New to Tinnitus — My Current Situation

Hello. My name is Ryan, I'm 24 and I'm unsure as to what my current situation with tinnitus is. I really would appreciate any comments you might have or wisdom you might share.

My story
Having only ever had ringing in my ear once after attending a concert it's safe to say my past experience with tinnitus has been minimal. However I started using earplugs when sleeping for a time and one night I pushed the earplug far enough into my ear to cause pain and since then I've been hearing all sorts of sounds. I'm unsure if it was the very act of putting the earplug too far into my ear that was the cause, or if it was the nights beforehand that caused a large buildup of wax, but I do lean towards the former as the pain was in the left ear and that's where most of the issues now are.

I was unable to visit the doctors due to a house move but after around 2 weeks of muffled sound, and hearing both a low tone and a high pitched whine in my left ear it was finally revealed to be a buildup of earwax. I was referred to what you might call a hearing clinic and they removed the wax which fixed the muffled sound and the high pitched whine.

Current situation
It's been just over 2 weeks now and I am still left with a low-pitched tone in my left ear which at times seems constant and at others intermittent like a typewriter or some technological device. (bbb-beee-bb-b-beee) I can't be sure of this but it seems as though the tone changes in volume. Despite being in the same environment the tone will seemingly increase in volume or be so faint as to be unnoticeable even when I'm focusing on it.

Aside from the low tone in my left ear I've also started to notice other sounds in my right ear.

1. A high pitched whine (not noticeable in most situations but very noticable when my right ear is on my pillow) I can't be certain but it seems like the whine is louder when I'm listening to something.

2. A tone similar to the one in my left ear but at a higher pitch. I'm worried about this one in particular as although I can only hear it for a second or two when I put my finger in my right ear it feels as though this could become like the constant tone in my left ear.


Summary:
I'm reluctant to admit I have life-long tinnitus but it may very well be the case. The changing nature of the sounds and also the way this all happened makes me feel like it's temporary and may be caused by stress or a lasting infection/inflammation, or something, but that's just wishful thinking. I'm thankful that right now the tone is low and can be ignored for most of the day, but being someone that suffers from issues with anxiety/panic/depression and other health issues the tinnitus is something that I struggle to deal with and definitely affects my mood.

Just as a last note: I often feel like there is somewhat of a fullness or pressure in my left ear and I also have trouble popping it (holding my nose and breathing out). My hope is that the earplugs and the build up of wax caused some kind of issue with what I believe are called 'Eustachian tubes'. I have a hearing test in the next couple days so I'm hoping to learn more about this.

Any thoughts are REALLY appreciated. Thank you.

 

Welcome to the forum. If you suspect you have some issues with ETD, ask your ENT to check it out so it will clear your doubt. It seems your ears are unstable right now and usually they will take a while, 6 months or more, to settle down. In the mean time, it is best you focus on something else in life as to distract from monitoring your tinnitus ringing. Doing so will sensitize your senses towards T and your brain will get the erroneous message that T is a threat, which can can trigger all senses towards it.

The brain will do a good job of fading out anything it considers unimportant, such as every noises around us. You need to facilitate such an environment for the brain by distracting yourself with other things so it can focus on things other than your T. By your description so far, you have a mild form of tinnitus. So if you focus away from T, it may just fade over time as your ears also heal in the mean time. If you are bothered by the ringing at quiet places such as at bedtime, you can consider using something to mask it instead of focusing on it. Use whatever that works to take away your focus on the ringing. Another thing you have to consider is that your T is relatively new. So don't project that you will have your T for life. Try to read the success stories and you will find that there are many instances T just fade away literally. So you can either habituate to it or you don't hear it anymore. Keep positive and have hope, and you will more likely get there. Take good care. God bless.

 

Hi @RH36,

Sorry to hear about your onset of tinnitus. I'm still new to this myself--only four months in. But one thing I've discovered for myself is that my tinnitus has revealed some underlying conditions I had that likely caused the tinnitus to eventually emerge in a significant--triggered by an ototoxic drug.

I now feel low-grade sinus issues, long-term chronic neck tightness and pain, TMJ dysfunction, and likely Eustacian tube dysfunction were there all along, causing extremely low tinnitus--so low I didn't even know I had it. I think the ototoxic drug magnified that low-grade tinnitus about 300-400 times over. -- So I think my tinnitus right now is continuing mostly because of those issues I already had. My hope is that if I can address each of those somewhat successfully, then my tinnitus will begin to fade--hopefully to nothing.

I guess my point is: You might never have gotten your tinnitus from your earplugs had you not had some of your underlying conditions to begin with. So you may want to look at your underlying conditions in a new way, and try to determine the cause. Are you possibly gluten sensitive? Is your digestion in good working condition? Are you EMF sensitive, and/or are you doing enough to protect yourself from EMFs? Do you have amalgams or other metals in your mouth? So many things to look at.

You may find the following remarkable story interesting. -- All the Best!

