The Unwelcomed Guest

[chrisl]

I figured I'd introduce myself as this forum has a wealth of information, incredible people and this experience has been pretty traumatic. Hoping for success and looking for support.

After a recent move for a new job I got a string of sicknesses, likely due to overworking and little sleep. The latest being the flu which has unfortunately resulted in extremely annoying tinnitus. Praise to all of you who have overcome this.

My experience with tinnitus has been an emotional roller coaster for the last few weeks. I got the flu earlier in December and was fortunate to get over the majority of the symptoms quickly but just as I though I recovered, my right ear began to feel full and generally uncomfortable. I poked around at a bit but couldn't seem to alleviate the feeling. At first it was sensitivity to high pitches, more discomfort, but the next day it was full on tinnitus.

It gradually got worse for the next few days, frequency went from 9500 hz to 13000-15000 hz. I went to my primary for some help as I had a flight for vacation in a few days and wanted to see if it was going to be risky. The GP thought I had ETD, said to get some Flonase, Afrin and do saline rinses and hopefully it subsides.

Unfortunately a week later it's still a battle ground, during my vacation I found relief in all water sports, it was my safe area where the tinnitus didn't control me and I was able to get some pretty good sleep surprisingly. I thought things were getting better until I had to continue travels for family.

The next week has pushed me emotionally and physically and been a bit of a breaking point. The intensity has gone up a lot, concentrating in quiet environments and sleeping have been extremely tormenting. I cannot mask with music or sound, only showers and scratching my head provide relief. I went to an urgent care clinic as it was controlling me and the GP said that my left ear and sinuses were very inflamed, put me on 5 days of 40mg per day prednisone and sent me on my way. Unfortunately, prednisone hasn't had the effect I was hoping for, at least not yet. It's extremely hard to get used to the extremely high pitched and varying shrill of a frequency this high.

I've got an appointment for a hearing test and ENT within the next week to continue down this road. I do know that my right ear has hearing loss between 13-15khz compared to my left. Unsure if this was the result of something during my childhood or recent as I've haven't done any sine sweeps for a long period of time.

Here's to hoping I can cope, family has been amazing and it's wonderful to read everyone's stories of getting through this.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. You do seem to have the symptoms of ETD. Have you got a second opinion on that? When T is new and sounding alarming loud, all our senses are zooming on the sound and the nerves tighten up. We are in full fight or flight mode and the limbic nerves take over with the Amygdala processing the T stimulus as a threat to survival. Given this state, we will find T very loud and also we tend to monitor T non-stop thus making it the top attention in our life. This is where it starts to control our life and make us live in its mercy.

Your best bet is to get more doctors or ENTs to examine your ears and nose to make sure nothing medically wrong. If that is the case, your may want to do masking to help you, even partial masking is better than none. I have the same ultra high pitch T and so I need shower, heavy rain, waterfall, even faucet sounds to help mask mine, sometimes just partially especially at the start when severe hyperacusis also attacked right after T started. So I have empathy for your suffering. But don't panic and despair. The brain can get used to this after a while and the ears can also settle down after some time for most people. I never thought I could stand my T but here I am today living a good life again and T can't cause any fear or mental suffering like it first did. I wrote my success story and list many strategies which have helped me. Try read it up if you have time. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

 

[glynis]

Welcome to tinnitus talk @Chrisl,78

It's hard when tinnitus invades our life and the unwanted emotions can be just as tough.
Sound therapy can help in the day and at night set it below your tinnitus using a free standing unit or pillow speakers.
Your brain will listen hard to pick up the softer sound and learn your brain build up it's natural filter by not focusing on the tinnitus sound.
Over time you can still hear your tinnitus but just won't be bother at all by it unless you get a spike that can get louder but then should settle down again.
If sleep becomes a problem you might need over the counter sleep aids or melatonin or something stronger for a while so don't suffer alone and see your doctor....lots of love glynis

 

[chrisl]

Thanks for the replies Glynis and Billie. Happy New Years!!

It's reassuring to know that people have and can get accustomed to such piercing noises. I don't know how you do it, it seems like my head is being electrocuted when my tinnitus gets bad. I'm currently going through the worst bout I've had, can't focus or concentrate and would do anything to get rid of it.

I went to an audiologist, no significant news to report as everything was normal on a standard 8k test. I believe any hearing loss of mine will be over that anyways.

Billie you may be right about ETD, if I work out hard I get all sorts of popping and discomfort and generally feel like my ear is full. It's odd because it seems the tinnitus gets significantly worse after I workout. I can still pop them so its not like they are completely blocked but still feel odd.

I've got an appointment with an ENT, praying to God that something happens. I don't know if I can live with the torment in my head.

 

[MikeL1972]

Hi Chrisl,

Welcome to the site.

I'd like to add my .02. The absolute best thing you can do for yourself is to try to minimize stress and get a nice, solid 7-8 hours of sleep! I know achieving both is not easy when you have responsibilities and commitments, but it's the truth from my point of view. How do you minimize stress? It depends on your personality naturally. Some suggestions include listening (not via headphones) to calming music (whatever your preference is), going for a nice walk (again no headphones), drawing, writing a computer program, or anything else that puts your mind at ease. Hopefully, your tinnitus will go away. Good luck!

 

[chrisl]

Thanks for the support guys!

I figured I'd post an update as its been a couple of weeks. Now five weeks into this tinnitus journey

My trip to the ENT was pretty uneventful, no signs of any infection or ear problems and hearing was pretty good. Said there is a good chance it would go away and that I need to break the anxiety/stress relationship, gave me some Xanax and sent me on my way.

The four days after that were pretty good low days, I could pretty effectively get on with my life and move forwards. Hope is an amazing thing.

I had a spike for some reason and all my anxiety came right back. Thankfully I was able to get back on my feet.

The next week has seen their fair share of ups and downs. One ear has been improving and I've noticed that I have some really good times where I don't notice it in active environments and then I have other times where it's blaring. It gives me hope and although my left ear has been joining the party recently I can find some peace. Interestingly enough the .25mg of Xanax almost completely takes my high pitched ringing away, I've only taken it 3 times but each time I've noticed a significant reduction with my high pitched ringing. Any ideas why?

More recently I've noticed my left ear getting worse and that's been a struggle. I have no idea why or the cause, but I've had a pretty constant 2800hz tone that's gotten progressively louder and is my most recent concern. Seems it's hard to get consistency with this tinnitus and I'm never sure what will make it worse or better or even what to expect the next day. It's interesting that the xanax has zero effect on it. Any ideas if the transition from one ear to another is normal?

Thanks for the support and forum guys.