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Jorge

Member
Author
Dec 21, 2013
10
Tinnitus Since
11/2013
Hey guys!
I'd like to introduce myself and tell my story. I'm a 19 year old who just discovered I have tinnitus. Last month I went to a show to see some bands and was standing very close to the PA. The next morning I woke up with some weird sensation in both my ears - that of pressure or a very full feeling in my ears. Along with that, I heard some hissing. I even asked my roommate if he heard that but he didn't - he said it might just be because of the night before and he had a point so I agreed. Since college is fairly loud all around - people talking, people playing music in their rooms, the heater, etc., I didn't think much of it since I could mask that hissing with all those other sounds.
I went home that same week for Thanksgiving break and had band practice that Saturday . We practice fairly loud and I make the mistake of practicing without earplugs so I also think this had something to do with it. That Saturday night, I woke up with a massive headache and since I had some CVS aleve next to me, I took 2 pills and it calmed my headache and went back to sleep. The next night I started hearing hissing, it was a weird sensation since it woke me up and I could hear it very loudly. I immediately grabbed my laptop and started looking at info about it; I was scared to death. I became very anxious and stressed out that following week that I spent 4 nights in a row without enough sleep (about 2 hours a night) and I kept looking at possible treatments. I started drinking chamomile tea, which helped me relax a little bit. I went to the doctor to see if it might be a cold that I had. The doctor prescribed me some advil cold and sinus and Nasonex. I don't know if that helped at all because I could hear it still but not as loud. I stopped using both of these after the first week
Going back to college was relaxing since I was surrounded by all those other sounds. I could sleep again and do my work peacefully; I actually thought the tinnitus went away. Then came finals week and with all that stress, you can bet that the tinnitus came back. I immediately panicked and became stressed out and the anxiety came back. Studying and working for a very long time didn't help either. After finals were done, I came back home and started to perform some pseudo-zen strategies, drinking my tea again, and just breathing in. Just last week, I became used to the sound - it couldn't hurt me, it's going to be fine, and I'd just have to habituate to the sound. The part of all this that worried me most is that I started noticing other symptoms as well. They were: hearing a crackling sound when I swallow my food, water, or spit, headaches, eye strain, pain and discomfort in both ears (came and went - I actually have some right now), and neck tension. I also became used to these, even though it's not right to.
I went to the doctor yesterday that specializes in ear, mouth, and nose but he wasn't much help, in my opinion. All he said was that it was definitely tinnitus. He checked my ears, nose and throat, as imagined but it didn't feel like he really checked. I was hoping for him to find an excess of wax in my ears or an infection since I described the pain, but nothing.
I also went to New York with my family and saw this holiday special at radio city music hall but I wore earplugs since it was pretty loud and I wanted to protect my ears. The earplugs came out waxy- very gross. Got home very late and couldn't go to sleep - the hissing was too loud but I maintained myself and listened to a tinnitus relief video that I will link at the bottom. I kept waking up every 15 minutes but eventually I went to full sleep. This morning, I woke up with a new sound (very similar to the video sound) and I can only hear it when it's very quiet, like in my basement.
At this point, I'm very ambivalent about the situation. I'm trying to habituate but at the same time, all of these symptoms are bringing me down. I'm very strong about it, but there's a doubt in my mind that there is something much more than just tinnitus that is wrong with me. Can anyone shine some light on me?
video:
 
Hi Jorge, wax in ears will cause tinnitus, get an ear cleaning kit and see if cleaning out the wax helps. I sure hope it does....
 

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