Need Some Advice

Hello ! This is my first post. I have tinnitus for almost a year by now. As far as I have read here, by most of people it's gone within a year since it started so maybe there is some hope for me but I guess not much.

So far I have been only reading and I must say this site was great help in difficult days. Thanks guys for creating this community !

It started very suddenly, although I had some "few seconds episodes" before, but popping my ears always helped. Until one day ... I kind of adapted to this and it doesn't bother me so much but I have few question to people with more experience in this matter.

Before my T started I had flu, I went to a concert (wasn't all that loud and I always wear plugs) and I had really stressful situation right before. I am not entirely sure what has caused tinnitus, probably everything together plus acoustic trauma from some 8 ears ago where once I went to concert without ear plugs and and once someone pulled the string at the festival. I also took beta-blockers for high blood pressure that was caused by too high dosage of thyroid hormones. I assume it all adds up and this is how I ended.

So here are my questions.

1. At first I had tinnitus definitely in both ears, now it's mostly the right one, left much less. What are the odds of tinnitus disappearing in right ear also?

2. It doesn't really bother me when I sleep, I can fall asleep just fine and most of the days in the morning my tinnitus is much more quiet than for the rest of the day.

3. This leads to another question: driving a car, strong wind, general noise on the street drives me crazy sometimes. High tones music but also small things like someone putting a cup on the table - gives me sort of little electric shock. Nothing painful but quite annoying. Is this so called hyperacusis? Also, once in a while I go to a metal concert, I always wear good ear plus (cancel 35 dB) and I still hear my tinnitus, sometimes much louder than the music. Once I leave the room, tinnitus is back to a normal level. Why is this happening? I hard most of people need music or at least some white noise to feel better, for me it's like tinnitus gets louder if the surrounding sounds are louder.

4. What are the odds of having otosclerosis or acoustic neuroma? I visited 4 different ENT's, only one mentioned this but prescribed huge dosis of sodium fluoride for 3 months and said that we shall see then, because if it helps then it's otosclerosis. In pharmacy they couldn't sell this because it's out of the market for being toxic ... I need a paper to get MRI or CT scans but no doctors will give them since I show no other symptoms.

 

A warm welcome to the forum.
Tinnitus can be in one ear or both or swap about and in the head.
Tinnitus can change sound and strength also.
As you have had tinnitus a year now only time will tell if your tinnitus will go altogether but the odds are less after 6 months.

I think a MRI should be done as a routine to make sure all is well but as your not having any other side effect its up to ENT refer you for one...lots of love glynis

 

Thanks !

That's what I thought although I am still hoping.

My T is changing every day, I mean - the sounds are different almost all the time. One day hissing, other day like air was escaping. Sometimes I also have a feeling like I hear two different sounds in my head.

I will definitely try to get MRI.

 

T is known to be morphing into different tones, different ears, into multi-tones, and can spike quite unexpectedly. That is why it can inflict so much fear as this nature of T gives us the sense that it is unpredictable and uncontrollable. Saying that, generally, by keeping calm and positive (thereby putting anxiety and stress at low level), we can help T to improve over time.

From point 3, you do seem to have some element of hyperacusis in your description. My H used to turn all normal sounds glassy in quality and appeared piercingly hurtful to the senses. It made most sounds much louder than they were. But H is normally the first to fade. My was gone in a year. So don't worry about it much. Just use prudence in using earplugs. You need protection for loud noises but normal noises should be ok without the earplugs. Over-protection can cause sound sensitivity issue. The last thing I want to say is about your point 2. Treat it as a positive if your T is behaving like that. Many members here don't have a moment of silence and can't sleep. So treasure it and take any positive you can get from Mr. T. Take care & God bless.