New Here, New to Tinnitus

Hello, my name is Morgan. I've had tinnitus for about 8 months now. It comes and goes, but when it comes, it gets difficult to deal with. It got bad again lately, and so I hoped finding a community of people who understand could help me.

I forget the name of tinnitus I have, but my doc said it's caused by irritation to the eustachian tube. Irritants include stress, allergies, and dehydration. And I have at least 2 of those quite often. In fact my tinnitus started right after a breakup and writing 2 late essays so I didn't fail my class. I guess maybe it was my body's way of telling me to chill.

The sound is aggravating. It started out sounding like Morse code in my right ear. Before I knew what was happening my anxiety made me think of everything from government testing, ear infection, to an earring being stuck in my ear (lol). At that time I used music to cover the noise as I was falling asleep. Eventually it went away. But a month later it was back.

When it came back it behaved differently. I didn't even notice it at first, but everything sounded off. The fridge was buzzing, the tv kept beeping, the oven at work was rattling. I soon realized it was just me. My ears deceived me again. Except now I couldn't play music as the rattling just gets louder. And it has stayed that way since pretty much.

It still comes and goes. It's like I have a cricket that visits my ear every now and then. But as I mentioned lately it's been bad. Probably because I just started school again. And I know I'm prone to depression, so hopefully this place can serve as a safe haven in tough times, and a beacon of positivity.

 

Welcome to the forum. T sucks.

I'm not too familiar with the perils of ETD problems, but are you getting any sprays to deal with this from your doctor?

 

Hello! And yeah I forgot to mention that. He said I should get flonase. I've been putting it off. Been blaming the price, but its mostly because I'm worried it won't help haha. I should get some soon though

 

Welcome to the forum. Yes, starting school and new routine of life can bring your stress or anxiety level up which is bad for tinnitus. Yes this forum welcome you to post for support and rant your feelings. This is a safe haven for new T sufferers as most of us understand what you are going through. You will not be alone. Positivity is what I rely on for my own recovery. I lean on reading the success stories and the Positivity thread in the main support forum for positivity. Make sure you read up those nice postings. Take care. God bless.

 

Honestly, if you have ETD and your condition could be improved by medication, get on it.

I've read about people's tinnitus being cured by simply removing ear wax - including one story on here, where a guy had tinnitus for 7 months before getting it checked out! I can't believe someone wouldn't go sooner .

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/months-of-tinnitus-now-95-gone-—-ear-wax-culprit-—-ill-never-forget-all-of-you-or-how-i-felt.30786/

If your tinnitus isn't caused by something we can cure with today's modern medicine, like hearing loss, please just get on it it.

 

The fact that it's intermittent is very positive.

I believe that if you just use earplugs when the db meter hits orange it will go away completely.

Download a db app, use earplugs, eat/drink antioxidants for your irritation like garlic and drink water and you'll be fine!

 

Hi, Morgan,
I also have intermittent tinnitus that chirps like crickets, (and lately more like Morse code - I like that description). The louder the tinnitus the higher the pitch. Mine disappeared for 10 months, but both onsets were associated with an intense season at work. I'm still dealing with the 2nd, though.
I suspect that mine is muscular spasms, also known as objective or somatic tinnitus. Simply put, there's a ton of muscles and nerves above our shoulders, and many of them affect each other. Since yours is intermittent, yours might be somatic. If you can ever find a position that can reduce or stop it, even for a moment, it might point to a muscle issue.
You might have a TMJ-related issue, or it could also be muscles at the tops of the upper cervical vertebra. There are multiple relaxation techniques posted here that might help. I've tried most of them, and most help at least a little.