Since June I Am Getting Better

Hi. I am 40 years old, and just recently got tinnitus in June following a retirement party of all things, at a local banquet hall, and it wasn't a loud event but its the only thing I can think of that would have triggered the weeks and weeks of noise afterward. Earlier in the year I got a new set of earbuds, though, and I had them in at the gym in attempt to drown out other noise and the lame music they use at the gym itself, and Im pretty sure thats what did it for me. Anyway, I woke up the day after this retirement party to a very quiet house and a "eeeeeeeeee" in my left ear. I didn't panic because I had ETD earlier the year so I just figured it was related.

But one week went by and then 2 and I started researching, and found out I wasn't alone and no decongestants for my ETD were working ... I read that this happens all the time and sometimes its permanent -- and THEN I panicked because my dad suffers from tinnitus. I spent one or two nights where the noises seemed to be completely raping my peace. I mean it was like a grand circus in my ears at night, and yet forgettable during the day. When I panicked, it seemed to reinvent itself into new tones, and all kinds of frequencies....uhmmmm I was LOSING it. I looked at my partner with envy sleeping peacefully...ugh. I wondered if I ever would again.

So I went to the doctor ASAP. He found nothing wrong with my ear, physically. I deflated. I was hoping it was ETD. Nope. So he asked for an audiogram to be done. I did that the next day expecting to fail. I passed with flying colors - he said I could hear a mouse fart. So if it is a hearing loss its probably at a higher frequency (me guessing, not the doctor).

As of yet, I do not know the for sure cause of my case. I can tell you that the "eeeeeeee" in the morning has almost gone away completely. I mean, I have always heard head noise of some sort, but there's no train whistle going off when I lay down anymore. I do hear, however a constant low frequency hmmmmmmm - at night usually, which wasn't as intrusive as the train whistle, but its not as easy to mask as the train whistle either. Oddly, though, when I wear plugs, I can't hear the hum as well or even at all. Otherwise, I find I can take Clonozepam and it knocks it right out, but I try not to use it much. I am hoping this hum too will go away.

In the meantime, I have been protecting my ears at any potentially loud events. I went to go see fireworks and live comedy shows with ear plugs and I am getting married in 3 weeks so I will also be wearing plugs at the reception.

I think its super important on these posts to declare age. I think is early onset tinnitus and age related tinnitus, and Im not sure yet, but the etiology, progression, and prognosis in older adults appears to be different than those of younger adults. Generally, in my research, I have found that younger sufferers tend to get it from headphones, loud music, acoustic trauma resulting in high frequency hearing loss NOT apparent in a regular audiogram. Older adults tend to suffer from extended long term noise exposure which DOES impact the standard audiogram. Not always the case as I asked the audiologist if people my age ever "fail" the audiogram and they do, and Im sure older people also pass it with tinnitus, but declaring an age can offer some kind of context.

Thanks for reading.
Jordyn

 

You will most likely recover.

 

Thanks Bill. Hope you're right! I like your profile pic too btw.

 

@Jordyn, I have a very low hiss in my left ear during the day and nothing else. But at night it's get louder and I hear it in my head somewhat and a hmmmm also. The hmmmm doesn't seem to be coming from my ears and when I cover my ears with my hands, like you I don't hear it that much or at all. My husband says it must be a sound in the house. But I go looking for it and can't find it. Our furnace has a low humming noise and I thought maybe I was hearing it from the vents thru out the house but one time I think I heard it in my car. I think it's in my head only! If that's possible. I took Clonazepam on and off for about four weeks and then weaned off and haven't touched it for two weeks now. It definitely took my hissing during the day down to almost nothing, but past two weeks a little bit louder but still mostly quiet days. And a few hours of nothing some days. I really think it went back to where it was in the beginning, but I started taking it on day 4 after T started so not sure. So don't be fooled on Clonazepam days! I love the stuff and what it did but....! It's been 9 weeks and 3 days since my T started. Hope you do recover soon! And me too!

 

I can't quite place the palace on your avatar. Where is this?

You have been improving, and you are feeling so well so soon after onset, I think you have nothing to worry about.

 

its the chateau frontenac in quebec city! its my favourite place to visit in canada where i live

 

I knew I've seen it before! I kept thinking about famous European castles, and that threw me off. It is definitely one of the nicer places to visit in Canada. My personal favorites are the provinces of Newfoundland and British Columbia. I love the outdoors.

 

@Mkc28 yesssss this same thing happens to me too with the hum!! i have gone crazy looking for it but the thing is, there truly is a hum in our city. it's made headlines as no one can identify where it's coming from. Between that and my ears, I cannot decide what is real. Except i slept at a cottage last night in the country and heard the hum.... but, then in the morning when i told my hubby, he said he heard it too!!! So again, idk if we are hearing different hums but i'm pretty sure it's my ears. i've even visited the most quiet places i can think of - a mausoleum for example- to see if i could still hear it in my ears! i couldn't but uhmmm the mausoleum was alive with its own hums - AC, fans, lighting etc etc. one of the worst things is i cannot trust my ears.... ugh. Keep me posted on your recovery!!!

 

Do you live in Windsor, Ontario? I remember reading about a mysterious hum there, that people suspect is coming from Detroit.

