July 10 — Tinnitus Came Back / As of September 3, Tinnitus Again Almost 90% Gone

Hey everyone,

My name is Gian (I might have posted here under John). I came to tinnitustalk.com for the first time in July of this year. My initial reason for coming here was also because like many of you, I had acquired tinnitus. However, to be more specific, I acquired noise-induced T back in 2008 from just one night of clubbing. I've posted and responded to several individuals here offering my 2 cents since my first year living with T was probably one of the darkest periods of my life. As with practically everyone here, I did my due diligence and research finding reasons or "cures" for tinnitus; which to no avail occurred. However, I did things within my power to try and alleviate my T (which you can search for within this forum).

In July 10, my T came back and I was mortified and scared. I remember at that moment when I could hear it, I was wondering why it had come back. Could it be stress? Did it just come back due to the turbulent nature of T? Did I get an infection in my ear? Was it my diet?

My symptoms were:

July 10 - End of July: Constant T, probably around 10-15 dcbs and high pitched. I also had hissing sounds as well as "hearing" a swooshing sound similar to something you would hear when you hear blood or a fluid rushing through a tube.

In that instant, a lot of the anxiety and stress I had previously dealt with came rushing back. Despite this, since I overcame my initial bout with T, I decided to again implement lifestyle changes to my daily routine.

For the last 2 months I:

1. Slept with a white noise sound that I searched on google primarily to keep my mind not focused on my T
2. I began to order cold pressed juice 2-3 times as week (I wanted to get something green, since vegetables and fruits are high in antioxidants and also generally good for your arterial health)
3. I ate Subway almost everyday. Why do you ask? first, it's relatively cheap and i would ask for extra spinach, tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, olives, and bell peppers. I also opted for 9 grain wheat bread, no cheese, no deli meats (I ate only turkey or meatball or chicken teriyaki) and didn't use any condiments or dressings on the side
4. I began to implement exercising 2-3 hours 4-5 days a week. For me, this was the easy part since on a weekly basis I play badminton. It requires lunging, explosive, fast and quick movements and is a full body workout
5. I drank a lot of water (I'm a pretty big guy at 200 lbs. so I tried to drink 120-150 fl oz of water each day)
6. I began to decrease my caffeine intake (I love thai iced tea and typically went to starbucks 3-4 times a week while I was studying for my board examinations)
7. I MEDITATED and again began incorporating DEEP-BREATHING exercises daily once I would wake up
8. I started taking TEBONIN (the German grade Ginkgo Biloba) and daily Vitamin C
9. I tried to get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep
10. No loud music (listened to music at about 15 percent max volume while inside my car and haven't put on headphones for the last 2 months)

*For Tebonin, for me, I don't know if it was a placebo, but I did notice after taking 1 tablet per day, my T perception went down dramatically after 3+ weeks of daily usage

What I can say is this: as I type this at almost 3am PST USA, I .have no ringing in my ears. I can plug my ears and "look" for my T and it is not there. More so, to see if I was improving and face my fear of T, I went inside my car, rolled up the windows, sat there for 30 minutes and my T did not reappear.

What I have noticed is that my T does REAPPEAR after a strenuous activity such as exercising (playing badminton or lifting weights) but it is there for several minutes and gradually disappears [my theory is that blood pressure changes, low water intake during this period and any residual fluid in my ears may aggravate my T]

Also, the only time I can hear my T is after taking a shower-I have no idea why, but like I mentioned above, it disappears after several minutes.

With the plethora of reasons tinnitus comes into our lives, I hope for the best for each and everyone of you. Unlike some individuals who have lived with T their whole lives or have gotten T not through noise-induced trauma, I respect and admire your will to fight and live with t everyday. As just one individual, i can only offer help to those with noise-induced trauma, since that was the way I acquired T. But just as each of us is unique, I can sincerely say I am a living example of someone who has been nearly 100% healed through time, staying positive, and doing what is within my reach to essentially cure my T.

Although my T journey has not ended, I am ecstatic and thrilled about the positive outcomes this last 2 weeks have brought me.

