New, Confused and Really Scared

Hi there, I am a 21 year old male and I've been experiencing some tinnitus symptoms as of late. Before I go into my story, I just wanna say, I read around on these forums and my heart goes out to all of those who suffer so badly. I know my problem isn't nearly as bad as others here on this forum.

I don't know if I'm being paranoid but here goes. For the past month or two, I'd experience some ringing in my left ear but this ringing would only last a few seconds. I assumed it was due to my excessive headphone usage so I decided to lower the volume. Then on this past Saturday, while watching some surfing youtube with my headphones, the ringing came again but this time it stayed. It stayed for the rest of the day. As you can imagine, I started panicking and was really worried. It wasn't that bad, just a slight ringing in my left ear, sounded like a high pitch.

Wake up Sunday and the pitch is gone. I still think it's better to be safe than sorry so I decided to go to the doc, who only arrives on Monday. So Sunday was more or less good, didn't experience any of the ringing. When I went to go sleep however, I experienced it a bit but it wasn't major. Monday, I woke up and the ringing was very slight, nothing bad and it even dissipated.

So on Monday I went to the doc and explained my situation and he gave me prednisone which was a 4 day course. I was supposed to take 6 tablets each day for 4 days. I don't know the dose. Anyway, here's where the crap began.

I don't know if it's due to the prednisone but since Monday night, I experienced the ringing sensation constantly. It was just in my left ear. I thought it was the prednisone but I didn't discontinue it yet. Anyway, the ringing was not loud but a bit of a high pitch in my left ear. I know I was being too hasty with my conclusion but in that moment I already alligned myself with the fact that this could be permanent. It wasn't that bad, just an annoyance.

But here's where the biggest problem began. On Thursday, which was yesterday (can't sleep), I was browsing around these forums and saw a post about an app where you can generate these tones in order to determine your tinnitus frequency. So I tried it out with my headphones (it's a cheap headset, the one speaker of it already broke) and I put it on low volume. Ever since trying it out though, I've been experiencing louder ringing and the ringing has changed not to mention it's in both my ears now. In fact, it feels more in the middle of my head. I was testing out all the frequencies so because one of the speaker was broken, I tested in my left ear and my right ear. My right ear can hear up to 18-20khz but my left can't hear higher than 16-17khz .What's making me so worried is, could it be that testing out those frequencies actually caused me to actually worsen this tinnitus? Is it permanent? Oh my god, I'm feeling really scared and worried. I already have a dehabiliting condition to begin with (digestive issues) and now I'm developing tinnitus too? I already have depression and my digestive issues have caused me to have suicidal thoughts before.

Basically what I'm asking is:

Can prednisone cause tinnitus to worsen?
Can listening to those frequencies on the tone generator app cause tinnitus to worse?
If so, is this worsening permanent?
Right now, I'm feeling really anxious and I haven't been able to fall asleep at all. It's 3:26AM here in South Africa.

 

Welcome @Helter.

I know it is frightening, and I certainly can sympathize with the suicidal thoughts. I hope that you do not let those dark thoughts take too strong a hold on you. It is normal to be scared and worried with tinnitus. It is a scary affliction. But, you have come to a good place. You have many people here who have experience what you are experiencing, and will be supportive when you need it.

Unfortunately, I cannot answer any of your questions. Everyone experiences tinnitus differently. I can say that, for me, neither prednisone or listening to tones caused any worsening of my symptoms.

 

Thank you for your kinds words. I'm just scared that listening to those tones could have caused permanent damage. I didn't listen to it at a loud volume. It was on 20 out of 100 I think. I'm really scared. The slight pitch in my left ear I could handle but this? This is horrible....I'm studying at uni and am on holiday now. Second semester starts on Monday and the thought of having this affliction while at uni depresses me...

 

You are not the first person reporting having a spike after listening to those tones. I had some bad experiences too. A good rule of thumb is to never listen to these things.

