How Many People Have Tinnitus as the Only Symptom?

Just curious.

 

So far it seems that tonal tinnitus is associated with other symptoms. I wonder if it really was noise exposure or something else that caused the T for these people...

 

I have an unconfirmed slight (<15dB) hearing loss in my left ear. This loss is effectively nothing compared to everyone else I know. I am the only person in my immediate family with intrusive T.

That entire left side of my face is numb and highly pressurized (feels like its about to explode) 24/7. Music is miserable to listen to without exactly symmetrical hearing.

The right side doesn't have tonal or pulsatile tinnitus. The right ear has absolutely perfect hearing up to 17 kHz, but has a warbling "awwww, aaaaaw, aaaawawa... AAAAAWAWAWWWWW....AWWWW...awwww." sound instead of a pure tone EEEEEEEEEE.

If the air pressure in this ear increases or the blood vessel dilation in this ear decreases (through caffeine) the sound gets quieter.

 

You need hyperacusis in this poll.

 

My right ear has a hearing loss but it doesn't effect my music listening experience. Maybe if i listened through headphones i would notice but i gave them up a while ago!

 

Mine seems to constantly change. I've had some insane sinus congestion since the same day mine started which has been the biggest thing that wont' go away along with the T.

And intermittent periods of conductive hearing loss. At the beginning, at the urgent care the doctor said there was a little fluid in my ears, no wax but not infected. At the request of my mother I asked for an antibiotic in order to prevent it from becoming infected. They gave me fucking Azithromycin 1250mg over 5 days. Which I had no idea about it being potentially ototoxic, because on the 8th day or so I had a loud fleeting low pitched tinnitus at work with immense ear pressure that happened twice in my right ear within 2 hours or so. And after the 2nd one, I could immediately tell it was like part of the hearing in my right ear was gone in the 6-10khz range. I freaked out, then happened to look at the side effects part of the prescription label. And it says right there hearing loss as a side effect. A few more days go by and then the same ringing happens to my left ear and both ears feel equalized sound wise. But things sound dull. So I was freaking out even more. Went to urgent care again, doc said it was ETD stop taking everything I was taking OTC and take Allegra-D he would prescribe. Week goes by, nothing. Turns out my insurance denied the prescription. And in GOOD OL OREGON, because of dumb meth addicts you have to have a prescription to get anything with Pseudoephedrine in it. Later at some point my ears cleared up a bit and I could hear fine. I finally got into my PCP and he's all "We see this all the time, it takes a long time for the human body to heal these things.". My sinuses were basically swollen shut at the time, so he gave me Cephalexin and offered regular Sudafed with P.Ephedrine in it, but assured me it would get better on it's own. Stupidly I listened. So no PE, at the end of taking the Cephalexin, I noticed my hearing was all donk again. Which further freaked me out, I could pop my ears manually by flexing these muscles in my throat by this point and my ears were massively plugged up. Either I could get my right ear pressure inverted from whatever it was and then it would sound brighter than my left. But with less low end than my left. Or I could get my left ear unclogged and my right was the same as it was. It was like trying to balance a weighted scale. Every time I got one ear just right, the other one was messed up. Eventually I got my ears both completely equalized and since then my hearing has mostly seemed totally normal(Aside from the fact that somehow now I can hear up to 18khz in my right ear, but it starts to roll off just after 15khz. While my left ear is fine until 16khz and then it just dies. Last time I did my own frequency tests, I swear I could hear bilaterally to 19khz. No detectable loss in any frequencies below this really.), though I still get slightly plugged up in my right ear thanks to the continuing congestion and have to gently pop it. (see below)

I've also had intermittent pain of all kinds(But not hyperacusis or sound sensitivity) inside the middle ear in both ears, my sinuses, my eustachian tubes, my neck, in the ear canal, outside the ear canal at the TMjoint and my tragus+ outer part of ear canal in my left ear. I also have had a few moments of light headedness and muscle weakness.

My left TMJoint when I open my mouth now feels like my ear is popping a lot of the time, but it's not, it's just the damned joint moving out where it isn't supposed to be. Get crackling sounds and it's starting to get uncomfortable to eat. Thankfully not overtly painful.

