Thanks for Having Me

Thank you for letting me join your forum

I'm in my late twenties, male. I have had tinnitus since childhood, I can't remember its onset. I thought this was what everyone heard I used earphones a lot, that surely didn't help. 6000Hz buzz in both ears.

About 2 years ago I realized that I should take better care of my ears so I switched from earphones to open headphones (still used them ~8 hours a day though), reduced music volume, and wore earplugs to loud places.

Then in January 2017 I gradually developed a new sound in my left ear. Not sure why - probably headphone use. It was a fairly high (~1800Hz) Morse-code like, "blinking", beeping sound. Volume was not bad (I heard it only in quiet rooms & at night).
But because my old trusty T has changed, I freaked out. Anxiety, sleep loss, suicidal thoughts.

I completely stopped headphone use. After 4 weeks it appeared to be settling. Instead of chirping it became steady and lowered in pitch. In this form, the sound is quite bearable.

However
- sometimes when I lie down to sleep the sound changes, suddenly becomes higher in pitch, or also appears in my right ear. Exclusively during the night. The resulting anxiety keeps me from falling asleep and I'm always suicidal the next day. I really really hate not sleeping and being tired through the day.
- I'm terrified that because my T has already changed once, it could change again in the future and even if I escape this hell I could be pushed back again.

What do you think of my situation?

 

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk Hans...
When our tinnitus changes it can give us a bit of a wobble emotionally and not knowing if it will go or stay ramps up the anxiety..

For now you need to get some good nights sleep.
Sound therapy through the night can help,
Relaxation and deep breathing,
Over the counter meds
melatonin
A low dose anti depressant for sleep and anxiety.
You need to have a good chat to your doctor for help with tinnitus and how you feel and family so they can help support you too...

Talking therapy is good and a great support.
Try stay positive the new sound will settle and keep music low and not through headphones or ear phones...
Sounds above 84 db will cause problems for some people...lots of love glynis

 

Thank you for joining the forum, Hans!
Have you ever had your hearing evaluated by an audiologist? I would start there, and also seek help from a therapist if your tinnitus is causing anxiety and depression. Living with tinnitus can be exhausting and it's great that you found this forum, because most people out there in the world just don't understand that. I hope you find plenty of support here. Hang in there!

 

Dear @glynis, @Lorac - thank you for your kind words!

I've done the standard hearing test twice. 2 years ago I had some binaural hearing loss at 4kHz (about 35dB). I also did one after this new T sound began and my hearing has actually improved in the meantime, I now only have 20dB loss at 4kHz. Of course there might be hidden hearing loss not measured by the standard test.

A request for advice:
As longtime users I'm sure you saw lots of cases.
What is the most frequent course of T? Can I expect it to stabilize for at least a couple of years if I'm careful, or is it reasonable to worry about more changes?
I know you can't predict the future, just looking for some wisdom based on previous experience

By the way I slept fine this night without any meds or masking, what a joy this is I hope this will last.

 

@hans799
You have dealt with tinnitus for a long time, so you can certainly adapt to this new sound.
From what I've read on this forum, a lot of worsenings seem to occur after a noise trauma or some other event. So if you can do all you can to protect your ears going forward, you will minimise the chance of it getting worse.
Worrying about what will happen in the future is not going to help, rather perpetuate the anxiety and make your current situation worse.
Focus on what you can do now, and do not think the worst.
Personally, I would stop using headphones at the very least.

 

Thank you, Samantha. Yes, I swore off headphones for good, carry earplugs with me and will also never go to a gig again (because I read that even with earplugs in, bone conduction of bass occurs and is still damaging).

I wish the human body came with some kind of warranty that says "perfect functioning is guaranteed until 60 years of age". But it doesn't.

 

Hans,
People on this forum have acquired tinnitus in many different ways but I think the most common reason might be noise exposure. To that end, I try to limit exposure to loud venues even though my own hearing loss and T were likely caused by a virus. Worrying about the future is healthy to an extent because it makes us more careful, but please don't assume that your T will get worse over time. There is a very good chance that your tinnitus will diminish some as time goes by, or that you will have increased adaption, habituation. I like that you are able to sleep well in spite of T. Sleep has always been my welcome escape from the noise and I feel bad for the members here who have difficulty with sleeping. Please keep us posted about your progress!

 

@Lorac, thank you for your kind words!

An update on myself:
I first really noticed my new T noise about 7 weeks ago. I've completely abstained from headphones and any other form of loud noise ever since. 4 weeks later I noticed that the noise has changed: it went from a morse-like, high-pitch chirping to a much lower hum, like a refrigerator. It is a lot more bearable. It is not 100% constant yet, the chirping does come back sometime and the T volume also fluctuates during the day, but overall it is quite silent - usually I have to watch for it in a quiet room and almost anything masks it.

I still have my old baseline T, it is actually much louder and higher-pitched than this new sound, but the baseline still does not bother me at all.

Overall I feel a lot better. I still have some anxiety but I sleep well on about 5-6 nights a week (without masking or meds) and I'm getting on with my life. I'm taking every precaution possible and I try not to worry about things that I cannot control.

I do know that I'm very lucky to have such a low volume of T so I don't think I'll post a success story - I don't want to insult Members who have much worse tinnitus than I do. Instead I'll stay on the forum and try to be helpful with newbies and so on.

 

Another update:

I had a minor setback: a few days ago I stupidly slammed a cupboard door very forcefully and it produced a loud, sharp bang. It pushed my new T sound a bit higher and my right ear hurt inside but both of these settled back down in 1-2 days.

After this incident I started taking 3x600mg NAC a day. I don't know if the NAC is the cause but my new T sound keeps settling down. During the last couple of days it was almost completely gone during daytime, it only comes back during the evening, and even then it is "friendlier" (lower pitch, lower volume, less beeping, more constant noise).

My old baseline T is unchanged but that is not a problem.

 

Update, more than half a year later (for anyone searching around and reading stories of others, like I did):

I'm doing very well. I still have the old baseline T, I think I'll have that for my entire life. But I accepted that a long time ago.

I'm 100% habituated to the "new" Morse sounds that came on in January. I don't care about them and they don't impact my sleep or daily activities.

I'm very, very protective of my ears. I carry earplugs and use them in places louder than average (such as a pub with many people talking, or the cinema). I do not attend concerts, or use headphones, at all. I meditate, exercise, and follow a ketogenic diet. I don't know if there's a causal relationship, but the sounds appear to be fading away. Very slowly, but noticeably.

I still get bursts of anxiety about tinnitus, for example when an episode of fleeting tinnitus hits, or I'm exposed to unexpected loud noise. But in general, right now, I'm in a good place, and pray that this lasts.

 

3-year update. Wow, I can't believe it's been three years... how time flies.

The bad news is that the noise is still there.

The good news is that it is stable. It didn't get worse and I didn't get new tones. I guess headphones really were the culprit (chalk me up for yet another confirmation for your theory, @Michael Leigh) ... I have abstained completely from them over these 3 years and I've been protecting my ears with earplugs religiously and these efforts seem to be working.

Lenire seems to be affecting it, so I have some hope that it'll go away but I don't care all that much any more.