Hi All,
Its early days but I wanted to tell you my story so far and what I hope will be a positive outcome.
I am a 42 year old male and I had been slowly losing hearing in left ear over the course of a few months. Not quite sure when it started but it wasn't that pronounced. Oddly had been meaning to go to the doctor last week but as usual got caught up with other things.
Anyway I had a dizzy spell on Saturday and thought it might be a blocked ear so I put some eardrops in. Later I went to the pool with the kids. There was a fuzziness in my ears so I dived underneath (Its only 1.4m) to try and clear it.
Later in the night I put earphones on but realized I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. Went to the doctors the next day and I didn't even realize he was clicking his fingers. He sent me straight to ER. No ENT on call so went back the next day. That night however I woke with the most unbelievably loud noise in my ear. Had heard of Tinnitus before so immediately knew what it was and I freaked out as I often read it was not curable. Don't mind saying I cried like a baby for the first time in about 20 years.
The ENT sent me for an MRI. All clear. On Wednesday he started with the steroid injections into my ear. The tinnitus was very reactive so oddly I was more relieved to have quiet than be in loud areas. White noise seemed to help a lot but it very much a case of just trying to breathe through it and wait for it to subside when it did peak
One of the scariest parts was my Daughters voice seemed to really irritate it. As I am sure many of you are aware the thoughts of this for life are the scariest parts. I went to a shopping center on Friday and it was like somebody had turned up the volume to unbearable levels and there were so many different sounds that I could not understand. The ENT explained this was called "recruitment" basically where you are perceiving sounds louder than they are.
Like most of you I spent hours on the web looking for answers, trying to stay positive. I came across some threads that helped me a lot, this one in particular. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-completely-gone.16169/
I also emailed neil@hearinglosshelp.com on Saturday who amazingly came back to me that day and mentioned to below therapy from home. http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/constraint-induced-sound-therapy-for-sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss/
So I went out on Sunday bought headphones and earplugs. My tinnitus had eased off a little only really spiking during louder moments. It felt like a mild hum (fuzz) and like crystals popping in my ear. It had a constant tone but fortunately I could concentrate on the crystals at night which weren't so bad. I have been waking at 5 each morning with a loud pitch.
AT this stage when I had the earplugs in I could not hear anything and the music playing (only in my left ear) was barely recognizable . The worst part was still the recruitment and it was making me afraid to go out.
I also bought magnesium and tebonin tablets (got that from the above thread).
So visited the ENT today for another hearing test. Tinnitus felt a bit more manageable in the louder environment but still there. Hearing test showed no improvement. This was after 4 injections and the doctor thought it would not help to do any more. He discussed using a hyperbaric chamber so I decided to go for it.
Quite nerve racking having the helmet on in the chamber but after a while you relax.
My family picked me up later and I wasn't sure if I was kidding myself but their voices seemed so much clearer. I put another ear bud in my good ear and yes i could definitely hear them better. No reaction to my tinnitus from the talking either but still a mild hum. Had to get home and test it out and yes I could actually hear the tone of the songs and at much lower volume. Nowhere near perfect but much improved. Hard to tell how the tinnitus is from doing the therapy but I have been more or less been able to focus it out of my mind for the moment
Don't know if it was just the chamber or a combination of all things but I guess the main reason for my thread is to encourage everyone to stay strong. People usually only post when something goes wrong but from what I can see loads of people recover from this in various ways. I may relapse but for now I'm positive,
Will keep you updated.
Its early days but I wanted to tell you my story so far and what I hope will be a positive outcome.
I am a 42 year old male and I had been slowly losing hearing in left ear over the course of a few months. Not quite sure when it started but it wasn't that pronounced. Oddly had been meaning to go to the doctor last week but as usual got caught up with other things.
Anyway I had a dizzy spell on Saturday and thought it might be a blocked ear so I put some eardrops in. Later I went to the pool with the kids. There was a fuzziness in my ears so I dived underneath (Its only 1.4m) to try and clear it.
Later in the night I put earphones on but realized I couldn't hear anything in my left ear. Went to the doctors the next day and I didn't even realize he was clicking his fingers. He sent me straight to ER. No ENT on call so went back the next day. That night however I woke with the most unbelievably loud noise in my ear. Had heard of Tinnitus before so immediately knew what it was and I freaked out as I often read it was not curable. Don't mind saying I cried like a baby for the first time in about 20 years.
The ENT sent me for an MRI. All clear. On Wednesday he started with the steroid injections into my ear. The tinnitus was very reactive so oddly I was more relieved to have quiet than be in loud areas. White noise seemed to help a lot but it very much a case of just trying to breathe through it and wait for it to subside when it did peak
One of the scariest parts was my Daughters voice seemed to really irritate it. As I am sure many of you are aware the thoughts of this for life are the scariest parts. I went to a shopping center on Friday and it was like somebody had turned up the volume to unbearable levels and there were so many different sounds that I could not understand. The ENT explained this was called "recruitment" basically where you are perceiving sounds louder than they are.
Like most of you I spent hours on the web looking for answers, trying to stay positive. I came across some threads that helped me a lot, this one in particular. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-is-completely-gone.16169/
I also emailed neil@hearinglosshelp.com on Saturday who amazingly came back to me that day and mentioned to below therapy from home. http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/constraint-induced-sound-therapy-for-sudden-sensorineural-hearing-loss/
So I went out on Sunday bought headphones and earplugs. My tinnitus had eased off a little only really spiking during louder moments. It felt like a mild hum (fuzz) and like crystals popping in my ear. It had a constant tone but fortunately I could concentrate on the crystals at night which weren't so bad. I have been waking at 5 each morning with a loud pitch.
AT this stage when I had the earplugs in I could not hear anything and the music playing (only in my left ear) was barely recognizable . The worst part was still the recruitment and it was making me afraid to go out.
I also bought magnesium and tebonin tablets (got that from the above thread).
So visited the ENT today for another hearing test. Tinnitus felt a bit more manageable in the louder environment but still there. Hearing test showed no improvement. This was after 4 injections and the doctor thought it would not help to do any more. He discussed using a hyperbaric chamber so I decided to go for it.
Quite nerve racking having the helmet on in the chamber but after a while you relax.
My family picked me up later and I wasn't sure if I was kidding myself but their voices seemed so much clearer. I put another ear bud in my good ear and yes i could definitely hear them better. No reaction to my tinnitus from the talking either but still a mild hum. Had to get home and test it out and yes I could actually hear the tone of the songs and at much lower volume. Nowhere near perfect but much improved. Hard to tell how the tinnitus is from doing the therapy but I have been more or less been able to focus it out of my mind for the moment
Don't know if it was just the chamber or a combination of all things but I guess the main reason for my thread is to encourage everyone to stay strong. People usually only post when something goes wrong but from what I can see loads of people recover from this in various ways. I may relapse but for now I'm positive,
Will keep you updated.
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