7 Months Later Tinnitus Is Still with Me: Did My ENT Lie About Synapse Damage Being Able to Heal?

[Svensk]

Hi everyone,

It's been 7 months since onset and my noise induced tinnitus is still with me. Not much has changed except I had hissing before and static and the eeeee, now it's just the high pitch eeee. Volume is the same, it's 24 hrs, in noise and silence. What drives me crazy is the variation, it's eeeeEEeeeEEee. Those EEs which are at a higher frequency kill me. If only it was constant I could possibly habituate.

When I first saw the ENT he said my tinnitus is the result of synapse damage and the body is able to heal it unlike hair cells but it can take up to a year or more.

Is there any truth to what he said or was he lying? He kept dismissing my fears saying it will go it will go.

At the time I was wearing noise canceling headphones without any sound because my tinnitus is more bearable without background noise, he saw it and said don't use it because it will prolong the healing process. I was banking on his words but after 7 months I've lost hope.

 

[Juan]

Tinnitus is unpredictable. It can go away, lower in volume, spike, change to another tone, etc

Most people habituate over time, can live with it, or accept it, but it does not mean the sound necessarily is less intrusive. Probably the brain adapts or people just ignore it, although sometimes tinnitus is too bad to ignore it.

So, no one knows for sure how tinnitus can behave in a particular case.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Is there any truth to what he said or was he lying? He kept dismissing my fears saying it will go it will go.

A lot of the time tinnitus Does fade.

Have you been exposed to mild noises that don't feel right (e.g., the noise of a vacuum cleaner)? Are you sure you aren't taking any ototoxic medication (search this forum using the brand names of your medications as keywords).

 

[Tybs]

It's been 7 months since onset and my noise induced tinnitus is still with me. Not much has changed except I had hissing before and static and the eeeee, now it's just the high pitch eeee. Volume is the same, it's 24 hrs, in noise and silence. What drives me crazy is the variation, it's eeeeEEeeeEEee. Those EEs which are at a higher frequency kill me. If only it was constant I could possibly habituate.

Do you happen to know the origin of your tinnitus? My sounds were similar and were eventually found to be caused by neck trauma. Physiotherapy got rid of most sounds in a few months, the others faded more slowly (but "steadily" on average). My neck trauma happened little over a year ago, by now I often have silence again. I don't have any advice against it if the origin lies in hearing loss, but if it is the neck (or jaw), you might be able to treat it.

Btw, I also had one eeeeEEeeee tone going non-stop: this one started fading 8 months after getting it. Haven't heard it in ages now.

 

[GBB]

Do you happen to know the origin of your tinnitus? My sounds were similar and were eventually found to be caused by neck trauma. Physiotherapy got rid of most sounds in a few months, the others faded more slowly (but "steadily" on average). My neck trauma happened little over a year ago, by now I often have silence again. I don't have any advice against it if the origin lies in hearing loss, but if it is the neck (or jaw), you might be able to treat it.

Btw, I also had one eeeeEEeeee tone going non-stop: this one started fading 8 months after getting it. Haven't heard it in ages now.

Do you chalk the eeEEeeee fading up to physical therapy or was that natural?

 

[Tybs]

Do you chalk the eeEEeeee fading up to physical therapy or was that natural?

One can never be certain. However, as T stopped increasing and started declining shortly after beginning with physio exercises, I do believe there is a cause and effect relationship there.

 

[GBB]

One can never be certain. However, as T stopped increasing and started declining shortly after beginning with physio exercises, I do believe there is a cause and effect relationship there.

I was rather hoping you'd say natural as mine is not physio related haha - just looking for hope wherever I might find it.

 

[Zaccq]

When I first saw the ENT he said my tinnitus is the result of synapse damage and the body is able to heal it unlike hair cells but it can take up to a year or more.

I've not read any theories like this.

Is it possible you misunderstood them?

 

[Bill Bauer]

I've not read any theories like this.

We read that tinnitus isn't a problem with the ear, but a problem of the brain all of the time. Many people who have hearing loss don't have tinnitus, despite losing those hairs that allow us to hear. In their case, they lose those hairs gradually, and the brain has time to rewire itself. When the neurons stop getting messages from the hairs, they misfire and we perceive it as tinnitus. It can take years, but some people's neurons adjust and tinnitus fades.

 

[Zaccq]

It's an interesting theory, it explains why TRT works, could explain why some drugs are ototoxic and other drugs can increase tinnitus yet not be ototoxic.

But I thought the prevailing view here is that tinnitus is caused by hearing loss?

 

[HeavyMantra]

It's an interesting theory, it explains why TRT works, could explain why some drugs are ototoxic and other drugs can increase tinnitus yet not be ototoxic.

But I thought the prevailing view here is that tinnitus is caused by hearing loss?

Hearing loss is present in most but not all cases, probably. But not everyone with hearing loss gets tinnitus, and the deciding factor here isn't the hearing loss itself but some unknown change in the brain. An audiogram only catches some types of hearing loss within the freq range of the human voice, having a "perfect" one doesn't mean that you don't have hearing loss that is "hidden" from the test. But when MDs and audiologists have to say something about cases like these, a lot of strange stuff gets said..

 

[Tybs]

It's an interesting theory, it explains why TRT works, could explain why some drugs are ototoxic and other drugs can increase tinnitus yet not be ototoxic.

But I thought the prevailing view here is that tinnitus is caused by hearing loss?

I'm one of the cases where hearing loss is not a factor, at least as far as you can check for that. I believe I read somewhere last year that the general perception is that 70% of the tinnitus cases has hearing loss as a cause. No clue anymore what article said that though, so don't quote me on it

An audiogram only catches some types of hearing loss within the freq range of the human voice, having a "perfect" one doesn't mean that you don't have hearing loss that is "hidden" from the test.

The reverse is also true: an audiogram that shows hearing loss is not necessarily correct. I've had three of them, and the second one was on a horrible tinnitus day where over twelve random sounds were raging through my head: I missed many of the small *beeps* due to the internal orchestra going on there, and the report showed multiple frequencies with hearing loss due to this. Yet, the first and third audiogram were taken on days where my tinnitus was relatively low and showed perfect hearing. As the third one was taken in the specialized Tinnitus Centre in Regensburg (Germany), while having no reason to doubt my hearing otherwise, I believe that the second one was a "fluke", if that's the correct term here.

Audiograms have their uses, but sadly they're not an objective type of diagnosis.

 

[HeavyMantra]

I'm one of the cases where hearing loss is not a factor, at least as far as you can check for that. I believe I read somewhere last year that the general perception is that 70% of the tinnitus cases has hearing loss as a cause. No clue anymore what article said that though, so don't quote me on it

The reverse is also true: an audiogram that shows hearing loss is not necessarily correct. I've had three of them, and the second one was on a horrible tinnitus day where over twelve random sounds were raging through my head: I missed many of the small *beeps* due to the internal orchestra going on there, and the report showed multiple frequencies with hearing loss due to this. Yet, the first and third audiogram were taken on days where my tinnitus was relatively low and showed perfect hearing. As the third one was taken in the specialized Tinnitus Centre in Regensburg (Germany), while having no reason to doubt my hearing otherwise, I believe that the second one was a "fluke", if that's the correct term here.

Audiograms have their uses, but sadly they're not an objective type of diagnosis.

Agreed and I've had the same experience with hearing tests showing hearing loss on days when my tinnitus is extra loud.

 

[Zaccq]

The big question is, when people experience a Tinnitus "spike" which they attribute to medication not listed as ototoxic, is that medication causing damage to the cochlear or is the medication affecting neurology causing the tinnitus to be sensed.