I can't blow my nose essentially 85% of the time. Because now my left eustachian tube opens so easily that when I try to blow air, it will often end up opening this tube and pushing my eardrum in and out depending on the pressure i'm using. (Which can be slightly painful thanks to the below)
In addition to that I also have this CRAZY thing that happens to my eardrums that I can't seem to find anyone else with symptoms like it.

It's something that has happened to me once in a while throughout my life. Usually when tired or after yawning. ( I always thought it was normal since it only ever happened once when it did.)

One or both E.Tubes and eardrum will have what feels like either air enter or a muscle moving and then the eardrum will move in and out very briefly. It sounds like a dwooommm.
Not a thump or a twitch.
Sometimes it would be like air moving in and out.
Or like muscle vibrations like when yawning(Or after yawning).
A few weeks ago, this started happening between 5-20 times a day, just ONCE each time. In and out.
Often accompanied by upper GI gas like instead of burping it goes up into my ears instead. Or both will happen or one after the other. Sometimes I can use muscles in my head to direct it generally to one ear or the other. I have to try and do this often because it happens way more in my left ear. They both often happen at the same time, but my right ear feels what I have to feel is doing it the normal amount. My left ear it's quite a bit more dramatic and the tube opens up a lot more and the eardrum moves more. It's gotten to the point where this is can be painful.

I tried to record it with this little small beamforming microphone I have that is small enough to fit in my ear canal. It was a bit difficult, but the times I did get it, it sounds like a *THUMP*. But it doesn't sound like that in my head at all!

This doesn't sound like any description of TTTS that i've ever heard of.

I recently had allergy testing done, everything was fine except I have a value of 77.0 for penicillium.
Can't tell if that has anything to do with this or not, the night this started. I spent about 20-30 minutes without any protection for my head/face working in a -15F walk in freezer, a few times coming out of there into a 40F fridge and then to room temp. And i'm pretty sure there is mold in the fridge all over the place.

My sinuses are random, I wake up. One side congested. Get in the shower, it might clear up, or still congested. Get up and walk around, it starts to clear up a little. Use Nasacort and Neti pot(The neti pot and a lucky reaction to anesthesia from a colonoscopy a month ago are the only things that made any improvement in my sinus congestion), and by the time I leave for work. Am pretty much clear many days. But, then I feel like I have a runny nose but nothing comes out, and I have post nasal drip+- sore throat while at work. Sometimes I get slightly congested back at work. Come home, might clear up again or might immediately get congested again. Use Netipot for second time in the day, might stay congested. Might not. If I stay congested, by the time i'm in the bedroom, it might have cleared up. But by the time i'm ready to sleep, congested right back again.
It's almost always usually just one side too, sometimes both. Tubinate Hypertrophy?

I made an appointment finally with an Audiologist (The only dedicated one in town really) a few weeks ago, but it's going to take 4 months to get in. If I wanted to get into an ENT, it would take 5 months. And now even my PCP is backed up again, several months to get in, unless I call every day to see if they have any openings. Urgent Care is useless, and am on OHP, meaning I need referrals to go to anything beyond my PCP. I do finally qualify for insurance through my employer, but the doctors available in town are fairly limited. Some of the plans available even only had the same ENT as I would have access to now. Meaning it would be useless. But I would be able to go out of network with many. I don't know if I could actually afford going to an ENT at all before hitting the deductible, and they go from like 3000,2000,600 based on the plans available. If I wanted a better one, I might not be able to afford the plan.

Two days ago at work, I was playing around (because on most days I can function like normal at work) with my cheeks and then I got this crazy ear fullness that felt like it was on the entire right side of my face. But NO RINGING with it. I don't normally get ear fullness, have only ever gotten it with fleeting T(Which has increased since this started) or the above mentioned Azithromycin incident. The day after it started I did have pain in my ears and they felt swollen and had a burning sensation. But distinctly not ear fullness.




My older brother got T about a year and a half ago or so too, he's been exposed to even less noise than I have and has sensitive hearing to begin with. Somehow has a slight high frequency notch of hearing loss in only one ear. Probably from all the drugs he's taken all his life, (Asperger syndrome). Though after a year or so, it pretty much disappeared. He claimed to be cured by god(That's another story), but every once in a while it will come back shortly and then go away for a few weeks or a month. He still freaks the fuck out about it though, but he only has Tinnitus as his symptom and it's a high pitched hissing sound.

