Standing at the gates of tinnitus

Hi Darren. Don't know about Diazepam but the anesthetic (lidocaine) they inject you with to numb you up is supposed to suppress the T for a while. Hope it works for you

John

 

I'll have them all out then

 

Hi Darren,
I don't think a low dose of relaxant can have side effect. Recently I had a surgery (kidney stone), doctor gave me benzos and no effect on T. I hoped that epidural amaesthesia could cancel T for a while, but it didn't . Just pay attention to dentist's drill, in case wear earplugs (being an extraction he'd not use it).

 

Thanks mate

 

Hey Darren: Benzos,in particular Xanax, are sometimes used to lessen tinnitus --although a lot of people think they actually just reduce anxiety which eases tinnitus symptoms, rather that act directly on the tinnitus itself. There even has been a clinical study and a protocol developed for Xanax and T. Of course, benzos carry issues unto themselves -- including that some think the can cause tinnitus. But I think a hit of diazepam is more likely to help than harm you regarding your dental work.

More critical, like Carlo said, is the ear plugs.I need to get a crown myself and keep putting if off, due to worries about my tinnitus acting up. Someone here posted this item from the ATA site, which addressses dental work. Main suggestion is to have your dentist drill, say, five minutes, then take minutes off, then five minutes drilling, etc.

http://www.ata.org/sites/ata.org/fi...tistry, Hyperacusis - Vernon - Summer '10.pdf

I plan to send this to my dentist, have her read it and us discuss it, beforeI climb into that chair.

 

Thanks Di,

As always you are a star x

 

Hello Darren thanks for that, no need to be sorry .
The Nebula picture you posted what equipment did you use? I always check into the site everyday http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Cheers

Simon

 

Hi Simon,

Sorry for the late reply, I've only just seen your post. I'll send you a direct message, as I don't want to turn this great forum into an Astro forum

Regards,

Darren

 

Hi Simon,

I just thought I would reply to this post again. We had two building jobs running simultaneously, with both projects starting at the same time. One was a small house referb / make over, 6 weeks in duration and the other is a large extension with major alterations to the original part of the property. A 6 month duration. I took over the running of the small project, where there was less noise and stress. Whilst on that project I was wearing ear defenders and when I removed them, my ears felt full. That job is now complete and I have now moved over the the large project. The noise on this project is far greater than the small one and I wear my ear defenders all day. But I must admit, my ears no longer feel full when I remove them, plus my T doesn't spike like it used to. So perhaps, things are calming down a little and the ear defenders no longer having an affect on my T. Early days at the moment and so I will keep you posted in a months time. Likewise, please let me know your own experience with them.


Take care,

Darren

 

Hi guys hope you are all well.

I realise I already have an "Introduce yourself post" going, but I felt the need to start a fresh one. As some of you may know, I've had T for 3 months and have dealt with it fairly well. I have got used to the patterns and my anxiety levels have dropped down a lot. I'm enjoying life and have an amazing wife, who is so supportive.

Last Thursday morning I had a spike (no problem I thought, they come and go), but the spike has not lowered in 80 hours. It's Sunday morning now, its very uncomfortable and It's causing me concern. However, I do have a theory. I don't think my Tinnitus IS louder, but my hearing loss has gotten so much worse.

Let me try and explain. When this 1st began almost 4 months ago, it started with a severe fullness in my left ear. It came on almost completely out of the blue. My GP thought it was a Eustachian tube problem and prescribed me with some nasal sprays. After 2-3 weeks the problem was still there and that's when the T kicked it (3 months ago). During this time I've had 5 hearing tests at the hospital, because my hearing fluctuated so much, they wanted to do a weekly test. In the end, they felt it necessary to prescribe me with an hearing aid (which I'm still waiting for).

I'm going to go off road for a second, but please bear with me.

I've just purchased some really good quality 45db ear defenders for work, that has a 3.5mm jack socket built in, so I can listen to my I-pod at low levels to mask the T a little. Now when I normally put ear defenders on, my T seems louder, due to the fact that no outside noise is being transmitted to my ear. whist having a cup of tea this morning, I put them on and was going to play some white noise through them. But my T stayed at the same level. Same level on, same level off. I started to play around with them. I covered my left ear with only one ear muff and could hear radio 4 (a talk show) at volume level 6 with my right ear. I carried out the same exercise the my left ear and needed to turn the volume up to level 13 before I could hear it clearly.

I'm wondering if my spikes are being caused by fluctuating hearing loss? And whether, my hearing has just packed up now? As I say, it been 80 hours now, with high T. Could I be going deaf in my left ear, quite rapidly?

Slightly worried and confused!


Take care all,


Darren

 

Sorry, I made a mistake on my last post, It started spiking at around 5am on Friday morning. That's around 55 hours

 

Hi Darren,
sorry to hear that. Very unlikely your hearing loss is fluctuating so much...you always protect yourself at work. So it's probably a spike, as you didn't report any accident, and you feel obviously anxious about it. At this point better don't make experiments with music and try to stay relaxed. My advice: if you really don't need to protect your ears today, don't do it.
Take care my friend
Carlo

 

Hello Darren
Once again hope your spike has ended by the time you have read this message. Have had a similar experience to yourself.
I got myself some better quality ear defenders & also ear plugs hoping that this would prevent any issues with my T . It didn't
Had a huge spike afterwards that lasted about a week, which I found really hard to deal with. Haven't used any machinery in my workshop since & have been on the hand tools ever since, which is losing me money but on the bright side I am enjoying using my hand skills

I was hoping that the reason for my spike is because at the time I was suffering with hypercasuis & this might have contributed to the spike, I decided to give myself more time to recover from the hypercasuis. Mostly over the Hypercasius now, will be giving it another go with machinery soon. A friend of mine suggested that the vibrations from the machinery might have had a effect but I am not sure.

