Success Story: Tinnitus Leaves After 6 Months

Short story: Tinnutis went away after 6 months.

Long story:

[I am in no way whatsoever connecting Tinnitus reaction to my medication changes below or recommending my medication routine to anyone. I think there are coincidences. I do not think medication had anything to do with changes in Tinnitus. Follow up with your own doctors for any medication recommendations. With so few validated success stories I want to submit documentation of my story.]

Lifetime of low Tinnitus as a professional musician in a range of 1-2 daily, 3-8 after loud events which always settled back down to 1-2. I usually put in musician style earplugs when encountering loud events. I was not dilligent enough to use a better protective system. Sometimes, would perform and after realizing music was too loud put in earplugs (bad idea I have since learned).
Acquired Intrusive Tinnitus on Oct. 10 2014 after exceptionally loud music event. Tinnitus in the range of 8 daily, 5-6 on exceptionally good days which occurred once in a while. Sleep, work and social life were significanlty disrupted. Work experience was loss of focus, hard to hear on conference calls, anxiety over quiet situations. Tremedous general anxiety. ENT specializing in audiology indicates that left ear sufferred 5 decible hearing loss in the high range (not significant) and right ear no hearing loss. Still, raging and angry Tinnitus persisted. Left ear solid 8, head 1-8, right ear 4-7.
After 2 months, right ear got quieter 0-5. Head 2-5, left ear continues to rage at 7-8.
Along the way, managed Tinnitus with sleep meds and masking (Trazodone & Lunesta). Initially tried Xanax. Cut Tinnitus in half but the wearoff was awful and Tinnitus raged. Made work very difficult. Masking was an around the clock exercise using a combination of non-sound cancellation ear buds and open air stereo setups.
For music performances used an elaborate in ear setup to protect ears from further damage.
For 5 months, little Tinnitus improvement, ability to cope and habituate became a bit better and I began to funtion after 4-5 months.
Minor to very little if any improvements of actual Tinnitus after the initual 2 month mark improvement thru month 6. Basically, beginning to sucome to the prospect of a liftime of Tinnitus (left ear 7, head 2, right ear 2).
Approaching 6 month mark, begin having (what I believe but yet to be verified by doctor) side effects of sleeping medication. Weakness and shakiness throughout the day. Have scheduled approintment with primary care doctor to have examined.
Stopped meds on Thursay 4/9 (didn't take that night). Experience very high anxiety and continued weakness. No improvement through Saturday morning 4/11.
Saturday, afternoon go for a long walk. Energy begins to return 75%, shakiness subsides some - still have it. During walk Tinnitus in left ear drops to a 0 (first ever significant drop). Head stays at 3, right ear at 1.5.
48 house have past since left ear (bad ear) drops to 0. Left ear still at 0-2 (similar to pre Intrusive Tinnitus), head 2-4, right ear 2-3. I attribute the head and right ear to little sleep because of unrelated events as well as pre Intrusive Tinnitus conditions.
Bottom line: left ear drops from from 8 to 0-1 after 6 months of angry, persistent, non-relenting Tinnitus at 8 sometimes 6 range (never a meaningful drop before this - not even for a moment). Keeping my fingers crossed that somehow my nervous system has adjusted to any hearing loss. Will continue my diligent protection routine and am following up with doctor(s) on potential drug side effects I have been experiencing.

 

Great news! Thanks for the posting!

 

It is great news, @tshapiro. Hope this is a permanent reduction. I think for some, improvement is just a matter of letting time do its work (and trying not to panic while waiting for that to happen).

Just curious: I continue to deal with insomnia, which I had even before tinnitus. I now have started using Lunesta pretty much nightly, which doesn't make me happy. What was your dosage, if you don't mind me asking? Thanks.

 

@LadyDi
50 Mg Trazodone, 2 Mg of Lunesta. I was directed to take the 1/2 the Lunesta at bedtime and 1/2 if I woke in the middle of the night. To me, it felt like a pretty strong concoction but I needed it to sleep. Typically felt hungover the next day. Should also note that my doctor and I tested our way up to those doses and meds. Also, I am having lingering symptoms now which could be associated with the sleep meds. So, I am happy to share my info but in no way am I endorsing my doctor prescribed regiment.

 

That's great news tshapiro, God Bless....... Rich

 

@tshapiro , that's great improvement but T didn't leave you as far as I understand your writing.

 

Wish mine would just go away! I'm really happy for you though buddy!

 

I did have a pre-intrusive tinnitus 'baseline' which was basically an in the head sound of about 2. I had never really measured because it was not that big of an issue. After the sound induced tinnitus, my left ear went from 0 to 8, right ear from 0 to 5, head from 2 to 5. It was a serious issue. Almost out of the blue and almost 6 months to the day my ears went quiet. Head is still about a 3-4. But, the ears going quiet no longer make this a serious condition and I am extremely thankful to have this out of the blue progress. It was not a 'got better slowly' thing. It was bad all along and then just got quiet the afternoon of 4/11. It happened for me, could happen for others too.

I plan on sticking around since there are few success stories.

 

so, how are you doing nowadays? did your T get better and better?

Mine is also from a super loud noise exposure for hours, after that it did subside but i continue to listen to music (at half volume) for 1 day, it came back full force on day 3 and continues to do so till today, that was 2 weeks ago.


I have slight hearing loss in my left ear.

 

After about 1.5 months of it being completely gone in my ears and a 3-4 in my head it came back to where it's about 1-2 in my ears and stays at about a 4 in my head. It's still much much better than when my left ear was an 8. Most of the time, everyday sounds keep it covered up. In quiet rooms I generally play an mp3 player with low sprinkler noise and it's covered up. Mildly annoying but not bad.

 

How's it gone since then ?

 

It's been 1 year 1 month. My tinnitus stays at about a 4. It seems to fluctuate which area it seems to be in. I'm beginning to tune it out quite a bit more, habituate perhaps. It's a daily nuisance but certainly manageable with mild background noise. I no longer browse the Internet looking for a hopeful break through. Carrying around my old phone to play background noise has become second nature. I watch YouTube to go to sleep along with a mild sleep med. It no longer dominates my life or causes me depression. I would say 60% of the day I forget about it totally. The other 40% I mask with mild background noise but I do that without thinking about it. It's never un-maskable anymore. And never painful anymore. The first year was a royal bitch with some terrible days. It's much much better now. I'd still love a cure. But, if one never comes I'll be fine.