My (Unusual) Tinnitus Story

Hi Misery
It's very heartening to learn that your t had gone away for a while after exposure to noise. Would you please tell me if you were taking any supplements or following some special diet ? Thank you.

 

@Sherri786 Hi Sherri,

I don't recall doing anything in particular after I got tinnitus years ago from noise exposure. I made an appointment with a friend of mine who was an audiologist. She tested my hearing and said I had no hearing loss. She told me to mask the sounds with white noise. And I remember doing that. I fell asleep every night with the television on. I just went on with my life. Doing the things I had done prior. I continued to work and participate in all of the other activities that I enjoyed. I don't know if I only habituated to the sound or if it did actually go away. But I never heard it again. On rare occasions I would listen for it and I could never hear it.

 

@Misery , thank you so much for the reply, really gives me so much hope , hope it happens for you again xx

 

Thank you, @Sherri786. I hope you can experience silence again soon too.

 

Yesterday it was almost 100% quiet and then in the evening super loud again, today i wake and its quiet and again its now creeping up in volume to levels that are literally destroying my life.

The sound i experience isn't just a sound, its far more physical than 'just a noise' i feel 'ill' somehow when its loud, its clouding my every thought and makes my head feel hot and stuffy, it also somehow makes the world seem 'smaller' can't explain that one.

Its destroying my business too, I'm very angry now, seething (and no before any of you here suggest calming down as it will reduce the sound, well I'm afraid in my case thats BULLSHIT its the same if I'm angry/anxious or clam. The SAME.)

I will NEVER, ever get my hopes up again thinking its getting better, today it is terrible. TERRIBLE. Nobody can put up with this sound, not the levels its at today, nobody. I cannot cope anymore and i am very low, very very low.

Please do not suggest i go see a doc about anti depressants as I've been there before and they made me much, much worse (depression in the past), let alone the side effects, it would make life not worth living going back down that route.When i do anything physical, and i mean ANYTHING like for eg. walking, put a coat on or anything that raises my heartbeat above resting and the sound is TWICE as loud (no exaggeration)

So, Sheri, maybe wait and see how things go eh? people tell me mine might go away, i think that is utter tosh, i think its for life and i think i will have to use white noise 24/7 like i have been doing. Im being realistic about things finally.

 

@Zeo , I had a horrible spike yesterday ( ate some junk )and felt very depressed, so really can't blame you for how you're feeling now

 

Yeah, mine is KILLING today!
The missus was having a snack on some nice salty chips(salt is one of my vices)yesterday as we were lazing on the back deck, and my T was unusual quiet I though I might indulge in a few, well I ate nearly half the pack!
Well it was a mistake, it has been a distressing day for me and I hope it will be calmer tomorrow.
Just thought it might help to know you are definitely not alone.

 

Zeo, my T hasnt been almost 100% quiet EVER. The only time I cannot hear it is when I am asleep.

 

How can anyone hold a job down with this is beyond me!? How are you all coping??

Today my ear feels blocked , sound is loud today too, how can it be blocked again after wax just being removed?

 

and now its feeling quiet again (morning still here) and doesn't feel blocked. What the hell is going on? every day there is something new happening with my ear, except the pattern of starting quiet and getting louder until its unbearable and 'hot' and feels physical rather than a sound most of the time.I had a few moments yesterday where it went by around 90% at LEAST for 10 mins or so, then it came back. Just what is this??

 

with mine it doesn't matter what you eat at all, junk, good food, it just starts quiet then gets louder, its inevitable. I recently came of herbalife, wonder if its something to do with that>

 

Many ENTs and doctors will tell you it's permanent and when keeping in mind the knowledge on tinnitus, and all the unanswered questions to it, any expert should know they cant tell.
My latest ENT told me she had had many patients where it diminished after days, weeks, months and years. It definitely didn't seem unknown to her. I too have heard of people having their t diminished completely after a long time.
Besides, if Misery's prior t would surprise any doctor/ent, there's no reason to rely completely on the words of just any doctor.

 

I didn't rely on just one doctor, i relied on 6 separate ones!

It just doesn't seem 'real' this, it seems so minor a condition? yet it baffles the pro's! that is the single most painful thing about all of this! i feel like I've gone back 100 years, back to a time when medicine was archaic and guesswork. Its bollocks! someone needs to answer for this, or someone needs to make a breakthrough TODAY and fix this, for the love of god.

Can anyone else here please tell me this; my sound is one thing, it is literally only half my problem. The 'feeling' i get in my ears with the sound is far worse than the sound itself. This 'feeling' is like there is 'something' in my ears, something physical its almost a tickling feeling but it feels solid, i thought it was wax or something, but its truly not! it could be described as an itch maybe. This feeling makes my ears hot, inside and feels like my ears are inflamed and sore and 'puffy' / swollen.

This then leads to my ears feeling like its blocked by something, but nothing actually is? as this heat/feeling increases so does the sound, so if i ignore the sound as best i can i am constantly reminded of the sound when the heat increases, its not possible to focus through both at the same time, they're just too noticeable. Interestingly this only happens (thus far) in one ear at a time, most times its the left ear and now, today, its the right…?

