Tinnitus in Right Ear Only for Eight Days, Unknown Cause...

Hello,

Eight days ago on May 11, I had probably the most angry, emotional and stressful day in recent memory. I've been having some painful conflicts within my family, causing tons of internal stress, tension and rage. May 11 started off just fine, no tinnitus at all in the morning, nor midday or after leaving work. I was biking home as I'd been doing all week, stopped at a grocery store on the way (still no T), and when I got home I put my groceries away, walked into my room sat down at my computer and noticed a ringing in my right ear. Figuring it would go away like it usually does (I've always had brief, intermittent T that lasts for 10 or so seconds in one or both ears), I waited...and waited...and waited...and so far it's been eight days and it's still going on.

It dies down when I lay down and sleep. So I go to sleep and wake up to silence (thankfully), but the moment I move my head, get up, or hear sounds, the T starts back up. I have no idea how this started. I didn't experience ANY noise trauma that day. I bike home in the big city (Chicago), and have been trying to rack my brain for memories of maybe a blaring ambulance that drove too close or something. I've also been biking to and from work all week, so maybe it's a gradual accumulation of sound, but this seems a tad unreasonable to me since it'd probably be a wider known problem within the biking community. On Wednesday I went to Walgreens to have my blood pressure taken and see if they could look in my ear for excess earwax or an obstruction of some type. Blood pressure was high, but ears were clear.

White noise drowns it out, caffeine makes it worse, chewing makes it worse, any type of sound or body movement makes it ring louder. If a bus or train roars past, it rings louder along with it. If I plug my ear with my finger the ring gets a bit louder and I can alter the sound, so I know it's definitely only in my right ear. It's been a constant, low level, high pitch ring ever since. It seems perceptibly louder than when it started, but there doesn't seem to be any hearing damage or lost pitches. It's sensitive to some sounds; I had to put an earplug in as I drew in my sketchbook since the sound of the pencil against the paper was actually grating!

I took some advice to wait it out a week, but it's been a week and I'm worried now. I'm hoping it's not related to hearing loss, since prior to this I've been suffering constant tension headaches, sinus pressure and eye pain. I'd been using a Neti Pot a lot prior so maybe some of it got into my ear canal, who knows? I'm just trying to weigh in every possible cause. I have a audiologist scheduled in a couple weeks for a free hearing test, but will try to get something in this week. Having no insurance at the moment doesn't help, but that hopefully will change in the coming week/s due to a hiccup in my medicaid reenrollment (great timing, right?).

I had a doctors appointment only a month ago and they did a full blood panel. Everything came back negative and my blood pressure was normal at the time. So this is all just a big mystery. Lastly, I mentioned at the beginning that I had the most stressful day ever on the day it started. At around 3:30 that day, I had a bit of a "flashback" to a recent painful argument I had with my older brother, and it brought forth a immense surge of pain, anger and violent, vengeful feelings. My heart was beating fast and my head was surging with blood at how angry I was. I was also facing a bit of pressure at work. I've had issues with rage before, but this time it was all directed inward. I've been telling myself that these mishandled feelings are the cause of my tinnitus. A romantic notion perhaps, but I can't think of anything else. It was probably worsened by the iced coffee I had a bit earlier, since it worsens the tension headaches, sinus pressure and eye pain I mentioned in the last paragraph.

Sorry for the wall of text. That's all I can think of for now. The ringing is, as I type this, still there. A nice, sharp, crisp ring in my right ear only.

 

HI @krzkrz
Exposure to loud noise is the most common cause of tinnitus. Before the tinnitus started. Did you listen to music regularly through headphones or attend places where loud music is played?

 

Michael_Leigh

I wasn't listening to loud music through headphones recently. I did go to a bar that had a jazz show, but the music was facing my left ear and it wasn't very loud.

 

@Michael Leigh

I didn't tag you correctly in my last response. I have a pair of headphones and an ipod nano with earbuds, and though I did on one occasion listen to my ipod with the volume turned up a little bit loud, that was two months ago or so and I didn't notice any ringing or hearing loss after that. I use my headphones at home sparingly, and with the volume pretty low to moderate, and though there was an isolated incident a couple months back when I had my headphones on and a video accidentally played with the volume turned EXTREMELY loud, I pulled off the headphones in a split second. Several days prior I went to a relatively quiet jazz show. I haven't experienced anything that could be called "noise trauma" at all in recent memory. Nothing that would clearly stick out as "Wow, that was way too loud and it hurt my ears!"

I posted in the hyperacusis forum and I seem to be having something a commentator calls "reactive tinnitus". I noticed yesterday that when I talk and say, for example, "Hi how are you?", my right ear would go"ring ring ring ring" along with each syllable.

I'll be getting a free basic screening from an audiologist tomorrow just to rule out anything major going on. I did take a free, online hearing test the other day (just out of curiosity) using my headphones, and for all I know I passed with flying colors. So far I'm attributing this to stress, as I've been reading about the "fight or flight" response and how the ears become more sensitive in such moments, and how chronically anxious/depressed people are more prone to tinnitus, etc. Makes me wonder if my tinnitus was already there but has been "magnified", so to speak.