Long Time Lurker, Decided to Say Hi

[Paul Montaperto]

Hello. My name is Paul Montaperto, and I've been suffering with tinnitus since October of 2018.

I've abused my ears with loud concerts, loud music in my car, and through my ipod and ear buds since I was 16. I am 31 now. Interestingly enough, all that abuse is not what started my tinnitus.

Off and on since I was 26, I had dealt with Ear Wax blockage, or cerumen (medical term for ear wax). I would wake up and my hearing would be distorted and greatly blocked. I never thought much about it and I've never been one to go to the Dr. about... well... anything really. I would stick my finger in there and wiggle around until my hearing returned to normal. Eventually a friend lent me an ear cleansing device (a spray bottle with an attachment allowing me to stick it in my ear and clean my ears)... that worked well for years.

Until one morning, I was having a dream. In my dream I heard a loud, extremely high pitched ringing noise. It was very bothersome, but no one else in the dream could hear it. I explained to them that I can hear higher pitched noises than most others (Neon blinking lights bother me to the point I was at a a bar and asked the bar tender to turn it off because it was so disturbing to me, while no one else in the bar could hear it).

I woke up, and my left ear was completely blocked. I snapped my finger and could hear nothing from that ear. It had never been that blocked up before. I ran to the shower, ears ringing like CRAZY... so loud... and fiddled with my ear and used the cleaning device. My hearing returned but the ringing never went away.

After two days I went to urgent care where they determined that both my ears were extremely clogged. They cleaned them out, but the ringing never went away. I developed hyperacusis for a few weeks, luckily that went away. But the ringing has never stopped.

My tones vary... generally I have two that are around 3000 Hz and 13500 Hz. Over the first few weeks I joined many support groups on fb (all which are terribly negative and basically useless) and eventually I found this site through another, EXTREMELY helpful site (http://www.generalfuzz.net/acrn-hifreq/) that helped me relax.

That's my story...

Sorry it was so long. I type fast and figured I'd give the full background. I've been here a while and I rarely ever see anyone talking about earwax induced tinnitus so I decided to finally register and introduce myself.

I was basically deaf in my left ear for who knows how long while I was asleep... and that is what I believe started my tinnitus.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum, well at least as a registered member, lol. since you have been lurking as you said. Have the emergency doctors checked for ETD or the blockage of the eustachian tube? Did they drain the ears of fluid build up or wax? What about draining the eustachian tube?

You can give this draining exercise by a MD a try to see if your ringing will be less. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

 

[TEAnnitus]

Hi Paul,

A fellow lurker here Sorry, this is going to be a long one, but I'll give you my whole story in one go (I try to limit the time I spend on forums and on researching T so that I don't focus on it all the time).

I think I am dealing with a similar problem atm. I noticed a mild ringing in my right ear in late February 2019. It wasn't really bothering me at first and I thought it would just go away, but over the course of a week it became bad enough for me to go to the Doc. Doc looked into my ears for 30 seconds and said she can't see anything as they are full with earwax. I was prescribed some drops and a spray and told to come back in a week to remove any wax that was left.

I started to use the drops religiously over the next week. Some of the drops must have gotten trapped behind all the wax, because I could notice my hearing getting muffled, but I carried on regardless. At some point during this process, my T got bad enough for me to consider going to A&E and ask for them to give me something, anything that would make this horrible sound stop that by now was in both ears, my head and so loud that I thought my skull would split. When my T was at its worst, I decided to take a shower and I made it a really hot, steamy one. When I got out, I used the little bulb syringe that came with my eardrops and managed to get A LOT of hard, black earwax out of both ears. The T in my left ear disappeared immediately, the one in my right ear (where the T had started) dropped to about 20% of its original level. It was shocking how well I could hear after that all of a sudden. My ears must have been blocked with wax for years and I must have not noticed how much this had impacted my hearing because it was a gradual process. After the wax was out, I had to ask my husband not to shout at me when we were having a normal conversation.

Over these past few weeks since getting the wax out, I think my brain and my ears have been trying to adjust to my suddenly improved hearing (and I believe this is where the residual T in my right ear is coming from). A lot of sound had been blocked out for probably several years and I guess my ears now need to come to terms with the fact that they don't need to work overtime anymore. I took a holistic approach towards supporting my body with this:

1) I have been eating well (lots of fruit and vegetable to boost my vitamin intake and to reduce any inflammation that I might have, I have been drinking lots of water with fresh lemon as I read somewhere this is good for the brain. I also drink green tea (again, this is good to fight inflammation) and I take a magensium and B12 supplement every day. I limit coffee to one cup a day and only have the odd glass of wine.

