I'm So Confused How This Happened

Hey everyone,

This nightmare began for me on December 30th, 2014. I was just driving to the mall with my mother and out of the blue I experienced a ringing in my left ear. In the past I've had ringing to the extent of 3-5 seconds very few and far betweeen, then it would disappear and I'd think nothing of it.

This time though, it never went away I remember it was so loud and different to me that I couldn't concentrate and I was almost brought to tears because it bothered me so much. It faded to a degree but later that night was with my girlfriend who kissed my ear but made a high pitched noise as she did it right in my ear that brought the ringing back to the levels earlier in the day. I freaked out again and it's not fair because she got mad at me, and will never realize what its like. The best way I can explain it is how in certain movies a bomb or explosion goes off and the noise goes silent and all you hear is that ringing. That's how my left ear was.

I went to my general doctor, who prescribed me flonase to take for 2 weeks. I had felt the week prior to 12/30/14 that I was coming down with something so I took zicam and emergenC to help me get over the sore throat I was having. Luckily I got over it, but he though maybe there was something still there.

After 2 weeks I asked for him to recommend me an ent. He sent me to Dr. Tojo at Lutheran General hospital in a suburb of Chicago. He looked at my ear said he saw some "slight redness" in my left ear. I followed up with a hearing test which showed my left ear was scoring lower than my right but both within acceptable ranges. He prescribed me prednisone for 2 weeks with a follow up in 4-6 weeks. After the prednisone I started taking lipoflavanoid plus also, and currently still am.

On 2/4/15 driving home from my grad school late at night I had a new onset of noise but this time from my right ear never before experienced. This was a super deep, low, hollow ring that lasted several minutes that put me in a panic. Eventually the next day it went back to my normal ringing. Then on 2/6/15 had yet another uproar of noise over my standard ringing butnin my left yet again. This also lasting several minutes of very loud high pitch ringing which subdued back to the normal tone the next day.

As of yesterday 2/12/15 I had my follow up visit with my ent specialist. My hearing test showed the left still scoring worse but within the ok range but no improvement. Unfortunately for me my doctor said there's nothing he can do. He told me to come back in a year and follow up with him. I asked and tried to hold on to something that he could help me with but he said there's nothing he can do. He said I could possibly have ear drum damage from a virus possibly but can't give me much more than that.

So here I am today more confused than ever more hopeless then ever. With the prednisone making minimal impact and the Lipo flavanoid making my ringing seem like it's more coming from the room next door rather then right next to me I just hope that maybe one day I can look forward to being ring free. I didn't like how my last visit ended and I'm not sure if seeing another specialist is worth it or not for him to tell me the same thing. I'm trying to do my best to cope with it and if I keep busy I sometimes forget about it but I still know its there as I constantly stop at times to listen to the ringing.

I'm scared because I'm relatively young at 25 and I do everything I can to stay healthy, exercise, ear protection, etc.

What should I do guys?

 

@Louis Sigiols I'm sorry to hear that you are having a bad time right now. I know that when my T came on, I felt very similar to you. It doesn't make much sense and it is extremely frustrating and frightening when it happens.

The best advice I can give you right now is to read through the "Don't Panic" guide that was just posted here. I paged through it the other day and thought that it would have been an amazing resource to have when I was going through those really tough days.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

The other advice to give you is that most likely, it will get better for you. My T onset was both very disconcerting and truly "louder" than it is for me right now. Now when I hear my T I don't care at all and it is definitely quieter than it was at the beginning. For most people, after the shock wears off, the T reduces and in some cases fades away entirely. I would try to avoid the "doom & gloom" types of posts that happen here because I don't think they are representative of what most people experience. Honestly, I do think it will get better for you and for most people here.

Best wishes!

 

Thank you so much for the response @marqualler . I appreciate you taking the time. You are right that I definitely need to just accept what I have and learn to put it past me.

So you think seeing another specialist for a second opinion is worth it since its still fresh or should I just accept it and learn to deal with it?

What would explain the 2 seperate ring attacks I had last week out of the blue? I was stressed last week, I'd assume that did not help the situation.

 

@Louis Sigiols It's hard to say what would have caused those spikes, but for me and for a lot of other people, stress seems to trigger an increase in tinnitus. So it's very likely that stress caused it and most likely things will settle down over time. As far as seeing other doctors--as long as they have ruled out anything serious medically, it might be worth seeking out somebody who specializes more in tinnitus, or seeking out Cognitive Behavioral Therapy that can help with the stress surrounding tinnitus. And since yours is so new, a lot can change and yours could fade away entirely.

 

Louis,marqualler is right on with advice.New T can cause panic and anxiety but you can read the success stories on this site and you will realize you can live with T and after a few months it will get better.Stay busy.TRY.and Try again and again to keep your mind off the T not easy at first but you will eventually start to do this I am starting to at 5 months it does not bother me as much now but I'm still getting better.Mask it.No stress, whatever changes you must do or make take it easy a few months.Get sleep.I take melatonin sr.But I took sleep meds also if you can't sleep discuss this with your doctor .Seems like your into fitness and healthy eating ect. that is a key also.Time is the big healer with T.I believe with a positive thought pattern and time the brain will usually habituate to T.It is a road we all are all on here .If we all had a choice we would not be here but you can live a normal life with T and me at 5 months I can really feel improvement and I believe it will continue to improve with time.Hope this helps you Louis.You will be alright.
uncle vikin

 

Thank you so much for the support! I'm so glad to have found this place to talk with others about what we go through. I'm crossing my fingers and doing my best to minimize this noise as best I can!