I will still stay active on this forum (very dynamic, with great and caring members; I used to be active on dailystrength.org but here the correspondence percentage is much higher). If any of you have personal questions or concerns, please feel free to message me here or through my email via GCDPLZ@gmail.com and I will gladly answer you as quickly and promptly as I possibly can.

Best of luck to all of you and God bless!

Sincerely
Gian Penola

 

That's awesome! So happy that you're recovering again!!

I've been thinking about buying Ginkgold (the American version of Tebonin. It has all the same ingredients as the German one). I'm a little concerned about the interaction it may have with my SNRI. I've been taking Effexor XR for Anxiety & Depression for almost 8 years, and it does very well to keep me from having panic attacks. Were you ever on any SSRI's or SNRI's while you were taking the Tebonin?

My issue started 6 weeks ago. My T is noise-induced from a loud concert, and is unilateral in my right ear. It's primarily a loud ringing around 6000hz, with feelings of fullness and crackling when I swallow. I have a bit of H as well.

It's difficult to tell whether it's improved much or not. I know that a few mornings I've woken up and it was much lower, but after getting up for the day, it starts up again. It also sometimes turns into a high pitched hiss in the middle of the night when I'm laying on that side.

There are times where it seems to spike super loud still, which makes me feel discouraged.

Was your improvement very steadily linear, or did it fluctuate?

I started taking a B-Complex vitamin as well. Not sure how much it's helping, but I guess it can't hurt. Do you have any experience with that?

Sorry to ask so many questions, it's just giving me some hope to see that someone with noise-induced T has had success in ridding themselves of this.

 

hey @PrizeFighter23

Regarding the ginkgo biloba, there is a forum here that discusses some individual who had positive outcomes like me and some without. I don't know much about the American grade Ginkgold, but I did purchase the german grade one and it was shipped to me via New Zealand.

In terms of interactions, I would strongly suggest you talk to your physician regarding any drug-drug interactions since SNRI's and SSRI's (psychiatric medications) may potentiate, aggravate or have a synergistic effect when taken with other prescribed or OTC medications.

From what you're describing above, if your T starts to become intermittent (it comes and goes), the tones and frequencies become lower in volume I think it's a positive sign into the right direction; meaning your ears are starting to heal. I say this comment with a grain of salt because it is very similar to how my initial T was healed, but everyone is different and unique.

In terms of HEALING: my improvement was definitely non-linear and more of fluctuating days of good and bad. The one thing that I kept track of and also made me positive that I could make it is the duration and length of good days with barely noticeable T became longer, and the days where I was anxious and could hear my T became shorter.
For example:

July 10 - July 24ish

My T was constant, about 3-4 in volume (scale of 10), but was less aggravating after waking up in the morning

By August 10 - August 20ish

My T lowered in volume to about a 1, 1.5, started to become intermittent (I wasn't bothered or I could not hear it during the day while working, studying, or sitting by my computer) but I could hear it at night if I plugged my ears: the tones were more hissing now, with a slight high frequency ringing that was very faint.

By the end of August - my T only became intrusive if at night i would plug my ears and listen to it (basically looking for it). I noticed by this time I was getting uninterrupted sleep at night (7-8 hours of good sleep without waking up tired) and more importantly, I could sleep without the fan on at night. I could also sleep on my side with my ears facing down on the pillow and I could not differentiate if I had very low pitched T or if it was my external environment (the outside noise since I sleep with my window open).

The most POSITIVE OUTCOME I FELT was on September 3rd. I remember I was downstairs in my office, where there is no ambient sounds (windows closed, no outlets, no external stimuli as far as I'm concerned, and it was about 2am and I sat there in near complete silence without any T symptoms whatsoever. The only thing I could hear was an "aura" if I plugged my ears, which is probably the blood flow I could hear. This is what gave me a much needed boost to help myself and push myself to remain positive.

As of this very moment, it's 6pm here in Los Angeles, and I'm at a coffee shop with my earphones on (no music being played, just on) and I hear no high-pitched ringing or anything of the sort. I have a very faint hiss, but like I mentioned above, I feel this is the remaining 10% residual that I acquired from the 2nd bout of T.

I hope that clarifies your questions. Let me know if you have further questions and I'll try to be as helpful as possible.

