2+ Weeks with Tinnitus and Occasional Discomfort in My Ears — Noise-Induced or Not?

[aimlesshiker]

Hi all,

About two weeks ago I was noticed a ringing in my right ear. I'm luckier than many in that I haven't had it too long (yet) and that it's not too loud (the hum of the fridge, for example, masks it just fine). However, it's constant. It doesn't fluctuate at all. Actually I'm a bit nervous since it seems a touch louder the past 24 hours, but it's still pretty quiet. Some details:

• I'm 25F and otherwise healthy, other than some anxiety and occasional depression (which have gotten worse this year but I was on a "good wave" right before tinnitus hit.)
• I'm an avid music lover. I spend about a couple nights/week listening to music with over-the-ear headphones.
• Just got a car and mayyy have overindulged in blasting music too loud in the car, I won't deny that.
• I was camping and it was gorgeous, but mosquito-heavy. I thought at first that maybe my ear was "looking" for the mosquito buzzing and projected the ringing in my ears.
• I don't think I realized that it could be tinnitus until a week after its onset since the sounds of frogs and crickets drowned it out. Note to self that sleeping outside is therapeutic and "all natural" tinnitus relief.

I went to an ENT. No earwax. My hearing is top-notch. No fluid in the ear so no infection. He didn't look at my actual ears very long, but I guess I have healthy ears. He thinks tinnitus is like a phantom limb and my brain is projecting it, and/or I have noise-induced tinnitus. My treatments so far:

• Avoiding loud sounds like the devil. I haven't used headphones in over a week. I wear earplugs when I make a freaking smoothie. I actually feel like I'm more sensitive to sounds, but I'm not sure if that's "real" or if I'm just hyper-aware and protective of my ears.
• ENT prescribed 60mg prednisone for a week. Normally I wouldn't so willingly take corticosteroids, but I'm willing to try anything at this point.
• Just trying to take care of my health overall. Running, eat healthy, getting some sleep...

Some things I'm looking for clarification or reassurance about:

• After testing out the sound of speakers, headphones, car, etc., I probably did get in the 80-90 dB range, at least for short periods of time. I guess this is enough to "break the camel's back" (because I have a history of going to concerts without earplugs... never again) and trigger long-term tinnitus? Why ear health isn't preached about as much as dental, eye, etc. health saddens me .
• This year I haven't been exposed to too many loud sounds: no concerts, crowds, etc. So it's probably all from headphone/car speaker use. I'm frustrated that I did this to myself, but slowly getting over it.
• I have occasional, brief discomfort in my ear. There's no earwax, and my doctor suspects it's sensations projected by my brain (much like the tinnitus itself). That's probably likely, but could anything else explain it? Sometimes I can "feel" my ear when I turn my head/stretch my neck.

Sorry for the long post. I guess I'm just looking for answers. Somehow, I have been handling this better than I thought. Almost daily, I do wonder what the future looks like for me. No more concerts? I'm still so young, and envisioned myself going to clubs, bars, festivals, and other "loud" events (if COVID-19 ever ends).

That being said, in a weird way, I have developed a new perspective on music-listening. With covid and being thousands of miles away from all my friends, I got too depressed to listen to music for a month or two there. But now it's like I have to listen to it in order to mask the tinnitus, and instead of getting anxious about it, I can see it as something to enjoy AND distract me from tinnitus. I hope this helps others shift their perspective, too.

Lots of love, and if you made it this far, thanks for reading. <3

 

[aimlesshiker]

Sorry to double-post, but in the past few days I've noticed that I can "feel" my ear quite a bit. I mentioned this in my original post, but haven't read much about it being a symptom of noise-induced tinnitus.

Any ideas here? Is this just my ear healing? The best way I can describe how it feels is either like my inner ear is twitching. I can hear it, too, like cartilage is moving around? Sometimes it coincides with the way I turn my head/neck. It's not really painful and only happens maybe every couple hours, but it is a new development...

The tinnitus seems 5-10% louder today, too. Not sure what's going on here...

