Ringing in Right Ear

Hi, my name is Clare and I live in Ireland. I've had constant ringing in my right ear since May 2015. It started out as a low, slow regular beeping tone, a bit like someone pressing the buttons on an old mobile (cell) phone, then developed into a faster ringing noise, that almost seems to echo in my ear. At the moment it appears to go in 2-3 week cycles, where I'd have 2-3 good weeks of the quieter beeping (which I can tolerate) then it would change to the the louder ringing for 2-3 weeks and it makes life more difficult. It's hard to concentrate during the day, it's difficult to get to sleep (I'd have to have the radio up to the same volume as the ringing to help mask it) and if I wake in the middle of the night it's really hard to get back to sleep. It's usually louder in the mornings too. I get occasional pain in that ear as well.

I've pretty much tried everything, both alternative and conventional medicine. I've had that ear irrigated. Hearing tests showed my hearing was normal. I had an MRI scan and a nasal endoscopy discovered a growth in my nasal space. I had surgery in early December 2015 to remove the growth. The ENT doc said it shouldn't grow back and it may or may not have caused the tinnitus but it was possible. He said all the inflammation should go down in 6 weeks and the tinnitus may stop by then but if not it probably won't. We're way past the 6 weeks now and it's still the same.

I was quite anxious about it for the first few months looking for answers but I know I have to accept it and find a way to live with it or it will drive me crazy. I'm hoping somehow my brain will tune it out more eventually or that it will just go away!

I have had two days since May 2015, not consecutive days, months apart, where it stopped for no apparent reason and I went to bed in blissful silence. The funny thing was I didn't want to go asleep, I wanted to stay awake to enjoy every moment of that silence because I knew the ringing would probably be back when I woke up again and it was.

So I'm just sticking to masking for now and hoping for some quieter weeks in the future. I'm trying to see if there are any other patterns to it and I have noticed exercise and being outside in nature helps.

Reading what other people are going through really helps too and knowing you're not alone is a comfort.

 

Welcome to the forum. It is a positive sign that you have silent days as some members here don't have a break from T. Try to take it as a positive as T is feasting on our negative emotions. Yes, accepting the reality of life with T is an important step towards eventual habituation. We don't have to like T or accept T, but we can accept the reality of life with T. With that we can learn to adapt and adjust to the new normal. Yes, some people call life with T as the new normal. Here is a doctor who posted about accepting this new normal:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/curing-tinnitus.4136/page-5#post-40854

 

Thanks Billie. Yes I will definitely try and be positive. Hopefully with time I will adapt to this new normal and find new ways to manage it. Thanks for the link.

 

I would die for one night of respite from the ringing! That is a good sign. I always used to sleep with ear plugs, now I can't because it enhances the noise. Never heard of getting a nasal endoscopy, will see if my GP will go for it. Desperate. I bought a white noise machine but for me I found it good to get to sleep but not to stay asleep so I discontinued. Best of luck, we all need it