Sudden Worsening After More Than 20 Years of Tinnitus

I got tinnitus about 23 years ago after spending too long in a basement with some high school musician friends, one of which had a huge stack of amps and played this piercingly loud, stabby guitar riff over and over and over. That night, it started, a low hum that never went away, but I learned to cope with.

A couple of weeks ago, for no reason I can come up with, it suddenly got a LOT worse. WAY louder, impossible to ignore and making it hard to hear. Weeks later, it's not only even louder, but has expanded to the hum plus a high pitched squeal, just as loud. My hearing is getting even worse in that ear.

What on earth is happening? My doctor thought it was due to a sinus infection, but that cleared up and the tinnitus is still worsening. I have an ENT and audiologist appointment, but it's not for about a month from now.

I'm going completely insane. I'm panicking. Any ideas? Advice?

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry to hear that Paf. I am not an expert but if i were you, i would try to sleep well for at least couple nights in a row. Maybe see if that helps to heal.

 

You can try steam inhalation and try Sudefed and put olive oil in your ears to soften any wax.
Try stay positive and hope you soon find out the cause.
Love glynis x

 

Uhhhhh..... OK. That doesn't even have anything to do with what he said. Sounds like some goth-emo tinnitus poem or something.

Anyways, it sucks to say but maybe it's just aging kicking in? How old are you? Did you do anything to your neck or jaw somewhat recently? Been cleaning out your ears good? I'm sure you asked yourself these questions but I'm just curious myself. Maybe there's something you didn't consider before. I had acid reflux bad for a bit and had been having a mixed drink every night. Stupidly I didn't even correlate that to the problem and sure enough that's what it was. Just my example.

 

I'm 40. Audiologist confirmed my hearing loss, and ENT guy didn't have much to say. I think I'm just stuck with it.

 

Have you been protecting your ears from loud noises? It might be a good idea to protect your ears from moderate noises like that of a vacuum cleaner.

 

Has it got back to baseline or still being worse than usual?