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. Not being a doctor or ENT it is not my place to say exactly what had caused your tinnitus. It is just a guess based on your description that your tinnitus can be affected by turning your head or neck muscles. That means you may have somatic tinnitus which may come from some mal-alignment of muscle or TMJ type of problem. Sometimes, problem with muscle in the neck area can cause tinnitus too. Perhaps get a second opinion on the ears. ETD may also be a problem. So check it out. Take good care. God bless.

 

[aimlesshiker]

Could those neck/muscle problem cause 24/7 tinnitus?

Otherwise I'm still convinced it's acoustic trauma (I realize I put "noise-induced" in my original thread title, which I believe is incorrect). I'm just still wrapping my head around 1) the fact that headphones and/or car speakers could have done this to me and 2) why didn't I realize I was being so loud sooner. Now when I get in my car I can barely put it past 50-60% volume, and I get hung up on how I should have turned the volume down...

Wondering what other acoustic-trauma sufferers have been through. Much of my anxiety comes from not being able to enjoy music like I used to, especially going to concerts. I go back and forth from being OK to crying about it. I was finally breaking free from depression and other hardships I've faced this year, and I guess life didn't want me to catch a break...

 

[billie48]

Could those neck/muscle problem cause 24/7 tinnitus?

Yes, it has been known to trigger tinnitus 24/7 and some sufferers sought out the help of good chiropractors who specialize in this type of treatment. Saying that, your symptoms of hyperacusis seem to point to acoustic trauma which can sometimes generate a hyperacusis component soon after acoustic trauma. I have H after developing T. But this type of H will tend to fade over time. So try not to be too worry about H. Protect yourself from loud venues and wear ear plugs. But don't over protect for fear of developing sound sensitivity or phonophobia.

 

[HeavyMantra]

It seems like you understand your situation quite well. Yeah, your tinnitus is probably noise-induced but don't expect to be able to pinpoint this. Just suppose that it is. We all look for answers in the beginning, very few of us find a definite cause unless it's very apparent, like it starting after a gunshot. You have several reasons to believe you have noise-induced tinnitus, I wouldn't look for other causes if I were you. Avoid further noise damage at all costs. Don't fall into the trap of being a person with NIT that can't accept it, and start looking for somatic causes or thinking that ETD causes it.

No need to listen to me, but I'd say it's time to lose some attachments. Just stop going to concerts and using headphones at any volume. It's not going to seem important when you're 40+ and don't care about these things anymore, yet if your tinnitus increases because you feel these things are important now, that's going to affect the rest of your life. Since your tinnitus seems pretty mild so far, there is a good chance that you'll be able to listen to music through speakers without problems and live a relatively good life. Think about your tinnitus: how would it be if it was 5 times as loud and had several more sounds? It's another ballgame, and one mistake is all it takes to end up there.

Be aware that you may be just one concert (with earplugs) or one headphone session away from making your tinnitus MUCH worse. Yeah, it sucks to not be able to go to clubs or whatever. It sucks to lose your legs, go blind and so on too. Yet it happens to people. I'd focus on accepting this change in your life and avoid all loud situations. Or be prepared to pay the consequences for the rest of your days.

My biggest source of anxiety to this day (two years into bad intrusive T) is that I can't listen to music. AT ALL. It was and still is, my whole life. Losing music is the worst thing that's happened to me. Don't end up like me. Be very careful with what you have and don't make mistakes. Tinnitus is extremely unforgiving and horrible. Most people make mistakes early before they realize and accept this fact, resulting in much worse permanent tinnitus than they would have gotten if they had avoided things known to make tinnitus worse.

This all seems pretty negative I'm sure. To me, it's not. It's what you need to hear to not make the same mistakes as me and so many other people on the forum. Not making tinnitus worse is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned, and the most positive outlook. If I told you to live your life, go to concerts and so on, in my view that would be the worst thing to tell you.

 

[aimlesshiker]

@HeavyMantra, I'm so sorry music-listening isn't viable anymore. I hope you find some relief soon. That's exactly what I'm afraid of, and yes, I've avoided headphones and loud sounds since I really noticed it. Shame it's not talked about more in the music-listening community. Headphones should come with a warning label!

