I'm Scared

Hi! I'm new to the forum.

I've had tinnitus for almost a year and a half, and I'm 17 now. I think I my T from a club concert, but i'm not 100% sure. My tinnitus was just a slight ringing voice for the first 10 months or so. I didn't even notice it. After summer my life has been really stressful, and my tinnitus has gotten awful. It has multiple frequencys and it is pulsatile. I went to a ear clinic here in Helsinki and got a sound therapy advice to listen voices when I sleep. Around christmas I thought that things were getting better and I didn't hear my T as much anymore.

I'm not sure what has caused this, but now my left ear feels very clogged and it has this new extremely low sound. When someone starts to speak the low sound gets louder and speaking sounds weird- almost like echoing with sharp sounds added to it. (Very hard to explain) I bought ginkgo biloba and ate if for about week. I also went to a party, but used my earplugs as always. I'm not sure did both of those or just one cause this, but I'm afraid it won't go away. I used to be just fine with my tinnitus but now I cry almost everyday because I feel so hopeless.

I have so much fun things ahed for the next month, but I'm too afraid to even think about those things because I fear that my situation only keeps getting worse.

Has anybody had a same type of a situation? Please, I need help from someone who understands what I'm going trough.

Larissa

 

Welcome to the forum, it is a superb place for peer support! I have been surprised myself how extraordinarily warm and helpful the community is here.

It's very sad to hear that someone as young as you has to go through this and experience the fear and uncertainty this condition can trigger. I'm very sorry for the fact that you are struggling right now, but hopefully your chances of healing are better because of your young age.

Have you visited a doctor since this new sensation started? How long has it been like this? I am not sure what could be causing it, but getting your ears checked might be important, since perhaps there is some clogged earwax or a mild infection. This "echoing with sharp sounds added to it" sounds a bit like hyperacusis, but not quite sure. When you first got your tinnitus, did you get hearing loss as well? Or have you taken a hearing test at any point?

I do share your experience in being afraid if tinnitus will ever heal. When there are bad times (like you're having now), one wonders if there will ever be good ones again. I had a similar situation: I thought I was getting better and then got a total relapse after going to the movies (even with good +30dB earplugs!) late December. It happened just when I thought my tinnitus had been increasingly silent for a couple of weeks, sometimes the most bothersome sound even disappearing. Then comes the movie night and suddenly my ears are again blaring with multiple frequencies. Lately I have had a few better days again, so I'm trying really hard to be carefully optimistic.

So yes, I understand how frustrating and scary it is to get worse symptoms and how it takes away all the hope that built up when things were looking up. I truly believe you will have those good days again and it will get better, even if setbacks do occur. But to make sure there is nothing wrong, I'd really warmly suggest going to a good doctor and sorting out these new symptoms. Really hope you get better soon!

 

Hi,
a. no reason to believe it will get worse. It will likely improve as your anxiety goes down
b. protect your ears...keep away from loud sound, music and headphones
c. repeat b as this is critical
d. if you continue to be fearful, go to a therapist and try meds to lower your anxiety which generally improves tinnitus.

Good luck. Many here who are in your situation and have gotten to a better place.

 

I agree with NimQ that you seems to have infection issue in the ear or perhaps ETD with the clogged symptom. These are fixable conditions by an ENT. So go see a doctor asap. The sharp amplified effect does reminds me of hyperacusis. So try to protect your ears and perhaps don't risk the loud venues even with earplugs because your ears are in unstable condition right now. The toughest struggle at this new stage is to maintain your mental stamina. Try to stay calm and positive that things will improve especially if the doctor can fix the ear infection. Avoid making catastrophic projection of the future based on the current condition, as most of the time the future will not be that bleak. I know the mistake as I made it during the toughest and darkest days of my initial struggle with my own ultra high pitch T and severe H. I thought things would get worse and the future seemed hopeless. How wrong! Today I live a happy, productive and absolutely enjoyable life. You can check out my success story as I list some helpful strategies I learn from others and some from my own. So relax and don't panic nor despair. Take good care. God bless you.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

