Long Time Lurker Struggling at the Moment

I've been a long time lurker on these message boards and in advance I can't thank you all enough for all the insight, support, advice, etc I have received just from reading all of your posts.

My T journey started back in Jan of this year, it arose during a terribly stressful time period, so that may have ignited it, but at this point I'm certain it's stayed due to acoustic trauma over the years. I was a regular concert goer, however I would wear etymotic ear plugs to louder shows and rarely noticed ringing after shows. It's been a struggle these past 9 months, with the exception of the past month where I finally felt like I was getting over this battle, even having what I thought was moments where there was no ringing. I finally started to feel like my old self again and even close friends mentioned the same to me.

This weekend I went out to test the new Playstation Virtual Reality headset. I stupidly put on the headphones as well, which at first listen seemed a lil louder than I would have liked, but nothing overly loud. My buddy tested it after and didn't feel they were loud at all. I'm sure part of the initial shock was that I only use headphones at the gym now, and even then I have them turned pretty low, I almost wear them as a security blanket to avoid hearing the loud clanging of the weights. Fast forward to now (3 days later) and my ears just seem louder than they did say last week. I had them on for 5-8mins tops, is it possible that headphones at regular volume (to regular people) could have really damaged my ears? Does this sound more like a temporary spike or my new baseline? Is there anything I should be doing right now? I'm on a daily regimen of B12, D3, Ginger Root, NAC and Fish Oils cuz of the T. The day this happened I loaded up on NAC as well just to be doubly safe, but right now I'm not sure if that even matters.

Sorry for the wordy post, could just use some advice, support and positive vibes.....

 

Hiya

First off I would swap the headphones for ear plugs at the gym, and give your ears a rest for while, avoid loud noise etc
You seem to know a lot about it yourself judging by the sups you are already taking.

All you can do it give it time really. Plenty of sleep, reduce salt etc

But deffo quit the headphones.

 

Hello Goose and welcome to the forum.

Truly sorry to hear about the increase in ringing and am hopeful in time this will lower and become easier to bare. I agree that you should try to quit the headphones, earbuds etc for awhile and just let your ears rest and recover. If working out at the gym gets too loud, just pop in a pair of those cheap foam ear plugs. I swear by them and feel they work better than most. You can squish em up, easy to insert without causing a pressure increase in the ear, and toss em away after a few uses. Keep a few packs handy and keep the little box or bag they come in to store them til they get nasty.

No one can say for certain what may help your ringing decrease. You can try everything under the sun to no avail or you may find something that helps.......

You say you have been lurking around awhile so I am sure you already get the jest of all of this. The best bet is always consult your doctor, see an ENT, never stress over this as stress will increase the noise, and try to focus your mind on anything BUT the tinnitus.

In the meantime, your guess is as good as ours for finding relief. Some people have success with things and others that try the same things have no positive results. Masking with soft background noises are always recommended. There are many free masking tracks available for download on here and throughout the net. Waterfalls, crickets, rain, all kinds of em to try. If masking, always play the track below your tinnitus volume so you can still hear your tinnitus. This helps you adapt and accept.

Best wishes and warm regards......

Mike