My Tinnitus Changed My Life

Hello everyone, I'm a 37 year old female with 2 beautiful children, they are 3 and 1. I recently got tinnitus on my bday this past February on the 18th. I went to several doctors including a ent who told me I just had to live with it. I took a hearing test which showed the same results as 4 years ago. I do have a moderate hearing loss in my right ear caused by noise and I don't believe that is the reason for my tinnitus since I did not have it 4 years ago. My tinnitus started after an episode of numbness in my face and really bad head pressure that lasted 3 days then I got the tinnitus and it does not go away... Although some days I don't hear it much during the day specially when. I'm out with my kids it really takes a toll in my well being at night and some days... Will this be permanent? I still have to go to the neurologists and I'm waiting to see another ent. Although in not suicidal like in the beginning at time I feel I won't last much longer... Any inputs anyone!? Also I forgot to mention the last doctor I saw told me I had fluid in my ears which I was surprise since the ent told my ears were fine days earlier... I'm on antibiotic right now- amoxicillin and sudafed. I stopped the sudafed since it made my ears ring louder... Still ringing is present .. I don't know what to think . HELP!

 

Can someone please help me with some input and words of encouragement? Will this get better????

 

Welcome, Rina. If your T already gets you moments that you are not aware of it during the day, it has all the good sign of a mild tinnitus. Don't you worry. It will get better. But right now, your T is so new and your body is functioning in anxiety mode where the limbic nerve is dominant, you will have a period of stressful nerve. What you need to do for evening and bed time is to get masking going as soon as possible. Masking will distract the auditory system from paying 100% on the T. You can buy a sound machine from department store. Even a CD player playing some music or nature sounds will help. If you have ipod, you can download some sounds/music from itune. If you have PC, you can download a free sound generator 'aire freshener'. Youtube also has many masking sounds. Search it and you will find white noises, pink noises, nature sounds such as rain, running water etc. If you have smart phone, there should be APPs on sound generation.

If you are really stressful, then get the doctor to prescribe some benzos or ADs to help smooth edge the edges of your emotions. It is the last resort. But if you need it to stablize your emotions, go for it. You can phase it out later. Perhaps the doctor will help you take care of the fluid in the ears and your ringing level will go down. New T may also fade or go away in time. Even if it stays, many members have gotten better and they wrote their success stories to share their insights. So read up the success stories and you will know T is not an end game. Many people recover. A few years back, I was like you very nervous about my ultra high pitch T and then severe hyperacusis. It was a nightmare. But I am doing well now and good life is back. I wrote my success story too. It is too long to share the points here. So you can read it up in the success story 'From darkness to light....'. Give it time. Don't lose heart. You will definitely get better, especially if you stay positive and calm. God bless.

 

@Rina Are you able to see a neuro-otologist and have access to a neuro-radiologist? They are specialists and are much better than ENTs for T. I saw 5 ENTs and they all glazed over and wanted to get me out of their offices as soon as possible when I mentioned the T-word. "Just live with it." But my T is debilitating. The numbness in your face and pressure in your head may be the cause of a condition like vascular compression syndrome. Worth checking out. It is a much different kind of T than from hearing loss. I was told fluid and then no fluid too. Just a thought. You are early in this affliction, so it may get better sooner rather than later. My thoughts are with you.

 

Thank you all for the reply. I'm seeing the neurologist on Monday I will let you guys know how it went. The ent I saw did rush me out of the office and told me to live with it. I was devastated!!!!! Thanks for your comments I have more hope now... Thanks

 

Hey @Rina !! First...!!

I am very glad you found us here on TT!! This is where the healing begins! TT is such an incredible resource for information on all sorts of ideas on treatments, therapies, etc... and the most amazing support you'll find anywhere!! So welcome!

I echo what @billie48 so eloquently (as usual!!) laid out for you, you are very new to T (tinnitus), and therefore there are many possibilities about what will happen with it. Do your best (I know it's really hard!) to not fixate on the future!! Focus all your energy on right now, on today! Again as Billie said, get stabilized emotionally & psychologically. Make sure you are getting proper sleep!! So important!! And I know that's even tougher with young ones, but you have to get your sleep!! That helps so much with your ability to "deal" with T!! Find the type of masking that works for you (experiment with various types until you find the right one!!). Exercise if you can & get naturally tired! If necessary, temporarily use a sleep aid, or see your doc about a short term AD med. But advocate for yourself and get stabilized!! Get support from family and friends, make sure you communicate what you are going through!

