My Tinnitus Took a Turn for the Worse After a Visit to the Gym

Hey everyone!

I am going through some really difficult time right now. I thought I knew tinnitus, but now I feel like I need to write a new introduction, because what I'm experiencing right now feels like a whole different monster.

I used to have what I would describe as a mild tinnitus. I would normally not hear it unless I was in a quite room. I would liken it to the sound of tearing up a very thin piece of paper. It was more of a buzz rally than a ringing. Sometimes I would not even hear it right after entering a quite room, and especially if I was physically active previously, such as coming back home from a walk. It would take a few minutes before I start hearing it.

My personal roller coaster...
I had come to terms with my tinnitus and was working on turning my life back on track. I had found a job and started to work again in July 2018. Life was smiling at me again. For the first time in a very long time. It's around that time that I stopped visiting these forums.

Then I became unemployed again in March 2019. It was expected, as it was a temporary job. Many of my work buddies had landed a new job or transferred to the parent company. I was not so lucky. But I was still hopeful and had positive outlook on my future. I had surprisingly many job interviews in the months that followed and some recruiters have approached me directly, which made me feel good about myself. Yet none of them offered me a job. That didn't feel right or deserving. But I still kept my head up high.

I had abdominal surgery in May under general anesthesia. I honestly hoped that the effects of anesthesia would cure me of my tinnitus. It didn't! But I had at least cured myself of another problem I was having and I am grateful for that.

I had started exercising on a regular basis before my surgery in order to strip off a few kilograms. I recovered from surgery very quickly and I immediately took up exercising again. I could barely wait. I became addicted to it. I became a gym guy. I would feel bad if I skipped a gym day. It made me feel good, physically and mentally. It was also a great distraction from my many problems.

January 6, 2020 and tinnitus takes a turn for the worse...
However, on January 6, 2020 my tinnitus took a turn for the worse. It all started with my visit to the gym. I did 30 minutes of running on the treadmill. I then took a short break and went on to do the plank. Right after the second rep I felt like my left ear became clogged. I could not hear on it properly. I thought it was just blocked Eustachian tube, due to the position I was in and the pressure that builds up in your face and sinuses when you are in that position for any length of time.

My ears tend to get clogged like this when I fail to drink water as frequently as I should. So I took a sip and swallowed, and I tried yawning, hoping to open up those cavities. But it didn't work. My ear still felt like it was sealed off from the outside. Oh well, it will wear off on its own I thought. It does that sometimes. So I went on to do another rep of the plank. I usually hold it for 60 seconds, 5 to 8 reps. I stopped after the third rep this time, because I was getting worried about my ear being clogged.

I went on to do a few bicep curls, some calf raises and a few pull ups. I had cut my training short because I was increasingly worried about my clogged ear. It seemed like I was going deaf in one ear and I could not do anything about it. The stereo sound I was hearing was completely wrong, and it seemed like the right ear was getting in majority of the sounds and with a short delay.

I went straight back home and that's when I realized what was going on. No wonder I was not hearing anything on the left ear. I had sounds in it I had never heard before, and they were louder than the environment. I did not notice it at first back at the gym. As the night approached I started worrying. It was like getting tinnitus for the first time, all over again. I knew the symptoms all too well. The worst part is, I knew I was in for a ride, but I had no control over it. I stayed up late that night, I was doing something on the computer to distract myself from this nightmare that had struck me.

For what it's worth, I was actually working on a programming assignment as part of a course I'm currently taking that would make me qualified for some educational programs coming up this year. I am that stubborn. I will fight this thing to the bitter end...

I went to bed 2 AM that night, but I could not fall asleep. I was still getting used to the new situation. I could not keep myself from listening in on all these new sounds in my head. Then I started panicking and getting cold flashes. I was in bed till around 3 AM. I had to get up. I watched some TV, and I could not even enjoy it or concentrate, I wen to the bathroom and then back to bed at around 4:30 AM. My eyes were hurting. I finally managed to calm myself down and get some sleep.

