3 Months In and Learning to Cope

[Rob Hammer]

Hello everyone,

I have read some really positive stories from so many of you. Your strength and resilience is inspiring and gives me hope that if my t is permanent I will learn to cope.

My t I believe is completely self induced. I stupidly tried to clean earwax out with a bent a tip. It moved the wax around and got some out. My ears still felt off and I then injected mineral oil in my ear. I had read this would help soften the wax. I left ears full of oil left to work. I began to feel a huge amount of pressure in my ears and pain and ringing. Hours later I was at my doctors office and the nurse painfully syringed my ears. This took the pressure off, but the high pitched, loud ringing has remained.

I, of course, feel so dumb for not thinking of my actions, but am despairing about how to cope with tinnitus. It is 24/7 and I try everyday to stay calm, to not let it stop my daily life, but it is difficult.
Two doctors saying they have detected no damage from observing the ear canal. I do have some hearing loss in the higher frequencies as per the audiologist.

I'm worried the pressure of the oil moved my ear drum over ????
Any insights are appreciated.

I am have having good days, and more hope that I can learn to live with tinnitus if it's permanent.
Wishing everyone here a good day
Robert

 

[Agrajag364]

I got my T the same way three months ago tomorrow, though I did not have it syringed. Have you had any reduction in volume since it started? What frequency is your hearing loss at?

 

[GregCA]

I'm worried the pressure of the oil moved my ear drum over ????

I'm pretty sure that did not happen. Your ear drum is most likely in the same place (and the doctors have confirmed it, you say).

 

[Rob Hammer]

Thanks Agrajaj and Greg,

I am happy to have found this forum. It's a first for me to reach out in this way.
My hearing loss is slight and in the higher frequencies. Which is also the sound of the T. There has been a reduction in intensity, and I was getting some days where the T was barely audible, but not lately. I am able to distract myself at times from hearing the ringing tone.
Thanks for your note Greg. I'm going again to an ENT next week. This has been a process of educating myself. Two docs and an Audiolofist all say they can detect no damage. Then why would I have severe tinnitus? And is it likely to be permanent? It's hard to keep perspective at times.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Check out the studies listed on multiple pages of the thread below
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/
in case you haven't seen it. Tinnitus is often not permanent, but it can take a year or two to fade.

 

[Rob Hammer]

Thanks Bill, that gives me some hope. I still wonder if it was the mineral oil pressure on my ear drums or the painfull shot from the nurses syringe. But, either way I do hope it resolves over time.
I have gained so much empathy for others suffering with tinnitus. I know that sense of despair and am glad we can all reach out for support on this forum.

 

[GregCA]

Thanks for your note Greg. I'm going again to an ENT next week. This has been a process of educating myself. Two docs and an Audiolofist all say they can detect no damage. Then why would I have severe tinnitus? And is it likely to be permanent? It's hard to keep perspective at times.

I don't know why you have severe T, but I'm pretty sure it's not because your ear drum moved from oil/drops. It just doesn't make sense from a physics standpoint. An ear drum is like a percussion drum head: it won't move without tearing around your ear canal. If you look at the anatomy of the ear (drum -> ossicles -> cochlea) you will see why it doesn't make sense. Tearing, perforation, damage, etc, is plausible though, but it should be visible by a good ENT doc.

You should know that the tests ENT/Audiologists do cannot assess damage with 100% certainty since they only do a small sampling on very specific frequencies. Seeing damage on an audiogram is a sufficient but not necessary condition to having a damaged hearing apparatus.

It is possible that the syringing itself caused an acoustic trauma. Several people on this board got T from syringing.
Nobody can predict if it will go away or not unfortunately.

I suggest your give your ears some rest and stay away from loud noises. Keep us updated on your ENT visit.

 

[Rob Hammer]

Thank you Greg for taking the time to reply.
I did more than put drops of oil in my ear. I used a syringe to fill the ear up thinking I needed to get the oil past the blockage. I know this was rather silly. It was after this that the discomfort persisted until the syringing at the fox's office cleared the excessive ear wax and the oil.
I hope the next ENT can have a thorough look for possible damage.