(Regarding B-vitamins, I did not incorporate them into my lifestyle. The only supplements I took were vitamin C 1000mg daily and Tebonin (tebonin I started at half tablet per day for 3 weeks, then 1 tablet per day and I've been doing it ever since. I've also ordered another batch of Tebonin as I think I will continue to use it for maybe a duration of 6 months)

Regards
GP

 

Hello Gian,

Interesting story you posted here. Did your noise-induced Tinnitus actually go away completely between 2008 and last July 10 (as in: can't hear it even when plugging ears)?

Your story sounds somewhat similar to mine, as I also had a bout of noise-induced Tinnitus that went away completely back in 2010 (caused by a fireworks explosion underneath a tunnel where I was passing by). I had tinnitus for approx. 2.5/3 months after which it completely went away (didn't notice it anymore, even while plugging ears). I've posted a success story about that in this forum as a reminder to all, just because there are too little of those and to provide the hope that noise-induced Tinnitus CAN go away.

Currently I'm on my second bout of Tinnitus after attending a concert last July 28 for about 2.5 hours. I was a genius and attended the concert without earplugs after a colleague spontaneously asked me to go with her (hence, no earplugs). This time I appear to be less fortunate, because last August 28 I've passed my 4 month mark with Tinnitus. I am still hoping for improvements, but it's getting increasingly harder to keep up the good vibes as time goes by.

Recently I've had extended times where my Tinnitus was more of a high-frequency hiss, but since today the good old high pitched tone is back for no apparent reason. I know from my previous experience that any improvement is in no way linear and that my Tinnitus bounced all over the place. Do you remember experiencing such episodes of a returning high-pitched tone during your recovery as well?

I hope your improvements may last. I wish you much blissful silence.

Kind regards,

V.

 

@heartohelp - I too am curious of your healing progression during the first bout. It seems you dealt with it for over a year. How bad was it?

 

When you say a tone do you mean like a dialing tone on a phone?

 

Yes, constant but very high-pitched. While formerly it was a high-pitched fuzzy hiss. I considered the hiss to be an improvement (also because it was less intrusive).

 

Oh right that sounds truely awful, mines the fuzzy hiss noise.

 

I liked that one better! Has yours been going on continually since 2012? Did you attend a lot of gigs in the past? The funny thing is, I normally never attend gigs... Unlike the colleague I went with this time. She sometimes goes to like 10 concerts a year and yet, she doesn't experience any Tinnitus even though she never wears earplugs. I go once, and BOOM, there you have it.

The strange thing was that it appeared like a week after the concert, I didn't have any complaints after leaving the concert and slept like an ox the following night. Seeing as there is no other plausible explanation for my sudden onset of Tinnitus though, I keep the concert as the suspect to causing this. Also because I read that Tinnitus apparently can have a delayed onset since exposure due to the release of glutamate in the inner ear...

How did it go for you? Was your T instantly noticeable after the event or did you experience a more delayed onset?

 

I say 2012 but i barely noticed until around april last year when it must of upped in volume a bit. Yeah i have been to loads of concerts , about 30 probably(age 27). It is only in my right ear also.

Yeah it is strange but i think some people are more predisposed to it than others. I think it was a delayed onset as i can not pin point the time where i started noticing more, maybe because its been a gradual increase who knows? I just know it was sometime last year.

 

Amazing story man, I think you are extremely lucky because usually people that have noise induced T have muuch harder time getting rid of it !

 

Thank you Gian. -- Your story is very inspiring and gives many of us hope.

I've been at a constant 6/7 in my right ear for one year (after a loud rock concert).

I've tried various supplements and have heard about TEBONIN before. -- Is there a website that I can order it through and have it delivered to me in Chicago? -- I found it on Amazon for $55 including shipping for a 1 month supply. -- I would gladly pay $55/month even if it just lowers my noise level in half.

 

Ginkgold is the same as Tebonin, it's just made in the US. Plus it's a lot cheaper. I want to try it out myself, but I need to speak to a pharmacist first to see if it would have any bad interactions with my Effexor.

 

Great to know. Thanks!

I've been doing Ginkgold for about 3 weeks. -- Costs about $15/mo, however, no seeing progress just yet.

Someone said to try chewing Ginger a couple times a day until I feel a burning sensation. That is cheap too and will be next.

