The ringing in my ear is making me depressed! Help..

Also, I haven't been swimming, I haven't been exposed to loud sounds either...it's like a curse that showed up out of nowhere. I'm 26 year old student as well..

If your ear was hurting then it was probably some inner ear infection which will cause the ringing. I got tinnitus after football training one day and noticed it at night. Turned out to be an ear infection and lasted a while but went.

Your brain will adjust in time anyway if it is tinnitus and you won't notice it at all. Yours doesn't sound serious.

I was shocked getting ringing and buzzing at 27 but it can happen to anyone, usually very loud noise exposure is the worst and longer lasting.

Does anyone happen to know if excessive caffine could cause the ringing? I'm trying to think of other factors since my doctor told me she didn't see an ear infection....(but she still gave me antibiotics) Prior to the ringing, I was drinking excessive coffee while dealing with summer classes at Texas Tech. Lately I have dropped my caffeine intake to 1 cup in the day at most, regardless of all the biased things I have read about it. 

Melanie

Try to give up the caffeine anyway, it's bad for you. I know it's hard to do, but try to stop thinking about the tinnitus, just get on with life. It's very early days and yours will most likely go completely. It can hang around with ear pain/infection for quite a while and then vanish. 

G.

Oh...........and DON'T read about it, these people you are reading about are not you,  everyone's situation is unique.

My ear specialist prescribed gingko to help the tinnitis. I have an inner ear infection that somehow happened after a cold, only symptom was vertigo, no pain. Cbt is also supposed to help. I find my tinnitis gets worse when I'm tired.

Hi. Sorry that you are having this Issue....I have had Ringing in my Ears for 16 months now...Sometimes, its low, and then High. Ot Depends on my Stress level..I have gone to e ENT Doctors. All.say, im fine....Im like , Uh, No, im not....Im Pretty sure its due to Anxiety for me. My Sis passed away On January 2015 and a month later...I was.Very sick...Depressed....Anxiety...Ears Ringing....I have never taken meds due to Medication Phobia. But i do.see a Therapist......Maybe, one day, The ringing will stop. You have to Learn to Block it out. Funny how that even sounds. But tryst me....After doing this for awhile. You will adjust...

Take care

Hi Melanie , I too have tinnitus real badly .Mine began after a middle ear effusion infection some four months ago. I was given antibiotics which led to tinnitus ,mainly in my left ear .It started with it waking me at night with an horrific squealing noise that actually hurt.Then it rapidly became a constant MASSIVELY LOUD ,constant noise whitch consists of various pitched tones and rasps all at the same time. My Doctor gave me some steroids to take for five days.The first dose made the noises stop for a short time but they resumed and have never ever stopped since.

i have lost two stone in weight through the stress .I have been in utter mental turmoil and wanted to die or harm myself .Previously I loved life ! 

I cry a lot .I only sleep two hours a day .Days are endless and miserable.Nights are just indescriba ! I just weep all the time.I feel abandoned by the NHS.Drs just say there is no treatment to cure this horrific condition.I have seen an ENT Dr who offered no solutions.I had a hearing test and my hearing is normal for a man my age(50) 

Every single day I consider suicide .I can no longer watch to or listen to the radio because my particular tinnitus reacts to those sounds and gets worse .

this has wrecked my life. I was a huge radio listener and I miss it so much .

i cannot even read for more than mnutes because I cannot concentrate.

i have had a break down and feel my life is over .I cannot find joy in anything at all now.

I have had horrible panic attacks .My worst times are in the dead of night and early morning when the noise is blasting so bad .At those times I suddenly think 'I can never turn this noise off' and I panic and have actually ran out of the house.Other times I lose my temper and smash things up.

i am utterly desperate . If I had the guts I would have ended my life.

I have referred myself for CBT but there is a six week waiting list here.

This is how I felt right up until this very afternoon ....I was feeling extremely tired and panicky,miserable and desperate so layer down for a nap with my wife after lunchtime.I finally managed to doze off and actually slept peacefully for an hour and a half ! Now here is the weird and wonderful part...when I awoke I felt relaxed for the first time in four months and I suddenly felt different ! I felt like a huge burden had been lifted from me and that I could suddenly cope ! The noise is still as bad as ever but all of a sudden I just don not seem to care ! I feel I can now live with the noise and cope ! I feel happy again and I feel interested I living again ! I want to restart my hobbies.I want to read ,go for walks and laugh again ! It feels so good !

i have no idea what has happend but I am so glad it did ! 

I have certainly turned a corner with this now and I feel I will manage from now on.I am sure I still might have very bad days and who  knows what will happen but for now I feel so much better ! 

So there is HOPE Melanie ,do NOT give in or do anything daft.I felt I could not go on and wanted to die .Now I feel I can live again.

it just happened so quickly after four months of utter misery !

i think I will need the smile surgically removing off my face ????????

Just keep trying Melanie ,I Know how hard this is ,believe me,but there is hope .It will happen for you too I hope!

Good luck ,do NOT give in.

Hi Melanie0722,

I am not a medically qualified person but I've suffered with tinnitus on an off for more years than I can remember and I've noticed it is more prevalent in the days before I am due a Vitamin B12 injection for Pernicious Anaemia which I've had for 45 years.

Tinnitus is just one of the many symptoms of a B12 deficiency and it is thought that as many as 4 in 10 people have low levels and it might be a good idea to get your doctor to test your serum B12 and Folate.

Vitamin B12 can only be sourced naturally from foods such as red meats, fish, eggs, poultry and dairy products and Folate from leafy green vegetables, broccoli, beans etc although folic acid is to be found in some breakfast cereals so unless you are vegan/vegetarian, have absorption problems due to gastric surgery, are taking medications such as Metformin (for type 2 diabetes) anti-imflammatory drugs, antacids or even a contraceptive pill and eat a healthy diet of meat, potatoes greens and gravy you should have sufficient b12 in your system.

I wish you well and quick relief from this distressing noise.

Sorry Melanie didn't see this. Just because there wasn't a cause doesn't mean it won't subside or disappear. Try to relax and enjoy life again and you'll see it will back off and hopefully go completely. Give it time.

For all reading this (posting or not) who are having suicidal thoughts, there is help available. Look up the Samaritans (UK) or the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (US), these are 24/7, toll free services that will connect you to a counselor. If you are outside the US and UK, more hotlines, sorted by country, can be found on the wikipedia page entitled "List of suicide crisis lines".

Hello everyone. Thank you for all the support and your stories are truly inspiring. My tinnitus has lasted now for close to a month. I can honestly say the depression has stopped, but the tinnitus is still there. The antibiotics I was prescribed for an ear infection did not help at all... Mainly because I never had one. I started back tracking my life, thinking of what could have possibly changed before the tinnitus, and the only thing that changed was that I quit smoking cigarettes. In turn I began vaping 3 to 6mg at most nicotine. I was proud of myself for doing it too. It was after a few weeks of vaping that the tinnitus began, and with a vengeance too. So I looked into it recently, and there are a few other people (from what I read) who also experienced the same thing and think it may be the propylene glycol in the juice. That is the ONLY thing that changed in my life...yes I am a healthy eater. I also try to only buy organic, and exercise here and there...

In any case, I have switched to e-juice that is propylene glycol free, 100% VG juice only. Today is day 1 of trying it... I hope to see a difference. If not, I will quit vaping all together because the ringing is near impossible to deal with during college. 

Has anyone ever experienced a situation where vaping caused tinnitus? I would love to hear if so. I am hoping to see an improvement by doing this in the near future.