Tinnitus for the Last 9 Years

Hello. I came here for help on a situation I'm going through and to see how others deal with all different levels of tinnitus in their lives.

I have had tinnitus for 9 years now and I still recall the first day I got it. I woke up from the couch and did the usual morning ritual. I noticed something was off and hears a ringing in my ear that wasn't going away, basically I thought my ears popped and it's dissipate eventually but it never did. I searched everywhere online but just became depressed as the noise was driving me insane.

I can't pinpoint on how I got it, I know earlier that year I went to my first concert and it was loud but other than that nothing was ever loud around me for my ear drum to be effective. I guess I was just one of them special cases.

I don't know how long after that but my brain, I guess, didn't really care for the noise as much and the tinnitus sound dimmed down through the years and became bearable. I was able to sleep with a fan or couldn't hear it in public at all unless I really focus on it. I knew it was always there still but I didn't let it get to me no more. Sometimes I still wonder what'd it be like to just hear nothing, or silence for this matter.

Well recently I went through something a few days ago that made my tinnitus worse then it ever has and I'm hoping in time it does the same thing it did originally or it's just the case of me having a sinus infection. You can read that block of text HERE.

 

Have you done an audiogram?
DPOAE? Otoacoustic emissions to determine whether you have an acoustic trauma.

 

A fire alarm....and infection? Well I would bet your ears got hurt in some way by that alarm. And it amy well be that it is temporary. I would try to find a sympathetic heath professional. I found one, but required I go to an audiology before they would prescribe a steroid. If you can't get any traction on the steroid front, consider reading up and taking on Flonase. Now, since you have an infection you will also need to take that into consideration.

Good luck!

 

I go to an ENT Wednesday as it’s the earliest they could get me in. I went to a normal urgent care last week and the doctor told me to wait the infection out as there’s nothing he can prescribe for that.

Before the fire alarm incident happened, (which has been a week now), I came off a cold with a sore throat. My throat right now is still swollen and my right ear feels clogged, (majority of the ringing comes from), and the doctor said I had some fluid behind my ear.

 

Good luck!

 

I went to the ENT and nothing has changed in the last 9 years. Nothing can be done with no cure. They say my left ear, which has the new tinnitus, is borderlined for a hearing aid.

All my tests came back good, no fluid or blockage in my ear, nothing blocking my nasal cavity, basically no light at the end of my tunnel.

I’m just keeping optimistic and in high hopes that the tinnitus in my ears with subside to the level they were once at before that darn fire alarm. I was content with it.

 

I surely hope so also. You have your mind reassured about the ears' condition(s) so you can have less anxiety, now it would make sense that there will be a decrease in T as the 'damage' and your mind's use of the nerve input (and or brain audio mapping) will improve over time.

I don't know about the clogging you had, but for me, months 2-5 I used Flonase everyday, after my event.

 

I use Flonase two sprays in each nostril once a day as directed on the instructions. So far I believe my tinnitus has subdued a small tad as the ringing isn’t as loud as it first became a few weeks back. When the ringing first became noticeable in my left ear I needed to play a masking noise on my phone and play it directly to my ear just to concentrate during the day and in hopes to fall asleep.

Now I play a sound machine in the room to help fall asleep, even though the tinnitus is still noticeable but not as bad as the first week from my incident. Some nights are hard to fall asleep because my mind likes to tune in the ringing and I can’t sleep on either side because of it, but others I fall asleep good and wake up with no sound until my brain finds it. Also during the day I can’t really hear it as much until I tune for it or I’m watching tv and a quiet part comes on. So I myself see small improvement so the hope stays alive!

The best thing through this is even though this has hindered me in a small way I stay optimistic for it to quiet down and now I always carry a pair of ear plug with me at work. Every time I go in the rotunda where the fire alarm is, I put them in right away and speed right past it.