I'm not desperate. Just like trying potential remedies here and there to give me hope.

 

I can't find anywhere except for this site that says funk good is tebonin or egb71

 

Hey @Vinnitus, and @Tom Cnyc and @Sam Bridge

Glad to hear additional feedback. I'll answer V first.

1. Yes Vinnitus, my initial bout with Tinnitus went away. I have a post here on tinnitustalk where I talk about it. To summarize it briefly, I had bad T for a year, more or less. It began after I attended one clubbing event and stood next to the speakers. This initial bout with T was very aggravating. I remember after leaving the club, my hearing was muffled, the T in the background was loud (ranging from 6-7 in intensity and volume for the first 3 days), I had aural fullness, slight ear pain and a huge range of background noises along with the high pitched ringing. I went home and slept but it was still there. After several weeks, the T became lower in intensity in volume but it was still CONSTANT! It was probably after 3-4 months I began to habituate but I also did notice implementing lifestyle changes and also staying positive had huge outcomes for me. Unlike other people who have unilateral T, I had it in both ears. sometimes my T felt like it was in the middle of my head, sometimes it felt like it was going around in circles or stay in a particular region of my head. Like many of you with noise induced trauma, it took over my life for that 1 year. DESPITE THAT, I overcame T and was 95%+ healed from T from 2009 till July of this year. From 2009 till recently, I VERY RARELY experienced T (maybe 20 minutes from time to time) and hardly THOUGHT about T. During the times I would check if my T was there (primarily after showering, in bed at night) there was no T whatsoever. Basically, I would check up on my T maybe 3-4 times a year, and that was for 7 years!!!
2. Regarding concerts, I to this day have not attended any (even with alot of my favorite bands in the LA area), ZERO CLUBBING, and if I do go out to a loud area, I ALWAYS CARRY ear plugs.
But I'm not here to be negative. You said your T has been with you for over a year now. Can you describe any changes from the last 3-4 months? You mention you do have days of a high-frequency hiss; that Is something I experienced with also. I would have alternating days of hissing and ringing and days with both.

2.. Hey Tom! You are absolutely correct, I had T for a year initially. Here is a link I posted when I first joined tinnitustalk.com about my previous bout with noise-induced T.

3. Hey Sam! My tone for tinnitus was not like a dialing tone on a phone, it was a very high-pitched squealing sound. DO you know how everyone experiences T for mere seconds? Thats how my T was, but MUCH LOUDER and CONSTANT.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-for-7-months-now.16546/#post-194192

Hey @John Meyers

Aside from taking supplements, has your T changed in it's nature at all this past year? (i.e., volume, continuous, change in sounds).

And if you don't me asking, have you changed or modified your lifestyle, perhaps in terms of diet, exercise, or trying meditation, yoga, acupuncture, deep-breathing exercises?

 

@Mario martz Just tagging you to this thread!

 

My T has remained constant.

You are on to me though. -- I admit that when I am exercising and eating well, it is hardly noticeable. -- My challenge has been maintaining the diet and exercise when I get busy with work and family obligations.

Food has always been my little escape so now, I am realizing that I have an addiction to foods that aren't really good for me like pizza, mexican food, fast food, etc. -- I'll do great for a week and then go back to the bad habits when I get stressed with work or something else.

 

Hey @John Meyers

So you do notice a correlation between you exercising and eating well. I am the same way. My thinking nutrition wise is IF I eat healthy 80% of the time, and 20% of the time I eat away, during this latter period I will still eat in moderation.

Regarding exercise, I do know that having a long-term or consistent exercise regimen can have long lasting effects on someone's health, both short-term and as we age. I've also read peer reviewed journal articles stating some doctor's theorize people who work out and stay active generally heal from ailments and sickness's much faster since their bodies are basically functioning at an optimum level nearly at all times. When I also spoke to a second general practitioner, he mentioned aside from my young age at the time, increased blood flow to the ears could aid in the healing process, and overall would help with my cardiac well being.

