Introducing Myself After 4.5 Months with Tinnitus and Reading Tinnitus Talk

Hi,

My name is Edu, I live in Madrid with my girlfriend, I am 34, engineer and have been several months in both T and TT. I have read a lot of info in this site but almost this is my first time writing (only once I wrote that I was trying to participate in AM-101 trials).

I was a very happy person last year. A small promotion at work, plans to get married, plans with my friends...
On December the 6th, a very common day, I started hearing a high pitched sound in my left ear. I thought it was a kind of ear infection and that it would fade by itself. Some days later I visited my GP and she mentioned to me a new word: "acúfeno" (Spanish for tinnitus). When I got home I googled it and could not believe this was going to be chronic. I visited an ENT doctor who told me it would likely disappear, but I could not believe him. He told me I had hearing loss in high frequencies, but he told me not to worry.
Those first weeks were horrible, I was a wreck, crying, panic attacks, starting to consider the big "S"... I lost 8 kilos in one month. If it hadn't been for my girlfriend, family and friends... I looked for any solution, no matter how crazy it was. Homeopathy, acupuncture, any magic medicines or patches, etc. I read a huge amount of information here in TT and other sites in Spanish.
In mid January, 1.5 months in, I started feeling better three days in a row for the first time. I felt extremely happy. Then, I received a call from AM-101 trials. I was rejected. It did not mind at all to me (because I started believing in habituation). But the doctor also explained to me how worrying my audiometric was and that I should avoid any noise, protect my ears always and even consider to leave the city. I went down for the second time and felt very depressed.

I needed help and visited a psychiatrist. He gave me ADs and sent me to a psycologist. I have been three months taking ADs and doing CBT since then. I take care of my hearing a lot. I always take with me my earplugs and avoid noisy environments. I listened watch TV and to music in a low volume (spent more than two months without hearing any music!). I stopped using headphones except sometimes with white noise and with very low volume. Most of the days I can be in silence without being nervous. I most of the days am feeling good. I have some less good days, like today, but have the hope that I am better tomorrow. It looks (fingers crossed) that the trend is that number of bad days are reducing.

I always hear my T because it is high-pitch and I had a big hearing loss at those frequencies (~65dB). It is similar to a 6000 Hz tone. Some days its volume is low and I can be in silence with no problems. Others, like today, it is much higher and I hear white noise at a low volume.

My life, little by little, seems to go back to normal. Hope this trend continues and to start giving some support to people in need, like I was and still am.

Edu

 

Hi edu
and thank you for your story.

 

Thank you for this story. It greatly helps me. What AD's are you taking? How long do you think it took for them to work?

 

Thanks for your comments!
Yesterday I had a big T day and today it has decreased a lot. I wish I could understand what makes it go up and down, but I have no idea.
@Marie79, I am taking escitalopram, 15mg a day. I started with 5mg, then 10, finally 15. In three weeks I started feeling better. I have not felt any change in my T (it changes every day by itself!). It says it can cause tinnitus in "at least 1 person out of 1000 and less than 1 person out of 100". Not my case. Taking ADs and doing CBT has been a good decision in my ENT doctor's opinion and in mine.

 

Hi @Edu great story, I’m about 4 months with T, and things have started to get very slowly better , although I found myself crying today in frustration, and still have anxiety but it’s calm down from the first 3 months but felt better after. Please keep us updated with your jouney, I wish you the best

 

Hi edu. Thank you for sharing your story. I really needed to hear something positive today and your story is. I may save your post to read when I'm having a bad day.

May I ask the cause of your hearing loss? Were you around music or loud equipment?

 

It say acoustic trauma in his profile.