Just Another One

Hi guys and girls,

My name is Bas, I am 23 years old born and living in the Netherlands and having Tinnitus since 21-01-2015.
I am reading this forum for two weeks now, 1st of all I would like to give you my respect for people's courage, compassion and living with this symptom in any form every day.

At 10-01-2015 on a Saturday night I went out (for the last time) in a very loud club in Germany when I went home from a 1 hour drive I noticed my ears were suffering from “disco-tinnitus”. The next day I still had a slight ringing in my ears but it wasn’t as bad as it was the day before. On Monday the ringing disappeared during the day so no worries for me.

• A remarkable thing was, that evening a friend of mine, which joined me that night told me about he always hear a light ringing when he goes to bed. He didn’t wore earplugs that night which he normally does and didn’t noticed any difference in his Tinnitus after that night. Maybe some little voice into my head activates something which might sounds familiar to you: “cognitive perception”.

From that Monday until 21-01-2015 I didn’t noticed any ring in my head or ears although I slept in silence room and play games with my headset (on safe volume level).

Well, then in the evening of 21-01-2015 I was gaming with my headset on and accidently putted my feet on the red power button of an extension cord. Everything was silence in a second and there it was: A RING (in my left ear), I immediately panicked because I already knew (because of a TV-show some years ago) that such ring is not going away. I immediately linked this ring to the night out of 10-01-2015. That night I went to bed early but waked up at 4:00AM with having an anxious attack. The ringing is a high pitched monotone sound from an old television, I can hear it all day beside in my car, under the shower and during gym time. Started in my left ear but soon it was in my left head, now it is for the most time at the right sight of my head.

In the period before the ringing I was under major stress during large project (bachelor thesis) and high expectations from myself, school and the company I write the thesis for. Two days before the ringing started my proposal was rejected what caused an unpleasant feeling a short night sleep.

The next day I went to my GP and he sent me to an ENT, which I could visit on 27-01-2015. During the days I was very panicking and anxious and for 2 hours light headed (probably because of stress). On the 27th of January I did an standard audio-gram at the ENT an my hearing was normal, she told me that this ringing happened to more people and that it probably would go away in two months. That was it and I felt pretty good and almost didn’t noticed the ringing for one week.

Then on the 3rd of February I was playing games again and because I like social stuff, putted on the headset to talk to some friends. I immediately heard the ringing again and the anxious feelings came back just as fast as they disappeared after I visited my ENT. Since that day until the 28 of February I had good and bad days but it didn’t worried me that much.

Until the first week of March, my anxious came back because of the lack of information provided by professionals and I started to visit internet sites (I know, never do that). This resulted in a panic attack at the 5th of March. This panic attack held on until Sunday 8 March. I took two days off work, visited my GP again and I slowly started to be myself again.

Ever since the 5th of March I have a little depression this is not only caused because of the ringing which is now at the right sight of my head. I am also dizzy, every day since the panic attack and this holds on for almost 3 weeks now. Mostly I am dizzy when watching to a computer screen, it just starts and goes on for 3-4-5 up to 8 hours until I stop watching the computer screen and then the dizziness stops really quickly. Since 5 march I was only dizzy 3 times in busy environments where a lot of people were talking.

This dizziness worries me now just as much as the ringing in my head. I am constantly feeling myself down/dejected and I am really worried if I will ever be able to enjoy life as much as I did before. The ringing in my head + the dizziness is just putting me on so much stress. I am stressed out from the start of the day until I sleep. I don’t know how but I sleep almost as good as I always did (seems to be a blessing from god). Only sometimes I wake up at night with very hard whizzing of my ear drums (looks like I just walked out of a club).

I just can’t enjoy anything since the ringing started, when I go to the gym the ringing seems to be so much louder after it. I try not to listen to it but I still hear it, it just panicking me out so much!!

Have made some new appointments with professionals, visited my GP again today but nothing he could do (blood pressure was fine). Have made an appointment at the 11th of April with an ENT and on 22 April with an audio logical centre. Also the 1st of April I have an introduction at a physical therapy to see if something is wrong with my neck/shoulder muscles.

Do you people have any advice for me not to listen to it / not let it be irritating for the whole day? My mental health is decreasing so much and I normally always am a chill guy with an “everything is going to be all right” attitude. It seems like I lost my faith into this attitude.

I need some good support/tips how I can get my happy life back, and how I can reduce the thinking in my head.

Thanks for reading my story. All the best to you!

 

First of all avoid headphones... In my first days of T when I used phones the volume increased a lot... About the dizziness, maybe it's just your mind. In my early days of T I was convinced that I was dizzy and it was only paranoia, because I read a lot about it and most of the people referred to dizziness, so I guess it was just suggestion. You can have T and don't have dizziness. I have it for about 18 years and I never had dizziness except the one i imagined I had...

