My Ear Ringing Is Never a Single Tone...

I was tested. Should I get a retest?

 

@Tara Lyons -- Just to briefly mention, most antihistamines contain anticholinergic drugs, and as such can cause or exacerbate tinnitus.

 

Unless it began growing louder or changed from a hiss to a high pitch tone, the fact that it has been changing is a good sign. Ear fullness is just a sign that your ears got hurt - that ought to eventually go away.

Burning is a rare symptom. I can recall only two people posting here who mentioned burning. Basically their tinnitus got better after a year, but they had to continue being careful as relatively minor noises would set off the burning. I believe @Lex (the person who has had that burning sensation) was able to mostly get her life back, but she has to continue being careful to not expose herself to certain sounds that from her past experiences she knows will give her a spike of that burning sensation.

 

I experienced persistent burning a few months after tinnitus onset. At it's worst, it was continually getting worse after two weeks or so, and was expanding to the back and crown of my head. I finally did some self-acupuncture around my ears, and it improved 90%+ by the next day. Now whenever it begins to crop up, I do those same points.

Ear burning is just not a problem for me these days. -- I'm assuming that when I'm able to calm the burning, it's calming other things as well. I seem to recall a subtle shift to lower intensity tinnitus I was experiencing at the time I first did the self-acupuncture (which btw, is relatively easy to do).

 

Because ENTs are useless regarding tinnitus. I don't know if they are effective with other ear conditions.

There's a lot of different "noises and sounds" people "hear" with their tinnitus.

I would be glad if my tinnitus fluctuated more. It's so bad, besides being loud, I hear multiple tones but usually there is a dominant tone or tones that drown out any other tones.

My tinnitus is so bad, a "good day" or "good fluctuation" is when I recognize a change and this change is one of the tones "pausing." It's hard to explain. For e.g. instead of "EEEEEEE...," it's "EEEEEE.......EEEEEE...." and so on. I guess it's kinda good? It doesn't last long like that though. My fluctuations don't last very long whatever it does.

 

They are going nuts. I’m not taking the sprays today. I’m feeling very hopeless right now. I’m having some dark thoughts not going to lie.

 

Hey Tara, I have had intermittent tinnitus for over eight years now; it fluctuates to soft and louder. Through the years I eventually came to a place during the 2/3 of the time it is soft; it does not bother me at all (habituation). During the other 1/3 of the time I still get annoyed at times; but mostly have learned to live with it having a normal life. I will say that when I am troubled by it, I turn to prayer; and if it persists I ask other praying people to pray for me. This strategy has helped me survive this ongoing malady! I have been tracking my tinnitus for about six years; I do this so I can encourage myself through hard times. I have had times where it hardly bothered me for about a month, and times where it bothered me a lot for about 8 days. This condition has developed in me godly character; patience, perseverance, endurance, hope, faith, compassion, mercy, and empathy. So it has not been completely without a purpose in my life. Romans 8:28- All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose.

 

I just keep getting these weird loudness vibration like sensations. Ugh plus ringing.

This is all trauma?

I’m not handling this well. I met a girl on here who lives in Seattle, going through the same thing. We talk every day on the phone. And cry.

I just want it to go away. The last month has been a disaster. I need an answer for this, it’s the only way I’ll feel better.

 

If your tinnitus is noise induced and I suspect it is, then what you describe is likely to be noise trauma. I went through similar things to what you describe and it's not easy. All I can say is try to distract yourself whenever possible by doing some of the things you enjoy, just to help take your mind off the tinnitus for a little while. Feeling emotional the way you do, is quite natural as tinnitus is a strange phenomenon and something the brain hasn't heard before but will learn to accept and gradually push it further into the background and ignore it like so many people do. This doesn't mean it won't be heard but for a lot of people it reduces and eventually becomes insignificant through habituation.

Michael

 

Hi @Tara Lyons -- So sorry to hear how hopeless you're feeling right now. I just made a fairly lengthy POST; perhaps there's something in it that may be helpful for you. -- I hope you can start turning thing around for yourself soon.

 

Hi @Tara Lyons
No need to be retested for Lyme. I didn't notice that you had used headphones, but doesn't mean at your stage or even beyond that your T won't settle down. What's important now is to use the meds that your doctors gave you to help with anxiety and thus recovery. If you discontinue any of your meds, make sure to use a tinnitus taper plan and take magnesium. NAC and magnesium may also help now, but they shouldn't be taken together with meds - they need to be spaced out by several hours.

 

I’ve been taking magnesium and b2 for a few weeks now.

 

Can you explain to me what this loudness sensation is that I get? Not a ring but just a “loudness” in my ear? Is that hyperacusis?

 

@Tara Lyons
The loud sensation not being a ring is a pure tone which has sound waves of only one frequency. With a single tone, the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch. This has less to do with hair cells and hearing loss and more to do with the eardrum, nerves and muscles.

