Tinnitus from Assault — Could Really Use Some Help

Hi everyone!

I am just a few days shy of my first month with this new sound in my head. I guess I could really use some encouragement from those who suffer/have suffered from tinnitus as... it really is shocking and debilitating. This year had been AWFUL for my health (skin issues, throat issues, cancer that luckily was caught early and treated effectively with a surgery), so just when things look like they were turning a corner for my poor hypochondriac self, I got assaulted.

I received blows to the head. I managed to get out of there and when I got home I immediately looked for signs of bleeding/bruising to which there was none. My head was fine, I immediately iced it and stayed and my ears felt fine. The next day my ears popped and I experienced this fullness in them. For the next few days this persisted and I would have seconds of ringing. Literally 2-3 seconds and then it would disappear about once or twice a day. A few days later I noticed a constant ringing in the quiet, and immediately started to feel panicked.

I was spiraling. About a week later from the assault I was in tears one night and my family insisted I go to the ER seeing how upset I was. My ear pain felt worse and I was worried that somehow even though I didn't bleed or bruise, something could have happened to my brain and ears. The staff was really nice and inspected my ears and sent me for a CT scan. Everything was clear, and I was sent to my ENT.

I like my ENT (previous throat issues) and he had a hearing exam done for me, and reviewed the results. No hearing loss, no nerve damage, he said that I probably will just need some time to recover and to take it easy and come back in about a month if it persists. But he said that this will probably just go away in my case and that it happens all the time. I have confidence in him because he did help me a lot with my throat issues that have mostly resolved (turned out to be acid reflux - but I never had heartburn, may be a food sensitivity).

I'm about a week away from that month mark and have cried many times. I was already dealing with previous health issues, and for October, for the first time in over a year they seemed to have resolved. And then bam this. It was too much. I can't deny I wasn't having suicidal thoughts. I know - I went through cancer, this should be nothing! But that was cured with a surgery, this can't be. I am exhausted. I am only 25.

My tinnitus can be masked, and I think seems to be mild in that I can work in my office with the hvac on and be fine, even when its off and there's only low odd sounds I'm mostly okay. But it just roars in a very quiet room and my head feels full. This is what freaks me out because I look constantly for any signs of improvement. I think I was going crazy the first week because it seemed like my tinnitus kept changing from the "eeee" to swooshing noises to both. It would even feel like it moved from ear to ear. I keep thinking it's better in that I'll be in a semi quiet room and not hear it as much "Oh it lowered! Yes!" - but once I'm in silence, trying to sleep, and it ramps up, it just leads me to despair. I noticed some jaw tenderness and a click (probably unrelated) but I find myself hoping I have TMJ, that's where I am at this point . It also feels like I have an infection because of pain but 2 professionals said I'm clear (oh how I wish it were an infection...).

My ENT suggested a multivitamin in the interim... well as we all know we can go overboard with that. I even bought ginkgo (EgB 761) and have been taking it for a little over a week along with Vit D, B12, Zinc, along with the multivitamin. I was just about to ask my ENT for steroids, but mine doesn't seem to be noise induced (I also don't really use headphones much because I wanted to protect my hearing... oh the bitter irony).

I guess I am writing this to find out what I can do, some words of wisdom/encouragement. How I should go about moving forward with this, and just try to deal with this new noise. I love the silence and when I told my best friend about this... she revealed that she has tinnitus. Since she was a kid, and that it doesn't bother her even when she does hear it. I was dumbfounded. It NEVER came up in our decade of friendship. I wonder if this is the universe's way of saying it will all be okay, I used to be stronger but I think life has been just a little too rough on me lately. I have been strongly considering seeing a therapist even, just to learn to cope.

Thank you for getting this far and I really hope that it gets better for everyone.

 

Yo your still awake stressing or you just got up for work ? I’m taking advice of a few people on here that have replied to me I’m educating myself quite rapidly and try to mask as much as possible for now so the anxiety passes... I’m on day 4 and it’s older tonight I think I’m losing my hearing too which is weirding me out, got a numb head ....like your friend I’ve had it since I was 8, I’m 43 now it’s not bothered me since I was a teenager now it’s half trashed me... but have a read through this site it has some great links & amazingly people on here reply to help it’s a great forum, I get comfort in reading a lot on here even though I’m listening to this shite....

 

Go on YouTube look for tinnitus relief sound therapy it’s an hour long picture of half a head with orange sound waves ... stick that on laptop or mines on tv it’s excellent

 

I know exactly how you feel. However, tinnitus heals at glacial speed. You need to look for signs of improvement compared to how you felt a month (or even 2-4 months) ago.

I realize that your T was not caused by an acoustic trauma. But what follows is something that you can do that has a chance to work. Try to protect your ears from even the moderate noises (e.g., vacuum cleaner, hair dryer, blender).

Crying is normal. During the second month after onset, I cried uncontrollably multiple times a day, every day.

Tinnitus tends to change for the better (lower volume, lower pitch, a tone changing to a hiss). Even if it ends up being permanent, the sound you are hearing now is likely not the sound you will be stuck with.

Try taking NAC and ALCAR (search this forum for threads about these supplements). When I was in that acute stage, amitriptyline helped me sleep. It is non-addictive and it didn't make me feel drowsy the next morning.

Also check out the studies on several pages of
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

There is still hope that your T will eventually go away. But it might take 6-24 months before that happens...

 

Here is a link for tinnitus caused by head trauma.
http://vestibular.org/secondary-endolymphatic-hydrops-seh

You must not stay in silence, cause T ramps up then, and you will suffer and get scared. Forget about the silence for a while. You will be able to sit in silence when your T will improve, do not worry, but not now, in this period of time. A radio set at very low volume should prevent this ramping up.

Besides avoiding silence you must remain optimistic that T will go away in 1-2 years, and you must distract yourself from this T focusing on things that you like to do. Keep yourself busy! Think about what makes you pleasure and do those things. The silence that you love is not lost forever.

Better days will come, you must remain optimistic and stop spiralling by engaging in activities you enjoy.

 

True!
Keep that in mind, @CrashingWaves!