5 Weeks In

[Tony E]

Hello y'all. It has been about five weeks today that I woke up with a ringing in my ears and I was also very dizzy. What I am was told was vertigo passed after two weeks. My guess is that the tinnitus caused the vertigo. As I work on ladders quite often I really just started getting back to work this past week.

I have gone through the events leading up to this and have come up with nothing. I have no idea what has caused this. I am 42 and the 1st ENT I saw seemed to dismiss it as an age issue. I am getting a 2nd opinion in another two weeks.

I am not dealing with this very well in general. I am generally an upbeat person and this experience has really changed that. Sleeping is difficult and I am tired and agitated often. The thought of living the 2nd half of my life this way scares me quite badly.

I am.glad I have found this forum though. There have been some helpful points and the sound tracks I found have given me at least one nights decent sleep this past week.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Tony, and welcome! We're glad you've joined us. You've come to the right place for lots of information and support.

It's true that ENT's often dismiss tinnitus sufferers with the dreaded "you'll just have to live with it" speech. But, even though we may not get a lot of information from the medical community, there are still many things we can do to make tinnitus more bearable. Have you seen the "Don't Panic" section on this forum, on the upper right-hand side of the forums page? Click on that, and you'll find things that a new tinnitus sufferer can do to cope with this condition.

The most important thing for you to do right now is to get enough sleep, which is difficult right at first. In addition to playing background sounds, it might be helpful to take a sleep aid, whether it's a natural supplement such as melatonin or valerian root, or a prescription sleep aid. And during the day, try to keep some sort of background sound in your environment, to help drown out the tinnitus noise.

The other thing you can do that will help is to find ways to distract your mind from the tinnitus, such as exercise, playing games, working puzzles, etc. Anything that will help your mind focus on something else will help, and eventually you'll find you are able to go for longer periods without thinking about your tinnitus so much.

Look around the forum and you'll find lots of great information on tinnitus, success stories, and current tinnitus research.

I'm so glad your dizziness/vertigo has gone away. That can be very troublesome; I had it off and on for several years myself. The fact that it has already gone away is a good sign!

Again, we're glad you've joined us, and please keep us posted on how you're doing.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[Tony E]

Thank you. I have found that going back to work has helped. When I am knee deep in a job I do not notice it at all. As soon as things die down it comes right back.

After years of seeing commercials for T I cannot believe how little even seems to be done about it. I feel like no one understands why this is affecting me to such a large degree.

 

[Craggy 65]

Hi,everyone finds it horrible at the start,but time will settle you done?With proper sleep,and maybe some meds.to get you through the early,anxious days,you will be fine.At 5 weeks I was in a mess,but now after 3months I,m on a different level.You can be too.Keep positive.

 

[Karen]

@Tony E,

I agree that work really helps. I had to take a leave of absence from work five years ago when mine first began. But I found that when I went back to work, it was therapeutic. Even though I'm now at retirement age, I am working part-time, and it is saving my sanity, for sure!

Keep doing what you're doing, live your life as normally as possible, and do some of the thing suggested on this forum, and you'll start to feel better in the coming months.

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[Danny Boy]

Hello y'all. It has been about five weeks today that I woke up with a ringing in my ears and I was also very dizzy. What I am was told was vertigo passed after two weeks. My guess is that the tinnitus caused the vertigo. As I work on ladders quite often I really just started getting back to work this past week.

I have gone through the events leading up to this and have come up with nothing. I have no idea what has caused this. I am 42 and the 1st ENT I saw seemed to dismiss it as an age issue. I am getting a 2nd opinion in another two weeks.

I am not dealing with this very well in general. I am generally an upbeat person and this experience has really changed that. Sleeping is difficult and I am tired and agitated often. The thought of living the 2nd half of my life this way scares me quite badly.

I am.glad I have found this forum though. There have been some helpful points and the sound tracks I found have given me at least one nights decent sleep this past week.

Do you have hyperacusis?

 

[Tony E]

Do you have hyperacusis?

I have now had two audiology tests. There was nothing in those or anything in everyday life to give me any indication that I am. I assume it would be fairly obvious. I went out to dinner yesterday. The restaurant had a very loud party at the table next to ours. I had to go outside for about 10 minutes until they left. That is really the first time I have been that affected. But I had been very careful up until then.

 

[Danny Boy]

I have now had two audiology tests. There was nothing in those or anything in everyday life to give me any indication that I am. I assume it would be fairly obvious. I went out to dinner yesterday. The restaurant had a very loud party at the table next to ours. I had to go outside for about 10 minutes until they left. That is really the first time I have been that affected. But I had been very careful up until then.

So are everyday noises louder than they used to be?

 

[Tony E]

So are everyday noises louder than they used to be?

No they are the same as far as I can tell. I find myself questioning everything. The hearing tests showed some loss at high frequencies in my right ear. But the T is equal in both ears.

 

[Craggy 65]

No they are the same as far as I can tell. I find myself questioning everything. The hearing tests showed some loss at high frequencies in my right ear. But the T is equal in both ears.

Tinnitus does not play by any known rules.

 

[billie48]

The thought of living the 2nd half of my life this way scares me quite badly.

Welcome Tony. Karen and others have given you great advice. I can add something from my experience and understanding of how T plays the mental game with us. Once you know the game, you will be able to handle your emotions better. The above quote is one of the biggest weapon the T bully uses to drive us crazy, fear and catastrophic thinking about the future. When T is new, we are so traumatized by the sound and the experience that we tend to think that we will stay thinking this way forever, that our fearful perception and the traumatized reactions or over-reactions to T ringing will stay the same. This is the biggest lie. If you read the success stories enough, you will gradually come to such a conclusion for the people who get better, that they don't fear T as much as before, that perception about T changes with time. The body will also slowly get used to or hardened to the same repetitive sensation. The body has the natural ability to adjust and heal, and each person will have a different time frame of healing depending on their persona and background. But most will improve over time and this is one very important element of success. Time plus positivity and some strategies will help. Try to get back to living as normal as possible. If you are able to forget about T while you are busy, you are already ahead of many T sufferers. So stay hopeful that you will be just fine. Take care & God bless.

 

[uncle vikin]

Tony Billie summed it up nicely as he always does .It will get better with time. You may have some rough moments but as my first ENT said the brain and body will find a way to cope with T . It is a condition that has blind sided us all before I got this condition I had never heard of Tinnitus. Just remember it is a normal process to be anxious and have trouble sleeping at first overtime you feel a lot better . It took me about 5 months to start feeling better now at 9 1/2 months I am back 90% to my old self . It is just my belief that T is nerve trauma either physical or emotional and it takes time to heal but who really knows , hang in there . You will be alright. Uncle Vikin