Unfortunately, I Should Introduce Myself

[ishap]

Why unfortunately? Because since I am posting here, it means that I, along with everyone else, suffer from debilitating condition.

I can't pinpoint exactly when my tinnitus began. As far back as I can remember, I have always heard a ringing when in complete silence. But never though much of it. About 4 years ago I woke up one morning with fullness in my left ear, and the distinct high pitch ringing.

After going to many ENTs, I was diagnosed by all of them as having eustachian tube dysfunction. I have had a hearing loss in my right ear for all my life, and while I haven't lost anymore hearing in that ear (left has always checked out fine), the audiologist said the tinnitus was from the hearing loss. Anyone else feel that some ENTs just don't seem to have sympathy or patience for dealing with this?

Since then I have been plagued with insomnia, constant ear pressure problems, unable to tolerate "silence", and lately, I have have episodes where I get a low level hum in my left ear while losing all bass sounds in that ear. Frankly, that is worse that the high pitched ringing.

If you are like me, you are frustrated that you can't enjoy quiet, can't sleep, and stress over the long term quality of life that you may or may not have. I'm sure you also feel no one has it as bad as you. I know quite a few people that live with tinnitus, but it never seems to bother them, nor do they have the same symptoms as me. I pray everyday that someone, somewhere will come up with a way to cure this plague.

My wife is my biggest supporter and while she doesn't completely understand what I go through, she supports me the best that she can.

 

[glynis]

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
You might find a low antidepresant good to help you sleep.
Nortryptaline or Amitryptaline at a low dose can help sever tinnitus for some people.
Nortryptaline stopped my low drone and head tinnitus and took the edge off my high pitch tinnitus......lots of love glynis

 

[billie48]

Anyone else feel that some ENTs just don't seem to have sympathy or patience for dealing with this?

Tell me about it. My ENT while sensing my desperation in the first consultation told me that the only thing he could do to stop my ringing is to SHOOT me. Gosh!!!

There following may or may not help (and you may have tried them already), but they are often recommended as ways to try to help reduce T and to reduce stress which is bad for T. Take good care. God bless.

Helping the ears and hearing with supplements:
Members here often recommend some good supplements, such as NAC, Magnesium, Zinc, B12, D3, etc.

Diet or life style change:
Members often advice reducing intake of salt, sugar, MSG, caffeine, alcohol etc. or to switch to more healthy diet. Often doing relaxing exercises or hobbies can ease the stress and anxiety from T which can help reduce T. If you can enjoy the outdoors, by all means go for it. Mindfulness meditation, yoga, tai chi etc. can all help and are good for the body.

Helping sleep and calming the nerves:
Using sound machine or sound pillow at bed time may help to fall asleep. If meds have to be used, and you want to try the natural alternatives instead of prescribed drugs,
you can try things such as Melatonin, Lemon Balm, Valerian, Hops, Catnips, Passion Flower, Chamomile, Lavender, Kava, etc. You can do google search or check Amazon.com for each of them to know how people review these products, and see if you can take them as a supplement. Check out this site on using natural herbs for helping to sleep or to calm the nerves.

http://www.christopherhobbs.com/lib...ealth/herbs-and-natural-remedies-for-insomnia /

Have you tried actively masking your tinnitus? If not yet, here are some suggestions:

1) Mask at bed time so you can sleep better. Find whatever sounds/music that are soothing to you. You can use a sound machine or sound pillow for this, or a computer with speakers.

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds.

3) If you have computer and speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds too:

TT's audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

 

[ishap]

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
You might find a low antidepresant good to help you sleep.
Nortryptaline or Amitryptaline at a low dose can help sever tinnitus for some people.
Nortryptaline stopped my low drone and head tinnitus and took the edge off my high pitch tinnitus......lots of love glynis

Thanks for the advice. I'm already on ambien and/or xanax to help sleep. Unfortunately, the sleep issues aren't always directly related to the T, but lack of sleep certainly makes it worse.

 

[ishap]

Tell me about it. My ENT while sensing my desperation in the first consultation told me that the only thing he could do to stop my ringing is to SHOOT me. Gosh!!!

I would have been pissed if my ENT said that. I was already a little peeved at the perceived lack of concern.