 

@Bill Bauer Yes! I do! it appears to be coming from a small industrial island called ZUg Island. When trying to track the hum when i first heard it, it seemed to be coming from the same direction of Zug Island. Now I used to live just outside of windsor and i used to hear a pulsing sound related to this hum ... Now i live in the heart of windsor and it sounds different. Iffff that's in fact what i hear. You can imagine how having tinnitus messes you up when there's a real hum and a hum in your head (or so you think anyway). My future hubby says he hears it too most of the time but not as loud and again - Most but not all the time. After the main ringing passed, he says I prob just have sensitive hearing, but sometimes it's just my left ear hearing a faint hum. I am never sure if it's my ears, the Windsor Hum, or a combination of both. it's very frustrating

 

I can imagine. I remember reading about this about 15 years ago. It made a huge impression on me (it must be one of the only news stories from that time that I still remember). I can't believe that nobody was able to do anything to stop this for all of these years. Windsor is a pretty big town... Over 300,000 people have been terrorized by this hum for over 15 years - unbelievable!

 

@Bill Bauer well from what i understand it's going to cost money to investigate the island and no one wants to pay for it. we have already detected the source being a steel plant on the island. It is heavily guarded, and no one is allowed access and Canada doesn't want to investigate cause it's obviously not our territory and US doesn't want to because it costs money and it doesn't bother them because they are not down wind from it. You can go to youtube and watch all sorts of videos about it. There's even a fb page where a fellow in west windsor records the noise all day and then publicly reports on it via posts to fb. anyone can comment if ur in the group but Me i feel like i can't cause well, i don't trust my ears! But posts from my region of windsor do talk about "hums" while other areas report roaring, or hissing, or pulsing - basically it's a tinnitus noise factory over there!!! LOL!

 

@Jordyn, I only live a few hours away from Windsor in Ohio along Lake Erie. If the hum was coming from Pelee Island than maybe I could be hearing it lol. If I were you I would just think the hum is from the city. But I know that's hard to do. Is that what's bothering you the most? Not the ringing? My hissing in left ear bothers me most. The hum is minor and I'm pretending it's something in my home. And the truth is it might have always been there way before the hissing started. My husband hears the hum too, but he had T years ago when he was young and now he's not bothered by it. I feel bad asking him to listen for sounds because I don't want him to get it back. But he says it's okay because he wants to help me because he knows how much it's bothering me. But he said, jokingly "I filed my T in the forget about box way in the back of my mind and you opened it up." But he says his will be fine! But anyway, your T happen just like mine not knowing how it happen then thinking it was etd and being told no, and panicking after reading it could be permanent. And then quieted down with the help of clonozepam. I don't know if you get stressed easily, I do, but maybe when your wedding is over with, your T might completely go away. Maybe it's just the excitement and everything! But I'm hoping for you it will be gone before then. Congratulations!

 

@Mkc28 yes it's the hum that bothers me most right now - the ringing is much improved -- and yes i have noticed i am more prone to acute stress since my mom passed away almost 5years ago. I do sometimew pretend it is from the city hum like you say. i wouldn't doubt for a second that if you hear a hum in ohio that it could be related to Zug island. People from Ohio do claim to hear it too. i tried to attach a map of where it is but i can't find out how to post a pic on here. i have heard it in east windsor (far from my house but a different hum NOT from my ears) and even people near pelée island have reported to hear it too but not as much. If i hear it on my honeymoon, i guèss i'll be able to separate my ears from city hum!!! my fear though is that it will get worse as i already have this headstart. If it stayed stable i could prob tolerate it but .... id much rather forget about it like anyone else on here. I'll keep ya posted!

Also as an aside my fiancé protects his ears like a vigilant maniac. hes 50. and even he says something like your hubby does - "geez all this ringing in my head i never knew i had till i had to listen to it every time you ask about a new sound!!" lol.

 

i don't wanna jinx it but last night i heard no humming. Not from the city nor my ears.

 

it's confirmed that the humming is not in my head but external. i spent a sunny week on a carribean vaca and NO HUM. came back home last night and hmmmmmmmmm all around. very low but it's there.

 

Guys do any of you suffer from anxiety?

I say this because i'm trying to think about this logically. If you (like me to be honest) can't hear this sound when we cover our ears then i'm really starting to think its anxiety induced and we are somehow imagining this sound in our brain leading to us actually thinking we can hear something.

I think initially our T was legit but over time we became overly sensitive in regards to hearing leading to an increase in anxiety which results in us hearing something.

 

Hi @Kingdawson. I am not a doctor, so this is just my opinion, and perhaps others here can correct me if I am wrong; but if you can physically block out the tinnitus sound by covering your ears, I would question if is it actually tinnitus. I was under the impression that tinnitus was internal. For me, there is nothing that can block out the sound (nor a volume of music, at least up to the point where I fear physical damage to my ears would ensue) that can block it out (I even hear it in my dreams).

The good news from that is if it is anxiety-based, then therapy (cognitive perhaps) or medication, or both, may be able to address the symptoms.

And, to more directly ask your anxiety question, it is very common amongst tinnitus suffers (and yes, I do).

 

yes i do. as i get older it gets worse. true that i pay way more attention to head noise than ever before but it's prob back to normal now (i think?). like you said though every little sound i hear i question it, if it's real, and where it's coming from - unlike before

 

Exactly the same. I literally find myself questioning every sound i hear which i know is not good. Think CBT and meditation will help me.

 

are you asking me or telling me lol

 

I'm saying that i think our issues are similar so maybe what helps me might help you.

 

ohhh. ya prob. i have had a terrible time since my mom died over 4 years ago. idk what it was about that that triggered so much insecurity. i even went through a bout if it after buying my wedding gown which you would think is silly, especially if you saw the gown. with every change and major life decision i have a very hard time. i have thought about counselling and recently my workplace has announced some coverage for it. @Kingdawson