Tinnitus for a Month Now Out of the Blue

Here's my story and I welcome any comments or insights into this "madness".

About a year ago, perhaps the beginning of the year, I noticed a very slight hearing loss in my left ear. Higher frequencies seemed muddy, or lack of clarity. I never thought much of it and the only time I really noticed it was when watching TV and had my right ear on a pillow and I found myself often reaching for the remote. Fast forward to about two months ago and I noticed fullness in my left ear. Worth noting that I temporarily wear foam earplugs for about 1-2 hours early in the morning if I'm having difficulty sleeping. I work late hours at night and so if my cats are making a ruckus etc. or lawn guys outside I'll just pop them in. So initially, I was attributing the fullness to perhaps wearing the plugs a little too deep.

I went to see my regular GP a month later and brought up the ear issue. He took a peek and found no wax build-up. He gave me a prescription for Prednisone (low 20mg dose) which I took for a week and it didn't really do anything. And then the ringing started. It's mainly in my left ear but it's sort of enveloping so I do hear it in my right ear but it's nowhere near as bad. At first, it started with a high pitch frequency (15 kHz-16 kHz) that sort of fluttered on and off. At this point I didn't really know what Tinnitus was, so I thought it was my fridge or something. But then a lower frequency (8 kHz or so I guess) kicked in and that became constant. As of now another month later both are fairly constant. The 15 kHz one is the most annoying and hard to mask.

I went for the audiologist test and they confirmed a pretty bad loss in my left ear. Worth noting I'm mid 40's, don't listen to loud music, work from home in a quiet environment, and therefore I can't pinpoint any particular reason for the hearing loss.

Here's my chart (X left ear):



They now want to rule out it being an acoustic neuroma but I won't be getting an MRI until Jan. From what I've been reading it's so rare anyway that it likely won't be the cause. Right now I'm on a high-ish dose of Prednisone again (60mg/day) and tapering off into my 2nd week but that's had no effect really. On a scale of 1-10 I'd put it at 10, but then I don't really have anything to compare it to. It's pretty much made me miserable and given me low self-esteem. Two months ago I was happy as can be and now I feel the complete opposite.

Anyway, that's where I'm at. I'm getting very little sleep. I'm trying masking sound apps on my phone and I'm praying that it's in the "worse before it gets better" stage and things will start getting better for sure. I can only hope.

Thanks for listening (no pun intended).

 

I use the SoundPillow. It has helped the most out of everything I've tried.

 

Be careful about getting am MRI! Other people have had their tinnitus made worse by an MRI! Weigh up the pros and cons and look at other threads on here about getting an MRI.

I will forever regret getting an MRI!

 

Yeah I've been going back and forth on the decision. Not to mention the cost!!