Tinnitus for 3 Months and It Sure Has Been a Roller Coaster

Let me introduce my self. My name is Chaz I am 27 years old male, and located in Houston Texas. I have known about Tinnitus for a couple years, and all the horror stories that go with it form various new articles and post that pop up every once in a while. I always thought to myself, damn that would suck to end up with Tinnitus. So I began to protect my ears a lot more than I have in the past.

Fast forward to late 2016 I began to attend quite a few concerts. Never wore ear plugs since they were outside and mostly country music. In September Houston had one of the largest out door rock concerts the city has seen. "Houston Open Air" for any of you that are familiar. Anyway it turned out to be a bust, and most of it was cancelled due to rain, and sever thunderstorms. One of my favorite bands was going to be playing, but never got a chance to "Sevendust". I later found out that they would be returning mid October to Houston and I just had to see them live for the first time. Nobody was able to go with me so i made the hour an a half drive to the small venue they were going to be playing at. I knew it was going to be a loud show so I brought some ear plugs. I ended up leaving the ear plugs in my vehicle and didn't even notice till I saw someone else wearing some. I remembered the door guy said no re entry if you leave, so I figured i would just tough it out. The first band begin to do their sound checks and it was so LOUD!!! I should have left, or asked if they sell plugs. The total show length was about 3hrs. I said i'll be fine since there where so many people there in their 50's without ear protection.

The show finished and my hearing was muffled, but no ringing that I could recall. I went to bed and woke up the next morning and my lefty ear was killing me and the ringing started. I personally can never remember another incident in my life where I had ringing. I figured i would give it a few day and see if it would just go away. After 3 Days and no improvement, I began to panic and resulted to the internet for advice and everything was the worst possible out come of course. I then went to one of those small minute clinics had the lady check out my ears and everything looked normal of course. She said it might be swimmers ear thats causing the pain so she gave me some drops. I then found Tinnitus talk and learned about steroids for treatment. I called my GP to make an appoint. He looked in my ear said everything looks fine and said ill give you some medicine for the pain and a steroid shot in the butt. I wait a few days and their no improvement other than some pain relief. Now the ringing at this point is very light and almost everything masks it.

I make an appoint with an ENT that I will see about 4 Days later. The ENT did a hearing test everything came back fine and he said I have no hearing loss, that i just need to wait it out. I then mention I'm having a hard sleeping and he provides some anxiety meds for a couple weeks and wants to try Prednisone for a couple weeks. I start sleeping a lot better the noise in my left ear becomes completely un audible and I'm left with a slight Hiss. as soon as I finsh my Prednisone I end up with a nasty cold that last approximately 2 weeks. My tinnitus did get louder but went back to normal after the cold. About a week later I'm sick again this time with some kind of bronchitis. I'm put on antibiotics for 10 days and all kinds of other things. After treatment everything went back to normal and I really started to accept tinnitus and was doing well. This lasted for about a month and a half.

Last week, I woke up with both my ears killing me, and my noise amplified like crazy. I went back to the clinic and had fluid in both ears and was prescribed an antibiotic. I Didn't seem to be getting better, and my noise that was in my left ear that has been gone forever was now back. I had a 3 month check up with my Ent scheduled that was going to happen in a few days so I decided to wait. Ent checked my hearing and everything remained relatively the same, but I was still in pain with no signs of fluid or anything. He said that my neck could be causing the pain so he prescribed a muscle relaxer. with no help after a few days I called him and he then prescribed a short 6 day steroid pack. I'm on my second day now and don't know what to do. I was doing so well and for the past couple of weeks it all seems to be going to hell. I cant mask it like I used to. I can hear it outside now, and i still have this crazy ear pain that is in my ear and below it. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Anyone experience something similar?

 

Prednisalone can help usually 48 hours before notice any reduction.
Keep sound on around you in the day and also at night set below your tinnitus.
Try relax so anxiety wont feed your tinnitus.
Sounds like your Eustation tubes could be the cause and you might find a mucous linctus helpful and steam inhalation.
If you still keep getting ear pain I would see your doctor again incase a ear infection is brewing...lots of love glynis

 

Hi, I’m in Houston as well! How are you now? Hope everything settled down! Are you happy with your Dr? I’m looking for a second opinion....

 

Did the steroid shot in the butt help your noise? How are you doing now?

 

I would say things are relatively the same....Not really sure if it got better or not, but my reaction sure did.

As far as doctors go, I have been to 3 ENT'S. My primary ENT that I continue to go to if I get an ear infection or something like that, I feel he's a good doctor, but like all ENT's they can't do anything for tinnitus. Unless you have some physical issue they can see.

What cause your tinnitus?

I honestly don't remember, but I do remember that it helped with the pain I was getting for the first week.

I'm doing okay. The tinnitus is easy, what I have a problem with is the hyperacusis that I developed a few months after. However, over time the sensitivity is slowly but surly getting better.

 

I hear you. I think I'm learning how to deal with the T better. Misophonia has always been a part of my life, but I never knew that it was an actual disorder, I'd bug my husband and kids for making the slightest noise that got into my ear... hehehe, now I know I wasn't being over-dramatic. Hyperacusis must be hard, when I'm really tired, and at the end of the day, I feel discomfort and very little tolerance for the normal noise in my house (you know, kids finishing dinner, them singing or humming, dishes clanking, etc.) to the point that I have to excuse myself, but it doesn't happen often.
I am not 100% sure of the cause. I have conductive hearing loss (Or so the ENT thinks), of about 20-30 decibels. He thinks it came from Eustachian Tube Dysfunction due to inflammation caused by allergies. ENT put ear tube in, nothing improved. Removed tube a few weeks after, nothing has improved, but my ear drum still needs to heal. I also got hit fairly hard with a soccer ball at my kid's soccer practice. Didn't pass out, but I did feel dazed for a few minutes. I am starting to think that's when everything started... ENT and I disagree, he thinks my hearing loss is gradual... I disagree, with the keen hearing I've always had, I would have noticed, I'm sure of it.
So although I've been treated well by the doctor, and he has been kind, understanding and willing to run 'some' tests. I think I'm ready to see someone else. Who knows.
Regardless, I'm learning to live as "if this is it", you know? Accept it, learn coping, reduce stress, care for my ears, and deal with things day by day... just in case!
And then someday, we will all celebrate that they finally found a cure!! =D