Will It Ever Go Away?

Hi all, I've experienced ringing in my ears for as long as I can remember, I think I was about 3 when I first noticed it. I used to call it "the sound of silence" because I thought it was normal. It doesn't bother me, it's just the norm now. I'm not sure what caused it but I've had it nearly all of my life. Honestly I wish I could hear that ringing now.

Recently, I caught a particularly nasty strain of flu which started off with fever, blocked nose, sore throat etc, but then quickly I developed a whooshing/hissing noise in my right ear which hasn't gone away since. The next day I got a very sharp severe pain in my left ear, which was followed by a kind of crackling noise and then the pain went away and hasn't come back.

Last night, my hearing became very noticeably worse. My environment sounds much quieter, I have to make more of an effort to listen to people and even when my devices are on full volume, I'm still struggling to hear. After this, I started having a whooshing noise in my left ear, too. So now I'm left with a loud whooshing sound in both ears, almost like a strong wind/hairdryer blowing into them, and muffled hearing, which makes my own voice sound particularly strange.

I went to the GP and he said my ears were red and inflamed (Ear infection) and prescribed me antibiotics, without asking me any questions or considering the noise/hearing loss. I'm not convinced that they will help as I'm 100% sure it's a viral ear infection, as most are.

I'm still ill so I'm going to try and get better and hope for this best, but this really is causing me a lot of emotional distress, will this noise ever go away?

 

Hey @ascended,

Sorry to hear you are going through a new process with your hearing. Nobody unfortunately can answer the question about will the noise ever go away. That type of question is the cause of your distress.

If this were me, I would clap my hands together and say OK, wtf do I need to do to help my body repair itself the best it can? I have thr anti-biotics; check. I think it could be viral, what could I do about that? I could simply ask the doctor for antivirals (incidentally when I found this out for my case, I picked up the phone and said I want to go on antivirals doc, I read of herpes zoster, I get cold sores, please prescribe). I had antivirals in my hand in 30minutes. What else? Multi-vitamin, strong Vitamin C, L-Lysine amino acid that helps with certain herpes viral infections. What else can I do? Get as much rest as possible. What else? Focus on all other life stressors at the moment that could have contributed to my reduced immune system. What else? Food? Have I been putting healthful food into my body lately or not? What can I improve about it? What else? Whats my relaxation process like? Is there anything I could do to help my body feel more at peace? (autogenics, simple 5m mindfulness meditation, relaxing lavendar bath). What else? When did I last laugh? If not for a while, get myself on youtube and start watching Jim Carry or other comedians I like to bring some dopamine into my system. What else? What am I focusing on the future for, fearing the worst.

Heres a key point - I didnt know any of this before I had my "incident". I did slip into a focus of despair; I admit that. But as soon as I got conscious of it, I pulled myself out. By making ANY situation about growth for yourself, and then being able to contribute to our fellow brothers and sisters in some way, all of a sudden we arent focusing on ME, and we are focusing on WE, and that seems to allow us to rise from despair like a phoenix.

Good luck.
mf

 

@Mettafort - sound, practical advice there!! . It's most definitely not an easy journey not knowing how things are gonna by to turn out. We have to keep digging in and finding strength to get through this! Connection with those who can understand/offer advice is so reassuring and helpful.

I truly hope your ears settle soon x

 

You may want to make sure the antibiotics your doctor had prescribed to you are not on the list of ototoxic medications
http://hlaa-sbc.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Ototoxic_Brochure.pdf