert experience the days before, neither did I go to clubs or shot with weapons. I've never done the latter. Never shot a gun, played any instruments or worked in a noisy factory or anything like that.

I know this post is long but if you have any comments to this I would be interested in reading them. Can't get much sleep these days, but I guess most people in here can relate to that...

 

Your case sounds exactly like mine. Except my tinnitus is extraordinarily loud with many tones and is unmaskable.
It seems like it mimics the fire alarm in the apartment that I was exposed to.
I also woke up with loud tinnitus about a month after.
I am betting all you said is the cause of your tinnitus. I am betting the fire alarm was the kickstarter in both our cases.

 

I just woke up 6 months ago with it,not even worked since because of the depression it put me in, Mine could have been loud music cos of being a musician, but then my mum had it and I have beentold its genetic,I also had an ear infection at the time and had 2 courses of antibiotics, MRI showed a benign tumour very close to a nerve in the ear, so to b e honest I have no idea what caused it. Somedays I can deal with it when its just a ringing but days like today when my head is buzzing it really gets me down.

 

Sorry to hear about your bad days Piper. The tumour explanation scares me, don't even wanna think about it. I've heard its very rare in T cases. Let's stick together and build up confidence towards this thing.

 

It's so many possible causes but somehow I really feel the fire alarm has contributed here, it's like I'm in a state of fight or flight modus all the time. Very stressed out. But my goal is to find out if my prognosis is better when it's stress released T compared to inner ear damage. Since there is no way of actually knowing if there's an actual damage to my inner ear I guess I can can hold the door open for it to be 100% stress related but "aggravated" by the alarm or something.

If my inner hair cells and cochlea is intact I believe I have a better chance of kicking it than if I have anatomic damages and severe hearing loss - have you given those aspects any toughs dan? When I read the statistics it almost always says that T is followed by some sort of hearing loss. I have hyperacusis as well and from what I've read that can occur with no hearing loss. I wrote with a guy that got hyperacusis and T simultaneously and his hearing test results were perfect! He later went on to kick the T and he's been free for many years now.

 

Hi Per,

I just met someone who had T which according to her was due to stress. Hers went away after a few weeks. I'm praying that yours would go away too.
Have you done a high frequency hearing test?

 

Hi Alxtan,

All I've done as far as tests goes is a hearing test. I was given a button to push whenever I heard a high or low pitched tone. The result of this test was normal. In other words I had no severe hearing loss according to the ENT. I will pursuit more tests when I move back to my own country next month. I will also try to see if I can get my hyperacusis tested in case this can produce some practical information.

Yesterday it was exactly 1 month since my T and hyperacusis started.

 

Hi Per,

I did that too and passed the hearing test. But before I left the clinic I insisted that the Audiologist did a high frequency hearing test. She reluctantly did and discovered I lost 9000hz of hearing on both ears. One frequency gone. Everything else was impeccable. She even commented that I had the hearing of a teenager.

This Monday would be my 1st month. I'm still holding up hope that a month is too soon to tell if it is permanent. I've read that it is not considered permanent unless it's been with you for a year. Not sure how true that is though.

 

@Alxtan,

I don't know when its considered a chronic T either, but some clinics write 6 months on their web pages. I guess I'm not too fond of words like chronic or permanent cause who's to say? It might as well go away 8 months into it as 8 weeks into it.