My Tinnitus

Hi my name is Katie and I am 18 years old. I've had tinnitus for a year and eight months now. It all started back in high school. One of my friends thought it would be a funny idea to come up behind me and blow in my right ear. She was sick for a while and had a really bad cough. I didn't really think much of it, so I just laughed it off and everything seemed pretty normal. The next day, I went to school and in the middle of one of my classes, I began to panic as I could not hear anything in my right ear. I immediately rushed to the doctors to get it checked out. In my mind, I didn't think it could be anything worse than an ear infection. I've never had one before. However, after meeting with a GP, an audiologist, and a specialist that first day without my hearing, I was informed this was not the case.

I had lost over ninety percent of my hearing in my right ear. I began treatment that day, which happened to be steroid shots they injected into my inner ear every week for three weeks. It hurt so bad. I didn't see any results right away. I prayed that I would gain my hearing back. During the second week of treatment, I did gain back most of my hearing, and what I would then become to know, a constant ringing in my ear. The third week of treatment did not seem to have any effect. After treatment was over, my hearing went back up to ninety percent normal. I can hear low frequency noises and I can hear when people talk most of the time. Certain voices are hard to distinguish, especially when people mumble. I occasionally have to ask people to repeat themselves, which can get pretty annoying for the other person. It's very frustrating. I have a very bad sensitivity to loud noises. I can't enjoy going to the movies like I used to. I never really was a concert kind of person, but now that's completely out of the question. There's normal daily things I can't stand the sound of including running water, the sound of plastic bags, vacuums, blenders, and sizzling from the stove.

The cause of my hearing loss and tinnitus was very hard to get out of my doctors. They said it could've been a number of things but my family thinks it was a virus from when I was sick a month prior to this whole mess. I personally think it was the girl that blew in my ear but there's no use in blaming because it wouldn't change the circumstances of my situation.

For the first couple months, I was in shock. There's not really much I can say about it. After school began the following fall of my senior year, I began to slip into a deep depression. I had to come to terms with the fact that this is my life and I had to learn how to deal with it every single day. It's hard because I can't really talk to any one my age that has this. It's not common for people my age to have hearing loss or tinnitus. Since it is invisible, people don't typically remember that this is something that affects me every day. I began to feel a disconnect with people my age. I didn't feel like they could understand what I have to deal with and the whole high school kind of drama at the time just seemed stupid. I lost a lot of friends since, and narrowed it down to a small group of friends, but even they don't really know much about how this affects me either.

I am in college now for my second semester. I had planned on majoring in bio to become a vet, but due to my noise sensitivity, I don't think I can handle that kind of a job anymore. I am planning on changing my major to pursue a career in interior design. After a year of struggling what I should do as my major and my career, I have found a new passion for interior design and I think that career will suit me well.

I know this is a really long post but if you've gotten this far, I'd love to hear if any of you guys can relate to any of my experiences or struggles through this journey. It's definitely a process to adapt with this but I think it just takes time. It's still hard for me to talk about my hearing problems to people who don't have them or don't understand. I'm hoping I can find more support from people here that do understand what it's like.

 

Welcome to the forum Katie... Tinnitus is hard when you're young, trying to maintain that balance of still having a social life and protecting your ears is tough. That being said life goes on, it's hard sometimes, you have good days and bad days, but if you can keep yourself busy and try not to obsess about it you'll end up having more good than bad. There's plenty of friendly and helpful folks on the forum if you want advice, need to vent, or just want someone to talk to. It's good that you're not letting tinnitus stand in the way of a successful career doing something you enjoy. Follow your new passion and let that distract you from the ringing, and who knows, we might even have a cure in the next 5-10 years.

Ross

 

I read your entire post, and was very touched. The first thing that stood out is that you are a very strong person (stronger than I am) The fact that you are continuing your life and studies is great. I know it is tough not to "blame" someone for your T. I can say that almost everyone here has gotten their T through no fault of their own, they, like you, we just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Has your T or sensitivity to noise gotten any better over the last year? I think as time goes on your T will fade, and your sensitivity to noise should resolve itself.

I know what you mean about people not "getting" it. I have only told a few people I even have Tinnitus. I can tell you that I have had T 2 times in my life, both times from acoustic trauma. The first time was 12 years ago, and the T completely faded in about 2 years. I am now 15 months in a second bout with T, and it has faded 80% or so, so it is possible for T to fade.

Nobody deserve T, especially someone as young as you. Hopefully your T will fade away over time.
God Bless

 

@kate08, welcome to the forum. I have read your entire post too. You have done pretty well given what you went through at this young age. All through my near 10 years on support forums, I have seen many young folks with T. I do notice one thing is that they seem to adapt to the new condition quite well and many get better quickly with some leaving their success stories. But before that I want to share with you my success story in which I listed two lovely young ladies, Zoe Cartwright who became totally deaf at young 15 and then was hit with loud, unmaskable T (due to her deafness), and also Melody Gardot, a young lady jazz singer who, besides severe T & H, was also unfortunately enough to be hit by an SUV at young 19 causing her incredible pain and immobility. I include them as my 'guiding lights' as they help me realize that we can move on in life and achieve great things even after bad T. Here is the link to my success story:

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

Since you are in college, I like to share with you some of the stories from college age folks. Hope you will get better over time. Take care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/anybody-going-to-grad-school.7212/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-university-college-success.7997/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/came-back-to-say-it-really-does-get-better.6166/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/i-finally-get-out-of-hell.7576/\
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...m-taking-that-next-big-step.8865/#post-102687

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. It really means a lot. I definitely agree with you about keeping busy. School, as much as it stresses me out sometimes, it also keeps my mind off of the ringing. I'm trying to keep a hopeful mindset that things will get better or there will be a cure soon in the future.

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. Your reply really made my day. It feels so good to talk about this to someone who gets it. I have not had any improvements with my tinnitus or sensitivity yet. I actually wasn't aware of the fact that it could get better. I was really surprised to hear that tinnitus could fade. Mine has stayed pretty constant since it began. I'm really happy to hear that this was not the case for you. I hope your tinnitus continues to fade

 

Hey Billie. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your day to reply to my post. Your success story has given me hope for my hyperacusis. It's that which bothers me more than the constant ringing. If that could fade away, I would be so happy. Thank you for all the links you shared. I see that you actively post and reply with advice on how to help others. You are truly a tremendous help to this community

 

No problem Katie, I'm glad you joined, it's helpful to chat with other folks with T because most people just don't understand the struggles of this condition like we do. We're always here if you need to talk .

 

Yes, actually, most peoples T does fade over time, and sensitivity to noise usually improves too. When I first got my T, my ears where very sensitive to noise, clanking dishes, microwave ovens, even talking too loud cased pain. After about a year or so it went away.

 

Kate,

You're doing great. You transitioned to college and are facing it head on. Going to college was a huge issue back in the day for me and you did it with T.

I'm only 2 1/2 weeks in and the ear sensitivity is getting to me as well. I was at the grocery store today and the beeper at the checkout annoyed me and my kids are playing and laughing right now and I keep asking them to turn it down a notch.

As someone much older than you your story has shown the strength I need to find to get through this and move on with life as well.

Thank you for sharing and I hope you have continued success.

John