Si, Suffering in Cornwall

Hi everybody, Im Si, and I live in deepest darkest Cornwall. I've been suffering with tinnitus for a little over 12 months, and I don't know how you all manage it, it's really getting me down.

I'll cut my story short, but last November I developed an ear infection, just itching and discomfort with occasional tinnitus, but it was bearable then.

I was referred to the ear clinic and had an appointment in March of last year, by that time my ear was discharging, and the tinnitus was constant, I had hearing tests, and all sorts of people looking in my ear with all sorts of gadgets, I was essentially told it was just tinnitus and I had to live with it, the discharge was a slight infection and I was given antibiotics.

I've been on a cycle of antibiotic tablets, sprays and drops since then until 2 weeks ago, the discharge got worse, as did the tinnitus and my hearing. so I went to see my GP again. I ended up seeing a trainee GP who was lovely, she couldn't understand why I still had the symptoms and so called the on call ENT SHO at my local hospital who agreed to see me on a Saturday. I've spent the last 2 weeks with wicks in my ear, and more drops, so uncomfortable! I then had another appointment with the Ear clinic nurses. Although I was told only 5 days previous that me ear was clean and clear, the nurse said I had quite a build up of wax, certainly more than 5 days worth, so after an hour of painful suction she found, in my ear canal, a grommet that I had put in as a child in 1984!!! Just lying there lodged next to my eardrum. I'm not sure if this is the cause of my troubles, I desperately hope so, it's been out for 24 hrs now, but the tinnitus is no better. I just don't understand why, after over a year of people looking in my ear, and suctioning, it's only just been found.

I know i said a short story, sorry about that, but the tinnitus is driving me crazy! To all of you suffering, your heroes. I wouldn't wish it on anybody. Thanks for reading.

Si

 

Hello Si and welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
This is a horrible affliction, there's no doubt.
Hopefully as your ear heals up, your tinnitus will go. I believe it can take a little while after the infection to go. My sister had a perforated ear drum and the tinnitus took a little while to go once the eardrum had repaired.
Be careful with what drops you put in your ear. Some are ototoxic, so just be sure to do your research.
Hoping that you get some peace in the near future.
Sam

 

Welcome to the forum. Sorry for you struggle with T. It is unfortunate that those so called specialists would tall your ear was clean and clear only to find out later there were wax and a grommet. Gosh!!! Sometimes you wonder what kind of 'good' job these professionals do for their patients. You can actually sue them for negligence.

If you find your tinnitus driving you crazy, the best thing to do is try to mask it with more soothing nature sounds or music but try to set the volume slightly below the T sound so your brain can get used to the T sound in the long run. If you haven't tried masking yet or don't know what to use, here are some suggestions. Take care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time so you can sleep better. Find whatever sounds/music that are soothing to you. You can use a sound machine or sound pillow for this, or a computer with speakers.

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds.

3) If you have computer and speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds too:

TT's audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator ‘aire freshener’: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.