Scared, Sad, Depressed and ... Tinnitus

I had ear surgery on my left ear on apr 14, 2016. They though it was otosclerosis as my dad had the same thing (I am 47). During surgery they found out is was not otosclerosis, however, my stape was leaning over and they saw that one side of the stape bone was missing / deteritoated. The foot plate was fine. They replaced my stape using cartlidge from behind my ear. The the doctor did not make an anchor on the foot plate because of a mercer in the way but believes ok without one.

It is now May 15, about 1 month later. My hearing has somewhat improved on paper (say 5 to 10 db) but my 8000hz range seems to be getting worse. It has gone from 50 to 95db. Furthermore, tinnitus has really increased and I now spend all day and everyday crying with great depression. I am in Japan and Japanese is not my first language. Scared to hell what is going on. Is my healing over? Am I to live with this? Do I listen to this forever?

 

I don't think I can stand this much longer. So bad to say this, but I don't think I can live with this.

I recommend people stay away from this surgery under titinuts improvements are made.

 

Go to an ENT and see if hearing aids would work in your situation. I'm not sure about your surgery but what I can tell you is that hearing aids can amplify your hearing to around baseline so that ambient noise can greatly or eliminate tinnitus. In the meantime, maybe go to a doctor and tell him you are really depressed and bothered by your T its possible he might could give you a short term prescription of valium to help calm you down and with some people it lowers their tinnitus. (Not to be taken long term though because of tolerance and withdrawal issues). The main problem is your hearing loss. When you get that taken care of, you will be on the right track...just hang in there. For the time being you can listen to some nature sounds to mask it. You can find some pretty good ones and mynoise.net and you can adjust the sliders for bass, mids, and treble. Don't listen to it too loud to where it is dangerous to your ears though. If worse comes to worse after a few weeks and you are still depressed you might have to look into meds to help depression but hopefully it won't come to that. I have to take Lamictal because I had depression swings BEFORE tinnitus but hopefully you won't have to take anything for that.

 

Thank you for your replies. I am at 32 days post surgery. Is it normal to have T this far out from surgery? When is the normal time frame for ears to get better? I have to go on a biz trip from Japan to EU this weekend ... Doctor said ok but I wonder if I can actually mentally do it with this Tinitus. Please comment .... Thank you so much!

 

We know what you're going through, I asked my partner if she'd forgive me if I left too but luckily I realized I don't have that luxury because she needs me.
Wait till we've created the best source on treatment options and research opportunities in the world right here on TinntusTalk/Hub. Talk to people here, read all the threads, look at the research people here have done like attheedgeofscience, try things that might work for you.

There is no cure yet, but not too long ago we couldn't fly either. When flight was invented one man said "Nobody will ever fly across the Atlantic ocean", the moron that said that was Orville Wright himself, the inventor of the airplane.

 

Welcome to the forum. I have empathy of your suffering. At this early stage of T a new sufferer will usually be very scared and anxious about the future. We tend to think no way we can live with T long termed. That is the mistake I made in thinking that way and I suffered much with that kind of catastrophic thinking. That act is T is undesirable but livable, even long termed. But at the new stage, a sufferer usually falls trap into thinking life with T is not acceptable nor livable, therefore giving rise to so much anxiety and stress. That will change gradually over time. You are now functioning with the limbic nervous system which functions in fight or flight mode, and everything about T feels so much worse than it is. Over time you normal parasympathetic nervous system will take over and things will be easier to handle. If you read the success stories, you will find most people take some time to get better after a tough struggle initially. If they have a good positive attitude as well as some effective strategies or treatments, they will recover even faster. So don't panic. Give it time. Learn from others what work for them and apply what you learn. Things will definitely get better. Your perception about T will likely change over time like most of the recovered member do. I suffered and feared my ultra high pitch T (and hyperacusis too) a few years back and I was in a mess. But now I don't give a dime about T high or low. My body is hardened to this ringing and its tyranny over me is truly over. I live a normal and absolutely enjoyable life and wrote my success story. Don't panic and don't lose hope. Take care & God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/