Reactive Tinnitus (or Whatever You Want to Call It)

You are still very very new to T and you were only at the concert for 20-30 min if I understand that correctly? I think you have a big chance of getting well again.

 

Mine is probably a little more constant than yours. I never have days of complete silence, but I'll have moments in the morning here and there when it's silent or some periods during the day where it' s very, very low and doesn't bother me. That happens only when I stay indoors in the quiet, though. Without fail, it rises very high when exposed to noise. I live in the city so just walking down the street brings on a big statis hiss. If I attend any sort of speech or presentation, the hiss just gets louder. Music also makes the static/hiss louder. Right now it sounds like air being let out of an air mattress.

The idea of using white noise or masking it with other sounds is just laughable because that always makes it much worse.

 

I got an email answer from Julian Cowan Hill asking about my reactive tinnitus. He said it is "hyper activity" or hyper sensitivity and that I need to calm down my nervous system. So maybe its some truth in reactive tinnitus being a form of hyperacusis.

 

I remember reading a post from you a little while back, where you mentioned you received significant relief from wearing hearing aids and that when wearing them you could barely hear your tinnitus even in loud situations. Did you stop wearing the hearing aids for some reason.

Also, I know everyone's T is dramatically different, even those that get it from the same reason. My T is uncommon here as it is due to conductive hearing loss (most peoples on here is due to sensorial hearing loss) when I had two hearing bones removed when I had cholesteatoma surgery. Had the surgery done a few weeks ago and there is still packing in my hear preventing most sound from going in, so I'm hoping that when the packing is removed next week the T will subside greatly as there will be more sound going into my ear to mask the T. If not, I will still be getting ossicoplasty to replace the hearing bones next year so that should make a big difference. Mentioning all this as I remember reading you were one of the few people on here that have had T from the same/similar reason.

 

I also have a 'reactive tinnitus' that ramps up in response to certain sounds, but it's inconsistent. The vacuum or a hair dryer make it go nuts. Some other of the hundreds of fans/motors/industrial hums that we encounter constantly do not provoke the spike equally. Maybe there is a particular frequency in some of these noises that my T hates.

Like BuzzyBee, many of the common maskers spike it rather than mask it. TV and music tend to spike it as well, which I am hoping is temporary, maybe because it is still pretty early (about 8 weeks) and as Michael Leigh says, the entire auditory system is pretty sensitive right now. There is not much I enjoy more than listening to music, so if it causes misery rather than pleasure for the rest of my life it will be devastating.

Still trying to figure out the trends, patterns, triggers etc. as it is all over the place right now and very confusing.

 

The most important thing with reactive tinnitus/hyperacusis is what Michael always say, surround yourself with sounds. specially everyday sounds so that your system gets used to it because at the moment it's on a ultra red alert mode. And of course reducing stress.

 

I have reactive T. It is a low hum. It stops when I talk then the minute I shut up it comes back. Some sounds cancel it out too. However, it comes and goes. I have meniere's too, so that may be why it comes and goes. However, my meniere's currently went bilateral so now my left ear makes constant noises too. One sound sounds like a slot machine. However, after about a month on lipoflavonoids that noise has gone down. Xanax really knocks it down, but trying to take that as little as possible. I did notice my reactive T comes back when I am stressed or don't get enough sleep.

 

I had mine stay for 3 months once. It drove me nuts. It finally left, thank God. Comes back sometimes though. Funny thing is I get a warning that it is coming back. Day before I hear a bass noise in the distance. Not a constant bass. Just occasional boom boom. Like it's coming for me. UGH hang in there

 

You might want to ask your ENT about Meniere's. With Meniere's sounds cycle. They come and go. Have you had vertigo or off balance feeling?

 

No vertigo no balance problems

 

I thought it was helping, but my tinnitus fluctuates so much and I was disappointed to find that on bad T days, the hearing aid didn't help much at all. I think the days I thought it was helping just correlated with days that would have been "good" days regardless. Also, mine broke during the trial and that didn't bode well for the future. In addition to all that, when I took it out I had the annoying full feeling which is almost as bothersome as the tinnitus.