What you are going through is real, and it sucks, BUT it is NOT hopeless!! I too went through the rough early days of T! Yuck! But I, just as Billie and countless others, got through! And you will as well! It is very well possible that your T will resolve itself and/or decrease in severity! We'll be praying for that! In the meantime, take care of yourself on all levels, and focus on the short-term (today). Cherish those little ones and resolve to overcome your T for yourself and for them! You can do it!

Stay connected here on TT and to those close to you. Solid support during these early days is essential to healing!

Peace and relief to you soon Rina!!

Jeff

 

Hi Rina, I had an ENT like that last year that rushed me in his office and out in just short amount of time. I had waited over a month for that appointment too. I felt like giving him a kick in the back of his pants! I hope and pray you get a good doctor on Monday that can help you out some. God Bless..... Rich

 

Oh yeah, BTW... I saw 4 different ENT's in the beginning and had the EXACT same experience as you Rina & Rich with every single one of them!! I firmly believe they are taught that in ENT med school!

Thankfully, most types of T can be overcome without the "assistance" of an ENT. (Although it is prudent to initially seek treatment in the chance that there is something that can be done via medical techniques)

 

My ENT told me to live with it ,gave me a prescription for anti anxiety and made me promise I would not take them all at once and kill myself " A lot of people do that !" ... I was not even aware of that ever happening and the thought had not crossed my mind. Weird dude... hehe

 

You guys are actually very lucky with your ENTs. At least they didn't say the nasty thing my ENT said to me. As if I wasn't in bad enough despair or panic, my ENT basically try to nail the coffin for me by saying 'the only way I can stop your ringing is to shoot you'!!! Honestly how do they train ENTs in med schools? They should take psychology or counselling 101 as a graduation or certification requirement. LOL.

 

This works - https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/
But the question is, Will you do it ?

 

@billie48 hi... Where can I find your success story!? Can you tag me in it!?

 

I have messaged you the link to the success story post. Or here it is:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

Don't know if you can ask question through this single post link. If not, you can search the Success Stories Forum for my post which is about 30 or more from the top now. You can ask question for sure by doing this way.

 

Hi Rina,

Sudafed also made my tinnitus louder. I used to take it every day during the winter. But now I employ other methods for my allergies.

About your tinnitus, first, you are very early into it. There's a very high chance it will go away completely. Most tinnitus resolves in the first six months. It's important--though difficult--to maintain a positive attitude. But maintaining a positive attitude and not focusing on your noise is your best chance for it to resolve on its own. And don't listen to any negativity from the health care community. Some ENTs give really bad advice. They should be supportive and offer advice to help you minimize the noise. Instead, they are frequently callous and evoke fear in the hearts of their patients.

Second, you should also mask as much as possible--don't list to your noise. I listened to nature sounds, for example, playing softly in the background for a long time after I got tinnitus. Third, try get enough sleep. Sleep is really important when you have tinnitus. I sleep with masking sounds, and I take melatonin, 1 mg, sustained release with 50 mg benedryl nightly. It works great!

If possible, you might consider the AM-101 trial for recent onset tinnitus. The drug stops the abnormal firing in your ear. But it works best for recent onset--less than six months. After that, tinnitus can still go away--but it takes more time because your brain gets involved in maintaining the noise.

So, to summarize:

1. Mask all the time.
2. Find a method to get your sleep back.
3. Be positive--no matter what. Tell yourself you will get better and don't focus on your noise.

And, finally, I also got a lot of relief through meditation. It took some practice, but it really does help with fear and anxiety. I just use the headspace.com site. It's cheap and easy. And it only takes 10 minutes a day to start. Try it for a while.

Good luck and read all the success stories on the board. We have all been where you are and have gotten through it. You will get better, and your tinnitus might even resolve on it's own.

 

My ENT told me the same thing..live with it . So as I was talking to her assistant about a masker , told her I wanted out of this. Next thing I knew she had called and told police I was suicidal. Next thing I knew that were trying to put me in psych ward. Some crazy ENT....Be careful what you say.........God Bless

 

This world has gone crazy.

 

Jesus! That's awful! ENT didn't want to help you I suppose.

 

No just get the fee and leave.

 

I guess that was in America
..here in the UK i told my GP and ENT that am suicidal and they took it lightly...

 

I told my psychiatrist that I'm gonna commit suicide because of this T I got from the drugs he prescribed me. All he did was smiled at me and said "It is your choice"..

Oh the world we live in..