 

Thank You all for responding! @NimQ @stophiss @billie48

I didn't actually visit doctor but I went to the same ear clinic that I visited last year, since I have noticed that doctors dont really know how to help.
They said that this phase I have going on right now is just a step back and it should go away sooner or later. I also told them about taking Ginkgo, but I guess he didn't know how that affects. He actually gave me a Vagus Stimulation machine, that I should use once a day. Have you heard about this? Are there any good stories about it working?

I have had hypercausia before, but I didn't get any new frequecys like I now do. I hope you are right and it will get better soon. I'm in school right now and it's extremely hard to concentrate because of the clogged feeling and weird sounds. Everything just sort of become's a blurr in my head.
My hearing has been checked multiple times, and it's nor damaged- Thank God to that. They also tested hypercausia, and it's about 10-15 db, but it's been the same before this new problem.
I also have neck and back pains and went to see a fysiotherapist on Tuesday for it. I have trigger points near my jaw and at the back of my ears, so I'm guessing it will be helpful too. That will take time of course, and it is a long process.
I have a few questions, if you just have the time to answer:
1. Have you taken ginkgo and how did it affect your T?
2. A lot of my friends are turning 18 soon (age you become adult in Finland), and there are a lot of parties. What should I do? Go or stay home? I also have this ski break in a month, and I'm going to Lapland with my friends. All those fun thing but i'm afraid to go...
3. Should I wear earplugs now in school too or just try to get my ears used to the noise and maybe the clogged feeling would go away?
4. What kind of earplugs do you recommend in general?

Thankyou so much for answering to me and from all the kind words. I really feel this page helps a lot. Any of my friends can't actually know what I'm going trough and It feels great to get support and other people telling their stories! I actually red you story yesterday @billie48 and cried, because It made me feel that you can survive even trough the darkest times. Thank you for putting your story and all the great advices up!

And @NimQ how is your situation now? Has it gotten any better since the movies?

 

@larissamariae
Thank you for the kind words on my success story. I sure hope you will get better and move on with life. I will answer some of your questions below. Take that as advice but use your wisdom.

1. I have not used ginkgo, but I did take NAC, B12, Magnesium etc on and off. There are different grades for ginkgo. Apparently, one member highly credit his success story for using German pharmaceutical grade gingko as opposed to just normal grade. Check out this success story:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-completely-gone.16169/

2. There has to be a balance in life and you still need to have fun. Don't tip toe around T & H too much to give them too much power over your life. So use wisdom and protect your ears for loud venues and loud parties or don't go if you don't have to. There are loud parties and the quieter ones. You can sure go to the quieter ones to enjoy your social life. So use prudence so you still have fun in life as that is one important step to normalize your life even after T. What can a ski trip hurt except the plane ride? Bring earplugs especially earplane earplugs for balancing the pressure changes.

3. Earplugs should be used only for loud noises or places capable of sudden loud noises. But for normal noises, you need to take the earplugs off so your ears can get used to normal sounds and hopefully heal from hyperacusis. Overprotection can lead to sound sensitivity or misophonia. Again use wisdom here as only you know what your ears can tolerate.

4. I used to own $200 worth of earplugs of various kinds from Sonic Shop of Germany, trying to protect the ears for different circumstances and I thought in a silly way that I would need to use them for life. Not really. I don't use earplugs now much except for real loud venues or activities. There are normal foam earplugs (try to get the highest dBs ones), musician earplugs which allow the normal sounds through but block off the extreme ranges (so you can still enjoy music), and earplane for flights to balance off the pressure changes during take-off and landing. I also bought earmuffs for the initial first few flights for double protection but found it not necessary later. However, each person is different. So use your wisdom.

Take good care. Good luck and God bless.

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/