I Have Tinnitus Since Feb 20. I Need Help.

Hello everyone,

I recently got tinnitus on Feb 20. I'm a heavy user of ear buds and head phones. I probably suspect that was what caused my T. I had a ringing sound that varied in volume in my ears. Sometimes my T would switch from my left ear to my right ear. Sometimes it would ring on both ears. I went to my audiologist about a week or so after my T started. My doctor said my hearing is fine. She noticed no loss of hearing in my ears. Flash forward a few days, my T was starting to dim down. My T went from a 5 to a 1. In my right ear I heard no noise whatsoever.

Then that's when I did the dumbest thing possible. On March 3, I thought everything was okay and I decided to just let loose and play some music on my headphones. After 30-40 minutes of playing music on my headphones, I stopped. Everything sounded fine. The next day my T spiked hard. I didn't have the ringing sound anymore. My T sounded like crickets.

I know I'm an idiot. Please don't add any more insult to the injury. My question is has anyone had their T change from one sound to another? My T seems more quiet when I wake up, but during the afternoons and nights it spikes a bit. Even when I exercise, my T seems to increase in volume. I'm taking the usual cocktail of supplements. I have good days and bad days when my T varies in sound. Also when it felt like my T was healing, I had a sharp pain in both of my ears. After the pain subsided, I knew my T was disappearing. Coincidence? I don't know. I'll also be leaving on a trip via airplane. Is there any precautions I should be taking, besides earplugs? Thanks in advance.

 

I developed an additional sound. I had a stable baseline tinnitus for 20+ years but kept using headphones. The additional sound came on gradually and was really noticeable after I did the same thing you did (real loud headphone music for 30-40 minutes).
This was 7 weeks ago. It seems to be fading very very slowly. I also get better and worse days; some variation between ears etc. For new tinnitus this is normal, it takes a while to settle down or fade.

Please stop listening via headphones and be extra careful with any loud noise (parties, guns etc). No need to overprotect (because that can also lead to complications), though. Also be careful with infections (wear a cap, if it's still cold where you live) and before taking any new medication do some research to see if it is toxic to the ears (some antibiotics etc).
On airplanes I think earplugs are the exact wrong idea, you need the pressure in your ears to equalize!! Google "barotrauma" for some tips on this. Chewing gum is often suggested.

At this time there's no way to tell how your case will turn out. There is a good chance that it will fade entirely; if it doesn't, you have excellent chances of habituating to it to the point where it will not impact your quality of life.

 

Thank you, Hans. How is your T? Is there any noticable difference in volume? I hope there's improvement on my side. Thanks for the quick reply.

 

For airplanes just use good earmuffs
They work much better than plugs for low frequncy noise

The Peltor x series is excellent and the x5a the best, more comfortable than plugs over time but quite large