Well, My Three Month Tinnitus Anniversary Is Coming Up

I've put this off the past couple of months in the hope that I might go away, but I'm getting to the point where I tell myself that as hard as it may be, I should try to accept that it's probably not going to happen.

Around this time in February, I came down with a pretty bad cold. My nose was super stuffed, and consequently, first my right, then my left ear felt really clogged. I went to my GP, who told me to use decongestant nasal spray, and some sort of plant-based medicine to ease congestion. I recovered from the cold, and everything was dandy. No tinnitus.

Around a week and a half later, I first started hearing a quiet, flickering noise when I went to bed wearing earplugs, which I have to from time to time, due to noisy neighbours. When I took a nap the next day, however, the noise was gone. That 29th February was the last time I had slept without the noise. The following week, I went to bed hearing the flickering noise, and woke up an hour before my alarm would go off to a ringing in my ear. After a few days of this, I went to an ENT. They did a hearing test, and I think what's called a tympanometry (which I've since learned can be harmful, so yay, I guess), looked into my ear and told me everything looks fine. The ENT told me that he couldn't do anything and told me to take some ginkgo biloba, with no improvement, so I went to another ENT, who essentially did the same procedure, and again told me there was nothing wrong with my ears, and sent me on my way saying it might be a TMJ problem.

By then the noise had gotten worse. Before, I would only hear it at night, now I could hear it during daytime, as well. It's quite hard for me to describe the noise. It's neither high nor low pitched, and it's not a continuous sound, but rather sort of... wavering? It doesn't even sound like it's in my head. (at first I thought it was some noise from the outside) unless I'm wearing earplugs, in which case it wavers less and becomes more continuous. Up until a few days ago it also became significantly louder when I would try listening to white noise or rain sounds, and would even distort them. It would turn back to normal the moment I turned it off, though, and it never did that with any other sounds like voices, music, etc. Now the effect is a lot more subtle.

As many others before me, I tried a lot of things in my desperation: supplements (vitamin B, zinc, magnesium, NAC); claritin, zyrtec and sudafed (thinking that, maybe, thanks to the cold, the tinnitus might come from an ETD); and apple cider vinegar, since I've read about it here. Obviously not all at once, but you get the gist.

I've also tried various neck and TMJ exercises, although I cannot manipulate my tinnitus with any sort of movements. I don't know where it's coming from, if that cold back in February could even be the reason, but it's the only thing I can think of. I'm at my wit's end and I know I should resign myself to the fact that it's here to stay. I guess I keep thinking that I at least want to know why, even though I doubt it would actually help me. I've been wondering if I should insist on getting a MRT (with earplugs, of course) done, to at least rule out anything dangerous.

(I just miss silence so much. I know people with tinnitus often say they didn't appreciate it enough, but I always did. I loved and cherished these silent moments early in the morning or late at night. I've always looked forward to having my own place simply because of the blessed silence, and now I don't even care anymore.)

 

Hi Noticolor,

This sounds very similar to my timeline re the nasal spray. I was prescribed it too and yes I had nearly two weeks of no/minimal symptoms before T reappeared.

Do you get any respite at all or is yours consistent 24/7?

I'm starting to find that mornings I barely notice it but by 6/7pm it's very noticeable. Buzzing in my left ear and a high pitched noise that feels like its a across the back of my head.

Are you sleeping ok?

 

"(I just miss silence so much. I know people with tinnitus often say they didn't appreciate it enough, but I always did. I loved and cherished these silent moments early in the morning or late at night. I've always looked forward to having my own place simply because of the blessed silence, and now I don't even care anymore.)"

I can relate to this so well. Focussing on silence and really being in the moment was a kind of meditation to me, it made me calm and feel relaxed. I wish I could get that electrical buzzing out of my head and enjoy silence again. If that would be possible I would cry for joy for hours on end, maybe even days. I'll just never understand how it is possible that there are so many people suffering from this affliction, while at the same time scientists who are working on a drug to regenerate hair cells always complain that they lack sufficient funds. I mean, Wall Street "too big to fail" megabanks are "bailed out" with BILLIONS of dollars, but there's not enough money for developing a tinnitus drug ? That's what I hate about the world we're living in. There's money in abundance, OF COURSE there is money. What is "money" anyway... A virtual number typed on a computer keyboard. So there is money in unimaginable amounts, but no, there's not enough money for developing a tinnitus drug. I'm so tired of hearing this crap... The problem with all that money is that it is spent the wrong way. The priorities on how to spend it are dead wrong.

 

So sorry to hear of your troubles. I relate to the above so much. Silence was everything to me and I loved it so much, appreciated it so much.

I hope things improve for you.

 

I do eventually plan on trying to rehabituate, but right now with the current situation of having to stay at home all day every day, I listen to a lot of white noise. Sometimes when I turn that off, for a good minute or so, I can't hear my tinnitus at all. Other than that, it has started to fluctuate, although I gotta admit that as soon at it gets quieter I get my hopes up, just to have them shattered when it comes back in full force.

I'm sleeping alright now, much better than I did at first, thankfully. I can't hear it in those moments before fully waking up, when I'm still half asleep, but once I am fully awake, it's there. Although I will say that if I've been wearing my earplugs (which I still sometimes have to do, due to my noisy neighbors) it's definitely much louder, even hours after removing the earplugs...