With a single tone, it's advised not to use white smooth single sound therapy, Use pink therapy at whisper level by computer or by something that has a speaker such as a CD player. Play these sounds at a distance of several feet - up to 12 feet away if needed. Soft running brook sounds with very soft nature sounds should help considerably.

 

What about multiple tones of ringing?

 

@Tara Lyons

Good. In time, your tinnitus should stay down.

 

Hi Tara. Just wanted to say I experience the same thing. I have multiple tones, a hissing/distant faucet sound, a morse code sound, a couple ringing tones, and others that I can't even describe.

There's an electronic/tinsel-like tone that changes every few seconds, it's sort of like a high pitched tss tss.
Also have the burning/fullness and all of that.

I'm 26 and I've never even experienced temporary tinnitus until one day my ears just broke.
I don't have much helpful tips but just wanted to say you're definitely not alone in this craziness, and always here if you need support! Hope things improve for you.

 

Hi,

What does magnesium do? I’ve been on that for a couple months. And what is NAC and how does that help?

 

What caused your tinnitus?

 

I only know what happened when I got tinnitus. I had an acoustic trauma which caused severe pain to my left ear. A day later I experienced and discovered loud tinnitus. This happened last February so it's a year and three months ago.

It's my theory that loud locations (I worked in loud places) caused hearing loss and the damage in my ears were significant enough to cause tinnitus. I guess it takes one acoustic trauma to trigger it. I did use headphones too, sometimes (not as often as some people here) and that probably didn't help.

My tinnitus worsened two months after the onset. I'm not sure why. :-(

Most people say it gets better or improves but that didn't happen for me.

 

@Tara Lyons how are you doing? Are you coping any better? I’m just past 2 weeks into this and having a tough time with the constant, intrusive hissing.

 

@Tara Lyons I have very similar experience! Constant fluctuation of tinnitus in volume and frequency, fleeting tinnitus, distortions that come and go in both ears but left is worse. Right now I'm fairly sure mine is because of a tick borne disease.

Do you recall any summer with a bad flu after hanging in tick-suspicious areas? Any other neurological symptoms? There are many other infections than Lyme causing similar symptoms such as Bartonella and Babesia.
Lyme tests are highly insensitive, especially if you didn't get tested in a reputable lab with more than ELISA test.

Just throwing some ideas out there.

 

Ugh I’m 6 months in and I’m just starting to get quieter days. I really have never hated anything more than I hate this! I’d give all my money away to have normal ears again.

I may be coping slightly better, I used to cry 5 times a day now it’s like, 1! I just want it to go away for good

Hang in there it’s all you can do

 

@Tara Lyons
Yep - tinnitus sucks. Can't understand it unless you have it. It's also very frustrating that the doctors aren't any help...

Has your T steadied at all or is it still all over the place? Mine was also very chaotic for the first several months, but eventually evened out and became a pretty constant hiss which was easier to ignore. I believe your "loudness" may be Hyperacusis. I had that as well in the beginning, but then that healed and i was just left with T. Recently I've gotten a spike in loudness so it's been pretty annoying again. I can pretty much hear it all the time unless i'm in the shower.

If your T is high pitch I've found cricket and cicada white noise is a pretty good mask. I use that to sleep and every once in a while when i just need a break from the ring.

Do you have jaw or facial pain? If so - you may have your TMJ checked? sometimes that can cause T, and is usually treatable.

 

Hi,

Mine is all over the place, but the last few weeks it seems to have improved. I started to really protect my ears. When I first started using ear plugs, the ringing was so intense I almost had to rip the ear solids out after like 5 minutes. I could hardly take it. I started protecting at work, driving, just whenever I thought I was in a situation where my ears might get hurt.

I’ve had quieter nights the last few weeks. When I use the ear plugs, the ear ringing noise is not nearly as intense as it was. I hope it’s dissipating. I always loved silence, as most people do, so to have that taken from me has been really hard. I don’t feel like “myself” since this happened.

I really just haven’t been happy once since this started, honestly. I used to be so happy.

 

That’s great that it’s improving. I think that’s a really good sign. And I’m glad you are protecting your ears.

I completely get what you mean about not feeling like yourself and not being happy. The first months are a living hell. And nobody really understands what you’re going through, so it can be very lonely.

Things will get better. An overwhelming majority of cases either the T gets better or your brain starts to ignore the noise and it’s not nearly as bothersome.

I feel confident you will get your life back. Keep hanging in there.

 

@Tara Lyons I’m so glad you’re beginning to get quieter days!! That is really amazing! I used to be so happy too. This really takes everything out of you.

 

Also, I found out spending a lot of time on the forum can really increase anxiety and stress, which in turn definitely increases the noise.

 

Hi Greg
Just letting you know I’ve had some quieter days the last few weeks. I used earplugs and the ringing was really intense about a month ago, I could barely keep the ear plugs in because the noise was so intense.

Now when I put them in, it’s still there but it’s definitely not how it was. I hear ringing but it’s nowhere near as intense. I also don’t have to sleep with any white noise anymore.

I hope this is improving and on its way out. I miss silence and having normal ears.