Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

I checked them and they do not contain any ototoxic ingredients (except some alcohol ones, but they are not listed here - https://www.ata.org/sites/default/files/Drugs%20Associated%20with%20Tinnitus%202013.pdf

This is strange, because I felt the spike 30 mins after I used them and it is going for more than 10 hours already.

Cue is used for clearing ear canal irrigation though. I read many stories for such medicine messing with the tinnitus permanently. However, most of the stories included antibiotics , whereas these drops do not have them -

https://carefromnature.co.uk/cue-ear-drops-15ml. It puzzles me why then it affects me so much. Is it only the obfuscating of sound? @Stacken77 , do you have any suggestions as well?

@Freerunner I think it's unlikely the drops caused the spike. What puzzles me a bit is that your doctor want you to use ear drops prior to a manual wax removal. Usually drops make it soft for irrigation or microsuction, but doctors should be able to remove wax manually with a curette without having the wax softened. If you're uncertain, I think olive oil would suffice instead of the drops. Any thoughts @Damocles?

I consider taking the drops to be the main factor for the spike. 30 minutes after I used them, the hissing became much more intolerable. Also, the fluctuating siren sound in my left ear is now much more louder and consistent and it does not seem to subside. I am just worried if I made things worse.

@Stacken77 Since the start my condition has been worsening.
I initially had only hissing sound which I now think I was going to be able to habituate to someday. However, after a dogs bark in my right ear ( no more than a meter away) my ear has been muffed and I developed electric tone hissing in that ear.

I'm very sorry to hear that, @Freerunner. Do know that I understand, since especially my left ear has worsened threefold since my onset. I'd recommend to use earplugs the moment you step outside, at least in the early days; you don't want to put your health in the hands of other beings. If you diligently protect, I think you will be fine. Don't worry about habituation, you will get there, even if it seems unlikely now.

Sorry for the late reply gentlemen.

@Freerunner, I read the list of ingredients for this particular brand of eardrops and couldn't see anything that would concern me. It was mainly just essential oils and preservatives.

But stop using the drops anyway.

Agree with @Stacken77, you would only need to use this product if you were getting "syringing" or "microsuction" done; which you don't want anyway.

If you're going to soften the wax, soften it with olive oil, and get a manual removing done by an ENT (which won't require you to use drops in the first place).

I totally get your anxiety about the perforated eardrum, I had that every time I had to use drops for an ear infection (although I WAS using ototoxic antibiotic drops).

You very likely DON'T have a perforated eardrum though. Despite my fears I've only ever had one once, and that was after blowing my nose while it was blocked when I was 12.

It hurts like hell (for days) when you rupture it, and there's blood. So trust me, perforation is very unlikely.

As @Stacken77 said, and I'm going to say, you're new to tinnitus and this is going to be the hardest and scariest time in your life quite frankly.

You'll just have to take it on good faith (from me and him), you're going to be okay.

Leave your ears alone for a few weeks. No more drops, no cue tips; nothing.

And start wearing hearing protection (buy some good ear defenders) when you go out and when you're around noisy things at home (like washing up or whatever).

I started to think that I was going to eventually habituate with my initial hiss. However, my condition has worsened two times now and the high pitch noises which even traffic cannot mask is bothering me a lot. I am also 90 percent certain I have a hearing loss from the bark, as still there is no improvement - only higher hiss noise and muffed ear.

@Stacken77 How does one habituate to that? How did you manage to find peace with your condition? Please share some advise as I really need to hear something positive.

Have you experienced different tones that eventually subside and disappear?

@Freerunner I think one can habituate to quite severe tinnitus given enough time, but it can take months or years. I'm forced to use hearing protection 24/7 due to hyperacusis, so it's the only thing I've listened to, and while it's still distressing while having a spike, it doesn't impact my ability to focus, and I can manage the anxiety quite well. From now on; protect your hearing well, and you ought to be fine.

@Freerunner Tones can come and go. During a time I went from having 3 tones to 10. I believe this was due to sensitivity to sound. Most of the tones did fade away, as I believe I have 4 now, so don't worry about that. It isn't necessarily the number of tones that drives distress, it's the objective volume of the tones that do. If something spikes you, try to avoid it. Your baseline may improve with time.

@Freerunner, no one who has successfully habituated to their tinnitus, ever believed they were going to be able to habituate to their tinnitus.

It just happens.

@Stacken77 @Damocles Thank you so much guys! Your kind words bring me back some hope after two long exhausting weeks living with tinnitus and hyperacusis.

I do wear earplugs when outside. I saw improvement in my hyperacusis before the eardrops. Can you recommend some good ear protection which I am not going to look like a dork
with when using

@Freerunner Hah, there's pretty much no way around it; you'll look like a dork if you really want to have some good protection. I bike to work in my bulky ear muffs, and I get the stares from people, but my ears must come first. Anyway, I can recommend 3M 1100 foam earplugs, I have a pack of 200 pairs. As for muffs, I have 3M Peltors Optime II, but Peltors X5A is said to be the best.