As I am still in the early days of having T and I am not quite ready too give up my business yet & going to give it a good bloody go before I decide a change of career might be on the cards.

What ear defenders are you using? was speaking to a friend of mine who works in ex forces clothing about getting a pair that the air force uses.

Cheers

Simon

 

Thanks Carlo,

As always you are a tower of strength.

 

Hi Simon,

Yes the spike has started to lower in volume, but keeps on fluctuating. I purchased the Peltor ear defenders, but they only arrived on Friday and so I have not used them at work yet. I worked on Thursday in a noisy in environment (chop saws, Kangos and hammers going) and the spike happened on Friday am. I must admit, I'm slightly apprehensive about going in tomorrow. I also run my own business and like you I'm considering a change of career. That's one big decision, as construction is all I know.

Take care

 

Hey boys. I used to restore apartments in Copenhagen.Now I am 61 and live with my new famely 3 smal boys, near hamburg.I got a hearinglos in the high and a nice t in it.Lately its louder maybe more los or the colder weather nobody knows, and I cant do anything about it .I try to relax,but find it hard to cope.I am looking a Little too much for treatments that aint here yet.In the daytime i use Widex zen 2 go There are different sounds and remotecontrol and they make me able to Work.I think t always get a Little louder when you are not 20 anymore.Hope one day to train
the brain not to listen.I think when you protect your ears there is no problem with noice.

 

Hi Guys,

Just to let you know the spike has lowered again. My ears feel really sensitive at the moment, but a least the T is back to a reasonable level. I must admit that spike really knocked my confidence as it was a bad one and I thought I was coping really well. Clear skies tonight so I'm out imaging.

See ya guys

 

Really good news Darren! I would have bet on it!

 

Just thought I would share this with the group. After a weekend of record highs with the T, I've woke up with almost record lows. Hope that gives other people confidence of when they are having a rough time. I know I have learnt a lot from it and will carry that with me, the next time I have a bad day / days.

Have a good day everybody.

Darren

 

Good to hear that Darren.

 

It is amazing, isn't it? I will have be in loud ear hell for a day or two, and then suddenly... a calm and quiet heaven. The T never goes away but it descends into a very soft hiss. Makes me enjoy the good days that much more -- and gives me strength (usually!) during the bad ones. My guess is anyone with a difficult chronic medical condition, like severe arthritis, goes on the same roller coaster ride.

Bottom line: Glad you are back under clear, starry skies, Darren.

 

Hi Di,

Had a real bad spike last weekend followed by 5 days of heaven. Today I was sitting in a quite room and it literally disappeared. Unfortunately as soon as it did, it started to get louder and louder and I'm now having a spike. What a crazy condition this is. It's not bothering me much though as I now it will go down soon.

Take care

 

Hi guys,

Just thought I would share this with the group. I had my NHS hearing aid fitted today and my T has gone. Early days I know, so I'm not getting carried away, but it's so nice to hear silence again. My T was low today anyway and so I will monitor it over the next month and give you updates.

Take care everyone

Darren

 

Awesome news so happy for you keep us posted cher x

 

Thats awesome, @Darren Knight! I'm so happy for you! Enjoy!

 

I´m confused about this horrible affliction? why are my ears hot? where do i start? i haven´t even seen a doctor yet
and i don´t like going out at the moment, i´m still in shock i guess!!!

 

Hi Guys,

It's been a while since my last post, so I thought I would give you an update. My ENT has diagnosed me with cochlear hydrops, which is a form of Meniere's disease. My hearing fluctuates from almost completely deaf (for a few hours) to perfect hearing. My other Doctor, the amazing Dr David Baguley has fitted me with a NHS combination hearing aid, which is a hearing aid, plus a white noise masker. Over the last 6 weeks, my T has really started to settle down (famous last words) but when the T is low the aid completely removes it. When the T is medium the masker distracts it. When the T is loud the aid or masker really helps in giving me comfort until it passes. The only problem with the NHS aid, is that it is quite large and when you are a 45 year old babe magnet like me ;-) a smaller aid would be a better look. I'm going to give it six months before I decide whether to spend £2k to £5k on a pair of smaller aids. So much of T is coincidence, but over the last 6 or 7 weeks my T has been really good, apart from a spike about 2 weeks ago, which my man Carlo helped me through. Last night, my T was so good I slept for the 1st time without white noise. Is the aid re-booting my brain into hearing clear sounds and so it no longer needs to reproduce the sound it thinks its missing? Am I just healing at my own pace? Am I just getting used to my T? I don't have all the answers, but yes, after 5 months, my T is so much better than the 1st 2 months of having it. The volume is lower and the tone has changed The aid is definitely my comfort blanket and it was free. Everything Dr Baguley has giving me has worked. The relaxation CD, the sound generator and pillow, the Aid, the advice about a low salt diet, etc...... all free of charge! Google David Baguley. I'm so lucky to have him. I'm also on a high dose of Betahistine as proscribed by my ENT Dr Donnely (They both work hand in hand). Everyone is different, but my advice would be to check out some cheap aids to see if they work 1st. I have spoken to a few, so called, Tinnitus specialists about £5k aids, but when I say I'm under Dr Baguley they go a little quiet. As I said in my last post, its still early days and I will keep you posted.

Have a great weekend guys and don't forget to get up around 1am tomorrow morning (Saturday the 14th) and watch the Geminids meteor shower. About 60 shooting stars per hour, but as the moon is quite full, maybe slightly less.

See ya,

Darren

 

Thank you Darren, for the update. Good to read that, best wishes.

 

Sorry Carol, I've only just seen the post. As it's been a few weeks now, I hope you have seen your Dr and this fourm has given you some great comfort and advice.