I know it's different for everyone, and I'm still relatively new, but I was also wondering if it's normal to experience mild pain from time to time? A couple times a day I'll get a split second of discomfort. Or this morning, I'm not sure if it was how my head was lying on my pillow but my inner ear felt a decent amount of pain, which stopped after I got up. I'm shoring it up to the actual acoustic trauma, but I haven't read any other acoustic/noise-induced accounts mentioning pain too much (other than hyperacusis).

 

[aimlesshiker]

I'm on my last day of Prednisone, so this isn't a huge problem, but I feel like my blood pressure and heart rate keep going out of whack. During the day it'll be high and at night it seems to drop. I must be exhausting the hell out of my adrenals and cardiovascular system, and it's freaking me out a bit, but I wasn't ordered to taper, and I'll be done after today anyway. Has anyone else experienced side effects like this? I'm wondering if 60mg/day for someone who's only 5' 2" could be a bit too much...

If anything, my tinnitus seems a tiny bit louder compared to its onset. I'm trying so hard to be careful with my hearing. I got mad at the toaster for being too loud and have been/will be avoiding loud appliances, alarms, etc. as much as possible. I know these things fluctuate and I need to give it time. Because that's all I can do...

 

[weab00]

It seems like you understand your situation quite well. Yeah, your tinnitus is probably noise-induced but don't expect to be able to pinpoint this. Just suppose that it is. We all look for answers in the beginning, very few of us find a definite cause unless it's very apparent, like it starting after a gunshot. You have several reasons to believe you have noise-induced tinnitus, I wouldn't look for other causes if I were you. Avoid further noise damage at all costs. Don't fall into the trap of being a person with NIT that can't accept it, and start looking for somatic causes or thinking that ETD causes it.

No need to listen to me, but I'd say it's time to lose some attachments. Just stop going to concerts and using headphones at any volume. It's not going to seem important when you're 40+ and don't care about these things anymore, yet if your tinnitus increases because you feel these things are important now, that's going to affect the rest of your life. Since your tinnitus seems pretty mild so far, there is a good chance that you'll be able to listen to music through speakers without problems and live a relatively good life. Think about your tinnitus: how would it be if it was 5 times as loud and had several more sounds? It's another ballgame, and one mistake is all it takes to end up there.

Be aware that you may be just one concert (with earplugs) or one headphone session away from making your tinnitus MUCH worse. Yeah, it sucks to not be able to go to clubs or whatever. It sucks to lose your legs, go blind and so on too. Yet it happens to people. I'd focus on accepting this change in your life and avoid all loud situations. Or be prepared to pay the consequences for the rest of your days.

My biggest source of anxiety to this day (two years into bad intrusive T) is that I can't listen to music. AT ALL. It was and still is, my whole life. Losing music is the worst thing that's happened to me. Don't end up like me. Be very careful with what you have and don't make mistakes. Tinnitus is extremely unforgiving and horrible. Most people make mistakes early before they realize and accept this fact, resulting in much worse permanent tinnitus than they would have gotten if they had avoided things known to make tinnitus worse.

This all seems pretty negative I'm sure. To me, it's not. It's what you need to hear to not make the same mistakes as me and so many other people on the forum. Not making tinnitus worse is the most important thing as far as I'm concerned, and the most positive outlook. If I told you to live your life, go to concerts and so on, in my view that would be the worst thing to tell you.

I agree that prevention is key and am currently at a pretty similar place. I got mild, single tone tinnitus 2 years ago and was devastated but eventually learned to live with it. I continued using headphones/earbuds and loud machinery without hearing protection and the twig finally snapped 2 months ago when I developed pain hyperacusis. It would have been so much easier to make a few compromises in my life had I taken the time to educate myself, but I continued being reckless with my hearing after the initial slap on the wrist and am now paying the consequences with no one but myself to blame. I had to give up music, instruments, martial arts, my job in a kitchen, and more. I'd do anything to go back, as I imagine you would too.

 

[aimlesshiker]

Question, are specific frequencies supposed to "cancel out" tinnitus? Are there threads on this forum that talk about using this as treatment, and even aid in habituation?

