Super Intense Tinnitus, Unable to Focus and Eager to Make It Go Away

Hello everyone,

I am 22 years old male.

I have had tinnitus for roughly a year, it could be more but I am not able to recall because it wasn't that intense. It has got super intense in the past six to ten months. I am not able to focus on anything and I eagerly want it to go away.

I have been a smoker from the age of 15 to 21 and a heavy drinker for the last 2-3 years but I have given up drinking about 3 months ago. I also have a history with substance abuse from since when I was about 15-19 years old.

I'm starting to meditate to reduce stress.

I used to listen to loud music on speakers and AirPods for until about a year ago.

I have very big projects planned ahead which requires complete focus and attention.

I'm currently residing in Canada.

About three months ago I went to get my ears checked at a clinic. The doctor checked my ears and told me everything is fine and referred me to an ear specialist. I went to the ear specialist after about a month of waiting and he did a hearing loss test which was also perfectly fine and was again referred to another hearing specialist and after waiting for about 2-3 months the other specialist checked my ears, nose and jaw-neck and he said everything looks ok and told me there's no cure for tinnitus nor are there any medications that he would advise.

He told me to reduce stress, anxiety and sleep more and go for Tinnitus Retraining Therapy program.

Right now I am taking Black Seed Oil, Magnesium Glycinate, B12, D3-K2 and Glycine in chamomile tea before sleeping. My sleep is never restful sleep, rather it's always active sleep dreaming about something stressful or weird. I do have a lot of stress in general and also because I am not able to accomplish what I want to because tinnitus makes me not able to focus. I had been going to the gym everyday but they're closed down again in my city. Gym is also a part of my daily activity.

I usually put some soothing ambient music whenever there's no sound around, but lately in the past month or so even that is not helping. Even while watching a movie or something the ringing is still there. I also have to put some music on when going to bed. Ringing is the worst when I'm close to waking up in the morning.

Thanks for reading. Any comments are much appreciated.

 

Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to join the forum and share your story.

I want to congratulate you being able to stop both drinking and smoking. Not only are those both poor for your health, as I'm sure you're well aware, but they can also exacerbate this symptom. Mild alcohol consumption has been reported by some to help, but I mostly see that alcohol is as problem. Smoking itself can cause this or at the very least contribute to its development or proliferation. It's good that's all out of the way now. I'm also glad you've pulled back from the loud music and use of the AirPods, as they can only make things worse.

I'm sorry to hear you've got the same old run-around from your medical professionals that may others have here on the site. I've been to two primary care doctors who themselves didn't seem to care or know a whole lot about it and an audiologist that was sympathetic but honest in her inability to do anything. I'm preparing to see an ENT in a few days and fully expect to be told what many others have been: "you'll have to wait it out or live with it". This, of course, does nothing for me, and it sucks that despite our best efforts to better our health, we continue to suffer.

I'm not sure how much other reading around you may have accomplished, but it is very possible that you still have some extent of hearing damage which may be causing your symptom. Audiograms are not wholly robust in their ability to judge the health and condition of our ears, and this symptom is particularly brutal in the sense that it can operate off of low or unnoticeable damage. It's just cruel.

Your supplement stack seems to be a good one, at least to start with, though there is no guarantee anything will help your condition. They'll probably be beneficial at the very least in terms of maintaining your general health and perhaps protecting your hearing further, but there's no way to tell for sure. I am also taking magnesium glycinate, and probably out of all the supplements I think it is the one that has helped me most, though mostly in terms of mood improvement and sleep assistance.

That being said, my sleep has been rotten since my onset as well. I haven't gotten a single night of eight hours of sleep straight, though I've gotten close here and there. Sleep is often cited as the number one thing to get fixed when you have this symptom as it should lead to benefits, if not in the condition but certainly your mood. I encourage you to keep doing what I'm doing and just trying to find what works.

It sounds like you may be going through a spike right now since your typical methods like ambient masking are not working. Honestly, I understand how this goes entirely, and it's a real shame that it's almost impossible to exactly tell what caused it and for how long it may last. Spikes are generally temporary, though they can last for longer than you'd expect. Sometimes, your "spike" might just be more your psychological perception of the issue. Again, it's hard to say for sure.

With all that being said, I am truly sorry that you have to go through this. Nobody deserves this. It doesn't help either that we are relatively young, and as you know a lot of the activities those in our age group tend to do socially involves loud noise to some extent.

My recommendation to you would be to continue looking through this site for advice, though I would advise staying away from the negative stories if you are anxiety prone. The success stories section might be of some comfort to you as there are many people who have come and let us know how they were ultimately cured of their noise after some time or able to habituate to it to a comfortable extent.

I am also available to chat or speak with you further should you need the company or support. Best wishes, and may better days come to you.

 

Hey,

Thanks for your reply.

How did it go with ENT?

On top of the ringing, now I am having a hard time even listening to some sounds. Like any moderately loud sound or someone talking loudly brings like a wave in my ears - head. It's extremely annoying and I just want to avoid those kinds of situations but sometimes its just impossible. I don't know how I am going to live with this for the rest of my life.