However, I'm just like everyone else. I love Mexican food, junk food, and meat. To be honest, aside from remaining POSITIVE MENTALLY, the hardest thing to overcome was eating healthy. It took me several months before I was able to really implement a positive change regarding my diet. The key is consistency. If it helps, my suggestion on trying to maintain consistent is by having a marker board or a daily journal so it will keep you motivated towards eating healthy. I feel weird saying this, but having a visual you can see everyday really does help. It's similar to people who wear bracelets from Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which signifies their daily battle with alcoholism, but it also serves as a reminder they have come a long way in terms of staying consistent and working towards an end goal of abstinence. It's these small things that ultimately helped me move away from taking 1-step forward, 2-steps backwards.
I do understand we are bombarded with responsibilities and stress and other of life's stressors daily, so taking it one day at a time (not to sound cliche) really does work wonders.

I'd like to know if you could perhaps implement a 1 month eating healthy challenge and keep me and anyone else posted on any positive results or outcomes you have; not just for T but for your life in general.

Lastly, you mention your T has remained constant. Has the tones changed, "moved" position within your head, any new noises or decreased perception of other noises? I'm asking because the things I noticed once my ears started to heal were:

1. It went from constant to intermittent
2. The volume decreased for all sounds
3. The tones changed erratically but were significantly lower in volume (from: ringing to: hissing)
4. The sound was in different parts of my head (i.e., it didn't stay just in my ears-- which freaked me out at first)


Regards

P.S.-If you're unable to maintain a consistent workout and/or diet schedule, let me know if just cutting your caffeine intake or salt intake helps you in any form.

 

@heartohelp !!! First, thank you so much for all your wonderful posts. I've been reading them today and find them really helpful, not only for the information and your story, but because of your can-do attitude!

I have a quick question (because it's late here - otherwise I might write my usual book, so you're lucky! )!

Did you also, during your experience with tinnitus, have the somatic signs? For me, when I rotate my neck completely in either direction, or compress my neck muscles, or push down on the top of my head, and even when I walk with a rapid, pounding gait, I can increase the sound of the tinnitus.

I don't mean to imply that I have a physically-induced tinnitus because I'm aware that many nearby nerves will "cross-connect" and cause this aberrant sound, in addition to the ear - and brain-based ringing sound(s).

But I have also been experiencing a sporadic and changing quality of the tinnitus in my ears/brain (hoping for a continued decline, but it gets quiet and noisy in relatively unpredictable spurts). Sometimes, the somatic tinnitus is lower. And sometimes, it is noisier.

Did you have the somatic (neck/head movement) symptoms? And if so, did they decline? What I am wondering, in my relatively layperson scientific musings, is whether once the ear- and brain-based tinnitus/central nervous system symptoms abate/decrease/settle, do you think these aberrant secondary cross-connections break down?

Thanks!! And thanks for your friendly, caring attentiveness and helpfulness to the people asking questions on your thread!

 

Hey there @Path Maker

Regarding the somatic signs, I didn't experience any intensity of symptoms from the list you mentioned except for the neck one. If I hyperflexed my neck (chin to chest) or flexed my neck side-to-side (ear to shoulder) i could (and still can) here a ringing sound radiating from my ear that disappears completely upon completion of motion. HOWEVER, I can still hear a ringing sensation if I clench my jaw, OR if I manipulate my jaw in a way that makes me have a severe under bite.

This just proves the dynamic and multi-faceted nature of T. I'm almost certain that TMJ disorders do in fact have a direct relationship with certain types of T. Because of this, I'm always trying to keep updated with scientific journals and peer-reviewed work that is easily accessible if you're a college student via your school's library system which can use several reputable databases (medline, EBSCO) to research the latest research and news on T and everything else (Google and web browser searches aren't just enough).

In regards to your T, I see you've had it since December of last year; might I ask what changes you've had since that time (since it's been 9 months). I'm talking about:

Duration
Intensity
# of sounds decreasing/increasing
Constant vs "comes and goes"
Heard only at night, during the day

I'll get back to you on the cross-connections since I'm not too familiar with it and I'll need to read up on it.

Another thing I forgot to mention, back in 2008 when I got T, I spoke to Dr. Jack Vernon from ATA PERSONALLY ON THE PHONE! Even though the call was brief, after I explained to him how I got noise-induced T, he told me to do the water-faucet test. He said if you're a noise-induced T sufferer, if you can't hear your T with the faucet running don't think about your T too much. I think small, positive statements like that as well as from my second GP who said i could heal with time and remaining positive helped me tremendously.

