Real or in My Mind

Last month the fire alarm at work went off. I was very very loud. Couple of days later I started to hear ringing only in one ear for 10-15 seconds and went away. I looked up on the internet and found tinnitus. I listened to tinnitus sounds on youtube. Since then the sound is constant. Now I am consumed by it. I am spending a lot of time reading and the more I read the louder I hear it.

First I went to my regular GP. He thought I had labyrinthitis and he put me on antibiotic just in case it is bacterial based. No change.

I went to ENT and I do not have hearing loss. I also got CT scan and it was normal.

My health is well. No blood pressure, no diabetes, no ear wax, no ear infection. I am a very healthy eater and I run 3 miles at day.

I admit I have health anxiety issues. It started after my father in law passed away from lung cancer 2 year also. In the past 2 years I have worried about many things that I should not have.

Could this be in my head? I know the brain can generate many symptoms like pain, lightheartedness... Can it generate Tinnitus?

 

It has been said that tinnitus is a sound generated by the central nervous system. There is no sound wave travelling through air to our ear drums and so we are not really hearing an outside sound. There are many causes of tinnitus and acoustic trauma is one the reasons for it. It is best not to monitor T. The more we monitor it and scare of it, the more the brain thinks it is a threat, and so it zeros in on it. If we ignore or distract ourselves from paying attention to it, the brain may think it not a threat, and so it will treat it as an unimportant environmental noise (like the fan or refrigerator or road noise). Then slowly it may be able to fade it out and you slowly habituate to the sound. If it really bothers you, then try use some masking sounds to block it. You can download 'aire freshener' for free which has many sounds to choose from. Youtube also has tinnitus masking sounds. Search it and you will find many nature sounds or white/pink noises etc. If your T persists, don't panic either. Many people with T are living normal lives. Just read the success stories and you will get some insights how they do it. Take care.

 

Hey @Litani

This a fantastic question & one that I was going to put forward myself! I've had my ears & an MRI which revealed everything was fine. Got my T out of nowhere one day & has been with me ever since. I've been to see 2 ENTs & they've both told me that due to the fact there isn't anything physically wrong with me, they believe it's something misfiring in my brain. Although when I asked if they ment it was 'physiological' they were kind of guarded about giving me a yes.

I've suffered from anxiety since I got floaters in both eyes back when I was 13, didn't help that the doctors were telling me I was making it up for attention -_- My dad also passed away a few years back of brain cancer & things since then have become a lot more stressful.

I also feel like my hearing has gotten a lot worse, especially in my right ear but not since the T started. I remember reading up on T after the first month having it & sating to myself "..but what about for those who don't have any hearing trouble..." because most who had the T also had hearing difficulties. The more I read about hearing problems there more I began noticing my own.. coincidence or have I just made my brain 'think' it has a problem..?

It seems impossible but I know the brain can do extraordinary things. It's just difficult letting things go & forgetting them, especially T & hearing loss + the fact I've got a lot of anxiety when it comes to my health.

 

Hey Kopesy,

That is the question. Do you really have hearing problems or you are having hearing problems because you read about it on the internet. There are many posts on the internet about people experiencing a symptom after reading about it.

I really need to stop looking at medical sites on the internet.

 

@Litani Yup I think it definitely makes a difference, really odd how our brains work like that. I've spent over a year going over everything there is on tinnitus & hearing loss to the point I cannot shake it out of my brain anymore, so silly of me

 

It's in the mind. There have been moments when I don't have it at all.

 

Sometimes when I am busy I do not hear it either. As soon as I remember, the sounds starts.

 

I believe the brain will try to cope with T subconsciously but when we are aware of it we are slowing down the healing process .Look we all go through some of the same things with T so when we don't think about T it gets better .It is a real sound to us so the dr's and people who don't have T and so called experts that don't have T can say it's subjective but if we hear it then,IT'S REALLY a REAL sound.I believe it is a nerve or chemical problem ,but it could be anywhere in the body and it is complex .It is a real challenge but it can be managed and even beat.

 

This obviously depends person to person.

If you're focused on another task deeply you are less likely to hear it or it will be diminished it perceived volume. How that works in your brain, we do not know yet.

Putting your perception towards the stimuli will make it clearer and thus more noticeable in your conciousness. That's how you can cause your own tinnitus to go up when you stress over it.