My Mercury Story

In the mid 90s, despite being athletic and energetic, I began experiencing various health ailments. These ailments worsened and grew in number year-by-year. By 2000, I had acquired 17 specific physical ailments ranging from fatigue to immune weakness to constant ringing in my ears. I could only work about 4 hours per day and had to take daily naps. I knew that something was seriously wrong.

I finally stumbled upon the cause of my problems while speaking to a friend about her health issues. She told me she had Chronic Fatigue and had healed herself after 5 years of visiting doctors and getting nowhere. She told me that she had her amalgam ("silver") dental fillings removed one-by-one, as she could afford it, and it had changed her from a bed-ridden state to a normal, working person. She told me something no dentist ever had:

Amalgam dental fillings contain mercury, the world's most toxic, non-radioactive metal. -- I started conducting research on the Internet and found that I was not alone. Many other people were suffering just as I was and they had determined the problem was their dental fillings as well.

After spending numerous hours researching this issue, I had my amalgam fillings removed in couple weeks and my life changed forever, and it happened virtually overnight. A few years later, I realized that not only had my physical symptoms gone away, but a number of phobias vanished as well. My relationships improved, I became more social, my memory improved dramatically, and I realized how life is supposed to be lived.

Now, looking back, I realize that I lived most of my life with a number of negative personality traits and emotional ailments that were actually caused by mercury. My bad memory, extreme shyness, very low self esteem, fear of commitments (especially in relationships), history of suicidal thoughts and fear of confrontations is now gone, not to mention horrible depression, and all of these changes have dramatically improved the quality of my life.
​

 

Admitting to something is only necessary if it's true, Ryan, You will not have this for eternity and if You have it for Your lifetime, You will adapt, Your ancestors did not survive hash environments and near fatal illness to not pass on such resilience to You. besides, some might say it's comforting to hear the ringing as it means their brain is working, not that I'm suggesting You put all Your stock in that particular outlook.

By the by, Welcome to our little enclave, Ryan.

 

Tinnitus is caused by anything that causes hearing loss or that directly effects the auditory brain.

Usually but not always when the hearing is restored to an extent (ear wax removal, middle ear sugery, steroids, cochlear implants) the tinnitus lowers in volume and or abolishes within the course of several weeks to months.

The ear plug shoved too deep within your ear may have damaged a bone in the middle of your ear causing conductive hearing loss.

In my own case my tinnitus went down in volume after high pitch hearing in my right ear started coming back.

 

Hey, I read your story, the panicking part is hard, I have that also, it does not improve things when trying to sleep and only having a couple hours left till you get up I noticed. But yeah trying to stay calm is good. I did a 8 week Mindfullness Based Stress Reduction course with a group of people to try and remain calm. Thats a group meditation and also a bit of yoga course, works well as far as I can tell but then again I stopped doing meditation after the course so, it did work when I did it if when I got the hang of it.

If you still want to use earplugs at night, I recently read about earplugs called: Macs Pillow Soft Earplugs. They have been said to be really comfortable to sleep with and do not enter the ear canal, I am thinking of buying these since they sit on the outer ear.
Here is a video on it:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKynhqjx8Hk
Here are the earplugs:
https://www.amazon.com/Macks-Pillow-Soft-Silicone-Earplugs/dp/B003LZQGN6
So if you still do want to use earplugs at night, perhaps these are an idea.

Just be carefull (take precautions) and try and remain calm.

 

Thanks for the messages everyone.

Update
I went for the hearing test and discussed a lot of things while I was there. My hearing is very good (being young) although it's worse in my left ear. I believe the ENT (might be using that incorrectly) said I have a harder time hearing lower frequencies in that ear.

Through all of this I've come to the conclusion that the Eustachian tube (again, I'm probably using that term incorrectly) on the left side becomes closed more often (?) and might be the reason the tinnitus is louder there.

For many years now I've been aware that when I'm using earphones/headphones I don't hear in the center of my head but more on the right side. Since the tinnitus started and since I've began pinching my nose and blowing to pop my ears (opening the tubes?) the sound returns for a time to the center.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

Thank you.

 

Nice that you are making some headway in researching the source of your T.
Popping your ears to much can also work out negatively I read on this forum. I myself did it loads and loads of times after T onset because I thought my ear was blocked. Then at some point I would wake up in the night and hear that sound of my ear popping out of nowhere for multiple nights in a row. So after that I stopped popping my ears routinely and the night popping sounds stopped also. So I would watch out with that.

I think your T could be accociated with the Eustachian tubes. Have you tried inhaling steam to open your Eustacian tubes? I used to do that when I had a cold and perhaps drop a little menthol essential oil in there as well.
You just take a bucked, get some hot water in it, but your face over it and cover your head with a towel. Then you inhale for a couple minutes and it should open your sinuses and eustachian tubes as well. Perhaps try that every day for a week and see if that helps?

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try it out!