January 7, 2020...
I woke up around 11 AM that morning. My left ear still felt like it was clogged up, but it was better than it was the day before. I started feeling hopeful again that this thing might get back to normal levels. I even took the tram down to the city center and met with a friend of mine, and we worked on a project for a few hours. I did not even notice the tinnitus, not on the tram, in traffic or at the library.

But as the night approached, it started getting worse again. I felt fairly good emotionally and I knew now what was going on, and my brain was getting used to the idea as well and I was no longer panicking. But the sounds tend to creep up at night. As it gets quite at night I think, but also because its taxing on the brain to keep up with this thing for extended periods without rest.

I don't know if this was a bad idea, but I decided to do some syringing in case there was some wax in my left ear. I put the drops in for about 15 minutes and then washed it out with warm water and a syringe. Just a small, hardened chip of wax and skin came out. There was not much to clean out. I don't have much of a problem with wax like many people do. So my problem was not wax blockage. Deep down I knew that... but when you get desperate you are willing to try anything.

January 8, 2020...
This was the best day thus far. I thought it was all going back to normal... you know... "normal" tinnitus. I took the tram again, met my friend again, and we worked on the same project again. The only difference was that we started off with a visit to Wayne's Coffee. God knows I hate those loud coffee growling machines they use.

As the night approached again, I started hearing all these sounds again. Sleep is more negatively effected than anything. On the night of 8 January I registered some additional sounds I had not heard before. I was in for a rough night. I hardly had any sleep. Whenever I fall asleep, I would stay asleep for about 1 hour tops, then wake up by this clear ringing sound. In addition to everything else I was hearing.

January 9, 2020... present day...
This has clearly been the worst day since onset on January 6. I can now hear up to 4 to 5 different sounds. On top of that I still have that blocked ear feeling, and right now I am experiencing what we call fleeting tinnitus every few minutes, and it's usually at the same frequency, but occasionally it goes up in frequency a little bit.

I will try to list the sounds and symptoms here now, for the records.

1. Old: Light buzzing/ringing sound. This is my usual tinnitus sound that I normally don't hear unless I'm in a quite room for an extended period of time.

2. New: A low to mid-range ringing/humming sound. It's usually constant and it's one of the first new sounds I noticed. It sounds like the sound of blood rushing through your head as you yawn or similar.

3. New: This one is interesting. It appears to be fading in and out as I inhale and exhale. It's like I'm listening in on my internal body sounds as I breath, similar to the sound number 2 above, or when you submerge your head under water.

4. New: Irregular chirping or floor scratching? This one is new for today. I would liken it to the sound of shoes of handball or basketball players scratching against the floor of an indoor arena.

5. Old: Fleeting tinnitus! Every few minutes I hear a ringing sound on top of everything. It's higher in frequency than the second ringing sound. It usually lasts for about 5 seconds. This started today and has been going on for the last 4 hours. I did have something like this before.

6. Old: Clicks! These are not actually subjective sounds, not the clicks I hear at least. Despite the fact that some scientists repeatedly cite "clicks" as just one of many ways that "tinnitus" manifests itself. With me at least, and several people I have met on these forums, the clicks are coming from the middle ear muscles and bones actually. I once picked up the click sound in my left ear with a simple smartphone microphone. I have had the clicks along with my regular tinnitus sound for over a year. The clicks started to manifest a bit later and only in the left ear, then the right ear also started to get involved as well, but it's usually in the left ear. My hypothesis is that it's the nerves triggering defensive mechanisms of the ear to protect itself, as a result of the original acoustic trauma.

7. New: Distortion! If someone stands next to my left side and talks to me, everything sounds distorted. It's like someone has cranked up the volume on a cheap toy radio. It doesn't hurt though, so it's not like hyperacusis with pain component. I did have that in the early onset of my tinnitus.

Some start of the new year for me, eh?

Some other observations...
You know what the most interesting part is? This morning, as I was still in bed and listening to this out of tune orchestra, my regular tinnitus sound would get muted for a few seconds, then start again, then get muted and then start again. It's as if they were canceling out each other. At one point I could only hear sound 2 and 3. It was a bliss and unreal!

