My Tinnitus Story — I Hope This Helps People

Hi, I don’t really know how to start here.
But after suffering real bad with the onset of tinnitus a couple of years back and trying to find some sort of reassurance on the internet (which is very hard to find!)
I said to myself that if the noise ever went away I would return to some forums to try and give anyone who’s struggling hope.

I don’t know how it happened, never had any medical issues that I can remember... one bout of vertigo about 10 years ago but it went within days.

So about 2 years ago I was under a lot of stress and working night shifts, I was playing loud music in my car to keep me awake whilst driving home on the motorway and one morning I got home, jumped into bed and noticed a loud electrical type of noise... hissing.
I thought there must have been an electrical fault somewhere in my house that’s how loud it was, I was walking about the house trying to find a fault lol.

Anyway after about an hour of me realising it was a noise in my own head i got a massive sinking feeling. Panicking about it I looked online and you know what happens from there... Dr Google tells you your doomed and I s**t myself.

I went to the hospital after a couple of days and was told it would go away by itself within a week or so, but it didn’t it only got louder. I read more online which only made me feel ten times worse.
After a month I paid privately to go to see an ENT specialist.
He said my hearing was above average for a 25yr old and that there was a tiny dip in my hearing on the side which I was in the ear that I was suffering with but nothing that would suggest I’d have persistent tinnitus.
He said he thinks it might go, but for a lot of people this is a life long condition.

I know how scary this is, I felt sick.
And it’s something I couldn’t really come to terms with and there was a number of dark days where I literally wanted to get into my car and drive it into a wall because I couldn’t cope anymore.
It never stopped, day or night and nobody could hear it but me.

This was constant for well over a year, the volume sometimes would fluctuate and the noise would sometimes be screaming.
I then noticed one night that it had started fluctuating between both ears!!
Something that hadn’t happened before as it was only my left ear.

This went on for months and I swear to you I thought things would never change, I was convinced I was stuck with it for ever, I know how anyone must feel who has this because only once you’ve had it you can appreciate how lonely or scary it can be.

Anyway, this persisted for 18-20 months... It then started VERY SLOWLY to fade away.
I noticed that if I’d stretch my neck or the right muscles in my traps, and shoulders the noise would get louder or quieter. I don’t know if any of you have noticed this.

As time has gone by it’s literally faded away and I rarely hear it at all anymore.
It’s not gone completely so I’m not 100% free of it yet but I can promise you it’s more than bareble now.. I never notice it and in total silence I don’t really hear it which is unbelievable compared to a year ago.

I do feel now that this might go completely, but either way I just want anyone who reads this to know that this is not always permanent, they will very likely find a cure for this on the next few years anyway.
But my case was so bad I wanted to end it all, and now I only hear it now and again so it’s going in the right direction.

I don’t know if this helps but just understand that most people who have this and that it goes never feel the need to come onto these sites to leave comments. So most of what you read are people suffering. The ENT specialist told me a massive amount of cases do fade away.

Hopefully mine will, and so will yours.

Things do change, no matter how bad it is things do get better.


Dan

 

@Danny123 I needed this positive story. I’m 25 too and have exceptional hearing. I can hear the wheels of luggage rolling against the ground ten meters away from me in a busy airport my hearing is so sensitive.

My tinnitus is so loud right now it sounds like the echo of a hollow metal pipe after hitting the pavement.

I am so happy yours has gotten better and thank you so much for posting your story.

 

Great story. I want to write a sucess story on here one day.

 

Hi, @Michellejean
I am glad it helped at all, yeah my hearing is the same as that... very sensitive.
It’s horrible I feel your pain honestly, as hard as it is you have to go through it for a while and it will subside.
Both of the ENT doctors from the UK I have spoken with both told me that T usually starts off a lot worse and eases off.
After talking to people I know it turns out a lot of them have actually had it as well, a couple of my mates have had it for Months before it went.
Another guy I know had it for nearly 2 years after leaving the army.
My sister had it for weeks, my mum had it on and off for a few months about 20 years ago.
Problem is 99% of people leave these sites once it has gone as they forget about it and try not to think about it lol

I still have it don’t get me wrong... but it’s 10 times better today than it was over a year ago and I do think it’ll go completely at some point. But I still hope.


I’ve had a few inbox messeges but I don’t know how to reply as there is no reply icon.. is this normal?

Thanks

 

Thanks for sharing!

 

I a, very happy for you Dan. Thank you for the post. I only wish this succes for all who suffer this terrible condition. I'm only 5 months in, so I have a ways to go. Take care, cheers

 

Thank you for sharing your positive story

 

Thank you for sharing your success story, I am glad you are progressively doing better. I really hope your tinnitus fully goes away. Take care!

 

Love this story Dan! Im nearly 3 months into Tinnitus and having up and down days. Up and down minutes actually! Your story made me feel positive though and I'll cling onto that for a while. Hope your life is back to normal. It's so true that you don't know what you've got till it's gone - and by that I mean the silence. How I miss silence. I have to have constant noise around me now. Whether it's the tv or a fan or music. The noises in my ears head are soul destroying. I hope one day to be able to habituate or just ignore the intrusion. If it went altogether then wow. But I'd rather not have false hope. Just taking it day by day now. Sometimes I do forget the horrid sounds and that's nice.... but then I hear it. Ouch. Ouch to my ears and ouch to my heart. One day I'll be free of it. One day.....

 

I’m glad it made you think more positively.
The thing is, I’m terrible at overthinking things.. especially regarding my health and this T business really does try to keep you down. But the truth is it actually does pass for most people... and like I said the problem is 99% on here are still suffering with it that’s why it’s all negative.
My doctor told me that a patient of his has had it for 9 years..... 9 WHOLE YEARS!!! woke up one morning not long ago and it’s gone completely.
I would strongly advise everyone here to start loosening up your shoulders and neck muscles also. I’ve been working with the lead Physiotheropist at Arsenal FC for a shoulder injury and he said he’s lost count of the amount of athletes who have complained about T over the years. Most of them had it go away after they corrected their posture and released tight muscles which can irritate the nerves in your neck and also fatigue the tiny muscles which starch to your ears. Try applying pressure with two fingers to muscles around the ears and see if that effects the volume at all.

 

“It Ain’t Necessarily So !!”

 

im 6 months in and I get scared when reading these stories about how it could last for years - anyone there help me please......ive been on the forum and a few people have said some encouraging things about wait it out and give it time - but then you read other posts that say they have had this for years and years - what to believe...slightly freaking out!!