Your reply has given me hope the damage like tearing has not occurred and my ears just need a rest. It has been three months.

Rob

 

[Bill Bauer]

It has been three months.

Has there been Any improvement compared to how you felt at the end of the first month?

 

[Rob Hammer]

There has been some improvement. It still rings most of the time,. Often loud and continuous, for days, but at time it becomes almost in Audible, but comes back after a day or two of a break.
My ears, and area around feel tender.
Still hoping it's a passing thing and a hard lesson learned

 

[jjflyman]

It's hard to keep perspective at times.

Yes it is. When you are first suffering from T you are in almost an emotional crisis, and it can be hard to think clearly and rationally. The inner ear is a delicate. You have seen several doctors and the saw no damage, so that's good.
IMO, there is probably inflammation and irritation in there someplace, causing your T.
As someone who has suffered from T 2 times in my life ( both times it was acoustic trauma), my advice would be to do nothing, and let your body sort things out. As Bill said, it is most likely not permanent, but will take a long time to fade. My first time with T was 18-24 months to fully fade, I am 14 months in my second bout, and it has faded 80%+

Give it time to sort itself out, and no more syringing!

 

[Rob Hammer]

Thank you for your message flyman. You add a really good perspective. Again, I truly believe there is hope. It is a journey gaining understanding around what is happening with tinnitus. Your acknowledgement of the emotional crisis felt at first rang true. I'm in a better place now. There is definitely irritation in there and I have been careful around noise and ensuring I avoid those situations. I now think a year or two to heal seems realistic. This is easier to take if the healing progressively softens the intensity of the tinnitus.
Thanks again, I will provide an update after my ENT appt. next week.
And Yes, no more syringing.

 

[Rob Hammer]

I saw my 2nd ENT on Tuesday. She detected no damage in the ear drum. She was unable to offer any insights into the tinnitus. This ENT felt that the tinnitus is likely to be permanent and I could explore some sound therapies available. She offered that the brain is likely filling in the hearing loss that i have at the higher frequencies. My hearing loss at the higher frequencies is a little above average for my age.
I had the feeling that the ENT's are all reading for the same book. They really don't know the answers to Tinnitus and there just don't seem to be any treatment options. Bill and JJ have offered the most realistic path forward "let my body sort things out" and just give it time. My emotional responses to the T have settled considerably.
So, I'm not inclined to believe that my tinnitus is permanent. I'm holding out hope. My T seemed almost non existent for several days, over the week end, its been noisier the last two days. Loud, but not in a way that i've let bother me. Not like at first when i was freaking out about the constant ringing. When I'm busy i don't notice it as much any more.
Good luck everyone who is working through their tinnitus.

 

[Rob Hammer]

hello @GregCA and @Bill Bauer ,

i saw the ENT last week. She confirmed that she did not detect any damage. She looked quickly in the ears, but noted I'm not experiencing any pain, and hadn't, except the painful syringing, which would indicate lasting damage.
She did not have an explanation as to why i developed tinnitus except for coincidence, like the other doc. She was not optimistic about recovery. She urged me to learn to cope, habituate, suggested some tapes that imbedded tinnitus sounds into music. These are done by a group at McMaster University in my home town. That was what i was able to get from my visit.
Im less feeling less than satisfied by what is known by the medical profession about tinnitus. I'm also not sure if i articulated well enough, to the doctor, that i believe that my injecting mineral oil, under some pressure, is a possible cause to affecting my ears. I just recall the that full feeling in my ears, my eating being so blocked, and the discomfort from the pressure. The ringing started here and it was several hours before the nurse was able to syringe out the mineral oil and the large quantity of ear wax. I worry I've done damage, but know that the docs have not detected damage by observation or symptom description? What are your thoughts on this being a possible source of damage? Ive been experiencing some loud tinnitus the last day and this morning. It is sometimes hard to stay positive.