Another interesting observation I made yesterday, while the tinnitus sounds were less sever and while I could only hear a few of them, is that I could improve my hearing on the left ear by plugging it up with a finger for a few seconds and then unplug it. That would seemingly restore the hearing in left ear to a normal level, and I could hear in perfect stereo again. Then it would go down again. Lateral inhibition?...

Closure...
I don't know how to cope with this anymore. This is such a BS "condition" or "symptom"! As someone with tinnitus, you can't listen to music, that could affect your tinnitus. You can't enjoy fireworks for New Year's eve, that could affect your tinnitus. You may not touch, poke or syringe your ears, that could affect your tinnitus. And now I can't do a stupid plank? Because that could affect my tinnitus?... Is there anything that won't affect tinnitus? I sometimes feel so frustrated and fed up with this.

Sorry for the lengthy post. If you have any questions, advice, or have similar experience to share, please do. Take care everyone!

 

Thank you all for your kind words! You have given me a lot to think about, and more than one reason stay positive. As I am going through some hard time myself, my heart felt extra heavy when I saw the news about the passing of one of our members. I was grieving for the both of us.

I have not seen a doctor yet. I have lost faith in doctors. Besides, it's close to impossible to see a doctor here in Sweden through the public healthcare system. You first have to convince a nurse that you have an urgent medical need, before you get to see a general practitioner, and then it's up to this practitioner if you will get to see a specialist.

As for private healthcare, it's in its infancy here and it will probably stay that way for at least another decade I think. Sweden is still largely a socialist state. But the shift towards capitalism is evident in every aspect of society. There are some private clinics here of course, but it's usually small clinics for specialty areas like ENT or dentistry. Come to think of it, I think the last standing private ENT doctor in my city closed his business when he and his wife became pensioners. A Polish doctor and his wife were supposed to take over the clinic, but I'm not sure they did. I will have to look that up.

Besides, private outpatient clinics here are subsidized by the state, so it's all the same system anyway. Which is good for your wallet, and you may not have to do nearly as much work and convincing to get an appointment. But you also get what you pay for, and you may not get the treatment you wanted, i.e. a treatment that's not approved by the state.

Speaking of which, I actually had my surgery done in Germany, exactly for this reason. And wow, what a difference! You can actually sit down and talk to the surgeon who will be operating on you and plan for your surgery together. In Sweden, this only exists on paper. In practice, you get to meet some young guy who just graduated from the medical school, and he's not even the guy who will be operating on you. That's what happened to me. Worse still, he could not accurately answer my questions, he did not have the answers. It seemed like I knew more about the procedure than he did. Of course, I paid for the surgery in Germany out of my own pocket. It was worth every cent. I could not be happier with the results and the patient care.

Why am I telling you this? I may know what's wrong with me, but I may not find a doctor here who would see things my way or go the extra mile to figure it out with me, or find a nurse who would agree to let me see a doctor. Besides... it's just tinnitus... right?! They will just tell you to relax, take some sleeping pills, and if you get to a specialist they will provide you with noise generators or book you in with the psychologist. They are supposed to offer you CBT... again... on paper, but I never got to that level. You have to be very desperate and beg for it. Sorry Sweden... just telling it like it is.

At this point I am hoping I can find something seriously wrong with my ear. I have always suspected that it could be something to do with the fluids inside the inner ear, such as Perilymph Fistula. Of course I have no way of proving any of it, but I wish someone would take me seriously and at least do some objective testing rather than minimizing it like "oh it's just your tinnitus".

 

I am still figuring this out...

The condition is pretty much unchanged. I slept a little better last night. I still don't hear well on the left ear. There is now a mild pain component to it that comes and goes, I have had something like this before.

I did a quick hearing test with my smartphone, it shows I have moderate to severe hearing loss on the left ear, while on the right ear it's almost completely normal. How do you lose some 30 dB in hearing level over 1 day without being exposed to loud sounds?