 

Hey Gian,

Thank you very much for your extended reply. I feel it is important for me and everyone else here with noise-induced T that stories like these are told, so we can be reminded that T remission, even while noise-induced, CAN happen. The stories appear to be so rare though, it's hard to say if it's occurrence is just rare or the told stories itself are just rare.

I don't know if you were referring to me in your second point (regarding T being with me for over 1 year), but currently I'm in my 4th month of T (second bout). My first bout lasted about 2.5/3 months back in 2010, after which it went away completely. I have been T-free for about 6 years between 2010 and my new exposure in 2016 (April 28). During this time I absolutely had no Tinnitus at all (so it wasn't habituation), not even when having a cold or flu... If I plugged my ears, all I could hear was beautiful, blissful and deep silence.

Regarding concerts; I also never visit them normally, until last April 28 where a colleague asked me spontaneously and I had no earplugs. It left me with my current bout of Tinnitus. I'm currently abstaining from any loud noise exposure apart from the daily regular noise, so no more loud music for me...

Yesterday I wrote about my T turning from the recently more frequency high-pitched hiss back into the high-pitched tone. Luckily, today it seems to be back at the high-frequency hiss, for which I'm glad. It has been mainly a high-frequency hiss for like 2 months now, sometimes changing back to the tone.

I have a few more questions for you regarding your recovery and daily habits, if you don't mind me asking:

• Did you make an audiogram (either recent, before or after your first exposure or both?) and did you have any measurable hearing loss after the event? If so, at what frequency?
• Do you take any precautions against daily noise (like earplugs)? Or do you only use earplugs if things get too loud?
• Did you do anything special, like taking certain medicines/supplements, during your recovery with the thought of speeding things up? (Like John asked).
• Did you have any common illness during your 7 years (like the cold or flu), and did you notice your T was present during such times?

Does he mean to say that if you cannot hear your T over a running faucet, your chances of recovery are better? Or how should this be interpreted? I certainly cannot hear my T over a faucet or running shower, however, as I am a software engineer and working in silence a lot, the T often still gets to me during such moments and hugely interferes with my capacity to concentrate. It also seems like the T gets more intense when I'm sitting still, compared to when I'm standing or walking (then I almost don't notice it).

Also, when I need to do Skype calls for work with customers, I can hear my Tinnitus is going bananas while wearing the headphones. I'm always happy when the conversation is done, so I can take off the headphones.

Thanks again for your story!

 

Hey @Vinnitus

I'm glad your T went back to the hissing sound. I don't know if you agree with me, but i prefer a hissing sound anytime over any high-pitched frequency or tone -- hissing sounds almost sound like ambient sounds and can much easier be masked by our external environment or even outlets or appliances.

My general approach to T improving or not is this:

1. High pitched tones start to either a) go down in volume and/or b) they morph into hissing sounds or "fullness" sounds

2. If my T starts to become intermittent, I take that as a huge improvement since I feel our bodies are learning to adapt with T and/or our cochlear hairs are beginning to recovery from auditory damage

Regarding your questions:

1.I did not have an audiogram; I did however have an audiometry test done. I simply wore headphones and indicated to the medical personnel whether or not I heard a frequency, from high to low. Therefore I don't know if I had any specific frequency hearing loss.

2. Daily precautions for my T when I had them both bouts was to carry earplugs (the one's that are portable in a small capsule) in my car to prepare myself just in the case I went to a restaurant or outdoor venue where loud music was being played. I did not however wear ear plugs outside or inside on a daily basis. Why? My reasoning is that part of the healing process is your ears need to adjust to your surroundings; if I wore ear plugs everyday or several hours a day, I was afraid i would develop hyperacusis, since my brain would actively try to enhance or "make louder" normal sounds.