Robert

 

[Rob Hammer]

@jjflyman I forgot to add you to my above post. any thoughts? I appreciated your last post as really great encouragement.

 

[Agrajag364]

Rob-The hearing loss at the higher frequencies, do you mean about 8000 Hz? Or more like 14,000 and above? Do you have it in both ears or just the one with the Tinnitus?

 

[Bill Bauer]

She was not optimistic about recovery.

Medical schools seem to just teach that T is incurable. The doctors are not aware of the studies that looked at the fraction of people whose T had gone away or had faded.

There might be damage (as in some change that is now causing T) that the doctors can't detect. However, only time will tell whether the damage is permanent. Even if your T is permanent, chances are that it will fade and becomes easier to ignore.

Ive been experiencing some loud tinnitus the last day and this morning. It is sometimes hard to stay positive.

I know exactly how you must feel. I had been there many times. What I learned is that it makes sense to wait before getting upset. It feels natural to get concerned when something hurts for more than a day. Well, with T it makes sense to get concerned when the spike lasts for more than 1-3 months (only then the chance that this is permanent becomes reasonably high). Temporary spikes often last longer than a week. They can last months (one of mine lasted over 3 months).

 

[jjflyman]

@jjflyman I forgot to add you to my above post. any thoughts? I appreciated your last post as really great encouragement.

I've never really understood how syringing can cause Tinnitus, as my though is that T comes from the inner ear and auditory nerve. You are correct about most doctors just telling people to learn to live with it. I remember my first time with T 12+ years ago from (bad) acoustic trauma. The ENT I saw was very unhelpful, saying he saw no damage and basically ignored my complaints of T. I went to my primary doctor (an old school doctor, in his late 60's at the time) because of my depression over having T. He told me it would just fade away, and to stop worrying about it. I thought "there is no way this is going away" because of all the reading I did about T on the Internet.
Well, all the Internet horror stories where wrong, and my old school Doctor was correct. It did fade away to absolute zero, but it took almost 2 years.

I can only speak from my experience with T, that for my acoustic trauma Tinnitus, it went completely away 12 years ago, and has improved 80% or more so far after 15 months this time. (both times my T was screaming loud)

Your T is only a few months old, but I still believe it will be greatly improved a year from now. It will be emotionally difficult, but I believe you will get your life back, but it will take 1-2 years to heal

 

[Rob Hammer]

@Agrajag364
I have the hearing loss in both ears as well as the tinnitus. At least it seems like both ears. I hear it more in the middle of the back of my head. I usually end up thinking it's mostly the right ear.
@jjflyman how does syringing cause tinnitus?
Your right it is an inner ear issue, but I did more than syringe. I packed the war with mineral thinking it needed to work around the wax. It created a strange feeling and it took time to syringe it out. I've thought maybe it moved the little bones attached to the ear drum. But I'm not sure at all.
I'm just hanging in there and following the food advice from folks here. I'm hanging in there and hoping for the best. I continue to remind myself I'm not alone and as you and others have experienced relief over time.
I'm in the midst of a high frequency spike. It's tough but I do get moments, in the day, where it settles a bit and I forget for a bit I have. If I'm busy and there is environmental noise. I appreciate your shares fly man. Keep hanging in there. I'm happy to hear you have had successes with your recovery from T.

 

[Rob Hammer]

@Agrajag364
I forgot to mention that I'm not sure if the frequencies. I know both docs felt the tinnitus is related to my hearing loss in those higher frequencies. The hearing loss they observed is in their opinion similar to someone who has worked in Moises environments.

 

[Rob Hammer]

@Bill Bauer
Thanks for your note Bill. I've often heard here that avoiding the emotional upsets is so important. A little hard to do when the T is blaring, but I'm getting better at redirecting myself to another activity, and just letting it do what it does. Time as a healer. Great concept. I will hang in there.
It's a long wait, but you are now in a much better place. I think it is really admirable that you have remained on this site, and to then share some positive thoughts and honest experiences with new folks like myself. Thanks