Tinnitus Started a Few Days Ago, Incredibly Scared

Hey guys. I never wanted to write a post like this, but here I am.

I'm 24 years old and about 4 days ago I started hearing a ringing sound in my left ear. It came out of nowhere. I was just sitting at home and all of a sudden it hit me. For the first couple of seconds I just assumed it would go away, but it didn't. I got scared, but went to bed hoping it would be gone when I woke up.

Of course, I woke up and it was still there. That's when I really started to panic. I contacted an ENT doctor immediately and went there. The doctor itself didn't have time sadly, but I got my ears checked by an assistent as well as a hearing test. My hearing is normal, so nothing's wrong there. Despite that, my ringing continued. My actual appointment with the doctor won't be for another month. I was hoping it would disappear by then, but even though it's only been a few days I'm starting to lose hope.

I'm still young and I'm incredibly scared of the idea that this might never go away. I've been trying to relax, listen to some calm music, but I just can't. I've been looking up what to do online and I'm hearing that vitamin B might help, so I'm going to try that. I'm just desperate and willing to try anything to get rid of this.

I'm not really sure what kind of replies I'm expecting. I just needed to get it out there. Any words of encouragement would be great.

 

Although I am older, I can certainly understand your fear and anxiety regarding the sudden onset (and bewilderment about the cause). I have struggled for the last month with it while I await a doctor appointment with an audiologist myself.

I have a lot of anxiety about the fact that this may never go away. I know I have found some masking sounds that occasionally give me relief when listened to in short bursts and can help it lower long enough to fall asleep. I also have a relatively loud white noise fan that helps mask the noise at night. I recommend you do a search for "tinnitus masking" on Youtube and try out some of them. If you find one that works, use one of the online sites to convert it into an MP3 file and you can put it on a loop on your phone to help. Don't go crazy with the volume or overlisten to it too often since it can make you oversensitive and not be as effective.

As far as things you can take, I am afraid I am not going to be as much help as I would like. I have found a LOT of recommendations (see my introduction thread in this forum), but every time I see a recommendation, I see another conflicting warning that it can cause / worsen T.

My coping mechanism thus far has not been great, I am hoping others will chyme in with what they are doing. I wish you luck and hope yours just goes away (stop taking NSAIDs like ibuprofen and acetaminophen if you are taking them and if you get antibiotics, stay in the Penicillin or Cephalosporin categories, everything else is ototoxic (hearing damage / loss / T triggers)).

Good luck my young friend!

 

Welcome to the forum. Since your T is so new, I think it may help you get some prednisone from the doctor. Members here often suggest to give this a try for new T asap.

Although it may be puzzling that T would start out of the blue, sometimes it may be related to some causes. There are many causes which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including drug reaction or side-effects, ear or Eustachian tube infection, ear wax build up, ear drum injury, fluid build-up feeling pressured, TMJ, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma, neck muscle problems, hearing loss, Meniere's, barotrauma from flight, grief for the loss of love ones, untreated sleep apnea, elevated stress, anxiety & panic disorder, etc. If you have stress or anxiety lately, it may trip the switch inside the brain to trigger the T. Anyway, see if you have any such problem.

While it is hard to stay calm when T is so new, but anxiety and stress do trigger and make T worse. So try your best to stay calm. You may need to mask the T so you won't be so scared and stressed out by the ringing. If you don't know how, you can search the forum or I can give you some suggestions. Take care. God bless.

 

Thanks for the replies, folks.

Sadly I'm unable to go to the doctor for another month. The assistent who did my hearing test didn't mention anything to try.

My ear was checked and I can safely say it's not ear wax buildup. I'm suspecting it might be stress and anxiety, since I'm generally a stressed out person. I wear headphones (not ear plugs) often too and listen to music, but I usually keep it at a low volume level. I haven't done it since though because I'm afraid it might get worse.

 

Don't wait, go to emergency,get on predsinone, you will have a very good chance to fix this, do it now, hurry!

 

Hi Zard,

Welcome to the site!

Have you been ill prior to the onset of tinnitus? Have you taken any medication? Have you flown on an airplane or been in any environment where there is loud noise?

As for the headphones, I would strongly recommend putting them away; I have not listened to music through headphones since March 2016, when I myself became afflicted with tinnitus (via noise pollution from being in the wrong place at the wrong time).

Anyway, since you did not get it via loud noise, hopefully it may abate or completely vanish for you. In the worst case scenario that it does not, do not worry because after months and months of listening to the same sound, your brain will get sick and tired of it and dismiss it as non-threatening, thereby not causing you to stress over it. The medical term for this is called "habituation". Good luck!

 

I felt the same when I first got it. Also in one ear. It's more than a year since it arrived and the reason I've logged in here tonight for the first time in months is that I realised today that it's almost gone. I assumed it would stay the same forever or just get worse. If I stop to listen to it now it's still about 50-60% as loud as it was originally but more importantly, it's only about 5% as important to me. One year ago, if you offered me a choice between £10,000,000 and a cure I would have chosen the cure but now I'd have the money easily. The hard thing is to stop being scared of it. The more that happens the more you'll be able to deal with it. Before too long it should just be an irritation and from then on just get better. At least that's what's happed with me so far.

I suppose I should change my miserable looking picture.