Thought My Tinnitus Was Caused by Sinus Issues — But Apparently Not

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum as I was diagnosed with tinnitus by an ENT two weeks ago. At first I thought it was sinuses as I had pain in cheeks. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic. I tried natural remedies first, and those symptoms are now gone, but tinnitus remains present everyday.

A couple things about me, I am 50 and healthy. My tinnitus type is the hissing variety. It's more apparent in my left ear, but appears to be in the right as well. It tends to be better in quiet rooms. I've gone to wearing earplugs off and on to help with work and day to day activities, but it's always present to varying degrees.

I had an emotional time the first week, with a terrible emotional roller coaster ride of anxiety, stress, fear. I started a journal to monitor my diet and daily routines as my episodes are very inconsistent.

First week was debilitating, with a consistent spike all day, but second week it grew consistently quiet in mornings upon waking up, but worse throughout day.

After starting a new diet with teas and vitamins, I was hoping I was on the right track, but today my tinnitus is back again, after a quiet episode yesterday.

Feeling that it may be time to come here for some support, as what I've been seeing and reading here has seemed to be a very supportive group. Thank you for making Tinnitus Talk available.

 

I wanted to give an update and share my approach so far. I've been introducing multi vitamins and B12 supplements. I've started down the path of meditation and body awareness therapy. I've gone to green tea with ginger. No more coffee or alcohol. The tinnitus hiss is still present with occasional spikes in louder environments on certain days. I also discovered a new low bass tone at night. But after 4 weeks I discovered the tinnitus does not fluctuate as often throughout the day as it did. I still have hiss with occasional hyperacusis. Hoping that all this leads to somewhere positive.

But this has definitely been very very challenging. I discovered that my frequency range of the hiss is around the 8000 Hz range with the intensity ranging from inaudible to loud enough that it overpowers my environmental sounds.

 

How are you now?

 

Hi Brikap, just wanted to say that my tinnitus started about the time that I had chronic sinusitis following a very bad cold. It turned out the sinusitis was partially caused by an infected tooth. After a (failed) root canal and eventual pulled tooth, sinusitis much better but not entirely resolved. Tinnitus still there, for me the sound of a distant foghorn.