In General, Does Seeing Otolaryngologist/ENT Sooner Yield Better Results?

Hi guys, name's Charlie. 2 week tinnitus newbie. I'll be making a formal thread in the introduction section soon.

After extensive Googling (like we all do) I am just wondering if there is a "too late" period when tinnitus first hits you. Its been 2 weeks since mine hit which I'm pretty sure is yeeears of iPod educed. Went through the usual motions I'm sure everyone does, PCP just refers you to to someone else. The kicker is I gotta wait a month to see one.

I haven't really found any instances of this so I'm wondering what you guys here have experienced or heard. It would seem the sooner you get any affliction tended to the better the possible outcome but I haven't read much online. A bit freaked out since mine seems to be getting louder every couple days. I was actually thinking about going to the USC ( which has arguably the best ENT department in the state ) emergency room JUST because I'm desperate to be seen by an ENT, but I'm sure I'll get the 'oh it's another one of those hypochondriac pests' treatment. Anyhoo, sorry for the long ramble.

Thoughts?

 

You most likely have noise induced hearing loss. There is nothing ER can really do for. Book an ENT appointment and have a hearing test. I suggest you stop paying any more music even at low volume. You can try getting steroids to lessen the damage which may recover some of your hearing.

 

"In general" and for most people I think the answer is no, because there is usually nothing doctors can do to help.

UNLESS you are one of the few who has a treatable cause like earwax buildup, inner ear infection, tumor, or medication with tinnitus as a side effect to name a few. In those cases, yeah, I think getting to an ENT sooner rather than later is best.

And since you can't know which group you fall into, get the appt for as soon as possible. Tinnitus is a real thing and needs real attention by Dr's, so they should not give you any "oh it's a hypochondriac" crap.

-Mike

 

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm 99% sure I'm under the noise endued category. Blasting an iPod for many, many years, 70 percent of the day, just asking for trouble. I guess since its still early I'm still in that grasping at straws denial phase, looking for any 'sometimes tinnitus caused by years loud noise abuse sometimes goes away!' news on line.

Which there doesn't seem to be much of

 

Keep in mind that frequent use of earbuds can cause earwax buildup, which in turn can mess with your hearing and cause tinnitus.

And that absolutely does happen quite often. For a lot of people tinnitus does go away on it's own after some days, weeks, months, and for some, years.

Once you get the doctor checkup out of the way, you will then be able to move on from the denial a little easier.

-Mike

 

how does your T sound ?

 

Thanks for the reply Mike. Funny thing is second day I noticed this I went to an ER, just so someone could look in my ear and they said my ears were TOO clean, as I q-tip them every other day, I was informed a human ear shouldn't ever be too clean, higher risk for infections and such.

It's the classic high pitched EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE which seems to be getting louder and louder

 

Didn't know there was a classic sound of T..maybe the one that Beethoven had then ! Classic T symphony - hehe

My approach right now is to focus less on tinnitus and more on ways to save and get back some of that actual hearing loss - hair cell and nerve damage. We have a window of opportunity to actually do some thing that may or may not improve the loss. ..like wear plugs all the time, or try other interesting experimental treatments.
As for T, I have the rest of my life to deal with it one step at a time so I am less worried.. besides the sound does not harm me or disturb people and there are ways to get your mind to forget it at times
In a way I am thankful for my brain to send my T - this is the last warning siren before serious hearing loss would have taken place ...so this constant sound reminds me that I cannot take my hearing for granted anymore and need to protect it at all cost..

I would never have noticed slow hearing loss without the T and probably destroyed my ears even more..so thank you T !

 

Yeah man, just got my earplug shipment from Amazon in today. Feels weird knowing I've gotta keep these things with me 24/7 from now on

 

There are treatments that can be administered within hours of T onset if it was caused by trauma to the inner ear. Otherwise I strongly suggest looking at the AM-101 trial.

www.tinnitus-study.info

 

Damn

 

Wow, just read up on that AM-101 thing. They've got a a trial office in Santa Monica which is less than an hour away from me.

Damn. Decisions decisions.