New Noise. Any Advice or Help Appreciated.

Here goes. About a week ago i noticed a strange sensation/sound in my head. It's pretty strange though, my "normal" t i perceive as sound but this feels like it's in my head, like im forced to think it, though my "normal" t remains unchanged.It also comes and goes, i won't perceive it in silence at night and then it's just there, or i'll hear it through the tv but other times not at all .It almost feels as if i'm doing it myself.About a week ago i thought i might have been exposing myself to Ototoxic chemicals at work so i freaked out , specifically solvents in inks though i now know what i'm working with almost assuredly has no solvent in it(it's plastisol if anyone knows what that is) even bought a full on respirator. It was around then that this started so i think it's stress related as before i freaked out i was having the best days yet and had this job for two months and never perceived a problem before. I also feel like i've experienced this before but it always went away after a few seconds while now it lingers on so maybe it's blood pressure related as i've been pretty sedentary lately. I'm trying to be positive and relax but i just feel like crying constantly. One of the worst or best results from this is i realized that my "normal" t doesn't really bother me anymore,but now i gotta deal with this, really takes the steam outta me. I know this is a huge post and i don't know what i expect anyone to say. I'm just looking for some hope i guess.

 

Okay, take a deep breath! It seems like you have a lot of health related anxiety going on.

No one on the internet can really tell if you've been exposed to solvents or if you have any kind of diagnosable physical problem. Do you have access to a doctor you trust?

 

I have a doctor I like though were both in agreement that there's little he can do about the T. As to the solvents I'm gonna try and see if I can test the room somehow to see without a doubt whether there's harmful toxins in the air, though I'm pretty darn sure there aren't. And oooo ho ho I do indeed have plenty of anxiety. Sorry if the last post came out rant style, I've been holding it in hoping that this would pass by now.

 

Oh snap, but now I'm thinking maybe I can take a blood test to see if I've been exposed, which could be a lot easier. I hope I don't sound toooo crazy here.

 

Hey FF, long time no talk! I'm sorry to hear you're having a tough time with things again, but I assure you'll get through this. While I'm not certain of the chemicals you're using at work, unless you're intentionally huffing the fumes I find it very unlikely that you'll experience Ototoxicity from that, ESPECIALLY with a respirator. I totally understand where you're at though.....I avoided every tiny little thing I figured could have any possibility of worsening my T for the first 6 months or so. As time went on though, I slowly started allowing myself to have these "forbidden" things with no impact on my T. I'm talking coffee, salt, alcohol, tobacco (wouldn't reccomend that one just because nicotine sucks). I realize none of these are solvents, but I think that to at least some extent, you may be overthinking this just as I did months ago.

Now that being said, my T was CAUSED by a solvent (Propylene Glycol in Electronic Cigarettes.) But I wasn't just using this in the workplace. Instead, I was vaporizing PG with high power output batteries and inhaling the vapors directly into my face/Eustachian tubes....incredibly stupid, but hindsight is 20/20, and I really wanted to quit smoking and didn't have confidence in my ability to do it unaided.

FF this is a TOUGH thing to deal with. I recognize that as much as anyone else in this forum. T alone is hard enough to deal with, let alone dealing with T AND trying to continue on with work/life, but I assure you as time goes on, things will get easier. I totally understand where your worry about Ototoxicity/further damage comes from, but I agree with you that this is most likely stress related. Keep protecting yourself as you see fit, (respirator, ear plugs, etc.) but I truly think that this will all be fine in the long run, new sound (which I doubt is permanent) and all.

Sorry for disappearing for a bit bud, I've kind of been avoiding this forum for the most part lately. Never hesitate to private message me though, we'll get through this together! Hang in there!

Hope you have a great week FF, keep your head up!

-Steve