Just My Intro

[Diver Ed]

Hello everybody!

I found this site when I googled "Tonaki Tinnitus Treatment scam?", and saw all the warnings to stay away!

Thank you for the warning by the way - up at 2:30am, can't sleep and looking for anything that will stop this, and found this forum.

My tinnitus started on May 12th, 2018 at 7pm. The 3 days prior it had turned on for a minute as I laid on the couch watching tv. On the 12th it turned on and stayed on! Let me give some of my history. I own my business cleaning yacht bottoms in the Palm Beach area. So I am underwater all day, every day. Have been a commercial diver since 1994, started on boat hulls in 1996, started my own business in 2002. I have to say I THINK my tinnitus is from transducers (depth sounders) being left on and me spending a few hours under boats getting clicked on.

My story sounds a lot like most peoples I have read....Went to the Doctors, got a referral to an ENT. The ENT is very nice, and understanding, but there is nothing really to do. I have taken a hearing test, and as far as hearing loss its just a little at higher tones, nothing really that bad. The staff actually said "your ears look surprisingly good considering what you do". At first the sound was loud! Couldn't sleep...couldn't concentrate….didn't enjoy anything with this high pitch noise all around. I found out if I changed my dive gear around (went from full face mask to a scuba mask and regulator) it lessened the tinnitus enough to be tolerable. HEY I WOULD TAKE IT!!!

And that's how it was until about six weeks ago. I got a very bad cold and my hearing got very muffled even after the cold had past. I could not even hear my wife and daughter talk right next to me on the couch. Music sounded flat, and it kind of all sounded alike. Went back to the ENT, I have fungus in my right ear.

So he has me using a antibiotic powder in my ears to heal the fungus. I don't know what happened but Friday August 17th, the day after the Dr. appointment, the tinnitus started going up and down in volume very bad, also in tone, from a white noise sound to almost a bell sound. It is maddening! The noise is all I can think about. I don't know what else to do.

 

[Contrast]

I am the author of the anti tonaki scam thread, you are welcome.

 

[robHing]

antibiotic powder in my ears

Hi... Welcome...
So sorry to read your story.
I am sure that there will be more info provided by other forums members.
All I can say ... antibiotic medicine will worsen your tinnitus.
You should stay away from it.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I don't know what else to do.

Can you find the antibiotic you have been using on
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf

If you can, stop using it immediately, and ask your doctor for something else (make sure it is not on this list)...

Hopefully some of the information on
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822
will be useful to you.

 

[New Guy]

Diver Ed. Welcome to TT. I like your selfie thumbnail.

 

[John CC]

Hello Diver Ed I too am new to tinnitus, one month in. I am glad you found this forum as it gave me the hope and the support I needed from a lot of different people who are united by one element, tinnitus. From what I have read and experienced, the first couple of months are very stressful. You find yourself asking what is this, why me, what is next. As I am new to the world of T. I can only give you insight into the stuff I had to learn right at the start. There are others on this forum who can speak with much greater knowledge about hearing and tinnitus. Mine can get so loud I hear it over a car engine on the highway, I hear it when I wake up. What gets me through it is the support and wisdom I have received on this forum telling me, after patiently listening to me, as to what was happening to me and what to expect. For me it was that I had some hopeful signs. So far, their advice has been pretty good, and what I needed.

Everyone knows what you are going through, and you are not alone, you have support at this site. There are others who regularly read, support and answer your questions. Just realize that this site is a world wide site, so if people do not respond right away, it is because they may be on another continent. So when you look for responses and your thinking, only 1 reply, give it some time. Congrats on atleast getting an ENT who was supportive, unforunately that appears to be a rarety. My ENT had faint interest in my case, tinnitus, nothing to do here, goodbye.

As I suspect, you have already been reading the post in the Introduce Yourself and Support sections. These section may help you gain some insight to issues and aspects of tinnitus. From what I have started to learn is that loud noise = bad (so at the start listen to your music at a lower volume and movies can be loud so be wary and keep the volume down), head phones = bad, ear protection = good (ear plugs or ear muffs or a combination of), being aware and not letting your guard down, e.g., going into a loud restaurant or coffee shop without ear protection and thinking it will be ok = not good, realizing and having and believing in your future and hope (wife and daughter) = good. When you go to bed have some music playing in the background, just enough to match your T to help you sleep. I have found on the internet Tinnitus Sound Therapy music, and for me it helped. I listened to different music, some spoke to me, some didn't. I have it on during the day, and at night I take my laptop into by bedroom and play it overnight (some of the sites go for 8 to 10 hours). It is important, and much easier to say than do, learn to focus your attention from the screeming in your ear. One approach of many could be to shift your focus, and try to think of your wife and daughter. From what I have learned in a number of cases it does get better, but that is where others can share their greater wisdon on this. As I said I am new myself so I focus on the importance of support and hope at this important entry time to the world of T. as I call it. Coffee Girl, Bill B., Fishbone, Micheal L., Glnyis, Greg among others who have a lot of good ideas, and more expereience than I do.

Best of luck, I hope this helps.
John CC

 

[PortalNaut]

@Diver Ed Your situation is sure unnerving and I hope your fungus stops and then your hearing gets to normal.

I didn't know anything about Sonar/depth-sounding, so did some lookups, and while there are some using GHz range, lower frequency transducers can be 25k-400KHz. That low end is beginning to be near human hearing. You probably know this and more. Perhaps sadly there was a job-risk here you did not know beforehand or didn't understand fully. Of course, you can have other noises in your life that contributed to T , like being a concert goer, headphone user at high volume, screaming people etc.

In any case you need to heal your ears and then find the best way to help them continue to heal, and have hope and patience. I know it is very disconcerting, but for a person who has shown the resourcefulness in life that you have so far, I'm sure you will be able to make a way.

 

[Diver Ed]

Thank you all so much for this information! This board is just great...

I found a sound therapy on YouTube that seems to take the spikes out. It takes about 10 mins after I turn off the therapy to work.

 

[John CC]

Hello Diver Ed Actually, I listen to the same site. It comes in both a 1 and 10 hour cycle. One thing I have started to do is to listen to other sound therapy sites as well. I started with that one and one that had a very similiar sound. Then I started listen to others that had more of a nature sound, crickets and rain, and I found that the variety worked for me. Just remember, T. is as individual as are finger prints, and it is important to find what works for you. Glad you are getting some sleep.
Best of luck

 

[Diver Ed]

I checked with my ENT about the antibiotics. What I am taking is not on the list above of bad ones. The office said that the powder is plugging up my ear and that is what is making it worse. I am kind of a different case because of my job. Ear infections are hard to clear up.

I would like to ask the board a question. When the tinnitus turned on I started using a divers ear plug, one that allowed a small amount of water into the ear. They helped at first, then when I did the switch over to mask and regulator the plugs seemed to make it worse. So I quit using them. What my question is for those who are more knowledgeable than me is: Do you think when I am cleaning the waterline as I move above and below the water could be hitting my ear drums and causing trauma? It never bothered me before, but since T the act of breaking the waterline at ear level seems louder! The plugs prevent the rush of water into the ear canal. But the days I use them my T seems to be louder.

Thank you all for your help with this!!!

 

[Bill Bauer]

Is it at all an option for you to stop diving for the next 6-12 months?

 

[Diver Ed]

Is it at all an option for you to stop diving for the next 6-12 months?

No. No way.