By far this is worse than the noise (except when the noise gets twice as loud because I'm exerting myself of course) Anyone understand this?

 

Here is something else i would like info on, as well as the above ^^ today my tinnitus is really bad today, screeching sound and its in my left ear an it feels HOT…however my fingers are frozen and i decided to stick my little finger in my left ear, my finger was VERY cold. The sound stops a great deal…., relieves it a lot. Sounds like inflammation or swelling in my ear, could this be as a result of a virus? it might explain a lot of the unusual heat i experience, as well the feelings i get that go beyond a mere 'sound' or indeed, 'tinnitus'

it may also explain why i had ear wax in such high abundance, deep dark and impacted all of a sudden and then the subsequent redness in my right ear and now permanent heat and feeling of swelling and inflammation in my left. Remember i mentioned my mum came back from hols with a strange virus that has effected her unusually? (sinus and flu like qualities that still havnt shifted) I i've read it can take months for it to go, and even then it can still leave you with severe tinnitus anyway! In my country they don't prescribe antibiotics for this sort of thing anymore, there is a reason but i don't know what my doc said it was. I live in the UK by the way.

Do i need to walk around with ice cubes in my ears for the rest of my days?

 

The plot thickens?

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/can-household-mold-lead-to-tinnitus-and-hearing-loss.410/

I have very severe mold in my room for many years, uncontrollable, I also pretty much live in that room. Interestingly i have a strange bacterial stomach issue as well... Including nausea, occasional vomiting in my my sleep, and now tinnitus, Coincidence?

 

Things are strange here, very strange.

I stayed with my girlfriend at her house for the Christmas period, the day before though the Tinnitus was very quiet for some reason, all day and night.

I stayed there and it pretty much went away nearly 100%, for 3 days! came home to my room again, the room i suspect has something wrong with the walls…. and its back, almost immediately.

It seems to have happened since i have gone back to using my iMac??? could a computer cause this? radiation or something?

its documented here: http://www.t4tinnitus.com/forums/?act=rd&tid=179

but always relates to fan noise which my iMac does not have, it does mention radiation though…. could this be the cause? i need advice as this could be more than just tinnitus, it could be killing me, anyone have experience of this or knows any information?

 

Wow interesting indeed ! Thank you for the link, v interesting too. Well my Ayurvedic naturopaths always tell me to keep away from computers.

 

saw an ENT and pretty much told that its a permanent thing and that its not anything explainable like bacteria, virus, exposure to noise, TMJ or anything else.

It will get quieter over time and there are maskers and therapy, but that is it really.

She did a swab test just to see its not anything more worrying and an MRI as well.

But IMO thats it for me, its a part of my life for life.

 

I noticed that the problems you had seem to match mine. I'm wondering what happened with the mri and if things have gotten better or worst.

 

didn't have the MRI, sounded like a pneumatic drill which i was concerned would make my tinnitus worse. So yeah i chickened.I have had lots of chats, consults and things and it got me…. nowhere. Things just happened on their own, nothing cured it, nor is there a cure that I'm aware of.

Whats changed:

- the heat has stopped, which is much nicer these days, i can almost cope
- its still somatic, which means its gone in the morning and back louder than ever at night
- quiet rooms are awful, i NEED noise
- when i lie down its still awful, if i have white noise, its manageable, and I've been doing this since nov with my iPod
- some days i don't notice it at all though today its terribly loud.- you will eventually habituate, it won't get quieter it just gets to be a part of you (which is good) but its always there, always.

Ive been given a masker which is great as well, but sadly its there i think, for the rest of my life. Ive been told it gets quieter, but I've not experienced that happening at all...

 

Does it get louder when you walk fast or run? How about if you jump up and down?

 

yeah a little, just getting used to it now. Tinnitus always makes you feel 'ill' somehow, it taints everything. Awful

 

Hi Bee, Does your get louder when you walk fast or run or jump up and down? Click
@beemovie

 

Yes. If I jump up and down or even move up and down on my toes it will get louder the faster I move. It goes from a tinny whooshing sound to a high pitched single tone as I move faster and faster. If a walk fast it does it also and if I run it will get worse. It seems that I can move the sound from ear to ear or the middle of my head by tilting my head side to side. Which ever ear is pointing up is were I will hear it the loudest if I tilt my head. Mine is also triggered by sound. Also I can make it louder if I apply pressure anywhere on my face, swallow, chew, open or close my mouth, talk. I was exposed to a high pitched house alarm and I think that was the cause. I also cannot stand the sound of a plastic bag, paper, crumbling of a plastic water bottle.

 

Was the any loud sound you were exposed to? A smoke alarm. siren, chainsaw, anything loud? Even a month before you starting having problems? Have you been on a plane before it started? Scuba Diving?

 

I was not exposed to any loud sounds, just a constant, dead air type sounds from a bluetooth headset. Which I've been told by professionals has never caused tinnitus and probably can't cause it.

Its all bullshit, our understanding of tinnitus is nothing, its guesswork. All of it.