2) I have been trying to de-stress (I am not a doc, but I can't imagine stress is good if your body is trying to heal) and I also try to get at least 7 hours of sleep (although I don't always succeed with that).

3) I have been protecting my ears (no clubs, no noisy bars, no concerts, no headphones and I have earplugs with me if I happen to pass by a particularly noisy street or something). I have been careful however not to overprotect my ears - I felt this might be counter-productive if my ears and brain are trying to figure out how to operate on normal frequencies again.

I am not sure if any of this had any actual effect on my T at all, or if my ears are just healing naturally, but I do feel that slowly, very very very slowly, the remaining 20% of my T are fading too (although I have bad days when I think I only imagine these improvements). My T changes a lot now throughout the day (I have morse code sounds, hissing sounds and also one fairly low pitch tonal sound), but overall, although this process is incredibly slow and I do have setbacks, I feel my situation is improving. Could be nothing to do with the changes I have made to my lifestyle but I will for sure keep this regime up for a while.

I thought I'll share this with you and hope that maybe it helps. If nothing else just for you to know that you are not alone

 

[Paul Montaperto]

Hello, thanks for the nice welcomes Billie and Teannitus.

To Billie:

They didn't do much for me in regards to the possibility of the Eustachian tubes, aside from advising me to get some form of Claritin to potentially clean them. From all my research that I did, as well draining exercises and looking at those videos by that Doctor.. my issue unfortunately does not stem from the Eustachian tubes.

They gave me some ear drops, had me lie on my left and right sides, and then they took the same spray bottle that I already had, and managed to get a giant ball of wax to fall out of each ear. Pretty gross. All those years of Q-tips for nothing.

As far as I can tell, having gone deaf in my left ear for several hours is the catalyst for this all.

TEAnittus:

Thanks for also sharing your experience! Interesting that they didn't clean your ears out then and there, but had you go home and use those drops instead.

I definitely experienced the same thing after they cleaned my ear, where everything sounded so much louder and clearer. It was insane, and I suddenly felt like I had super hearing. Eventually my brain got used to it and things seem to be back to normal as far as the volume of everything around me is concerned.

Interestingly enough, my right ear is the one that my Tinnitus is loudest (and has the higher pitch) even though I never really had problems with it (my left ear was the one that was clogged that fateful morning, and that had been clogged up before)..

I've also done my part to lower the volume of music that I listen to, avoid noisey events when I can etc.. but truth be told.. loud noises do not really bother my ears or spike my T for more than a few minutes.

I'm happy to hear that your T has reduced so greatly over time Hoping that eventually mine will knock down as well. I have my moments but it's still very loud too often.

Anyways thanks again for the welcoming posts!

 

[Contrast]

Thank you for the information about hyperacusis, I love hearing stories where hyperacusis and noise induced pain goes away, sorry about your tinnitus and hearing loss though.

Hopefully future medicine such as Frequency Therapeutics clinical trial to restore hearing can be a cure your tinnitus and hearing defecit some day, it's looking really promising and can help many people here. (curing hearing loss should cure tinnitus as a side effect)

http://frequencytx.com
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-loss-regeneration.18889/page-121#post-430895

I developed hyperacusis for a few weeks, luckily that went away. But

I have a hypothesis most tinnitus sufferers develop noise pain/ hyperacusis on onset, but it goes away in some but not all. Thanks again for the info enjoy your stay on the forum.

 

[Contrast]

Welcome to the forum, well at least as a registered member, lol. since you have been lurking as you said. Have the emergency doctors checked for ETD or the blockage of the eustachian tube? Did they drain the ears of fluid build up or wax? What about draining the eustachian tube?

You can give this draining exercise by a MD a try to see if your ringing will be less. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

Ear fullness after a loud concert (noise overexposure) is sometimes mis-diagnosed as ETD. ETD is a real thing ofcourse, but it's important patients tell doctors the ear fullness came from a very loud event. Patients need to tell doctors all the important details to prevent mis-diagnosis.

my right ear was hard as a rock for months after my noise injury, it went away.

 

[Lane]

but truth be told.. loud noises do not really bother my ears or spike my T for more than a few minutes.

