Hi everyone!
Been lurking on this forum for some time, and it's been a great source of comfort and practical advice, particularly the success stories. I finally created an account to share my story (so far!) and pose a question.
Part 1: Introduction
I'm male, 34, in New York City, and my tinnitus started 3 months ago. I don't know what caused it - it started a month after getting a breakthrough COVID-19 infection at a rock concert (double whammy!), but my brother developed near-identical symptoms about a month before I got COVID-19, so who knows. The tinnitus started overnight as an ultra high-pitched, un-maskable ringing in my right ear, with a sort of random, scratchy swirling/pulsing on top.
I went from denial, to panic, to the same hell of sleeplessness, anxiety, and despair that so many others have described here - at worst, I really believed my life was over. No detectable hearing loss, ENT told me there was no cure, blah blah blah. The only silver lining was, that my poor brother had gone through the same hell before me, on top of a history of depression, and yet he was still standing. Talking to him gave me a toehold of hope.
Thanks to a low-dose Ambien prescription from my doctor, masking sounds, cutting out caffeine completely, heavy exercise to tire myself out, and a LOT of emotional support from my brother and wife, I was able to resume sleeping, then gradually go off the Ambien. I forced myself to keep going to work, and it was incredibly hard, but I got to where I could focus for enough of the day, that my job no longer felt in jeopardy. I threw myself into daily meditation, CBT, and psychological adaptation. During this time the Oto app, daily meditation, and Dr. Bruce Hubbard's lectures also helped.
On the one hand, I've seen clear evidence of habituation in specific areas of my life, especially sleep and concentration. I also experience frustrating setbacks and spikes - which, from reading this forum, are to be expected just 3 months in. I'm hopeful for a better future, but there's still a lot of uncertainty and pain. Which brings me to my question.
Part 2: Question about treatment
The natural thing to do at this stage is, to commit to a strategy of slow habituation and psychological acceptance over months and years, which I fully believe in and accept. BUT! I've also discovered some clear patterns to my tinnitus, which make me feel I still haven't ruled out all possible avenues for treatment.
Has anywhere here experienced the patterns below? What's worked for you, or what have you tried and ruled out?
As I mentioned about, my right-ear tinnitus has two main components, a base tone that's always there, and a swirling/pulsing/buzzing overtone that responds to specific stressors during the day, then (usually) "resets" in the morning. Those stressors are:
Thanks for reading!
Been lurking on this forum for some time, and it's been a great source of comfort and practical advice, particularly the success stories. I finally created an account to share my story (so far!) and pose a question.
Part 1: Introduction
I'm male, 34, in New York City, and my tinnitus started 3 months ago. I don't know what caused it - it started a month after getting a breakthrough COVID-19 infection at a rock concert (double whammy!), but my brother developed near-identical symptoms about a month before I got COVID-19, so who knows. The tinnitus started overnight as an ultra high-pitched, un-maskable ringing in my right ear, with a sort of random, scratchy swirling/pulsing on top.
I went from denial, to panic, to the same hell of sleeplessness, anxiety, and despair that so many others have described here - at worst, I really believed my life was over. No detectable hearing loss, ENT told me there was no cure, blah blah blah. The only silver lining was, that my poor brother had gone through the same hell before me, on top of a history of depression, and yet he was still standing. Talking to him gave me a toehold of hope.
Thanks to a low-dose Ambien prescription from my doctor, masking sounds, cutting out caffeine completely, heavy exercise to tire myself out, and a LOT of emotional support from my brother and wife, I was able to resume sleeping, then gradually go off the Ambien. I forced myself to keep going to work, and it was incredibly hard, but I got to where I could focus for enough of the day, that my job no longer felt in jeopardy. I threw myself into daily meditation, CBT, and psychological adaptation. During this time the Oto app, daily meditation, and Dr. Bruce Hubbard's lectures also helped.
On the one hand, I've seen clear evidence of habituation in specific areas of my life, especially sleep and concentration. I also experience frustrating setbacks and spikes - which, from reading this forum, are to be expected just 3 months in. I'm hopeful for a better future, but there's still a lot of uncertainty and pain. Which brings me to my question.
Part 2: Question about treatment
The natural thing to do at this stage is, to commit to a strategy of slow habituation and psychological acceptance over months and years, which I fully believe in and accept. BUT! I've also discovered some clear patterns to my tinnitus, which make me feel I still haven't ruled out all possible avenues for treatment.
Has anywhere here experienced the patterns below? What's worked for you, or what have you tried and ruled out?
As I mentioned about, my right-ear tinnitus has two main components, a base tone that's always there, and a swirling/pulsing/buzzing overtone that responds to specific stressors during the day, then (usually) "resets" in the morning. Those stressors are:
- Heavy exercise - I once did some chin-ups, and my tinnitus went from about a 6 to an 8 immediately. Long runs have the same effect.
- Jaw pain - there's pain on the same side as the tinnitus due to a jaw misalignment. I already saw a dentist and got a mouth guard, and that seemed to help reduce the tinnitus slightly in the morning.
- Flying on an airplane always kicks up the swirling/buzzing by a couple notches
- Carbs, especially on an empty stomach. I once ate a grilled cheese sandwich in the afternoon, after skipping breakfast and lunch, and BOOM! Instant T+2.
- Alcohol, if I have enough of it.
- Stress, of course. Work or life stress makes my tinnitus louder, period.
Thanks for reading!