Some people report spikes following taking prednisone. Based on reading many stories on this forum, I believe you are most likely going to get much better and even get cured. The bad news is that it might take 2-3-6 months or more. Ears take forever to heal. Our ears have been compromised, so it makes sense to protect your ears. Stay away from things like vacuum cleaners, blenders, and loud restaurants. You may want to do this for a year or two after your tinnitus stops.

 

I, too, developed some ringing recently. (past two weeks) It's scary, frustrating, unnerving, stressful.. etc.
I feel like i've learned a lot about the condition, despite not necessarily suffering as bad as some.

The first mistake we all seem to make, especially with tinnitus, is listening for it, monitoring it, checking on it, and testing it.
Try to stop doing those things. It's the hardest part of it, granted, but it's essential.

Here's what helped me:

Generally, there's nothing one can do to force a reduction of tinnitus itself.
You may be able to mask it to find some temporary relief. Try mynoise.net, find a soundscape that you think can mask the sound of your ringing, adjust it so that the internal ringing isn't as apparent. Use it to sleep if you need. Don't use earbuds. Generally, the best method I've read about is set it to a level where you can still hear the ringing, but it isn't as apparent. The goal here is to give you a sanctuary escape from the ringing to calm you down.
Read/watch the Back to Silence method one of the users here has suggested:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/
First, this got me in the habit of performing an easy exercise with which to respond to the tinnitus.

Second, Check out this video from one of the doctors that posts here about some therapies that seem to be successful:

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for Tinnitus...

I watched this once, and felt a tremendous sense of relief, hope and motivation. I still re-watch the whole thing if i get anxious and am reminded of the types of exercises to do.

 

Hi there, thanks for replying. Yes I'm extremely angry at myself now. What was a slight ringing in my left ear has now become a piercing high pitch in both ears. I'm really self loathing right now. I just hope it's not permanent. What happened in your experience? And did the bad experience perhaps subside? And the people reporting the spikes? Did their tinnitus return to "normal" eventually?

Yes I'm hoping now that I'm finished with the prednisone that things will get a bit better.

Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm going to make sure my ears don't experience any additional trauma.

 

Hi, thanks a lot I'm definitely going to look into those resources. I'm just so angry at myself for playing those tones on that frequency generator.

 

I know exactly how you feel. I've been there, I've done that. I think you shouldn't be too hard on yourself. If your ears are That vulnerable, then sooner or later something else would have happened to inform you of the fact that your ears are now very vulnerable.

Usually these spikes get back to baseline. It can take over a month for it to happen, though. I got a bad spike when I pressed an old landline phone (its volume set to maximum) to my bad ear. After about 6 weeks, I think it began to get a little better. I am not out of the woods, though.

 

In case you haven't seen the thread below, here it is. Hopefully it will make you feel better.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

Thanks. I really appreciate the encouraging words. My biggest worry is how will I be able to go to sleep while my ears are recovering from this spike.

 

Back when I was living through the acute stage of my T, I actually visited the emergency room at a local hospital - twice. That's how I got my hands on prednisone. The doctors there also gave me a prescription for amitriptyline (10 mg). It helped me sleep. It is non-addictive, and it didn't make me feel drowsy in the morning. You can also get it from your family doctor. I am mentioning the emergency, in case you want to get your hands on it tonight.

You may also try sound enrichment - something else to listen to besides your T, as you are trying to fall asleep. Cricket and frog sounds work well for people with high pitch T.
You can find some good sounds on
https://mynoise.net/

If you can't easily use your computer or a smart phone to play these, consider buying a sound machine like
https://www.amazon.com/Cherry-Koala-Concentration-Relaxation-Sufferers/dp/B01FRW2WBA/r
(that's the one I own, the cricket setting is great)
or even an expensive one like
https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-S-5000-Deluxe-Therapy/dp/B018KUVEOM/

 

Hey I know it's been a while since I started this thread but I guess I'm hoping this will help people realize there is hope. At this point it seems my tinnitus has completely gone away. I hear it sometimes, maybe every second day but it's only there for about a few seconds a day. So don't think that there's NO hope guys. I guess in most cases if you just have it for a short while, it will get better within a few months.

 

Hey man, how's your ears now? It's been a few months now. Have you seen improvement?