Should I Insist on Doing an MRI?

Looking for advice from those of you that have been on this journey longer than I have. I'm going to see my ENT tomorrow. This is my first visit since I acquired Tinnitus (I'm on day 17), actually my first visit ever to an ENT:

-- Got T by going to a loud concert on New Years Eve.
-- Have it in just my left ear.
-- Loud, constant, high pitch.
-- I fortunately have great insurance so my costs are covered.

I take it from reading these threads is that basically ENTs just say "go away for a few months and come back and we'll see if anything's changed". I'd like to be a bit more active in understanding my situation. For those of you who got an MRI, was it of value; and for those of you who didn't do you wish you now did have one taken? What other tests should I be doing (in another thread we've been talking about Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, so I'm up to speed on that approach). Thanks in advance for helping a newbie on this jouney.

 

For noise-induced tinnitus an MRI would be very rare. Personally, I don't see a need for it but I'm definitely not a doctor by any means. They will likely give you a hearing test and possibly an ABR test. I've never had any tests for my T beyond that and I've been to a lot of ENT's over the years. Let us all know how the ENT appointment goes and hope all goes well.

 

You know the reason, for your tinnitus...it was the loud concert. Why an MRI?

 

Something to know about MRIs is that they are very loud. In fact there are many people here who have either gotten their T from it or then worse H/T afterwards. So since your tinnitus just started and might be at a very tender stage, I'd be careful about it. Right now the most important thing would be to protect your hearing from further damage. If MRI is done, make sure it is one of the new models, which are less noisy (and demand double-protection: both earmuffs and plugs).

Do you take any supplements or vitamins? To help your body heal, I'd start immeditealy with magnesium, zinc, L-carnosine and vitamin B complex supplements. Vitamin C and a high quality fish oil are always imporant as well.

 

A course of prednisone
And avoid MRI too noisy

 

Thanks. I'll go get the supplements today, and no, I haven't been taking them.

 

Thanks for the info. I just got done reading through the threads on Prednisone, so yes, I'll try to get that added to my treatment. Without your post I wouldn't have known to have asked for it. Thanks again.