Temporary Tinnitus

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I have had tinnitus for 6 weeks 5 days now, and three doctors have told me it will go one hundred percent. Has anyone else been told this before? They say minimum 6-8 weeks, no longer than a year. I'm really struggling to live with this, and I will never accept it if it is permanent. If it is still here in 5 years time I won't be here anymore. It is noise induced by the way: I was listening to music pretty loud with new headphones, FLAC format which means lossless audio, for just under an hour, when the fire alarm went off. I am in uni halls so I have a fire alarm in my room. I could hear the fire alarm whilst the music was still playing directly in my ears. I took off the headphones and went outside. When I came back in I didn't notice the ringing in my ears if it was there. So, I continued to listen to music through my headphones for 20 minutes or so. When I finally decided to go to bed I took the headphones off and straight away noticed the ringing. Having heard it before for a few seconds/minutes after music, I thought nothing of it and assumed it would go in the morning. I woke up, and it was there. I was incredibly anxious and all the rest of it, here I am today, having been told it will go one hundred percent and will last no longer than a year. I should be positive right? but I am not - I can't stop worrying that this is permeant and will be one of those people that has to learn to accept it will be there for life and get on with it. Well, I am not prepared to live with this for the rest of my life, and yes, people do live with MUCH worse i.e. no legs, arms, sight, hearing, etc, but I simply will not live with this if it is permanent. Therefore, I have decided to give it 5 years. The doctors say no longer than 1 year so I shouldn't even consider that but I am just that anxious and it is bothering me that much that this is what is has come to. I know about white noise and trying to keep your mind off of it by keeping busy, I have to sleep with a fan on and the TV and the sound of rain and leave the window open so I can hear the cars on the motorway faintly and not sleeping with my ears against the pillow and trying to get to sleep itself, I'm tired of it. Anyone else been told it will go or anything similar? I'm due at the ENT in 2 months. I'm 19.

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  • Posted

    Hi John, Has your condition got any better? Im 23 and 7 weeks ago i started getting ringing in my right ear and went compleatly deaf. for 2 weeks after that i was vomiting and had severe vertio. 7 weeks on i still have the rinigng and partial deafness in the right ear. it also feels full but the ENT has told me I have no fluid in my ear and I have bad hearing loss from my audio report (which is weird as i can hear certain things in my bad ear) The ENT told me id have this for life and its put me into utter dispair. Im not sleeping and i feel sick with worry all the time. I have an MRI today and im so nervous about it. I know i wont get my results for 2 weeks so its just more and more waiting and worrying. Has anyone had symptoms like this and got better? A friend has the same as me (labyrinthitus) and sais all her symptoms went within 3 months but i just cant see me getting any better. Any responce advise would be great.

    Catherine 

  • Posted

    Hi john and everyone else.

    Just wondering if anyone's tinnitus has cleared yet? Unlike everyone else who seems to have a high pitch ringing sound, my noise isn't. I have the sound of a tumble dryer spinning in my ears. I thought tinnitus was a high pitched sound but discovered that that isn't always the case. I am being driven insan and I am hoping for some sort of miracle to arrive. 

    I have only had mine for a week and doctor can't guarantee if this will ever disappear.

    The only thing I can assume is the cause of my tinnitus is a restaurant I visited a month ago. It was a small room but not enclosed and the loudness if people chattering was incredible. 

    I hope someone has had some luck out there, I really do. It's nice is some ways that there is a forum like this as I know I'm not on my own. 