Keep in touch and let us know how it goes! My surgery was successful and I never had tinnitus (or noticed it, at least) nor any issues with the mastoid cavity for the next 10 years. The T came out of nowhere after an ear infection. Was it the infection? Was it a dental implant? Was it anxiety? Did everything just come together as one perfect recipe for tinnitus? Hard to say. My hearing tests still don't show sensory loss.

You've got a good plan in place in case the tinnitus doesn't go away. My guess is that it will, but you may want to get the ossicles reconstructed anyway.

 

Interesting! Mine is mainly in my left, but I get the slot machine/hospital machine sound in my good ear sometimes. It's interesting that the lipoflavonoids helped. I haven't tried them yet because I've wasted so much money on other things and am already taking B vitamins, but I wonder if the proprietary formula they use really does something. When my T first started I thought nothing would be acceptable other than complete silence. Now I just appreciate the days when it's a low and less reactive hiss, so if the lipoflavonoids could bring it down a bit that would be awesome.

 

I was REALLY doubtful of the lipoflavonoids. But an hour after I took them, I had silence for the first time in forever. I usually get them at Wal-mart. $19.99 for 100 tablets. I take two in the morning two at lunch and two at night for the first month, then back down to two or three a day. I read an article and found out that another bioflavonoid works better. It is called Nature's Life Lemon Bioflavonoid. It is on Vitacost.com. It is $6.97 a bottle for 100 tabs. It got rid of my slot machine noise after about three weeks. Yea I couldn't believe this OTC stuff worked either. I have Meniere's and was told that they generally only work for people with Meniere's. But don't know if that is true. I still have T from time to time. Especially if I get lazy and don't take my lipos regualarly. But it has helped. Worth a shot for you trying them. And I am SO HAPPY to hear someone else say they have the slot machine beeping noise. Thought I was going cray cray hahaha

 

It's a shame the hearing aids stop working for you. My tinnitus is pretty low and doesn't fluctuate that much so I'm hoping I will have better luck with the hearing aids should I choose to go down that route. Also, from what I've seen the quality of hearing aid makes quite a big difference in how well it masks tinnitus. There are some really high end ones like the Lyric hearing aid which are supposed to be amazing.

I had mild tinnitus before the surgery, which doesn't seem to have been resolved after surgery. But then again, I still have packing in my ear, so that could be contributing to it being louder and it may not be that bad/resolve when the packing comes out.

It's nice to hear your confident that my tinnitus will go away, any particular reason why you think this?

Also, have you ever considered getting the ossicles reconstructed? If the theory about the tinnitus being due to hearing loss is true then reconstructing the hearing should fix your tinnitus?

Also, I'd love to keep in touch. Feel free to drop me your number via email if you want. My email address is sanjeev500501@gmail.com

 

Mine did the same thing. Came and went. The T and the H for over 6 months before I got diagnosed with Meniere's. The vertigo didn't come until months later.

 

It's just a hunch. I met a person last year who had the same surgery. She had tinnitus afterwards, but it faded away. Hers wasn't reactive, but rather a low and constant wooshing sound.

 

i have the same

 

Well I hope you're right. From my knowledge the whooshing sound is usually a different type of tinnitus called to pulsatile tinnitus and has a different cause to the ringing and/or hissing type, but I could be wrong. I hope mine fades in time too.

Also, with regards to the reactivity, I am trying to get to the bottom of whether this is caused by something called Hyperacusis in which case by doing things to address the Hyperacusis the reactivity should subside/reduce.

Also, with regards to what caused your tinnitus. Did you happen to take antibiotics for the ear infection? If so, which antibiotics and how soon after you took the antibiotics did the Tinnitus start. I'm asking because there are certain antibiotics that could cause tinnitus.

 

So annoying!

Today I think my RT changed (if its even RT?).
Today at the balcony I noticed a "DUUUUU" signal type of sound. I thought maybe it came from somewhere.
The sound doesnt exist when im inside.
Then I went out and noticed this sound is actually "following" me. It seems as my reactive tinnitus sound has changed from the typical whissling sound to this new signal sound.

I dont know if its ear worm. Because my cpu has started to make the EXACT same type of sound and ive been listening to it a lot. But that doesnt explain why I only have it outdoors.

 

I was at paintball and gocart yesterday and even tho the sounds were high it didnt spike up anything thank God.

Im still wondering and irritated over this new sound I hear outdoors tho.