Tinnitus Just Started

Hello Everyone -

My tinnitus started about 10 days ago after a phone call. It is a very fine, high pitched tone with a faint "swooshing" sound. It does not last 24 hours a day, and I have found from research online that sometimes Gabapentin is helpful. I have been taking that and I have noticed after a dose the tinnitus does stop.

When it started I panicked and thought I was losing my mind. Over the next couple of days I've calmed down and I'm back to a normal life, unfortunately including my tinnitus. I called to make an appointment with an ENT and I need to be referred by my GP, with whom I have an appointment on 11/1. In his message to me, in the mean time he did tell me some people have relief with something called 'isoflavones'. I don't know anything about this drug, other than the fact no store around here carries it.

I look forward to contributing on the forums and reading other peoples success stories.

 

What happened?

 

I was on a long phone call and after the call ended I noticed a ringing in my ears.

 

During this phone call, did you ever wince as a result of a loud noise made by the person you were talking to?

 

No, I did not. I did have to talk loudly due to a bad FaceTime connection; the length of the call was probably 20-30 minutes.

 

Your T could be due to something you did during the preceding two weeks. For example, my T turned on 10 days after my acoustic trauma. Does anything come to mind?

 

Thank you for your reply. No, I can't think of anything. I haven't been around any loud noises. I haven't had any changes to my meds. My life hasn't changed at all lately, other than the onset of the T. It as if someone just turned the T on for no reason. I know it sounds crazy, but it just turned on one day. So bizarre.

 

Could you be suffering from sudden hearing loss? If this is a possibility, check out
https://www.masseyeandear.org/for-p...ation/diseases-and-conditions/sudden-deafness
Basically, you need to take steroids as soon as possible.

In any case, normally, ENTs are useless. But in your case, perhaps a doctor could actually help. You might want to have scans done to ensure that your T is not due to a tumor.

 

My audiologist says that that Acoustic Traumas happen on the spot and that there is no delay/lag.

Did you take any medicine weeks prior? Do you use earbuds/headphones regularly?

 

So did mine

 

It could be that you had acoustic trauma.. Which didn't go as far as giving you tinnitus... But while your ears were "healing", you had another smaller exposure later and that tipped your ears into tinnitus... Perhaps that's why some people get delayed t

 

welcome to hell

 

He is probably referring to OTC tinnitus remedy products, often sold in pharmacies, consisting of lipoflavonoids. There is absolutely no evidence that it works, some say it does but they are in the minority. If there was a cure, we wouldn't need research or, for that matter, this forum.

 

I don't use headphones regularly. The only medicines I took in the proceeding two weeks are my regular daily medication, which hasn't changed in quite some time.

 

do you have jaw problems, TMD, cervical (upper spine issues)? Head trauma?

 

No.

 

So I saw my GP today and both ears look fine, "perfectly normal". I let him know that Gabapentin seems to help and he'll continue my prescription for that and I'm to follow up with an ENT, unfortunately the first available was January 29, 2019.