Tinnitus, My Uninvited Guest...

[Garlicz]

Howdy, I have been reading a lot on this forum over the past couple of weeks since Tinnitus started, on the early morning of 3/1/18. Here is my story so far. Thank you for reading.

Two Wednesdays ago, I was up late gaming with a friend and when I went to lay down in bed, I noticed a very high-pitched ringing. I woke up my wife, asked if she could hear anything, she said no. At that point, she had been sick with a head cold for a couple of weeks, and I thought I had escaped it. I did not feel sick at all, but figured I caught something since all of a sudden POW this ringing in my ears.

Four maddening days went by. I noticed over that time my ears felt full, and crackled when I swallowed. The ringing hung on to the point I went to an urgent care clinic. (I don't have a primary physician, don't trust doctors, this was a big step for me to go get even looked at, haven't been to a doctor in many years.)

The doc looked in my ears, about two seconds each (can they really diagnose that quickly?), and said my eardrums were retracted inward, my Eustachian tubes must be swollen shut causing a difference in pressure, thus the ringing. He gave me a prescription for Prednisone (Different doses of 4 mg. pills for six days. Day 1, eat six pills, stepped down one pill on the sixth day.) Prednisone made me feel all sorts of crazy, but I followed the presription to a tee. I also used a Neti pot throughout the week, and prayed constantly, fasted for a day. When I ate the final pill, the ringing was (is) still there, so I called the urgent care clinic, said I was still having symptoms. They said to try some Flonase. Prednisone to Flonase. M'kay, if you say so, doc.

So off I went to my local Wal-Mart. Got Sudafed, Flonase, a steam breather, some saline nose spray. Ingested everything, breathed everything. I don't feel congested at all anymore. I can pinch my nose and force air into my Eustachian tubes no problem. My ears still crackle a bit when I swallow. Ears pop. Great. Still it rings.

The tinnitus is LOUD, high-pitched, annoying. I feel like I am going nuts most of the time, and even though it scares the crap out of me, am starting to get resigned to the fact that this tinnitus thing will never go away. I am less than two weeks in, but honestly this thing is trying my every nerve. I feel like I have crossed over into this new way of looking at things: There was life before tinnitus with moments of pure unmasked silence that I took completely for granted. And now, life since tinnitus where everything has changed because every single sound I hear from now on will be polluted by it.

Things I have noticed:

1. If I move my jaw forward, the tinnitus gets more pronounced, louder.

2. In the mornings, after waking, it seems quieter for a bit, but after awhile it jumps up to full throttle.

3. The pitch can be a constant frequency but also goes wee-wooo-wee-woo sometimes, sort of like a siren.

4. If I take a shower, it completely masks the sound.

5. If I play my acoustic guitar, the sound calms down some.

Also, I am running full-tilt super high anxiety, and right now am completely fixated on this noise, and am fighting off these waves of adrenaline sometimes. Right now, I can't ignore it. It's just THERE.

It sucks. I honestly would not wish this on my worst enemy. I really hope it doesn't last forever, but I have read a ton of stories where people get a cold or infection and now tinnitus is constantly there for years and years -- and I haven't heard of many stories where people get a temporary two week case of tinnitus and then it goes away. If you know of any stories like this, please let me know -- I could use some encouragement.


If you got this far, thanks for reading my rambling. It's good to vent.

 

[billie48]

1. If I move my jaw forward, the tinnitus gets more pronounced, louder.

Welcome to the forum. If your jaw movement can affect T, you have somatic T and perhaps TMJ issue.

Also, I am running full-tilt super high anxiety, and right now am completely fixated on this noise, and am fighting off these waves of adrenaline sometimes. Right now, I can't ignore it. It's just THERE.

