Tinnitus Since October 2015 — Help Needed

Hi everyone, just made this account for the purpose of finding answers before moving onto a more drastic approach on determining my tinnitus and to also receive support on this forum.

I am an 18 year old male (turned 18 in August) and recently started commuting to University by taking the bus and subway. When i came home to study quietly in my bedroom, i started to hear ringing in my left ear. I have no clue what caused this. I went to the doctor and he gave me a referral to get a hearing test but it costs for some reason even though i heard its supposed to be free with a referral (live in Canada).

Anyhow, i do not often find trouble hearing people in background noises. I mean i always had that issue since i was a little boy (just me). Everyone in my house sounds the way they do before i got my tinnitus. I am really unsure why i have this since i was only exposed to loud noises for a total of 3 years (by listening to music on my iPod but i often wouldn't listen to it loudly, just moderately). I have no ear wax or anything wrong with my ear drum either. I was exposed to a chain saw back in Feb all the way to June but after that i did not have this ringing in my ear either.

The Audioligist did mention one thing when i went for a quick visit. He said it could be the lack of sleep and the stress (usually got 6-7 hours of sleep a day). I also stand for like an hour on the train and bus making me very tired. When i take a hot shower, i never hear the tinnitus but then 30 min to an hour after i start hearing it again (only in my left ear). When the heating comes on it disappears as well. Another thing worth mentioning is that i clench my teeth a lot (bruxism) but i got a mouth guard for that in late July of this year to cope for it. The doctor checked for TMJ but theres no sign of it. My jaw muscles and neck muscles are in fact tight and i do get tired from chewing food sometimes. On very rare occasions i feel sharp pain in my ears but thats if i hear something thats "perceived" to be loud to me (i also have hypersensitivity to noise now which im also confused about). Other onsets of random ear pain are also unexplained to me (but they do occur like once or twice per month)

I would really like to know what the causes for my tinnitus are. Ever since the ringing started it has brought a HUGE impact on my life. Because of the constant ringing in my left ear i have fell into isolation and cannot do things i used to do in life. I cant even get by studying effectively like i used to and because of that my grades have suffered dramatically. Can someone please help. If this is not the right forum (that which i doubt) then please recommend me a forum for which i can get answers from.

Thank you for this long read and please do not mind my grammar.

 

Hi,

Suffering after the onset is normal. This forum is full of people who've been there and symphatize with newbies, i'm one of the newbies as well. It's been almost 3 months since my onset and i've accepted my condition after 1 month after onset. This helped me tremendously as i stopped fighting with T and trying to ignore it now.

Also, Hyperacousis usually follows Tinnitus because the causes of both are some disfunction of hearing system, like not functioning hair cells in cochlea or auditory nerves being disconnected from hair cells, etc. Try to understand the cause and rationalize your condition which'll help you decide on what to do next.

Hope you'll be well.