Sudden Onset Tinnitus in One Ear

@gary Thanks for the info.

 

Unfortunately I have nothing positive to update the thread with at present. I am 9 days into the ringing and it is persistent as ever.

(Somewhat) Fortunately I still have other symptoms, namely ear congestion ("fullness") and popping/crackling all the time. Like I have promised many times before, I will continue to update this thread whether the outcome be positive or negative.

 

@MidnightOilAudio Thanks for the update. You are still so new to onset that you may find resolution soon. This is my hope for you!

 

Hi all, another update here.

After visiting the ENT again, he verified that my ear infection is gone and my ears look good. The tinnitus remains, so I asked him about and told him how much it was bothering me and affecting my life. He said that yes, it may be permanent. For some people it stays, for some it goes, he has no way of knowing, and offered to send out an authorization to get some hearing tests for me.

It was pretty rough for me listening to this prognosis, even though I pretty much knew it was coming based on my research. I kind of broke down, but something strange happened. After my mini-breakdown, almost as if someone threw a switch, I felt a lot better. The T was still there, but my mind began wandering away from it for the first time since the onset. I was able to have a conversation with someone for a few minutes before my mind wandered back to the T. Just those few minutes of relief was like heaven. It has persisted through today. Overall my mood is much better.

I had a moment this morning where the T was so quiet, I wasn't even sure it was there. It is course, back full force now, but I'm not reacting to it as much. I really feel for all the people who are going through this terrible ailment, it can be absolute hell, but I am firm believer now that there indeed can be relief.

 

Hi all, another update here.

I am habituating to the T quite well. Feeling back to my normal self, I really only notice the T if I look for it. I saw a different doctor yesterday who actually took the time to talk to me and give my ears a good look (as opposed to the ENT I had seen, who is like 80 years old and can barely see, and brushed me off). He said both my ears still look infected and that he can see some fluid behind the eardrums still. I told him I had finished a course of amoxicillin, so he prescribed something he called "Augmentin" (http://www.drugs.com/augmentin.html) which is a mix of amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium. So while the T isnt bothering me as much, it is still nice to know there is still hope for it to go away when the infection/fluid clears up.

The only troublesome new symptom I have is for the past 3 days I have had some sporadic "pulsatile T", where I can feel/hear my heartbeat in only my left ear, which is consequently the same ear the ringing T is in. It only rears it's ugly head after I have been laying down for any extended amount of time, which makes me think the fluid in my head is gathering in whatever area, and when I get up, it's shifting around. It will come and go when I move around, I only feel/hear my heartbeat for 2-3 beats at a time then it fades away. This will last for 30-45 minutes after I get up and then nothing as I go about my day, unless I happen to lay down for a nap or whatever.

I have tried to stay away from Googling because it only freaked me out in the past, but I must admit I did google Pulsatile T and was concerned to see that in some cases it can be a sign of a vascular problem or a tumor. BUT, it can also be caused by fluid in the middle ear, which I definitely have, so that relieved me a bit. Anyway, I had promised to keep this thread updated and not be one of those people who only comes on when they're desperate and then forgets about everyone else who is suffering once they feel better, so I'm still here if anyone feels the need to chat/vent. Thanks for reading.

 

@MidnightOilAudio Glad to hear you are doing better, and that your infection is clearing up. Sounds like you are definitely heading in the right direction.

 

@svintegrity if you were me would you be concerned about the transient pulsatile T, or do you think it's just something my ears are going through while they heal?

 

Wow. @MidnightOilAudio it would be difficult to say what I would think if I were you, because I would be you.

My pulsitile tinnitus was sudden onset, and never quit. I thought it would go away after a week or so, but no such luck. In my case, a specialized MRI showed that I have a vascular loop coursing into my internal meatus, compressing my auditory nerve and displacing my vestibular nerve. I tried every non-invasive treatment recommended for over a year. Everything that was supposed to help, only made it worse. I actually had brain surgery a little over two weeks ago.

You have the advantage of an infection as an explanation, plus your PT is transient and not constant. If I had been experiencing your symptoms, I think clearing up the infection would be the best bet. It sounds like your ENT thinks so too. It is good you are seeing a specialist. Keep us posted.

 

Quick update, nothing big: today has been a bad day for my anxiety. Not sure why, the T seems a bit louder and I had a "fleeting" or "transient" episode of T in my right ear (constant T is in the left). It lasted for about 10-20 seconds, but of course the thought that it may last forever consumed me and send me into full on sweaty palms, heart racing, shaky legs mode. Not cool.

So now I am just sitting on the couch typing this before I hop in the shower and prep for the family Easter get-together. Happy Easter, everyone. There are always better times ahead, even if they're preceeded by rough ones.