Sorry about your suffering right now. But your reaction is quite typical and normal for people with new intrusive T. I was no different. Besides my ultra high pitch T, I also had severe hyperacusis and that one was so tough to go with T. I explain the struggle and subsequent triumph in my success story and sharing some helpful strategies. Check it out. When you learn to apply some helpful strategies, you may feel better. Don't despair or get too anxious as stress from extreme anxiety will be bad for T. Take care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

I haven't heard of many stories where people get a temporary two week case of tinnitus and then it goes away.

It probably happens a lot but we don't know about it because most of these folks will not need support in a tinnitus forum.

 

[Garlicz]

@billie48 Thank you for all of the information. It has already been very helpful!

 

[Garlicz]

I thought I should stop by and update this thread. I am going on four months with tinnitus caused by Eustachian Tube Dysfunction (ETD).

The tinnitus has gotten less loud over the months, and I have also become accustomed to it when it is there. Sometimes it annoys me quite a lot, but mostly, about 80% of the time I don't notice it.

It did take TIME to get to where I am living and not fixated on the ringing in my ears. The first couple of months were really difficult, but I resigned myself to the fact that to heal takes time, to adapt takes time, and if anything the experience has taught me A LOT about patience and striving to achieve peace of mind.

My heart genuinely goes out to people suffering from this affliction. For people who may have just recently entered a struggle with tinnitus. The first few days, weeks, months can be VERY difficult, HANG IN THERE! DO NOT GIVE UP! This life is worth living, there is a way through!

Things that helped me (not medical advice, just a list of goodness that assisted me):

1. Being nice to my ears. I don't wear headphones anymore, and I don't play music as loud as I used to. I am very watchful of loud noises, but find that my ears feel better if they are active.

2. Listen to music, just not too loud. Soothing music, sounds. Like nature sounds, water, crickets, and I found a lot of good, chill electronica music , which worked wonders to help me stay focused on my job.

3. Drink water. Lots of water. This has not really kept the tinnitus at bay, just helped my physical well-being.

4. Get sleep, as much as you can. The first couple days for me, I was up most of the night. Melatonin helped me get rest until I got accustomed to letting go of the anxiety, so my brain could shut down at night.

5. Find someone to hug. A friend, your partner, your spouse. Have a hug, cry to them if you have to (I did a few times, and I'm a 99% of the time grumpy grown-a$$ man.)

6. DO THINGS THAT YOU LIKE TO DO! Sometimes it is hard to do anything at all, try anyway.

7. If you're religious, lean on God, pray. (I know some on this board are not religious, please don't take offense to this point; some of us greatly rely on faith to get us through the toughest times.)

8. Stay away from negativity. Embrace positivity, beauty, peace, all good things. The bad will always try to crowd in, and sometimes it will, but I found that focusing on goodness, life, love, family, friends, food, and counting blessings helped to put the tough moments in a better perspective. In this way, tinnitus has been a teacher to me.

Words are such inadequate tools to describe how difficult tinnitus can be, I just wanted to post here what I know from my own experience.

Wishing you all peace, health, happiness.

 

[Kolisar]

For those reading this, the suggestions that @Garlicz gives above are excellent.

Here are some posts by other members to support two of his points:

1. Being nice to my ears. I don't wear headphones anymore, and I don't play music as loud as I used to. I am very watchful of loud noises, but find that my ears feel better if they are active.

@Michael Leigh wrote the following post on headphone use and tinnitus:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/headphones-and-tinnitus.12062/

8. Stay away from negativity. Embrace positivity, beauty, peace, all good things. The bad will always try to crowd in, and sometimes it will, but I found that focusing on goodness, life, love, family, friends, food, and counting blessings helped to put the tough moments in a better perspective. In this way, tinnitus has been a teacher to me.

@billie48 wrote his success story demonstrating how positivity helped him habituate.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

@Michael Leigh wrote the following, excellent post on the importance of positivity: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-positivity-important.23150/
and the following on negativity and tinnitus
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/


And, a study that shows that there is a high recovery rate from tinnitus.

@Bill Bauer wrote the following post discussing studies that show a fairly high recovery rate from tinnitus
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

I wish you luck, and thank you for posting and updating your progress.