New Here... Wondering If This Is Tinnitus?

Three days ago my left ear plugged up and I developed a noticeably loud ringing in that ear for approx. 12 hours. It was unbearable and I don't know how all of you manage!
I cried tears of joy when both of those symtoms went away but I was in my bedroom that night, listening really hard for any ringing, and I could hear a very faint ring. It was not an unfamiliar sound, I've probably had this my whOle life in quiet places. But I have been dealing with severe anxiety and OCD for the past year and all that fear seemed to latch on to the slight ringing noise and just in the past two days it has been deafening while laying in bed.
I'm wondering if this is just "the sound of silence" or tinnitus? It sounds like I'm standing beneath an electrical line or something and would be very faint if I wasn't focusing in on it.

Note: I've only noticed This after being hypersensitive to my ears since the plugged up feeling and the temporary, loud tinnitus. I feel like if this is tinnitus it's been here forever which makes it even more frustrating because I don't know how I can ignore it how I used to. Sometimes, if I concentrate on the noise, I csn feel very anxious and agitated!

 

Some of us don't.

Probably the sound of silence. Just go about your life as you have always done (and leave this forum).

 

Just saying but when you have to wonder if you got tinnitus you do not have it.

I agree with ATEOS, just go and enjoy your life (and protect your ears from loud noise)

 

Why does ATEOS have to be so unpleasant. Just saying...

 

People with OCD have a tendency - very large tendency - to focus on specific things (which wouldn't otherwise be an issue). So if someone has been doing fine all along, then why start to focus on something - tinnitus - which wasn't a problem before.

 

I think this is a bit unfair. It is a disorder, not a choice. I can imagine tinnitus combined with OCD and severe anxiety as being extremely difficult to cope with. Tinnitus is also one of those things, once you notice it, it's difficult to stop noticing it or even know if it was always there or not.


@JuliaGulia it's difficult to say if you have tinnitus or not, if it's causing you problems sleeping and you describe it as deafening at night then you probably do have it to some degree.

Download a white noise generator app for your phone and play some rain, crickets or other white noise to see if you can mask it while trying to sleep. At other times, don't sit in silence trying to listen to it. If you try to listen to it, you'll hear it louder and notice it more. It is better to be distracted and busy with other things.

You will find after time that you pay less and less attention to this noise and you may forget it was even there anyway.

 

Hi, @JuliaGulia: Research and anecedotal evidence suggests possible links between anxiety and tinnitus, although exactly what and how is unknown. Along with @Karen's good advice, I suggest doing whatever you can to calm yourself. Exercise, meditation, guided meditation tapes may help.

And do whatever you can to distract yourself. See friends, stay busy -- whatever it takes to take focus off whatever noise you are hearing. It may or may not be tinnitus, but ignoring it is your best option. Don't listen for it.

 

Hi @JuliaGulia, I'm actually in the same situation as you. A few weeks ago I suffered from being blasted in the ears with a loud video through earbuds and since then I believe I developed acoustic shock. I've been very paranoid about my ears and the noises I've been hearing (because I didn't want to irritate them any more than they are) but since I started doing this I also noticed an electrical sounding hissing noise. I have terrible anxiety especially when it comes to my health or anything related to that. The night I first noticed it it got louder and louder until I started crying and the more anxious I got the more I could notice it. Believe it or not I feel like I've heard this before in silence just very faintly and it obviously wasn't as loud or scary because I wasn't worried about my hearing at that time. I feel like my anxiety and OCD (sometimes I feel like I NEED to listen for it because sometimes it'll be silent until I tune in and really concentrate on it) have really made me aware of this and that's why I'm also wondering whether or not I've always have had this and it's just worsened now. But anyways I wish you the best and keep us updated! xx

 

Thanks everybody for replying! I will try to ignore it as much as possible, though it is still very loud at night.
@attheedgeofscience I feel like your comments were very rude but other than that I feel like just talking to you guys helped a lot. I understand that even if I do have tinnitus, all of you have it worse than me most likely and manage better than I do! So thank you for your support and props to all of you who deal with this severely.