I used this website: https://www.szynalski.com/tone-generator/ to find a tone that I think matches mine--might have to play around with it more--but I can still technically "hear" my tone. I don't know if that means anything, but I guess I'm a curious since I feel like I shouldn't be able to hear my ringing if there is a tone to match it? Unless the whole thing with tinnitus being that I have damage at that specific frequency and so my brain can't shut off that tone? My tone also seems to "wobble," not in pitch or frequency, but very slightly in volume. Kind of like one of those Tibetan singing bowls?

I hope this makes sense... any insight is appreciated.

edit: if anyone is curious, my tone seems to be note B4 at around 492 Hz.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I wear earplugs when I make a freaking smoothie.

That might be enough protection. It might also not be enough protection. If your tinnitus gets louder, or doesn't get better, consider staying away from your blender.

Somehow, I have been handling this better than I thought.

That's probably because your tinnitus hasn't been a loud piercing high-pitch sound that is impossible to mask.

No more concerts?

You might find some sources that mention dB levels are are safe. The studies that had established those safe ranges looked the healthy people. Now that you've had tinnitus, your ears have been compromised and the kinds of sounds that normal people won't even notice have the capability of giving debilitating tinnitus to you. So no more concerts. Consider not going to movie theaters. You might want to stay away from hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, food processors, etc. for at least two years. After two years, don't use one unless you wear good earplugs.

Don't take the risk, unless you are prepared to pay the price, which in this case is louder tinnitus.

You will want to make sure that you don't hurt your ears during this period of vulnerability as your body is healing. You will want to avoid taking ototoxic drugs, avoid microsuction or syringing (performed when you need to clean wax out of your ears; a manual tool should be used), and not let your dental hygienist use an ultrasonic scaling tool on you (a manual tool should be used). For more details, see

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[aimlesshiker]

I think...
I think I now have static in my left ear?

This is new as of a few days, maybe a week. I've been careful with my ears, but I think I hear static now.

It's not so much static as it is that high-pitch sound that an old TV might make. I also can't tell if it's just one ear or if I feel it in my whole head (and maybe this is just what ambient noise despite silence sounds like?). However... it seems to go away for a few seconds to half a minute when I do this. This is not true for the tone my right ear. I'm not sure if that means anything.

Just posting this to see if anyone else has had something similar. I'm not really sure what to think since I haven't had any real noise trauma since over a month ago when I first noticed my tinnitus. Maybe it's just a delayed effect from the initial trauma that I haven't noticed/wasn't strong enough until now. Fingers crossed it's just a spike, but at least it's not overwhelmingly loud yet. It's certainly more annoying than the right sound, I wish they matched at least....

 

[aimlesshiker]

About 10 minutes ago I experienced fleeting tinnitus (in addition to my regular tinnitus) in my right ear. But it went away, cool.

A few minutes ago it came back and hasn't left . I'm worried vacuuming out my car (even with foam ear plugs) may have done something. So now I have TWO tones in EACH ear. This is THREE MONTHS after my initial onset of one quiet tone in one ear. Does it usually get this much worse?

I don't have the tears anymore to cry about this. This is just my life. FX-322, PLEASE come soon.

EDIT: I don't mean to get all sad when I know people have had this for YEARS. I'm completely empathetic, and I want cures for all of us someday. I'm just alone in a relatively new city so I don't have a support system to help me. I've had to deal with this on top of several other stressors and the pandemic completely by myself. I'm just done, all my friends are asleep (I usually can't fall asleep until 1 or 2am, you can guess why), and I just want peace again.

 

[billie48]

Hope your spikes will go away soon. Sometimes the ears are unstable from a relatively new tinnitus and they may react with spikes from new noise exposure. Too bad the earplugs didn't help you protect the ears. Try not to over-react to this as more stress and anxiety will trigger the limbic system causing the fight or flight mode of functioning, which tend to intensify the tinnitus. Give it some time for the ears to settle. You may want to mask the spiking tinnitus and try some nerve calming supplements such as lemon balm, chamomile, valerian etc.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery. God bless.