    • Posted

      Hi. not all sounds are the same with Tinnitus, some are hissing like high pressure steam . some are the sound of bells, and so on. It can be in one ear or both. or even sound like its coming from the top of the head area.It  can be caused by listening to loud noises such as loud music or engine noise as in aircraft noise. People who have worked in a noisey enviroment   suffer with Tinnitus, and old people who have ear damage.
    • Posted

      If your tinnitus just started, you may just have inflammation in the cochlea (which can be caused by loud noise).  I think the inflammation eventually goes away on its own, but my ear doctor gave me a week-long steroid (I'll have to look up the name) to bring down the inflammation faster.  It may be better for your hearing to get rid of the inflammation sooner than later if that's the problem.
  • Posted

    If you stop stressing out it may help.Iv'e had it for 3yrs+ one ear then the other.

    and both together.  There is a tiny white noise machine that helps a lot, and NO

    it can;t be seen by passers by, or anyone else. I use radio 4 at night  because there is no music, just voices Suggest you ask your doctor for a mild sleeping

    tablet 3;75 is just enough to send you off to sleep, which is the main problem 

    when its quiet  It may go, as fast as it came but listening to full volume

    music on headphones will NOT make it disappear, probably caused it in the

    first place , 

    • Posted

      I've resigned myself to a small dose of valium at night just to relax, it helps he forget the noise sometimes too.
  • Posted

    Hi John,

    Ive had tinitis for it seems like all my life. I'm 65 yrs old and mine came from listening to loud music as a teenager. I found that if you put your mind on something else it's not as noticable, but when you notice the ringing it seems like it keeps getting louder and louder. Besides the ringing I've begun to hear a low muffled drum type noise that is worse than the ringing. I just hope I don't end up with a full orchestra in my ear You've just got to learn to tune it out. That's the only thing that helps mine. Good luck.

  • Posted

    Hi jhon,

    I am only 24 and i have had mine for over 3 years now. Recently i have had pressure and alot of pain and the ringing has gotten louder. It can take you to a dark place sometimes but your strong enough to beat it. It is important to have people who support you, even if they dont quite know how hard it is. My girlfriend is so very understanding and she gives me strength. It is especially hard since we are young but, on the brightside maybe they will find a better treatment or even a cure. There is always hope, sometimes the most important decisions in life are made while we are hurting. It can tear you down and keep you there or you can use it as a lesson to overcome pain and help others. Maybe someday you will be the one helping someone else cope. To me that makes all of it worth it.

    • Posted

      Hi Dustin and everyone out there suffering with tinnitus. I have been suffering for about 6 months and some new added noises...hahaha. It all started with full ears for about 6 months and I never went to an ENT. After reading alot of blogs and posts and websites, this is what I have learned. Everyone's circumstances are different with regard to cause. The first thing to do is see ENT specialist. They do not offer too much hope for tinnitus, HOWEVER, it is up to us, the patient, to keep reseaching causes and treatments. What I have found is most of the tinnitus is caused by some injury or inflammation to the ear so that it will not properly send signals to the brain. The brain then get's confused and compensates for the wrong signals with unnatural noises. So blame the brain! One thing just just help me, just a few minutes ago, was reading about Labyrinthitis. While this may not pertain to alot of you, Iooked it up on Wikipedia and I did a few of the exercises mentioned and my tinnitus is actually better tonight! I started with a high pitch noise just the other day and I don't know why. So please check this link and at least read it.:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinthitis My theory, since these disorders are actually caused by the brain is to be sure your ears are healthy and not inflammed. I was exposed to loud noise believe it or not from my mother who is hard of hearing. I litterally had to scream at her in order for her to hear, that was a double whammy and she had the TV so loud. This was over a period of 4 years. So I am assuming this was the cause plus stuffy ears for months after a cold. Bottom line, take care of u dyour health and see your doctor first. Read all you can. I personally am going to start fish oil again which is good for the brain (I am 58). The other thing is make sure you do not have a neck injury, shoulder, etc., as these things to can cause nerve problems that travel to the brain. Take vitamins for your nervous system so that you can sytay away from drugs if possible. This is such an isolating disease no one on the outside 'get its'. Just hang in there, stay busy and hopefully one day there will be more hope for us all.

    • Posted

      Hey guys, i am laying in bed and like an hour ago i started/noticed a light beeeeeeep in my right ear, i have read ALL the reply's here and am very scared...is there a kind that only lasts a few hours? I have been exposed because i use headphones every day! I have been very sleepy because i went to a new job so stress is a factor but does it(the tinnitus) come so sudden? After not listening to loud music this whole day(ive had a headache all day) it comes instead off after a day of etremly loud music...so weird!