 

Might be just an Illusion indeed. Luckely my GP called the ENT clinic and I can go there next monday!

Still I do think the volume of the ring increased, even without loud noises or something. Is this just because of stress and anxiety and can this be permanent?

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-is-whimsical-cruel-and-unpredictable.8761/

 

Thanks.
Do you know why my eardrums are whizzing so often? It is mainly when I lay in bed and especially when I wake up. When I stand up it stops, but now I am awake for 2 hours and my ear still feels a little full and sounds seems to be a bit different. What can this whizzing be? It is like I just walk out of a club when I wake up.

 

Well, you did go clubbing without earplugs so it might be just that. Irritated hair cells if you are lucky.

 

Strange thing is, it started for 3-4 weeks after my Tinnitus was there so around 5-6 weeks after clubbing. I will discuse it with my ENT next Monday, thanks for your reply

 

You might want to look at HBOT. But do it ASAP!

 

Might be, but it is getting progressively worse each week.
I will discuss my problems tomorrow with my ENT.

 

Hearing was far above average and my eardrums were nice and clean. No idea what kind of problem I have. At the 22nd of April I go to an anthropology, lets see what that brings me.

 

Was the hearing test up to 22000Hz ? If not, http://onlinetonegenerator.com/hearingtest.html

Be careful with the volume !!!

 

Thanks for the link. . I can hear up to 14300.

 

@Ricky81 , wanna trade? I can hear up to ~2400hz.

 

Nope up to 8000. I will do that test at the anthropology, doubtful about the reliability of such test on the internet could make me worry unnecessary and that is certainly something I want to avoid.

 

It's audio frequencies. Not rocket science. You can hear music live or on mp3. But I doubt that any audiologist is playing those frequencies live.^^

 

Ok, how loud did you set the volume? It plays a major role. I can hear upto about 15.500 (old CRT TV sound) in normal volume setting. From then on tinnitus takes over. But if i turned the volume bar on windows way dow at zero (still got sound at minimum level, headphone output) I can listen upto 13.500. If I turn it way up I can hear upto 17.000. And at 50% volume bar, I get 16.500 or something. Both ears hear about the same BUT quality of sound is worse in the Tinnitus ear.
A sidenote, my T sound exactly like a high frequency (about 16.000) and loud. Listening to that frequencies for a while makes it calmer!

Before you say you envy me, let me tell you I got an extremely high and annoying hyperacusis and a reactive tinnitus that covers even the most loud sounds. But then again, a few ents told me I got hyper-hearing (for my ages), like a babys hearing, being able to listen to very high frequencies which is probably why I am bothered by my T so much!

 

Skoupidos, great that you have something to make it calmer!

I was just at the chiropracter and she said that all my muscles related to Tinnitus are under extreme tension.
So I have make some appointments for further threatment lets see what it does!

And I have to relax more, can't relax, never could actually even without Tinnitus. So this might seems the thing for me in combination with a cource of mindfullness.

Hope you guys do well and I keep updating in case something change, it might help you aswell.

 

Of course she said that. They always say this! 'cause they want your money. No matter if your T is related to muscle tension or not. Getting a massage is neat but, trust me, it won't do anything to your T.

@skoupidis , I set it so loud that I could not put the earplug in my ear! I had to hold it +3 inches way from my ear. I checked with my right ear (heathy one; almost..). So I could hear the sound with my right ear.. but nothing with my left even when I closed the distance to less than 1 inch.

 

Probally true, but can stress make my head muscles get under tension? The money ain't much only three treatments and the insurance covers it all

 

Is it possible to get Tinnitus 12 days after acoustic trauma? I am sure it wasnt there 100% cause slept in the days between in complete silence and played games on safe volume with my headset which blocks most sounds outside the environment.

 

Yes it is.

 

Care to elaborate on mechanisms? Does it apply for other kind of trauma or acoustic only?
Not ironical - just curious.

I'm going to buy NAC tommorow just in case I still could get worse and it might prevent that.

 

@Xorthian This article elaborates on the mechanisms that might be at play:

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/29/45/14077.full.pdf+html

They only mention the case of acoustic trauma but I would imagine It could also be the case with any kind of cochlear insult.

 

Hearing is perfect by the way, If I read correctly that article goes about hearing loss.

 

I got the exact same thing. Tinnitus hit about 12 days AFTER a loud concert (during which I had 25 DB earplugs in my ears the whole gig).

I am also in Holland. Maybe we can connect.

 

The article talks about a form of hearing damage that is not detected by conventional audio grams.

 

Informative article if rather depressing as it describes pretty much what is going on with my inner ear.