Temporary Cicada Sound?

Hi everyone, it's been a few months since I posted last. To give a brief recap:

My T was brought on by a bad ear infection which was caused by a bad head cold. Severe ear pain, and a blocked feeling. I could feel the liquid in my ears. I took 2 ibuprofen and lied down to sleep. When I woke up, I had an approx. 11khz ringing in my head, which is kind of swayed toward my left ear, and it's been with me ever since (this was 6 months ago).

I have been doing pretty well lately, the only things that really bother m are the transient spontaneous episodes, which form all my research I am finding are unrelated to my "normal" T, but have a tendency to freak us T'ers out. Other than that, I have been on a path of gradual habituation.

This last week I got my first illness (the flu) since my last one that caused my T. I was very anxious and took several steps to keep my sinuses clear, namely Allegra-D and blew my nose in a way recommended to prevent colds from turning into ear infections. Still, I experienced my first T "cold spike", and got a bit down emotionally, but as my cold has subsided, my T has returned to baseline.

Today, however, when I got home from work, I was just trying to relax and watch some YouTube videos, I got a temporary "cicada" sound completely relegated to my right ear. Extremely panic set in. Rapid heart beat, sweaty palms, thought is impeding doom, etc. I have heard of plenty of people have the transient spontaneous "tone" tinnitus, but never transient cicada sounds. Should I be concerned that something ominous this way comes? Or should I treat this just like a normal T "tone spike" and try not to feed it any energy?

 

Treat it like a spike. Do whatever you can to distract yourself and/or ease your sense of panic. I understand it isn't easy, but do your best not to give attention to the tinnitus. Otherwise you're just reinforcing to your brain that this is something alarming and you should pay attention to it. You want your brain to treat it like it isn't an important sound and that it doesn't need to bring it to your attention.

Remember, energy flows where attention goes.

 

Thanks for the reply, Cheza.

 

Anyone else? I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced the occasion random cicada circus.

 

I was just giving you some things I've learned here on this forum My tinnitus is often nonstop cicadas, with a tea kettle whistle on top of it. However, mine started out loud and stayed that way for a long time, then it began to cycle a bit, with an occasional moderate or mild day thrown in. I think my brain is broken

 

Got it. I have read about a lot of people who describe their sound akin to the "thousand cicadas". I just haven't read about people who switch back & forth between "tones" and "cicadas". After experiencing the cicada chorus for 30 seconds or so, I must say I very much prefer the high-pitched tone I have. Maybe it's just because I've grown used to it.

 

I think if it isn't too loud, that a high-pitched tone would be easier to ignore. There are some members on this forum with "dog whistle" tinnitus who have a very difficult experience with T even if they've had it for a long time .

Volume seems to be the determining factor. Today is a "good" day, meaning the cicadas are quiet, and I can hear the tea kettle whistle but it isn't loud, so it doesn't really bother me a lot. If it were always this low, I would habituate pretty quick at this point. Wishful thinking.

 

@MidnightOilAudio
I have sometimes these cicadas/chirping in my ears.
This lasts for a minute, but not much longer.
I can ignore this quite well and it goes away.

I am sure if we sit in the quiet and only listen what is going on in our head, we would hear all kind of sounds.
Therefore I think that those are just another sound which also someone without T would hear.

My theory:
We are so hypersensitive and focused on our T (for my my 15+ kHz head sound) that we hear other sounds as well.
So in your and my case Cicadas.

Unfortunately I cannot ignore my head sound since to high and too loud. :-(

 

Thanks for the reply, Martin. I am going to treat this just like any other transient spontaneous tinnitus spike and not feed it any energy.

I'm sure your theory about us T sufferers being extra-sensitive to whatever sounds are ears are making is true. I am CONSTANTLY "symptom-checking". It's not healthy. Trying to break the cycle.

Take care.

 

Hey Midnight, I think you're right to treat this as a transient spike. I've had T for 10 months now, and about 3 months ago, I came home from work and PANICKED because suddenly there was a very distinct cricket sound deep in my ear. It truly felt and sounded like a cricket was deep in my ear chirping away. Luckily though, it only lasted about 16 hours.

Sometimes T just decides to change what it's doing just to keep us on our toes. It's extremely distressing when it happens, but not something that you should NEED to panic about in my opinion.

Hang in there!
-Steve

 

That sounds a bit like mine. Cicada or a Geiger counter going off in one ear intermittently. But mine affects my sight also.

 

Just had one again. This one lasted roughly as long as the time I first posted, about 30-60 seconds. This time I didn't descend into a whirlwind of panic. I stayed calm and waited for it to fade. And what do us know, it did.

 

aaaaaaaand I'm sick again (the joy of having kids)! Time to brace myself for another spike!