My Stupid Tinnitus

I think I always had really mild tinnitus, the sort you can hear only in an extremely quiet environments, but that never bothered me. It was in September 2017 that I first "noticed" it. It was just a normal day like most of the others, and when I went to sleep I found that I was kind of fidgety. At first I thought it was the noise from the bar downstairs that was bothering me, but I quickly realised that it was my head that was the problem.
Of course I went into full panic mode. I read about tinnitus before, all of the horrible stuff, but I managed to calm myself down and tell myself that I'm gonna go visit doctors first and see. And so it started...
My first ENT was...well, horrible. He just examined my ears, did tympanometry and hearing test, everything check out as normal and he sent me home. My heart sank.
Went to another doctor, he said that my eardrums were retracted, so he equalised the pressure in my ears (it took a few appointments), but it still didn't go away. It was getting quieter tho.
And also I went to yet another doctor, who did all the tests again and basically said that I should mask it and distract myself from it as much as I can.

My tinnitus is weird. In one ear it is high pitched hiss, kind of like something under pressure is leaking; and the other one is a low hum - this one I can only hear when it is silent.

As the days went on, I noticed that the tinnitus in my left ear basically disappeared, but the one in the right ear remained. And it was pretty good, I didn't notice it at all and I was back to my normal self.

But, a month ago, my eardrum in the left ear started fluttering. It was like someone was tapping it really quickly for 10 - 15 seconds. And that lasted for two days. The sensation is very uncomfortable and it woke me from sleep a few times. After that the high pitched hiss is back in my left ear and my heart sank once again.

I went to see my doctor, again my ear drums are retracted, and currently I have appointments every two days for politzerization. I also have deviated septum on the left side (and I can barely breathe though my left nostril) which is why ETD happened I guess, and I will undergo a correction of it soon (will update if anything changes).

Both times when it started I really had no traumas at all. First time I was going to sleep on a Friday night, and now it was weekend when it started and I was at home relaxing. It is really strange.

As for supplements... When it first started I tried everything - ginkgo, NAC and B complex did nothing for me, magnesium and zink aggravated it for me. To be fair, I wasn't taking them for months, but for 2 to 3 weeks and then gave up. After I stopped stressing it all calmed down until a month ago.
So now I tried 4% CBD oil - it does nothing, doesn't even calm me down. Maybe a 10% would work better.

I am pretty scared and stressed about it, but I really, really hope it all calms down again.

 

It seems that your ETD may be playing a roll here. Once you get this corrected the tinnitus should reduce.

Your stress level also has a direct connection to how you react emotionally to tinnitus and how much your brain perceives it. It is harder said than done, but try to stay relax by staying distracted and using white noise.

Over time it does get easier to deal with and will most likely reduce on its own as your ETD gets better.

Stay strong!

 

Do you have a history of noise exposure, loud music, loud headphones, loud cars, loud work place environment?

Any medications have you taken before the onset of tinnitus?

Any jaw, neck or dental problems?

Did you ever suffer from a brain/head injury?

Do you have a history of genetic hearing loss in your family?

We are trying to help find what may have caused your tinnitus so we can possibly find a way to resolve it.

 

Try not to panic and keep positive that your spikes will return to baseline. It is easier said than done but try as humanly possible as you can. Panic will cause stress and anxiety building up and trigger the fight or flight mode of the limbic nervous system, which then will aggravate tinnitus. Spikes are common in the life of tinnitus, much like sneezing and stuffy nose in the life of flu.

As far as the reason for the tinnitus spiking, as @Contrast stated above, there are many causes, single or combined, which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including by not limited to drug reaction or side-effects from ototoxic drugs, ear wax build-up, inner ear infection, Eustachian tube infection or ETD, ear drum injury, fluid build-up in ears feeling pressured or fullness, sinus infection & congestion, TMJ, TTTS, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma/shock, head trauma & injury, neck injury or muscle problems, SSHL, gradual hearing loss due to aging, Meniere's Disease, barotrauma from sudden change of air pressure such as during landing & taking off on flights especially with blocked nose causing failure to balance the pressure changes, slapping of the ears, deep grief for the loss of loved ones, untreated sleep apnea, extreme, extended stress, anxiety & panic disorder, sleep deprivation, etc., etc. Tinnitus can also be caused or made worse by unhealthy diet such as too much salt, sugar, caffeine, MSG, alcohol, gluten etc., or by lacking some mineral or vitamin supplements, such as Magnesium, Zinc, B12, D3 etc.

If you have any of things listed above close to the time of your spike, then perhaps check if that is what caused your spike. If the cause is fixable, then most likely the spike will return to baseline. Often even the passage of time will take care of spikes too.

Good luck. Take care. God bless.

 

I wasn't taking any medication, perhaps only Strepsils for sore throat when I had a cold, but that was it. Nothing special.
I am currently wearing braces, but when my tinnitus started I wasn't wearing them. So I doubt that that could be the issue here. However, I do sometimes wake up with clenched jaw. I read that that sometimes leads to tinnitus in some people, but I don't experience any jaw pain except for that very moment when I wake up and realise that I'm clenching it. Also, when I yawn tinnitus in my right ear becomes louder, I don't know why. But only while I'm yawning.
Never had any head injuries, but I did have a period in 2017 when I started having bad migraines. I had MRI done then and they found nothing. Migraines calmed down in the meantime and I get a headache once a month now.
No hearing loss in my family at all. In fact nobody ever had any tinnitus, except for my father but that was sadly because he got ill with leukaemia.