Meanwhile, i've had probably 5-10+ different sounds in my ears/head, and up to 5 or more at once at times. And I manage my T better than he does. My father has probably considered profound hearing loss from not protecting ears and too loud of music when he was younger and decades of loud noise exposure(though mostly from when he was younger I assume). I think he has only a slight ringing once in a while he mentioned. He kind of flip flops about it, doesn't bother him one bit though.

My mother has likewise history of loud music when she was younger and can only hear up to about 10.5khz. But doesn't have any problems aside from typical tinnitus that goes away.
Here I am 30 years younger, only work on music/audio typically at 70dBC, haven't done so in a hugely long session in a very long time. And the only other loud noise I have been exposed to on a regular basis is driving my car, and a barking dog. Can count number of concerts been to on one hand, last one over 5 years ago. Have fired a gun only a small handful of times, all with protection except once a few months prior to T.(Only fired two shots with a 9mm glock with just a motorcycle helmet on and said "fuck this". Stood way back and plugged my ears as hard as I could as my father fired a few rounds. I had ringing for maybe 5 seconds after I had fired the two shots. Different pitch than any T i've had since. Meanwhile, a coworker of mine has severe hearing loss from a lifetime of shooting guns with little to no protection. Does not have chronic T. Her husband and son do though from being in the military)
Riding a snowmobile maybe once a year at best with only a helmet.
And an ATV maybe less than 10 times a year with only a helmet (I've worn plugs since this started) ;that isn't anywhere near as loud as the snowmobile or many two stroke; ATVs(is a four stroke) for only continuously for maybe an hour and a half to two hours at a time before a break is taken. Before T, i'd often have to take my helmet off once we took a break in order to be able to hear someone speak clearly. Because I just wasn't trying hard enough. Now I can hear people pretty well with my helmet on, 33NRR foam plugs in and my T screaming after riding.

Two weeks or so before this started, I had crashed my ATV on a mountain trail and gunked up my leg and I think I hit my head as well. Because afterwords I do remember being disoriented and feeling mentally somewhat foggy for a few hours afterward. I couldn't walk right and was in a lot of pain, so I was taking between 500-1000mg of Acetaminophen a day until the day my T started. (Again i'm stupidly ignorant and didn't know it could cause Tinnitus). Ironically, the day after my T started, my leg was 90% back to normal.



Sorry that was WAY long. >_>

I'm fucked lol. I found out yesterday I might have the genetic mutation that is Lynch Syndrome and have to get genetic counseling and testing done. And routine colonoscopies ever 1-2 years even if I don't have it.
(Had tubular adenoma removed. Non cancerous, not very big thank god).

I've never had a single ear infection in my life, most I had was clogged up/impacted wax about 12 years ago and one incident of ears not popping with decrease in elevation that caused pain until it could be popped around the same age as the above. Never had any major health issues,no TMJ, no illness that has lasted as long as this sinus congestion+T. I have somewhat crooked teeth and a slight overbite, but it's mostly cosmetic and has never been an issue. The worst i've had is life long anxiety,crippling in my younger age. I only ever took anti-depressants for about a year and a half or so though. And as of 4 years ago, I had started to completely conquer my anxiety by overcoming my fears. Until the T started, I had my anxiety 95% under control and had been years since it was any kind of problem. Needless to say, this brought a lot of it back, but i'm back to the point where it's not an issue about 80% of the time right now. In fact, I would have habituated already to tinnitus if it would stop changing constantly. I've had days and weeks where it's basically at 0.5/10 and I only have a mostly non annoying 1105/2210hz tone in the center of my head and a slight hiss in my left ear. And the reactive T in my right ear will disappear as well. I'd say that's gone 75% of the time after the 1 month mark. ...anyway

Sorry, very much huge ramble. Derailed topic. Yes I have a lot of symptoms in addition to my T.


As for somewhat a good thing, I have another co-worker who has a sister that had continuous T for 1-2 years and then it went away. Never came back.