 

I have developed a new strange symptom. I think, haha. Let me explain.

I *think* I hear an underlying tone about 2 octaves below my "normal" high-pitched T (normal being 10khz, the lower one being 2500hz). The strange thing is I don't hear it so much as I *feel* it. And unlike my high-pitched T, which is easily masked, it ONLY appears when I am surrounded by sound. When I get into a quiet room to try and "locate" it, it's not there.

I should add to all this that I am a highly anxious person who has suffered from panic attacks for years. I felt like I had just started to habituated to the high-pitched T, then I got fleeting pulsatile T like twice in a day and it ruined my whole habituation feeling, then i *felt* this and forgot all about the pulsating T. I kind of feel like this new lower-toned T is all in my head (no pun intended). Kind of like my mind being unable to relax and creating a new phantom symptom. Anyway, hope this makes sense and someone can relate.

 

Another case of idiot doctors that not prescribed corticosteroids

 

Still experiencing the second, lower-pitched tone *i think*. If im walking around doing stuff. I feel I can hear it. If I lock myself in a dead quiet room, I cant "find" it. Only my higher pitched, 10khz T remains.

Anyone else experience anything like this?

 

Well, no one has replied but that won't stop me from updating my thread!

The "ghost tone" I was asking about above has disappeared completely. I'm not sure if it was psycho-somatic and triggered by extreme anxiety about the onset of my T or what, but it's gone now.

I got EXTREME vertigo when tilting my head back or lying down 3 days ago, but it only lasted one day. The next day I had general dizziness, but the extreme vertigo with head position was gone. Today I am dizziness-free. There's obviously still stuff goin' on up in there (my sinuses/inner ear).

My T has lessened it's stranglehold on my mood. My fleeting pulsatile T is also gone. I still get the fleeting regular T, and it freaks me out a bit because I always wonder "is this the time it doesn't stop?", but I just take a deep breath and remain calm.

I don't know what the future holds, but I feel 10x better than I did a month ago. I can't tell if the T is slowly reducing in volume or if I am just habituating. I can actually go more than 30 minutes without thinking about/noticing it now. When it first reared its ugly head I couldn't go more than 30 SECONDS!

Medically, there's not much of an update. My sinuses are still clogged, but it's only been four weeks. I have not tried steroids yet. Feeling optimistic about the future.

 

Update: no one seems to be reading/responding to this, but seeing as how there is a huge lack of follow-ups to this forum, I am going to continue.

My T is still here. Strong and present. I can go much much longer periods now where I don't think about it as much. Luckily mine seems to be easily maskable. I still have sinus/ear issues as my ears crackle and pop all the time, sometimes just when I bend over and come back up.

My general trend seems to be that my particular T is worse in the morning, but by the time I've started my daily routine at work, it levels out. I am not exposed to a lot of masking sounds at work, so I think it's mostly my mind just being engaged with other things. That was nearly impossible the first 3 weeks, but these last 3 weeks have been better. My episodes of fleeting/transient T occur much less frequently now also.

The only thing that puts me on edge is when I think about it progressing/getting worse/shifting tonally/etc. But I just try to keep busy and keep my mind off it.

My heart goes out to everyone suffering from this.

 

Sounds like you're on your way to habituation!
I agree it's tough to stop the "what if it gets worse" thinking but have to not worry about that. We could suddenly become inflicted with any number of ailments but we don't think about those, so it's best to try not to think along those lines.

 

Bringing this back up with an update. I have gotten 2 colds since my onset of T 8 months ago (originally caused by a sinus infection). The first cold came and went without affecting my T in any permanent way.

This second one, however, has changed things up a bit. I woke up yesterday with a feeling of "fullness" in the ear, and today I noticed a tiny bit of high frequency hearing loss. No pain. I went to the doctor, who is not my normal GP, and told him about my T onset 8 months ago and why I was there today (because if my ear was infected, I wanted to catch it early). He poked and prodded around and said "yep, you have a sinus infection, no ear infection though. I do see fluid behind your eardrum." He said he doubted the sinus infection I had 8 months ago had ever gone away. He explained that it can be asymptomatic until something like the weather, allergies, or a cold causes the pus from the infection to rise up and block the Eustachian tubes. He said, and I took this with a LARGE grain of salt, that there is a good chance the tinnitus will go away if we get rid of the sinusitis for good.

So while I am not over the moon, the prospect of it going away is nice. I will be happy if my hearing just goes back to normal, though. I have already adapted pretty well to the tinnitus, but I don't want to have a "dull" ear forever.

 

Did anything happen since?