My Story Has Just Begun — Tinnitus Started After Major Ear Infection

Hi Tinnitus Talk:

My name is Danny and I live in the Southern California outside of Los Angeles. I am retired and really in excellent health except recently I encountered the Tinnitus Monster. I've never been hospitalized or never have had any surgery. Just sprain ankles from Basketball and bumps and bruises.

I had a major ear infection from early December 2020 to mid to late January 2021. I finally beat it with ear drops. I then developed a ringing sound in my ear for a while but it went away or at least I couldn't hear it. But then last Saturday on February 6 I took a short nap on the couch for about 45 minutes and woke up with the ringing! It hasn't stopped now for almost a week. A short nap and it appeared. I thought of many theories. Did I sleep wrong on the couch because it came on awfully fast.

I will be going to a hearing test on Friday, February 12th, prescribed by an ENT I was seeing in January. He really didn't do much... I saw him on a Tuesday and told me to take the ear drop medication. I came back a week later and the infection went away after about 1.5 months. He said my ear on the first visit looked like someone with a black eye. It was bruised and swollen. On my second visit he said the infection was gone but that is all he said. It was a very brief visit. He gave me the referral to Casa Colina Hospital here in my hometown. It is an excellent hospital known for it's rehabilitation for disabled people. I will be given a hearing test.

I don't think I have any hearing loss but we shall see after the test on Friday since I can hear pretty well. I have experienced loudness in my life in concerts, work, but seem to hear fairly well.

But the tinnitus is really scaring me and I've googled now for days looking at sites on the subject. I have never had a physical or emotional injury like this and feel a little depressed with it. I purchase some tablets, Lipo-Flavonoid, and will be getting a noise machine since I able to sleep only if tired but if I'm woken it can be dreadful falling back to sleep. I feel, but I'm not a expert by any means, I might still have an infection or an injury in my ear and hopefully it is only temporary.

It's funny I click my teeth and sometimes when talking I feel like I have a hollow head. I can hear my teeth like when you tap on a microphone. I can hear it inside my head when my head is sort of lowered. When I raised my head the hollowness goes away and a normal clicking and talking is heard. But it's strange when I hear the hollow sounds of the teeth or talk if that makes any sense

So the ringing comes and goes. It varies from loud to sometimes barely audible. Barely audible I can live with and with your help on this forum I will find ways to cope with it.

Thank you for this forum and this group. I was looking for one and came across this one Please keep things positive since it is a very fragile subject to people like ourselves who experience it.

Love,
Danny

 

Hi Danny, I am not one to post or reply much but hopped on here to look up treatment info with use of CBD/CBN for sleep and saw your post. Have had severe Tsince 2014 but I’ve come to terms with and as with most things in life, you can slowly adjust to the changes.
I wanted to say I really hope yours goes away and isn’t lasting! While very bothersome, and it takes time and varies with everyone.... you can learn what works for you and what doesn’t!
For now I would recommend checking out any possible vitamin deficiencies too.... Magnesium, Vitamin D and Zinc.. and now trying to test small dose of cbd/cbn to help to fall asleep. Only second night so I haven’t much to report but always hopeful of testing new natural ways to cope with living with T. Less salt, less caffeine also helps too along with drinking tons of water and outdoor time.
Again best of luck with your symptoms and hoping it’s temporarily related to your infection!

 

Thanks for the reply. I started looking into your idea of CBD/CBN and like the natural approach. I used some Melatonin the other night for the first time and had a nice sleep. I've started a diary to see what activities sets this off. It seems like when I awake from short sleep it comes on or goes off it's weird. The hearing test showed no signs of loss of hearing on Friday. This weekend I had a loud buzz sound but it went lower by Sunday night.

This morning Monday I awoke at 5 am with loud buzzing and somehow fell back asleep till 7 am and woke up with no noise at all. I've gone this Monday up until 11:45 tonight (16 hours) with no noise. I'm just afraid I get my hopes up and if the tinnitus returns it will be a emotional downer again. So I'm afraid to fall asleep

I am using Vitamin B/D and Zinc and will get some Magnesium.

Thanks again for the suggestions and the encouraging words they really help Thanks. I've google CBD/CBN and the differences and check out some location in the So Cal area. Love the picture of your dog we had a similar dog named Minnie Pearl and she was special.

Peace,
Danny

 

Hi! I got tinnitus the exact same way! Mine also goes up and down in sound. I got mine in the middle of December. I do think it’s gotten quieter but VERY slowly. I suffer with severe anxiety which doesn’t help.

How is yours?

When you press near your ear do you get a physical whooshing that you can hear and feel?

