Looking for Input (& My Story)

Hey everyone,

First of all I'd like to thank all of you for the continued support you give those afflicted by T, even those who are silent onlookers at first (like I was for the first few weeks). It helped me frame my problem and read up on similar stories.

My T began during exams (I'm currently in my last year of law school), which was a pretty stressful period o its own and the onset of T certainly did not help. In the end I did pass all my classes this semester, so I am very glad for that.


The reason I have finally chosen to post here is because I'm facing a little dilemma, which I will get to at the end of my story. If any of you would like to read it and give your thoughts, that would be greatly appreciated!


So, I'd like to start out by stating I've always had a bit of a problem with my ears. I had ear tubes two or three times when growing up because of ETD. When I was 10 to 12 years old, I had quite a bit of hearing loss due to my ETD, but it somehow seemed linked to water exposure when swimming. When I stopped swimming for a while or (later) started using ear plugs specifically designed to block out water, the hearing loss went away and it would turn back normal. The reason I mention this period is because I distinctly remember hearing a 'whooshing' sound in one or both of my ears during that time which seemed rhythmically coming and going with my heartbeat. As I grew into puberty all these problems sort of disappeared.


Fast forward to 2015. I started getting a lot of 'popping' noises in my ears. When I yawned or swallowed, my ears would constantly produce this pop to seemingly equalize pressure. The thing is though, this equalization never lasted long, since my ears closed pretty quickly again afterwards. I went to see the ENT and had a routine examination of the ear. The hearing test and visual inspection of the ear drum and canal all seemed to be just fine. Even then the ENT mentioned, however, that there was 'under pressure' (English isn't my native tongue, so I'm not sure what the right term is for this). She said that this could be because of allergies (I do have some mite allergies) and could cause the chronic popping. This information pretty much assured me that it wasn't anything to worry about and I went along with life. I did also start having a lot of troubles with ear wax build up in my right ear around this period, causing me to have to let my ear be syringed every 3 to 4 months. My left ear never caused me any issues.


Fast forward another 3 years (with constant popping). During my exams in the beginning of this year, I started getting ear wax impaction. It just caused a fullness in the right ear but no or maybe a little hearing loss. A few days later I started noticing a high pitched though intermittent tone in that same right ear. Not much later, however, I also started hearing things in my left ear, that was never really affected by ear wax. These noises were, nevertheless, much less pronounced and of a lower tone and were characterized by a sort of vibration on my ear drum (not very noticeable). The ear ringing in my right ear started to increase over the course of a week, but I wrote it off as a temporary thing because of the ear wax build up. I wasn’t a 100% sure I experienced some sort of T in the past with ear wax, but at the time that seemed logical to me. In any case, I was looking forward to syringing the ear very much and getting rid of the T. Somehow, the fact that I also had some issues with the left ear did not lessen this hope. I continued to study and my concentration wasn’t too affected, since I only noticed it when it was very quiet and especially during the evenings. It did grow especially hindering the day before my second to last exam (which was also the day of syringing). After the exam I went to my GP and had it done the regular old way with a metal syringe.


Happy that was over, I returned home and started preparation on my last subject, though not 5 minutes in I noticed that the ringing in my right ear was still there! Naturally, I started panicking. The following 5 days were probably the most stressful I had in the last few years, but I pulled through them with another GP visit, in which he (knowing my medical history) prescribed me a nasal decongestant (it’s called Otrivine in my country). I also took some herbal supplements (with Gingko) and had a lot of improvement. At the peak of the T I had three different tones in my ear, the worst of which was a continuous high pitched ‘beep’ I especially noticed towards the evenings. This disappeared over the course of those 5 days of preparation towards the last exam, but I was left with a less noticeable ringing. The left ear, that had produced some ringing as well also got a lot of better and ended up with the same ‘whoosing’ sound I had when I was a kid.


I hoped that this was due to exam stress and would go away on its own during a week long holiday, during which I did not really have any issues (it was a very active vacation with plenty of background sound to drown out whatever T was left). The flight there and back (for which I was a bit anxious) did not have any negative impact.


The day I arrived back home and laid my head on my pillow, the T was even completely gone! I thought I was healed and thanked God for it. The next day, however, I got the flu… This pretty much brought on the T again, though not in full force as I had experienced it during the peak in my exams. Since then it hasn’t really gone away, though it is doable right now.


