Spontaneous Tone

Since Thursday I have been paranoid about my hearing gradually decreasing. I notice the deficiet between my left and right ear more as a result. Each day I have had at least one moment where it felt like my hearing went down a little.

The doctor yesterday said my ears looked fine and sent me about my way. My hearing appears to be stable. Though about an hour ago a new louder tone started buzzing in my right ear (good ear) as I laid down to sleep.

I am unsure if it is temporary or not but it's really getting to me. Just as I start to adjust to the hell of the previous tomes, I get a new one. So I'm thinking of going in either tomorrow or Monday to request a week supply of prednisone. Thoughts?

 

If you haven't been around any loud noises this is most likely a psychosomatic response from stress and anxiety. Seems like you've really been focusing on your hearing a lot lately, this tends to exacerbate tinnitus. Probably a 99 percent chance that your hearing is fine, the challenge will be keeping your mind off of it.

Taking a break from tinnitus research would be a good idea, it certainly doesn't seem like it's helping your mental state. I tend to be a little obsessive too, so I go out of my way not to research things that I know will only stress me out. Instead I read lot on subjects that interest me in a positive way, studies and journals regarding fitness and nutrition really pique my curiosity, and they don't put me in a negative mood either.

 

Earlier today I saw a movie that had pretty high intensity levels. I had to partially cover my ears for some parts

 

It could be fleeting tinnitus.... I have had bouts of it that have lasted all day. One time it was literally right after a loud noise, I was sure it was an increase, but the next day it was completely gone, coincidence I guess. Hopefully everything is fine, try taking some magnesium and NAC just to be on the safe side.

 

I'll see if I have any in hand. If not?

 

I'd give it another day before thinking about prednisone, it's a pretty extreme drug and it's effectiveness is somewhat questionable. Check for the new tone immediately after waking up tomorrow, before you have a chance to stress out about anything. If it's still there and hasn't gone down in volume at all, that's when I'd consider pred.

 

It's fleeting alright. It briefly happened in my left ear but it quickly faded. Right ear is still there but quieter

 

You're probably good then... Sometimes fleeting T occurs coincidentally after loud noise. Next time it would probably be best to wear some noise reducing earplugs to the movies though, just to be safe.

 

So the tone isn't permanent per se, but it is fleeting and keeps recurring throughout the day for brief periods.

 

@Gl0w0ut - a bit off topic but thanks for putting a face behind the nickname. You look much less aggressive and a lot more human that way. Of course, me, I just look like a steak...

 

I see, well could you contribute to the topic at least then? This fleeting and recurring tone is making me paranoid.

 

Gl0w0ut, I truly feel for you. Most of us know exactly how you feel and what you are going through right now. Your anxiety is running wild which is making you sit and ruminate, and this never helps. There’s not much you can do to feel better over night, but try your absolute best to stop ‘checking’ your T.

Try to do something completely new and different to take your mind off it. Draw a portrait, learn an instrument, play chess etc. You have to reboot yourself by redirecting your thoughts elsewhere. Essentially, become obsessed with something else that’s healthy, and pull yourself out of this anxiety trap that you are stuck in. Also, try confiding in a close friend or some family members and talk this stuff through. Getting things off your chest in real life feels like a huge weight coming off your shoulders and it definitely helps. You could also go the professional route and try CBT.

In the end though it takes a lot of time. Life changing stuff like this doesn’t resolve overnight and no one on here can write the perfect paragraph to help you. Stay strong and try to be optimistic because as I said in another thread positive re-enforcement goes a long way.

 

I agree with Ed's post GLOwout.

A few times I will get this loud tone that will literally knock me out of bed or off the sofa. It only lasts a few seconds. But I remember that first incident as if it were yesterday. Now it does not affect me at all anxiety wise. It is just weird. If I am tired or rundown or emotional about something it will sort of make me more nervous.

Sometimes people forget to just breathe. When you are confronted with such a spike/tone the first instinct is to stiffen up and freeze. Relaxing by breathing in slowly and exhaling, helps a lot.

 

I don't really have much to contribute to the topic: I get the same stuff all the time. I suppose that something is seriously screwed up somewhere in my hearing pipeline and that it will cause all kinds of sounds and noises to show up.

I have one drone sound like a fog horn that comes and goes. It comes for a few weeks then disappears for a few weeks. I haven't figured out any pattern/correlation, but I've decided to not worry about it (like I used to when it first came). The first time I asked my wife if she heard the neighbor that was playing music so loud and early in the morning (because of the bass).

We barely know how the electrical signaling works (if we did know much more about it, our cochlear implants would reproduce sound much better), so I imagine that any kind of spurious electrical jolt can translate into something we pick up as sound. As long as it's transient and the intensity is manageable (which has been so far), I'm not going to spend too much time worrying over it.