3. I've read about many medicines, supplements and so forth; despite that, during my initial bout with T (2008, 22 years old), I DID NOT incorporate any OTC supplements or herbals. The primary thing I did was change my diet and exercise consistently. One thing I would like to clarify with everyone is: Tinnitus took over my life, and I began to become severely depressed, and found no joy or happiness in things that would often make me feel better. Therefore, I understood that gravity that T played in my life. I decided then that to overcome T, I could not just sit down and dwell on it and hope for a miracle to happen. I literally sped up my healing by working hard 100% everyday for half a year straight. Which leads me back to exercise and dieting. I think that one of the biggest problems we have today as society as a whole, we expect to be cured by just taking a pill. That's why when I was doing research, I would get upset and angry when I would see ads or medications that would "cure" my T by just taking a pill. My approach was; Tinnitus is a severe depletion in the quality of life for many people; therefore, to get my quality of life back, I had to do a complete 180 in many aspects of my life, and I knew that EVEN IF THERE WAS A CHANCE diet, exercise, remaining positive, medications would have absolutely NO EFFECT on my T, I knew that my overall general mental and physical well-being would be ten times better by doing things I could control.

4. I was like any other kid growing up, however I do not remember having any ear infections (even though I was a swimmer as a kid). In relation to what you're asking, during the 7 years of 95%+ healed of T, I got strep throat, stomach flu, and several colds and I never once experienced an increase in T or T being present during times of fever.


Regarding your question about Dr. Jack Vernon,

I took his advice that if my noise-induced T was not audible with a normal kitchen faucet running, I should not let it take over my life, since there are individuals with much louder T 24/7 (I've read such stories here on tinnitustalk.com that some people can hear their T over a jet-engine <--- those are the real heroes). It also made me realize I was fortunate that my T was primarily bothersome if I looked for it or if I was in a quiet environment.

Related to this, I'm telling you and everyone else, forget all the negativity about T; I say respect and show empathy for those sufferers who've had the worst time of their lives with T--BUT, each individual is different. I filtered out all the bad and negative things I read, and focused on positive outcomes I saw from other's peoples post as well as my own.

Lastly,
You mention you Skype with clients. When I wear headphones in public spaces (coffee shops primarily) I do put them on so I can concentrate, but I wear over-the-ear headphones since I notice I don't feel much ear pressure, and also I've noticed with in-ear or on-ear headphones, I sweat more, which makes me think some of that sweat may enter my ear canal and possibly aggravate my middle and inner ear sections.

 

Hello Gian,

In the first couple of month's, I went on an Arbonne "detox" diet which involves no sugar, coffee, salt and incorporates healthy shakes, grass fed meats, etc. -- I also worked out more and did feel awesome which really took my mind off of T.

My wife has been on a no-sugar diet for a year now and is very involved in her "no-sugar anonymous" (I forget the correct name) which is based in Los Angeles (we're in Chicago).

You would think that all this would keep me on my diet and exercising but I fall off the wagon pretty much every weekend or when work gets busy/stressful.

In addition, I got more involved in my church's men's club which now has a President who likes to party and have our meetings in the local pub, golfing, etc (yes, we are Catholic The beer drinking really puts my guard down and I eat bad the next day to overcome my once-a-week mild hangover. -- I love those guys but the partying really derails me.

More recently, I have had work stresses (real estate) but that is nothing new. -- I overcame a hellacious real estate period a few years ago where I was very very depressed so I am happy that T never pushed me back into that state!

The junk food thing is a vicious cycle and I can really relate to folks all over who struggle with eating healthy and staying in shape.

You have really inspired me with your insight Gian. -- I believe the doctors who say that a healthy lifestyle will help us overcome most ailments. -- I've been sort of saying this over the last year but am not practicing what I preach.

I am going to put my new healthy diet in writing and stick to it. -- I know what to do and just need to implement it.

To answer your question, my T has remained constant with no variations in sound. I believe that my inner ear hairs where knocked down like hay in a field (sorry for being non-technical) during that concert and nerves were permanently damaged. -- I remember a burning feeling 3 or 4 times during that concert and kick myself every time I think of it since it was a result of me cupping my ear trying to be funny. -- It's not so funny now but T has given me a new outlook on life and I pay much more attention to those who suffer from other types of ailments.

In the last year, T has made me more humble but I would still love to get this monkey off my back..

 

Thank you, Gian! I'm dashing out for the day but will return to answer these questions later in the week.