I do suspect that my job might have something to do with all of this. I am a web developer for years now and I spend horrible amounts of time sitting at the table, coding away...
Prior to this I used to work as cabin crew, so I was exposed a lot to changing pressures in ears, but I never had tinnitus then.

@billie48 gosh so many possible causes! Hopefully I'll get to the bottom of it eventually. The only immediate thing that I can do now is maybe change my diet. I like to eat a lot of sweets. I often say that the only reason I workout (four times a week at least) is because I want to eat sweets But I guess I'll have to change that now too.
I never drink alcohol, my organism can't really stand it ever since I had my gull bladder removed. And my diet generally is ok, I don't eat fried or greasy or salty foods.

@Jack Straw I wonder if it happened because my ETD issue became worse. I guess we will see after I fix my septum, which should happen in the next month. I will keep you guys updated if it gets better or worse or doesn't change at all. Hopefully it will get better

Thank you for encouraging me, it means a lot!

 

I need to know if you have a history of loud noise exposure, ENT's and audiologist do not give accurate info about hearing loss as they don't care about hearing loss outside of human speech range.

The braces issues and ETD may have something to do with it.

 

Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. Years ago I used to go to a few concerts, but that was ages before it started (in my 20s, I am 34 now). I generally, even before I got it, used to avoid loud places and still do.
How would one find out if hearing loss outside of human speech range happened?

 

Just have moderation in all things. Remember one of the worst things about tinnitus suffering is depression. So if you enjoy sweets and if that give you something to look forward to, you shouldn't give that up entirely. At least test out for a period if eating less sweets or more sweets will bring changes to the loudness of tinnitus. If there is no effect, then why not sweets with exercises to enjoy life? None of the causes I have listed earlier will definitely cause or aggravate tinnitus to a person. Some people can take loud noises, others can't. Some can handle drugs without side effect of tinnitus, some can't. So sugar is just one of the possible problem if in excess but it doesn't mean it will increase your tinnitus. It differs among people. I always say keep living normally. If this sweet taste has no or negligible effect on tinnitus loudness, you should enjoy your life to the fullest.

 

Most audiologists do not test past 8k. You would probably have to ask around to different audiologists to see if they have the equipment to do it. I was told numerous times that one of the reasons most do not test over 8k is that the equipment simply costs more (add-on) and most humans will have some drop in hearing above 8k. Its normal as we age. My T is at 14k.

I am not sure what part of the world you are in but in the U.S. there are a few good Tinnitus programs that do comprehensive analysis. For example; they have audiologists, neurologists, ENTs, dentists, therapists, etc.. working together to help come up with a "plan". You may want to seek some of those out.

I hope you find some relief but always know you can come here to vent!

 

Don't take ownership of it. It's just plain stupid tinnitus, not your tinnitus.

 

I think I really haven't changed much regarding my diet. I still enjoy sweets but maybe a little less. I think that the only big difference is that I'm drinking a lot of green tea because it relaxes me.

I am from Croatia, and we too have clinics with special programs, but the issue with me is that according to everyone nothing is wrong with me, except for the deviated septum and retracted ear drums. I have made an appointment today for the surgery - it'll be on April 8th, so we'll see, but seeing as how I am always a pessimist I kind of doubt it will go away when the correction is made, but I do hope it will.

I guess you're right, I should change the title

Just a small update: I had my fourth politzerization appointment today and the hiss in my left ear is still as present as ever.. Oh well, hopefully it will lower in intensity with time.
Thank you all!

 

Hi all!
I haven't been active here for a while so just wanted to post an update regarding my tinnitus, because I don't want to be one of those people who never return after things get better.

It's good. Really, I think I am ok with it now. It calmed down after that spike I had in left ear, and now it is back to its normal self, and I can live with that. At this point it literally is like it's not there. Fingers crossed it stays like that.

I had a septoplasty back in April. And I'm not sure it did anything. But it is calmer after it, so is it because of the surgery, or is it because it just calmed down - who knows.

What I'm really happy about is that I can sit in a perfectly quiet room now and I don't give a damn about it, it's like my own personal ambient noise. Sort of like you hear in old Star Trek episodes, only more hissy. But I don't hear it when I'm working, or over traffic, or shower, or tv. Whereas before I could hear it over traffic. I would hear it in a crowded mall despite all the noise around me.
It just doesn't bother me at all now.

I am wondering how big of a role anxiety has in it. Because it was worse, way worse when I was anxious about it. But as soon as I shifted my focus on something else (surgery), it was like my brain made a switch. I don't think I'd be able to shift my focus easily if it weren't something big like that septoplasty, because I realised my brain just needs to have one thing to be super anxious about. I'm never carefree, but at least tinnitus is out of the picture now.
I hope it stays that way.