 

Yes, those quiet moments were where I really felt at peace. I'm still having a hard time realizing and coming to terms with the fact that I'll likely never experience them again. I actually have two friends who have tinnitus (one due to acute hearing loss, the other due to an unknown cause), and instead of showing understanding (which I firmly believe you can only have once you've suffered from tinnitus yourself), they essentially told me I'd get used to it and that it didn't bother them anymore. Which yes, if that's truly the case for them, it's obviously great, better than to let it ruin your life. But I believe it's also one of the root problems. There's so many people who manage to rehabituate or get used to it or simply learn to live with it, that those of us who can't or don't want to look like unreasonable outliers.

 

Every moment spent in silence was a moment I treasured. Just waking up early on weekends, when the world is still quiet, with the luxury of staying in bed and hearing only silence... I would give up a lot if only I could have that again.

 

This. I'm coming up on two months of this high pitched electrical buzz in my head that can only be masked by the shower. There isn't much I wouldn't be willing to give up to have silence again. Just like you said, it was something I treasured.

I hope yours starts to fade soon.

 

Thank you so much. What little hope I have left that this might happen, I hold onto for now. I hope the same for you!

 

Have you had any moments in the last three months where the T volume has decreased or even sounded very quiet, even for a moment? Bill Bauer on this forum has stated many times that if you notice any type of fading during the first three months that chances are it will continue to fade in time.

 

Just recently that did happen, I think it was last week when I there were maybe fifteen minutes where it was so much quieter, almost gone. And then a few similar moments now and again, but then it comes back in full force and I always wonder if I just imagined that. Unfortunately I can be pretty pessimistic...

 

Hoping that those signs point to the fact that it will fade for you in time. From all of the reading on this forum it does seem like that's the most likely outcome.

 

I get this too, have had it for 2.5 years. Some days it is completely gone, then comes back. Never gone away. I think coffee helps. I count my blessings, the good moments. I have accepted my tinnitus now. Life goes on. You are on the right track.

 

From what I've read, a lot of people feel like caffeine makes their tinnitus worse. Mine cannot be changed by anything. Not coffee, not alcohol, not a lack of sleep... Whenever I feel like it's quieter it's totally random. I don't get it.

 

Hi please have some hope. This condition is relentless & devastating & these early months I've been in despair.

I'm 2 months in & it's gone from 2 ears to 1 ear. You are still very very new to this. You didnt have an acoustic trama or strong ototoxic drugs & your hearing test came out fine I'd say you have a good shot at full recovery. I'm not an expert but ive done a tonne of reading and ur not in the worst case scenario.
Have you searched more about the nasal spray you used & what issues it casused.
Excersises on you tube to for sinuses nose (Austin Goh)
Accupuncture?
Read the success stories thread, there a stat somewhere here that 98% of people make a recovery.

Also British Tinnitus Association. free group therapy calls on zoom.

To your questions: a few of us feel that T is softer in the morning & then picks up thorough the day.
I understand when you say it's wavering sometimes, to me it feels like it's getting weaker.
Also search youtube soundcloud spotify there are sooo many diff types of masking track. I use it for at least 6 hrs a day leaves me with a low statis buzz which is annoying still.

4 Hours of High Pitched Tinnitus...

this one works for me but he's got a tonne of tracks

 

Mine happened the weekend I was moving after my divorce. I was so looking forward to complete and utter silence in my home, but that hasn't happened yet! I can totally relate to what you've written. Hang in there.

 

I'm 2 mos. in. I can totally relate. I always appreciated silence/meditation early in mornings and at night before going to bed. Coming to terms with situation and good sleep has been difficult!

 

@T_Almost_Gone

those Nueromodulation tracks work for me too. Usually lowers my T volume by at least a little bit.

check out the TinnitusPlay iPhone app. It’s got some good Nueromodulation tracks also

 

I've been thinking about doing an update for a while now, if only for my own sake! It's been around nine months since my tinnitus started. Crazy to think I could've grown a tiny little human in that time. I've had good and bad times. Times where the tinnitus was quiet that I could barely hear it, and times where it was so loud that I could—and sometimes did—cry. I've never really been able to figure out what affects my tinnitus. Albeit very rare, there were even a couple of instances where I had earplugs in and it was almost entirely quiet, without me doing anything different on that day.

In December I was unfortunate enough to catch COVID-19. To my surprise I did pretty well in quarantine and despite the fact that I was obviously stuck inside the entire day, I often did not even notice my tinnitus. Now in January it's worse than it has been in a long time, and I'm not sure what's causing it. I still have the problem with the earplugs, in that it's at a normal level, and also quite intermittent, for a few minutes after putting them in, and then just continuously gets louder. Consistent white noise (including rain sounds) also seem to make it worse. I've had some luck with a box fan in the past but it now has a similar effect as other white noise, i.e. it aggravates the tinnitus even more.

I have for the most part given up on trying to figure out what caused it because I guess it doesn't really matter in the end. There's no cure for it either way. It's funny because I've been careful with loud noises my entire life and still just got tinnitus out of nowhere, presumably after a cold, but who knows.

I'm trying to be positive. It's been hard for me to habituate because there are often outside noises I need to mask so I can focus (especially now in home office), which also means masking my tinnitus. And it's definitely tough on some days, but since there are people who can hear their tinnitus over everything I'm doing my best to be grateful that I have a relatively mild case in comparison. The thought of never hearing silence again is still depressing and I don't think I'll ever get over that, and I'll always be a little envious of people who do not suffer from tinnitus, but life goes on and there are still great moments.