If you want to research the somatic tinnitus, there is a researcher named Susan Shore who is a great reference to start with. I don't have any links immediately at my fingertips, but if you search her out here and on google, you'll surely find many.

 

@John Meyers where were your seats

 

People can hear it over jet engines??? What the hell?

 

Hello Gian,

Thank you once again for your very extensive reply. I'm sure, aside from me, a lot of forum members will find your story useful.

I certainly prefer the hissing sound over the tonal one. It kind of more "blends in" with the background noise. In fact, today at work my Tinnitus was so low, I couldn't discern it over the daily office noises. It was a great relief today, especially compared to earlier when my tonal T returned. Currently I'm typing this in silence and can hear a faint hiss going on in seemingly my left ear (it also has some aural fullness there, which has been constant the last 4 months). I know however, that tomorrow it might be a different story regarding intensity.

I'm not sure if cochlear hairs actually can recover after such a long time (months). This is way beyond the usual temporary treshold shift, where it's assumed the hair cells can still recover from damage. I guess any improvements in this phase aren't so much attributable to hair cells, but more to how the brain handles the lost auditory input (plasticity)...

I have been thinking Tinnitus might be caused by some kind of chronic inflammation of the brain. I've been hypothesizing it here: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/diy-low-level-laser-therapy-for-tinnitus-on-a-budget-—-lllt-under-100.15342/page-9#post-202120. The link to Alzheimer's is up to debate and controversial, but the process of glutamate/free-radicals release upon noise exposure causing (chronic) inflammation and hyperexcitation makes sense to me somehow. Maybe you also have some thoughts about this...

I have three audiograms currently, one from 2010, made after my initial noise trauma. It shows hearing within normal tresholds. The other two were made after my second exposure (recently). Strangely enough the first one shows a 30dB loss in the 2Khz frequency, while the one I took one week later shows only a 15dB hearing loss at the same frequency. Of course, audiograms are a snap of the moment, but 15dB is quite a difference.

Regarding wearing earplugs in daily situations; I have the same point of view. During my initial bout I made no adjustments for exposure to daily noise, but completely avoided loud places. It was apparently sufficient (or unrelated) as 2.5/3 months later my T disappeared.

I'm thinking about taking up exercise again. After my first experience with Tinnitus, I took up swimming. It might have contributed to my recovery, who knows... I remember that swimming as a kid caused me ear infections, so this might have contributed to "weaker ears" now.

Regarding Jack Vernon, I agree the super loud T is where the champions are born, but I'm not aspiring to become one. I'm grateful mine doesn't appear to be like that (yet?) and is most often of a mild nature. It still bothers me though due to my line of work, which often takes place in quiet environments.

Thanks again for your replies. I hope your Tinnitus will stay the way it was at the start of this thread, or even improve further. How is it now?

 

Hey @John Meyers

That's awesome your wife follows a strict and very controlled diet. So you do notice a correlation with eating healthy and working out right? I'm happy you have an excellent support system with you. Regarding your going to a pub, I suggest you bring disposable earplugs with you just to be on the safe side since many pubs can indeed get pretty loud. I've also looked up hearing plugs/aids on amazon and I noticed there was one that was reusable, and it did not completely block out sound; rather it turned down external sound about 20 decibels. I'm thinking of purchasing it and trying them out. (I'll update everyone if I do indeed purchase them)

Regarding your T; you're actually correct (according to my physician) and some articles I read previously. Within our ears, the cochlear (the snail shell looking structure) actually does have micro cilia (e.g., hairs). I do know that when we are exposed to loud noises, these hairs can basically either die-off or get "knocked down" as you mention so you're correct in terms of that aspect. I've also heard from GP when you hear intermittent tinnitus (picture it before you had constant T), that faint ringing that lasts mere seconds indicates a cochlear hair as died... [side note: thats why I feel stem-cell insertion within the ear may prove as a possible cure for T in a couple of years]

I truly wish you the best of luck on your future endeavors; please keep us posted if there are any changes within your T and your general health and well being when your busy schedule permits.

 

Will do Gian. Thanks again for the insight. I do always carry the ear plugs for when things get loud. -- Thankfully, we are usually in the beer garden or a separate meeting room off to the side which is quiet.

Talk with you soon.