New to Tinnitus

Hello everyone. I just got the T symptoms. I'm in a band and we did a gig one Saturday at the end of August. Next day there was a weird hollow sound in my ear - it was just kinda odd. Within 2 days and since then, I've had a low volume "airplane-in-the-sky" background noise in my left ear. It's been very stressful to wake up to it with the idea it will never go away. I keep an earplug in semi-lodged in my ear, and this seems to alleviate the hollow sound a bit. Still unnerving. I see an ENT in a week.

 

Hi, and welcome to the forum.

 

Hi, @will-i-am, and welcome.

Since you are very new to tinnitus, there is a chance that it will resolve and go away. Because yours appears to be caused by noise exposure, you need to get to an ENT pronto and ask about steroid treatments. The sooner, the better. There is much posted at TT on this topic, here is just one thread:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/any-luck-that-this-will-go-away.9481/#post-112551

My guess is your earplug intervention is helping some due to sound sensitivity that often comes to tinnitus. You want to be careful about overprotecting your ears, though, as that can lead to hyperacusis. Try to stay calm, if you can: tinnitus feeds on stress.

And: do you wear earplugs when you play in your band? If not, time to start. There are lots of musicians here at Tinnitus Talk, so search the board and find some threads where they talk about good earplug choices.

Good luck!

 

Hi will-i-am,

Welcome to the forum. Just wanted to weigh in on the steroid issue. I just left my ENT and they said they do not prescribe steroids unless there is hearing loss, which they will confirm via a hearing test, as that is what the steroids are treating. My T started after a loud concert a few weeks ago but my hearing is great so no steroids. So you probably want to see if you have hearing loss. My ENT says it is probably a reaction to the threshold change and can take a while to resolve.


Best to you.

 

Word of advice. I am a musician that played onstage and recorded music for many years, and you have to wear ear plugs during shows, rehearsals and lower the volume of you are recording your own mixes. I should have worn ear plugs when I was on stage. Your hearing should return to normal. I played some loud shows where my hearing was all messed up for three days, but gradually returned to my normal tinnitus level. However, if it does return normal, don't mess around. I can't really play live shows anymore because my tinnitus is pretty bad. Be well.