      Also: why cant the cells or wherever the damage is done be healed or replaced? sad

    • Posted

      Just take a breath. It may not be permanent. My tinnitus came and went many times before it became permanent. Number one

      :stop with the ear buds. Use headphones that do NOT go in your inner ear, and when you can avoid them all together. Buy ear plugs and carry them with you just in case. Number 3: don't panic and always remember your stronger than you think, if not Jesus can help. I'm not gonna preach lol. I live with pain every day that most people probably couldn't handle. I do it because I choose to fight and honestly pain can be overcome. Number 5: you probably don't need all this but a warning: if you continue to be careless it Will get worse. Eventually you cannot take it back. I don't want you to suffer the way I have. I live to help people like you. Blessings and tomorrow or in a day or two, you will probably be fine. If not, I'm here.

    • Posted

      Im s. happy!! it went away! i just woke u. and its Gone! I made a promise to myself. If it goes away im going to buy quality ear plugs for partys Right away and i do wear a headphone overear(v moda LP1's) because i DJ.

      So next stop for me is a ear plu shop and not the cheap ones!

  • Posted

    You have my sympathies, friend, I've been there and got the T-shirt. Unless you have experienced tinnitus yourself, you can never understand. All I can say is, don't despair; you will cope.

    I've had tinnitus in some form or other for probably the last 30 years. I'm nearing 60 now, although it pains me to say it !

    I used to abuse my ears when i was in my teens and twenties, like most people did and still seem to; back in those days you had to feel the music - literally - in the disco. It wasn't uncommon to have ringing ears for a good 24 hours after a night out... Obviously crazy looking back, but hey, you have know the phrase about old head and young shoulders! I also worked in a noisy engineering environment, which didn't help.

     My problem originally manifested itself as a sort of throbbing hum in one ear, my best description is like a propellor aeroplane circling high overhead, in fact that's what I thought it was at first. It happened one or two nights in ten, but then over a period of perhaps three years it got more frequent. it also invited a friend; I now have a whistle in my other ear.

     Anyway, I now live in a quiet house in a quiet area, which means that at night it's, well, quiet. And as you have no doubt discovered, that has the effect of making your hum/whistle/hiss ten times louder.

     Anyway, let's cut the cr*p... this is what I have learned over the years.

    1. It will come and go.

    2. It helps to sleep with the radio on low, or some gentle music, it helps reduce the intensity and also distracts you from concentrating on your tinnitus. I have tried earbuds, but found them uncomfortable.

    3. Constant low-level noise in the background (including during the day) makes things worse, and can even trigger it. A fridge or freezer, a fan, a PC's hard drive... TV's have high-frequency switching circuits which you can sometimes hear, as do chargers for laptops, mobiles and such.

    4. Some drugs can press the button. In my case, Ibuprofen is a banker, and I suspect blood pressure meds like beta-blockers too.

    5. Car journeys are bad news if noise levels are high. Do you turn the radio up so you can hear it...?

    6. Distract yourself. Do something. Anything. If you find yourself concentrating on your tinnitus, it WILL get louder.

    7. Stressful situations (maybe pressure at work?) and worry will predispose you to the problem, not least because it may add to your sleep problems.

    8. LOTS of people suffer tinnitus, either permanently or intermittently. It can be difficult to cope with at first, I know from experience. But you WILL cope, it can NEVER be worth chucking yourself under a bus because of it. Trust me !

     

    • Posted

      I recently read an article written by a doctor who had this and I will never forget the way he described it-

      "Like a tea kettle sound contantly without ever stopping"

      I am 66 and mine keeps getting worse.  A doctor has precribed some pills that he says will eventually work but so far they have not been effective.  Called Lipo-Flavanoid.  Most people that do not have this would not have a clue what it is like.

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