Some notes on what I currently hear or experience: the right ear has a high pitched ringing, with some kind of intermittence. It almost seems like Morse code. As soon as I lay my head on my pillow, the tone gradually becomes continuous. After 15 minutes it is a continuous and also louder tone. When I wake up in the morning it has changed again in nature. It is much more of a buzzing then, which kind of disappears during the day to be replaced with the same Morse code like sound when it is quiet. The left ear still has the ‘whooshing’ sensation, with some sort of vibration of the ear drum when I lay down, but isn’t noticeable when standing up. It follows the rhythm of my heart beat. I can also hear/feel it when I bow down (to tie my laces for instance) or when I crane my neck downwards. Last but not least I also seem to have developed some type of buzzing or sizzling in the back of my head (just above the point where the neck meets the skull). This is also kind of weird, since I somehow seem to be able to 'feel' this more than 'hear' it. I'm not sure if I'm making much sense here, but that's the best I can explain it.


Sorry for the long winded story, but for those of you who are interested, I wanted to give the full picture. This all leads me to believe I’m still having some issues with the ETD and that it has somehow caused me to develop T. It seems weird that the ear wax could've caused this (even though there is a correlation since it preceded the onset of the T), since I never had any issue in my left ear with that. I went to see the ENT again a few weeks ago, and there was no hearing loss when she compared my results to my last hearing test. There was no visible damage to the ear. Once again, the pressure test showed some ‘under-pressure’ (for lack of a better word). She said it would go away on its own. Well, it hasn’t. So I’m kind of wondering what all of you think of this whole epistle?


I’d also like to add that in the meanwhile I have developed another ear wax plug. It’s causing some consternation with me, since I have read that there isn’t really a safe way to get it out in any case. I’m not sure I’m ever getting it done through syringing again, since that seems the most dangerous. I have made an appointment with the ENT next week and I’m planning to start putting oil drops in 5 days beforehand so the wax is soft and can be removed easily. Should I ask for micro-suction or manual removal with one of those special tools?


Thank you for taking the time to read about my situation and I’m very curious to hear what you guys have to say about all of this. This forum is an amazing place for people dealing with these issues. Thank you for that too.

 

Welcome to the forum. Living with tinnitus, we need to focus on the positives to keep our stress level down, as stress and anxiety are bad for T. The above quoted text points to the positive despite your recent struggle. It should give you some confidence that, moving forward with less stress after all your exams, your T may go back to have more of these positive moments. But don't count on T to disappear or fade out completely. It is always lurking and the next stress or flu may bring it back spiking. These are setbacks that are very common in our T journey. It is important that we mentally budget for these so we won't cave in emotionally to the spikes. The more calm and stable we are, the less intrusive T may become.

This is usually called 'pulsatile tinnitus' and may have connection to blood pressure or circulation issue, which can also cause fluttering effect of T. Perhaps you can post your symptoms in the Pulsatile Tinnisu support forum too.

Anyway, best wishes to you and wish that things will improve on you. Remember to stay positive and calm to stay away from the limbic nerve system which can cause you to function in fight or flight mode which then tends to make things more worse than they are. Take care. God bless.

 

Hello, Mellow!

This experience is new for me as well, and I believe I can relate to your story some. For the past few months, my left ear would "pop" but I could not "un-pop" it no matter what I did. And it would stay like this for hours! My right ear would be fine. As a matter of fact, it's popped now... And I don't know why!
Then I got T in my right ear, and it's been hanging out with me throughout this past week.

As for T, stress can certainly cause spikes. Do what it takes to keep yourself calm and relaxed!

You are taking great steps by being so proactive. Please keep us posted

 

Thank you for the kind words, Billie and nice to meet you. A positive outlook and mental fortitude really do get you a long way. I've been trying to keep myself occupied the last few days with anything but the T. Best wishes to you as well.

Hey Eric, pleasure. Thanks for taking the time to read up on my situation and I appreciate the input. I am indeed taking proactive steps. If you too are in the very early stages still, you may want to consider trying out if decongestants work for you. That and a Gingko extract (and some B12 vitamins) helped me out greatly in the first few days. Getting a sound machine that introduces the (serene) sound of soft rain or ocean waves also help tremendously with sleep. All the best.

 

@Mellow7

Wow! That's a lot going on. I hope when things calm down a bit your t will improve or go away. It sounds like you were studying like crazy, finished the semester, went on a vacation right away and were so exhausted you got sick. Perhaps all the stress increased your background t and it's going to take time to calm down.

I remember how stressed I was studying in school and the late hours and poor diet. Do you exercise at all? Do you find time to go for a walk for half hour or an hour a day? Can you go to a gym and lift weights or walk on a treadmill. I wonder if that would help relax you.

I know law school is a very busy time and it can be hard to find time for yourself.