New Here, Need Help

Hello all here is my story;

I'm a service member who is 28 years old and pretty physically fit. Been in the service for 8 years and I've always did my best to protect my ears at ranges, work, and deployments. Of course there were times I was caught off guard and would experience pretty loud noises but I'm sure that happens to everyone once in a while in their lives, right?

I grew up a pretty active lifestyle, mowed the yard with no earpro, paintball, shoot a few guns sometimes, listen to loud music, etc. when I was a teenager.

As I got older, I started to wear earpro when I would mow and weedeat, etc. I drive two loud cars now and am now somewhat leary about driving them without earpro in. I know that sounds silly.

So here's the scoop: On April 4th, I took my car to the AC shop and the mechanic said my car's ac needed to be recharged along with the pulley bearing was going bad. He said he could hear it and I couldn't so he offered my a stethsoscope and told me to put it up against the bearing; so I did and it was EXTREMELY loud in both of my ears! I immediately yanked the stethoscope out of my ears (it wasn't in there for more than 2 seconds).

A few days later around April 6th, I noticed my ears started hurt and I was thinking it could be allergies or I could just be getting sick. I just moved to Georgia and I have pretty bad allergies; always congested!! I didn't think nothing of it and went on with my life and was also sleeping good at the time, too.

Around the 7th to the 9th I started to notice slight ringing in my ears and I thought nothing of it but didn't throw out the fact that the stethoscope was so loud! I went to the doctor and he said he could see fluid behind my right ear and it looked red so he put me on 10 days of antibiotics. The ringing was hearable during the day. I could actually hear the ringing sitting in the doctors office. I don't know if the antibiotics helped or not with my sickeness if I did have an infection in my ear; but I can tell you that I no longer have fullness in my ear. However, sometimes I do get sharp stabbing pain or dull pain in my ear everynow and then.

The night of the 10th I woke up in extreme anguish and emotional pain (I'm sure you get the hint) and just kept praying for the ringing to go away; this was unbearable.

Couple of days later I went to the doctor again and told him that the ringing hasn't changed and that I would like to go see an audiologist; he also gave my Flonase.

I took all types of OTC I could find, ear drops, lipoflavonoids, vitamin b, ginko, etc.

A week later I went to the audiologist and he did a pressure test; I told him that my right ear felt full and that I felt like I could feel something/fluid moving around in my right ear. The pressure test in my right ear came back positive for something being wrong with my ear. Her was certain that I had a conductive type hearing loss. My left ear came back negative and it was fine.

(Throughout this time the ringing had stopped ringing in my left ear and I hear "quietness" in my left ear if I plug my ear, etc. I can hear buzzing/ringing at a high E if I plug my right ear.)

Another week later, I went to the EENT and told him my situation and he also gave me a new audiology test and noticed that I have mild hearing loss in the 2-3k range (or perhaps the 2-4k range; I forget) in my right ear. Other than that he said my hearing and ears are literally perfectly normal for my age so he put me on a 1o day course of predosine (50 MG a day) and ordered an MRI for me. I'm on day 5 of the medicine and have 5 days left. I see him in two weeks.

As of right now, I can hear ringing in my right ear and right ear only. So far since I've had T, it's spiked VERY loud only in my right ear twice, but it was a different noise than what I would normally hear at night (see below). It's the noise EVERYONE experiences in their lifetime after they go to a concert. (Hope this makes sense.)

This morning I woke up to some ringing in my left ear, now. But that has gone away later today.

This is where I'm going to sound crazy...

When I go into a very quiet room I want to say that I hear buzzing/ringing at a very faint noise. When I plug my ears I can hear it and if I wiggle my finger around in my ear the frequency of it changes. Is this T??

Currently when I talk to people or do things throughout the day, I don't hear it. It's only when I'm in very quiet places or at night trying to sleep.

I can also hear this noise when I fully submerge my head underwater in the bath.

Stupid question, but what does it sound like to hear silence? Perhaps I really don't have T and am just hearing "silence"?

I know this sounds crazy, but I'm trying my best to figure out what exactly I do have.

Sorry for the long post and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

(I'm currently only taking the prednoise, nothing else for the time being.)

 

I am pretty sure that it is.

To answer your question: that T noise that you and I can hear right now - it is not there. I have T only in one ear. I am being reminded all of the time how I would have been feeling right now (and what I would have been hearing and not hearing), if I were T-free.

 

TY for your response; means a lot. How exactly did you get T?

 

Sounds like the stethoscope was just the straw that broke the camel's back. It's not all bad, though. If you can only hear it in very quiet places I'm sure you'll be fine. Just protect your hearing around loud noises and don't focus on the ringing in very silent places. It's a different animal when you can hear it over everything.

 

I have never been to a concert, and I must have listened to music using headphones (at low volume) for less than 50 hours in my life. I mowed my lawn without ear protection fewer than 10 times.

My sonic toothbrush had accidentally came in contact with the entrance of my ear canal (when the brush was on). It lasted less than a fraction of a second. This happened on January 22. I immediately got that "full ear" symptom. Eleven days later, I started having tinnitus... I bet few people got tinnitus as a result of something as stupid as what I did to get tinnitus.

Who knew that one unwise movement of one's arm could have such a profound impact. As you can imagine, this has ruined the past three months for me. The good news is that I am beginning to habituate.

 

Wow, that's crazy, Bill. How are you habituating?

 

TY, Alue, probably what put me over that "threshold".

 

The worst part about tinnitus is not the sound itself, but your reaction to it. I had a very emotional reaction to it for over two months. Before my experience with T, the last time I cried was when I learned that my dad had brain cancer (I was 15, I am over 40 now). I must have cried one or two times back then. Of course, T would bring me to tears multiple times every day for more than a month (during the second month of the ordeal). But eventually, I stopped having such an emotional reaction. It is like a joke that might be funny at first, but after a while it stops having as much of an impact on you. It is also possible that all of the valerian tea (made from freshly boiled valerian root) and valerian pills are keeping me sedated.

I think that the fact that your T is variable and might even be improving is a very good sign. Make sure to protect your ears for the next 6-12 (more?!) months, though.

 

Thank you, Bill