My Story

Hello everyone. My name is Liz, I'm 17 and have been experiencing pulsating tinnitus for about 4 months now. I know that may not seem like a long time for a lot of people on this forum but it has been hell for me. I suffer from ADHD, anxiety and depression and tinnitus has only helped make all my symptoms worse. It started when I began to take a new medication to help with all my existing problems (I apologise, at this very moment I can't remember the name of the medication due to my bad memory. I will remember eventually). It was all very confusing at first, I thought I was going a little crazy because I had never heard of tinnitus before. I quickly stopped taking the medication and called my psychiatrist. Unfortunately he pretty much told me that there was either no hope and it would never go away or that it would go in a few weeks. Here I am 4 months later and I only have brief periods of relief (I'm talking 30 seconds or so every week).

It's been difficult for me, because I've felt very alone. I'm the only one who can hear it so it's like I'm just going crazy. I have regular panic attacks because of the tinnitus and I'm finding it hard to cope. Finding this forum helped a lot because it helped me understand that I'm not alone and so many other people suffer from this. Tomorrow Mum and I are making plans to see our GP so we can get referred to a specialist. I hope this is the start of my recovery.

Thanks all for reading. Any support will be appreciated.

 

HI @Liz_
Sorry to hear that you are going through such a difficult time at the moment with tinnitus. I would just like to ask: are you sure that you have Pulsatile tinnitus and not normal tinnitus? If you have Pulsatile tinnitus, your doctor should also be able to hear this using a Stethoscope. Normal tinnitus known as subjective tinnitus, only the person affected can hear this.

Michael

 

@Michael Leigh Ah I see, my bad. Not quite used to the terms yet. I would have subjective tinnitus, thank you for clearing that up.

 

Thanks for clearing this matter up. It all depends what has caused your tinnitus in the first place. I suspect that it was caused by loud noise/sounds. Do you regularly listen to music through headphones or earbuds or attend places where loud music is played? These are some of the most common causes of tinnitus. If listening to music through headphones caused your tinnitus, then I advise you to stop using them and don't even listen at low volume. Below is a link, that will take you to an article that I have written on tinnitus and I suggest you read it in full. Try not to skip through it. It is long but I believe will help you. If you have a printer then I suggest you print it.

Best of luck
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

@Michael Leigh It certainly could have been loud noises, but the start of the problem was when I started taking lithium due to mental health issues. It's been a up and down road in terms of it getting better and worse. Thank you for the link though, I'll have a read through.

 

Tinnitus has been known to be caused by medicines. However, if you have been regularly listening to music through headphones or attending clubs, gigs etc where loud music is played? If I were a betting person I would say this is the cause of your tinnitus.
Michael