Do any of you know a good hospital/ENT clinic in Germany you would recommend?

I will try to see a doctor today. For sudden hearing loss I have read that oral steroids (Prednisone?) may be helpful. If the doctors is willing to prescribe it. I still don't know what I'm dealing with... that's what worries me most.

Yes, for hearing disorders. But if it's a "symptom" as they say, of something else, then I'm pretty sure it would be easier to find a doctor that would take you seriously than say... here.

I am working on finding a good hospital or ENT clinic, as a backup plan.

I tried sleeping with my head elevated, I think this was helpful. At least I did not wake up as often as I did the night before.

Yeah, I would consider surgery in that case.

Same here. I think that just shows how little we actually know. Also, it tends to take a long time for new discoveries and insights to translate into a clinical setting. Research is one thing, clinical practice is something else.

That's also a reason why tinnitus gets to me. I'm a problem solver. Problems are meant to be solved as soon as possible, not piled up. Believe it or not, when I was very young and before I started having medical problems, I used to think that doctors were scientists, like those big names I would read about in my text books in school. The truth is, they are nothing like that... it's a medical practice... they learn as they go. With exception for those that have their feet in both worlds, and my bet is that those are your best specialists. Those who don't just do it for the money, those that keep in touch with the research and are open to new ideas and perspectives.

 

I was also thinking it could be something related to the neck... If actually feel a bit numb in and around my left ear. It's not just that I don't hear well, it's as if I lost a bit of sense of touch. If I move my left index finger behind the ear it doesn't feel a thing, it's as I'm stroking a dead fish. I don't know if that's something related to hearing, i.e. how much of that sensation is coming from hearing and how much from touch.

I did have facial paralysis in October 2018 I believe... it may or may not be related, I wouldn't know. The specialist ENT doctor I met didn't know either what caused it. I don't think any doctor in the world knows what actually causes sudden onset of facial paralysis which is called Bell's Palsy when the cause is unknown. All they do know, is that the 7th cranial nerve is involved. This was known in 1821, after Dr. Charles Bell – who has studied gunshot wounds in the Battle of Waterloo – described the anatomy of the nerve and its association with facial expression. Now 200 years later and we are not much wiser.

 

Thanks! I will check it out.

Would air travel be unsafe for me given the condition (possible tear in a membrane)?

It's the same here. I think you have a very similar healthcare system as we do here. I actually met one guy from Holland during my visit to Germany, he was also going in for surgery, and so we staid in touch during the visit and also after the visit. We had many talks about the healthcare system in our respective countries. As you said, I got the same impression, they actually listen to you carefully and don't just see you out the door as soon as possible.

1. I think it does. I won't bother explaining the sounds now as they are usually so unpredictable. But one thing I noticed is that my left ear appears to resonate with sound input. For example when I open the water tap or take a shower, all that sound is mostly perceived by the right ear but the left ear appears to resonate with it. It's like it's trying to pick up the sound but fails. Also, when I lie down on my back and turn my head to the right so that the right ear touches the pillow, the left ear starts to resonate. I don't know if that's normal...
2. You mean check if the left ear hears the sound once the generator is turned off? Assuming that the tone is in the left ear of course. This has always been the difficulty for me, to match the sound in my head against an external source. Because it has not been a pure tone tinnitus for me, it was more like a buzz. You suggest I use headphones for this? I am really afraid of headphones now.

 

I don't know if I'm reading this right, but there appears to be 2 different tinnitus clinics in Regensburg? The one that @Tybs mentioned... and then another one?

Is this clinic part of the Regensburg university hospital?

Edit: I think I was looking at something else on Google Reviews...

This must be the right one?

https://www.tinnituszentrum-regensburg.de/

They are part of the ENT department at university of Regensburg?

https://www.ukr.de/e/departments/otorhinolaryngology/index.php

University Hospital Regensburg
Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11
93053 Regensburg
Germany

Can someone confirm please?

