Tinnitus, causes and the cinema? Please help!!!

Hi all, my first post here, I have a few things I would like to ask so I'll start by telling you all about my Tinnitus first.

So, My tinnitus started last January when I was suffering a bad cold ( it came on day 3 of my cold) , when I had my cold my T was the worst I had ever had it , the only way to escape it was going outside. Then a month later it was gone , once my cold had gone my tinnitus was gone , then four weeks later in Feb 2017 it was back one morning when I woke up, I had not been anywhere noisy like concerts, cinemas ect, I had stayed at home the day before so was really confused why it came back , so I went to my GP who said both ears were full of fluid it took from feb until April last year to clear it but tinnitus was still there over a month later so as my ears were clear she sent me to an ENT specialist but I'm still waiting to see him\her as i have only just got my appointment for 19th of April? At the beginning from Feb - may last year was when my tinnitus was it's worst I could hear it over the TV , couldn't sleep and could not focus on anything but then sometime in may last year my tinnitus seemed to be getting lower ( I'm not sure if it was getting lower or I'd just had enough of letting it ruin my life so just learnt to live with it) I was able to watch TV in peace , I can sleep now even without a masking machine at night, this is how iv been since may last year and my T is still like this today that I hardly hear it, most days I even forget that I have T the only time I hear it now is if I'm in a quiet room or if I'm purposely trying to hear it. Luckily i have not had another cold and am dreading having another cold.

My GP dosernt think my T is noise induced as never been to a club in my life and iv never been to any live events either the only loud place I go is the cinema ( before T) but I only go like once a year as most films I'm happy to wait til DVD release, i also dont work in a noisy environment, I don't listen to music through headphones or earphones and never have , i only listen to music through my iPad and always have it low , the only thing I was exposed to every day was my hairdryer I would dry my hair everyday and it would take an hour so not sure if you can get T from using a hairdryer everyday but since T I stopped using a hairdryer.

I have also see a private audiologist for advice and said he's unsure what's causing my T that's why I'm seeing a ENT but he said he's never know of anyone getting it from simply using a hairdryer and he feels it's not noise induced as like I say I never have been to live events or clubs ect and don't work in a noisy job. So he feels that it was my cold that caused it as it started when I had a cold and he thinks that because I'm always congested that could be why I still have T. I have always been congested even as a kid and I tried dozens of different prescriptions from my GP for De- congestions and nasal sprays and they do nothing for me, iv never been able to breath through my nose at night either, being congested is normal for me.

My GP has also ruled out my medication as I take an antihistamine as I'm allergic to mold spores but it made no difference to my T when I came of it, and since being back on them it still makes no difference, I also take lansaprazole as I have acid reflux but again no difference in T off it and no difference when back on them, and I suffer with very heavy painfip periord so I'm on the depo shot but again no difference when I came off so we have ruled out medication.

So now you know my Tinnitus story I wanted to ask a few things

1) can you get T from a hairdryer? ( It was the only thing considered loud I was around on a daily basis)

2) do you think my GP and audiologist could be right that it's not noise induced and could be linked to my long battle since I was a kid with being congested?

3) iv not been to the cinema since getting T but I really want to go see avengers infinity war in cinemas in April , but am worried it might make my T worse, my audiologist said that I should be fine as long as I wear noise reducing earplugs as mine is not noise induced , he said he would only advise those who T came from noise exposure like loud music , concerts etc to be careful with the cinema but he said as yours is unlikely to be caused by noise he thinks I'll be fine aslong as I wear ear plugs, do you agree?

Any advice very appreciated

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