Hi @Paul Montaperto -- This is just my humble opinion of course, but regularly having noises spike your tinnitus sounds like a very dangerous thing to do. -- @Bill Bauer -- I mention this, because it appears you don't think it's significant at all. From everything I've read on this forum over the past year, ear damage is cumulative. And now that you've already got tinnitus, it seems likely to me it will accumulate even more rapidly going forward as you experience more acoustic trauma. -- You may want to consider being more protective of your already fragile ears. -- All the Best...

 

[Contrast]

all that abuse is not what started my tinnitus.

Yes it does have to do with your tinnitus, you don't understand how damage accumulates and how the brain as unknown mechanisms that decide to activate tinnitus after hearing damage.


That's very faulty mindset to hold, part of the reason tinnitus research struggles is because patients don't think critically about it.

 

[Paul Montaperto]

@Contrast
@Lane

(I feel like a fool for not knowing there was an @ option on this forums lol)

Just to clarify, the HyperAcusis completely went away a few weeks after having my ears cleaned. The HyperAcusis only began after my ears were cleaned out, so my best guess is that my ears simply weren't used to being "fully functional" after what was most likely 3 decades of not being properly cleaned or maintained. I used Q-Tips since I was a small child and just never fully knew the risks...

Also, the deafness in my left ear was caused by my ear being completely blocked by earwax. Once it was cleaned, I was and am able to hear completely "normally". So, no deafness.

I also went to an ENT where they checked my hearing, which came back normal. Whatever that's worth..

I'd also like to state that I have done countless hours of research on all forms of Tinnitus and I am fully aware of the dangers of loud sound, ear buds, and wearing headphones in general. I've managed to avoid a lot of loud sounds etc. but have also "tested" myself to what I would consider an "acceptable" extent. What I mean by this is that I've listened to some louder music as of late and have come out with no real aggravation. Just to clarify, I have not subjected myself to sound levels that would have in the past caused my ears to ring in what used to be the "normal sense" (aka from loud concerts etc.) -- and I never plan to do that again, EVER.

That being said, though I can't say it's 100% accurate... I can say with much confidence that waking up with my left ear completely deafened by ear wax and my Tinnitus "just happening" to start that same exact morning - loud noise was not the immediate cause of it. Granted I fully understand that either way when I got older I probably would have developed some form of it due to the years of abuse... it wasn't the initial catalyst.

Just thought I'd clarify where I'm at for you guys, and I do greatly appreciate the concern and information

I hope I don't come off as pompous or stubborn in these responses.. again I am fully aware of the dangers of loud sounds etc. and I am in NO WAY advocating that anyone, Tinnitus or no Tinnitus, should purposefully expose themselves to extremely loud sounds.

 

[TEAnnitus]

@Paul Montaperto

I was surprised they sent me away with only some eardrops and a DIY instruction too But then again, I had read so many horrible stories about microsuction etc that I ended up being quite happy to give it a try myself. And I did get it all out, so it worked out alright for me.

I too feel that slowly but steadily the world around me is less loud again, although I feel that I am not 100% fully there yet. I've never had any pain associated with this loudness, just the feeling that I could hear it a lot better without a muffling wax-filter.

My T is much the same as yours in that it isn't reactive to noise at all. I stupidly set off the smoke alarm in my kitchen two weeks ago and legged it out of the house in fear of doing more damage to my ears (nevermind that the house could have burnt down while I was just concerned about my ears) but my T wasn't bothered by it one little bit.

Since you mentioned you were completely deaf on one ear for a little while, I imagine your blockage must have been way worse than mine (and perhaps it has accumulated over a longer period of time?). Hopefully your ears just take a little longer to reset than mine, as my blockage was only bad enough to give me muffled hearing.

I am positive that we both can get better if we treat our ears and bodies kindly from now on. T has definitely given me a new respect for my ears and although it is now down to a level where I would only describe it as a nuisance, I doubt I will ever set foot in a club again or go to concert. This experience with T was way too scary for me to risk anything that could make it as bad again as it was for a little while.

Anyways, I hope you feel better soon and let me know if you make any progress. It does sound like we are going through a similar thing

 

[Lane]

I hope I don't come off as pompous or stubborn in these responses

@Paul Montaperto -- No way! Happy to read your post; it looks like you're protecting your ears better than I'd thought. Somehow I'd gotten the impression that you felt ringing ears (regularly) for only a few minutes was OK. But it appears you're doing your homework and finding a suitable balance for yourself. Though it's kind of a neverending search for us to maintain that balance it would seem.