 

Just to clarify, I was referring to the internal sounds I normally hear when yawning and similar. Even normal hearing people can hear a rumbling sound if they plug their ears with their index fingers. With me though, I am also able to modulate my tinnitus actually by yawning, or just flexing the front of my neck, I think it's called the Platysma muscle.

Not exactly an answer to your question maybe. It's all complicated, not even doctors know it all.

 

So! I went to the emergency room at the local hospital today thinking I would get to see a doctor who would tell me at least what it is that I don't have so I can calm myself down and stop worrying about it. Boy... this must have been my shortest visit ever! In and out in about 5 minutes! I don't know if I should laugh or cry ...

And get this: I was told that they don't deal with problems of the ear at the emergency room at all. Huh?! They only deal with "life threatening" conditions they told me. Oh wow... no kidding?! I don't know what to say... I have not processed this yet. I mean it's one thing that they take for a kid or a crazy person, but the way they handled themselves and communicated with me... and just the thought that ear problems are not dealt with at an emergency room... where the hell am I? What is this place? Bizarro World? So what if I get in a traffic accident and I'm bleeding from the ears and have raptures ear drums?... Wow! At this point I don't know if they were telling me the truth or if they were just selling me a story to get rid of me. This just reinforces what I said earlier about healthcare in Sweden.

By "they" I mean two older (read "experienced") nurses. One of them was bossier than the other and was doing most of the talking and examination. Hell she even talked more than I did! How does that work... shouldn't that be the other way around? Of course, the doctor is the one who needs to hear you out, but that's the thing, you have to get past the nurse as nurses are the first line of "defense" so to speak. But since you don't get to see a doctor well... too bad for you.

She told me I could be having too much wax. How did she know? She just looked me in the eye and told me I have wax in my ear. My ear, not my eye! She must be psychic or something!

Of course, they didn't have the right equipment to do the syringing of the ear to remove the wax. How could they? Remember, they don't deal with the problems of the ears. Ears?! Pff! Who needs ears! That's not a concern of the emergency department. It's a very nice clinical setting I have to say. It was very recently completely rebuilt and expanded. The whole hospital is still going through expansion and modernization. The ER looks top modern, nice furniture, double automatic doors, easy entrance from two sides, with a small "park" between four building blocks for resting or taking some fresh air, there are two queue ticket system, five highly visible queue LED displays, a big flat TV in the waiting area, at least 10 examination rooms that connect to the emergency area which is off limits to visitors (you need to register and be allowed in if visiting someone). There is even a large... I don't know... 200 inch panel that just displays animated art. This must have costed a fortune. Yet... they don't have a syringe for ears... oh shoot! (That's the thing about Sweden. On a first glance, we have everything here... until you need something, because then it's off limits.)

I would need to book an appointment at the healthcare center to have the wax removed. Where I would meet a nurse again, who would more than likely be the one doing the syringing of my ear. Someone who knows close to nothing about the inner workings of the ear or the interface between the ear and the nerve and the brain. Wax removal?! Pff! That's not something a GP doctor at the healthcare center should be concerned with, and even less so an ENT specialist at the hospital. Because they are all too busy doing... well, to be honest I'm not sure what a GP doctor or an ENT doctor has done for me lately... nothing worth remembering.

Round and round and round you go... Thank you, come again...

 

Can ear wax be black in color? I was told I have something "blackish" in my left ear. The bossy nurse told me that. I insisted that she at least have a look at my ear so I didn't come for nothing, just a wise wife's tale. She went away and came back with an otoscope. I don't know where she got that from... I thought they didn't deal with problems of the ear... I guess an otoscope is such a standard tool that they just happen to have those, even if they are no otologists.

I hate ear syringing! Now I may have to do it again. I will try doing it on my own and at my own pace. In a best case, it will clear up if there is really something in there. Worst case scenario, I will make the tinnitus worse. I don't think it can get much worse than what it is... still listening to all those fascinating sounds.

Can black looking ear wax be mistaken for an ear infection or some other problem of the middle ear cavity?