New and Sure Hoping This Goes Away...

Hi,

Out of nowhere this started in the middle of the night..thought an alarm was going off in my house. I have had brief instances of tinnitus over the years but they always just lasted a few seconds. A bit of history...I had a hearing test last winter and was diagnosed with atypical Meniere's (being that I never had tinnitus along with my rather infrequent vertigo /dizziness issues). Hearing loss is pronounced in the right ear - which is where the tinnitus seems to be. Went to my family physician a few days ago to check for wax...nothing. Made an appointment to go back to my ENT for additional hearing tests. Being a musician with perfect pitch, the constant Ab I'm hearing at 3,322 Hz is driving me up a wall. I cannot tune out music...I not only hear music but I know what pitches / harmonies / chords, etc. are taking place and thus (if I may be so bold) a somewhat more challenging road presents itself perhaps than for those who are less pitch / music aware.

Now a bit more (and probably more relevant history). I was a music teacher my entire career....34 years standing in front of elementary bands sometimes with a snare drum line of 16 kids at the back of the stage...so.....yeah...I was exposed to some decibels in my work. I'm a church organist, and often have practiced with a set of headphones (unfortunately at a louder level than I should have). I record and produce my own music and so have spent many, many hours listening to studio headphones to monitor digital mixes - albeit not at a loud level. Going farther back, played guitar in many high school rock bands in the early 70s where high volume was, needless to say, "de rigueur". Think Alice Cooper and high powered arrangements of stuff by Chicago (yes...complete with the trio of wind parts) So when you compile the list, I guess an applicable axiom might well be the old, "as you sow, so shall you reap". Still, as said, hoping this goes away. The already confirmed hearing loss might well be my best friend. I'll opt for the masking feature of a hearing aid if it would help.

Back to the immediate present...the hopes that it might indeed go away are associated with the presence of a sinus (or allergy...whatever) condition that has me very congested the past several days, leading me to wonder if there is a Eustachian tube or other issue that could also be generating tinnitus symptoms. Not going to get my hopes up too high that the tinnitus will subside in conjunction with clearing up the sinuses, but I believe it is a valid assumption that tinnitus can be associated with sinus-related symptoms. So that's about it for now. Hearing test is next Monday...can't wait. If a hearing aid will help with the tinnitus, I'm all in. If there is additional testing that can be done for other anatomically-related causes, I'm all in. I don't care how far I have to travel or how much I have to spend. And I'll never give up searching for a way out if this turns out to be long term. I'm nothing if not tenacious. Apart from a loving family, music pretty much constitutes a huge part of who I am and have been since I was like 5 years old. But my love of and respect for music surely does NOT include having to listen to some screeching, high-pitched whine the rest of my days. And, I've about had it up to my neck with contracting incurable medical conditions to boot, being that I got abductor spasmodic dysphonia back in 2005 (the disorder itself is rare, and the type I have even rarer), and then the recent diagnosis of atypical meniere's just last year, and now this - with my family doc just having told me that "there is nothing you can do for it"...how nice. At least the SD is treatable and symptoms basically eliminated through the use of translaryngeal botox injections.

Any suggestions or comments welcomed. I heard that meniere's can cluster in families. I find this interesting being that my brother has had tinnitus for decades, plus instances of vertigo / dizziness. My sister-in-law has the same thing. I was prescribed a diuretic for the meniere's but felt miserable after taking a few and so trashed them...never went back to the ENT for additional hearing tests but now I feel I must. (Hopefully) understandably, I'm not ready to start thinking or talking about habituation and such. But I do know that I'm terrified of the prospect of there being NO relief from this (rather loud) level of noise. If I'm playing music, I'm fine. Last night the tinnitus was different - sounded more like crickets doing their thing outside. I'll take that to the single pitch also. Guess I could make light of this whole thing and say something like "it's all in my head" LOL

Regards,
Keith

 

Hi keith,
Welcome to tinnitus talk.
I have Menieres and had it a long time.
Betahistine or Proclorperazine or Cinnarazine can help with dizziness and sickness and help calm down Menieres.
It's a progressive disease and tinnitus is part of it .
Try a mucous linctus or a nose spray for your sinus congestion or steam inhalation to clear your tubes .
.....lots of love glynis

 

Hi and thanks for that rather amazingly quick response to my first post. Your point is well taken. Certainly I won't let this take me down but unless you are sitting where I am, as a musician whose ears are highly attuned and skilled in analyzing musical sound, it's not possible to fully relate. The other meniere's symptoms are a non-entity really. For episodes of lightheadedness and more severe dizziness - I use a homeopathic medication that works like a charm. Undoubtedly many hear would decry the product I use as your usual 'snake oil', but I've used it too many times in important situations where I needed to function well during a meniere's 'attack' as I call them, and it's worked every time. Truth be told, though, I'll take a bad case of dizziness every week the rest of my life if my ears were clear of this noise. Not to sound snobby in any way however...so I truly thank you for the well wishes and suggestions! I'll post back with additional progress.

 

On the support forum maybe a few pages back is a Menieres Thread where a few members with Menieres have posted.
Tinnitus is hard and can be mental torture for some people and lots of unwanted emotions and lack of sleep all adds up to how we feel .
You might like to try sound therapy at night as playing natural sounds set below your tinnitus while you are asleep helps your brain focus on the lower sound you have chosen and push the tinnitus sound to the background.
This helps cope a bit better in the day over time...lots of love glynis

 

Hey Keith-
A few similarities....I too have the music/perfect pitch and can appreciate trying to be humorous (was thinking at 3am this morning would it be ok to post, "Best wishes as we "ring" in the new year?" -- I hope that's not offensive to anyone, but if I don't laugh I'll cry and sprial down. Trying to hang on. My episodes of dizziness (I've only had actual vertigo 3 times and the last one was years and years ago) seem to generally happen while weight lifting or changing postions which my GP says is low blood pressure and lack of proper hydration. I have had it my entire adult life, but with the onset of the HUM (mine is like a engine in my ears) it's gotten substantially worse.
VERY CURIOUS about your homeopathic remedy?? I have started taking lipoflavonoids which come very highly recommended but could take a few months -- seemed harmless enough.
Michelle