 

Hey Sophie,

Mr Tinnitus still here but quieter like a whooshing. I have read everything on it and upset that Science or Medicine hasn't come up with something and that it's been around so long. Here I am very healthy and try to keep healthy and this now is in my head and nothing to do about it.

The hearing officials I went to said my hearing is fine and nothing I can do. My ENT said the same thing. I see him tomorrow to get the results of the hearing test but the Hearing official already told me no sufficient hearing loss and I do hear fine but the constant sound in my left ear only. It definitely was from an ear infection like yourself.

I got a book from Amazon and it looks interesting so excited about reading it. I think it might help after reading the first couple of pages.

I Cured My Tinnitus by Peter Studenik

The other post from Hardly14 spoke of CBD for sleep and it is fascinate. Very inexpensive at about $10 a bottle.

A little drop under the tongue sleep till morning and natural no chemical like pills
So yeah Sophie it's a bummer and brought on by an ear infection but at least I can hear and I block it away by learning each day how to. The good is you're not unhealthy physically. It can't harm you so keep active. As far as your anxiety, try some CBD or relaxing time.

Good Luck Sophie.

 

I get the whooshing! Definitely from touching near my ears but sometimes when they're extra sensitive even from my own voice, external sounds. After trying to figure out what the hell this sound/sensation was I believe it is the contracting of the tensor tympani muscle which modulates sound inside the ear to protect the inner ear from overly loud sounds, including the sound of chewing inside head etc.

I have Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, complications of which I believe brought on my tinnitus recently. I notice when my ears are off from ETD I often get an intensification of the these whoosh rumble noises/sensations to the point it almost feels uncomfortable to touch my head or face at all. Luckily it usually isn't long-lasting for me.

This syndrome, tonic tensor tympani syndrome seems related to anxiety as well, which I also have:

Tonic tensor tympani syndrome in tinnitus and hyperacusis patients: a multi-clinic prevalence study

 

Hello there Danny!

Welcome to the forum, although I wish we were meeting in better circumstances of course, tinnitus is quite a bothersome demon to battle with.

Similar to Sophie, my tinnitus started the same way as yours - with an ear infection. I'm 15 weeks in, my onset was on 16th November. Much like yourself, I went to a doctor early after onset, the infection was diagnosed, and I was sent on my way with an ear spray - by then the ringing had been going on for 3 days. After using the ear spray for it's recommended duration, I noticed a gradual decrease in the noise over a period of weeks.

After 3 months, I can tell you that my tinnitus has significantly reduced - it's a quiet noise I can only hear in silent rooms. (At onset I was hearing it everywhere except for the shower, and now, I can't hear it outside at all!)

I'm now in the process of booking a follow-up appointment with an ENT for earwax removal and a hearing assessment.

This forum has lots of support for learning to deal with this affliction, and I believe that in the case of ear infection induced tinnitus, many cases resolve itself with time - so take heart in the fact that in the long-term, we're all extremely likely to end up being okay.

I wish you the best!

 

Yes! You are the first person I’ve found with this too! Do you think your tinnitus is curable and that it will 100% go away? Doctor thinks I have fluid on my ear even after the ENT said I didn’t.

 

Hi there, it's DannyMac from sunny So Cal. It's been about a year since I was last on this site. I recently did a survey for Tinnitus Talk and gave a donation to the site.

Hopefully you are out there living life Hardly14, Sophie, MeganMC and Kuromi Thank you all for your wonderful information on your tinnitus. With those left ear infections we'll have to be the "Lefties" :0)

So my condition comes and goes a little loud and like today just a little noise. At the start of the 2022 I started a daily chart of the degree of loudness with 0 low and 10 high. I never got to 10 as I feel I can cope even with a loud day. So I keep that as a 7 or 8 and low days as a 2-4. I hear it but I don't think about it even on loud days. I am physically ok and that is what I tell myself. It could be worse with the pandemic and the World in general nowadays. So I just go about my life of lounging, leisure, exercise and relaxing and when days are bad I say "hey there you are, I hear you but I'm going to ignore you". My sleep is ok and I have kept a diary on that through my Apple iPhone. I feel if I get 7-8 hours of sleep or more I'm rested and the tinnitus is easier to cope with. Some days are difficult and of course we all have bad days so I'm not sugar coating this condition. It is terrible.

My wish is that the general public will take this as a serious condition that happens to US and more research and funding will be available to the victims and survivors of tinnitus. I tell my family members about it and they tell me "oh I sometimes hear that". "Sometimes." Try every day, every minute, some soft and some loud.

So I live with it and am able to put it aside for now hoping for some type of cure and making sure by the suggestions you guys gave to try different treatments. Sorry for not getting back sooner. I hope all you Lefties and tinnitus Peeps are doing good and of course...

Peace and Love,
Danny Mac