Worried About Tinnitus

Hi all,

I'm 29 years old and mid-december, I visited a party where the music was quite loud. The day after, I woke up with a usual ringing in my ears and then it faded away. The ringing usually occurs when going out, so nothing new. I didn't notice anything during the next few days, but two weeks later - when I was reading at night in complete silence - a ringing in both ears was noticable. During that same time, I developed a very mild cold. I assumed the cold was the cause of the ringing. Now, one week later, the ringing still hasn't changed. I keep focussing on the presence of the ringing and find it difficult to enjoy things anymore. I'm very worried that it won't go away.

Is it possible that this very mild cold caused the ringing and that it's normal that it lasts for more than a week?
Also, I wonder if it is possible that tinnitus will occur two weeks after that party. If it was hearing damage, it would occur right after the party, right? And now 'show up' two weeks after?

I really hope your experiences can take some of my worries away, I can't focus on anything else right now. Thanks a lot!

Kind regards,
Vincent

 

Hi @Vincent44,
Loud music can cause tinnitus so always best keep noise reduction plugs handy.
Also if use earphones or headphones have a break from them till your ears settle down and only then on low.
If you have mucous in your tubes try Sudefed or steam inhalation as that should help.
Keep us posted how you get on.
Love glynis

 

It's not uncommon for T to creep up some time after the acoustic trauma or hearing loss. Perhaps that's the time it takes for the maladaptive plasticity to take place.

At any rate, yours may fade in time (it does in many cases), so I wouldn't worry too much about it yet, especially since you're a bit under the weather.

 

Welcome to the forum, @Vincent44 ,

Glynis and Greg have given you excellent advice. I will only add that if your tinnitus is giving you too much stress and anxiety, it will perpetuate or aggravate T and so if you can't control your reaction then it is perhaps better to try some form of masking or taking some calming supplements. You can try sound machine at bed time for sleep, or some masking APPs on your smart phone (if you have one), or use PC speakers with youtube videos of natural sounds (search them out on youtube). Try to set the volume slightly below the ringing so your brain can learn to get used to the sound slowly. For calming the nerves, you can begin with Chamomile and/or Lavender tea, or lemon balm, hops, valerians etc. If you have trouble sleeping, consider trying Melatonin. Good luck. God bless.

 

A cold or illness can take quite a while to build up and it can take quite a while for it to go away. Tinnitus can come for a variety of reasons. If it comes, we need to not panic and over-stress ourselves out. This simply aggravates the tinnitus more and can make it permanent and even louder. Give it time and see how you feel.

If it does become permanent, just know that you CAN live with it and CAN live a normal life. Sure there might be some adjustments in your lifestyle, but it is doable.

This forum supports members that deal with tinnitus, so do know that you do not walk alone. We all walk together and support each other

 

A lovely supportive piece of writing @fishbone x

 

My T began in February 2017, 10 days after I had my acoustic trauma.

Check out the thread below where I summarize everything (24 tips spread over three posts) I learned about managing tinnitus after reading the posts on this forum for the past 11 months
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...itus-recently-this-info-will-be-useful.25741/

 

Thank you all for your replies. I'm still somewhat worried, especially since Bill and Greg stated that acoustic trauma can have its effect several days later. However, I take comfort in the fact that not one situation is the same and it might be related to a cold - which increases ear sensitivity.

 

I usually got tinnitus with flu, and it would always ease off afterwards.