Dear all,
I figured today would be a good today to ''show my face'' on this forum.
I have been suffering from tinnitus from the age of 17. It all started with a high pitch ringing that I first noticed when I was doing my homework on the computer. I panicked. I had definitely been to loud parties a few times and I recognised the ringing from the times I'd been to a party. It took me months to come to terms with the fact that I would have to deal with this sound for the rest of my life, but soon I became unaware of it.
Throughout my twenties, I still had the ringing, but most of the time it didn't bother me too much. It became a background noise and certainly didn't keep me up at night. Sometimes though, after a loud event (with earplugs), a long car journey or a cold, the ringing would get louder for a couple of days or weeks, after which it would go back to its usual level.
And then... just before I turned 30, I decided that it was time to celebrate my 20s with a night out with colleagues. I love to dance, so we went to a lounge with a DJ. I put my earplugs in, my noise cancelling head phones over the top, and danced, away from the speakers. I was in there for four hours and felt I was now ready to turn 30.
The following day, my T was at its usual levels.
Things were going pretty well in life, both at work and at home. I was keeping fit by cycling to work and had recently taken up swimming.
And then, exactly one week after the night out, I went swimming and put my head under water. That night I felt some water in my ear, but didn't give it any thought, dried it, and went to sleep.
The following morning I woke up with a strange noise in my left noise. This was on July 15th. It was an irregular semi-low tone. It sounded something like this: eeeee-uuuuu-eeee-uuuu. (Just to give you an idea
).
I didn't give it too much thought as I'd had strange sounds before and they had always gone. This one though, seemed more persistent. In fact, it became louder and I started hearing it during the day. Strangely enough, it was in the ear that had water in after swimming.
After a week or so, I started hearing 'cracking' noises in my right ear. I started worrying and went to an ENT specialist, who told me I had tinnitus (something I had known for 13 years, but fine) and he gave me a leaflet. He suggested I should see someone to learn how to deal with it.
OK. So now starts the drama. The noises continues to get worse and I could now feel pressure in my ears, they were popping and I felt little pains in them too. I went to another ENT specialist and was sent home for the second time. He told me my ear drums looked perfectly normal and that there was no sign of infection.
I then decided to get away from it all and on August 9th, I went to stay with my parents in France for a week. The night I arrived my T was terrible. The following morning I was tired and scared, and ended up going to a French doctor. She told me I had slight redness in my ears, and prescribed me Prednisolone 20MG and Cefpodoxime 100MG (they do love antibiotics in France!). I took my first dose that same evening and woke up in the middle of the night with much lower volume T. But one day later it was worse again and I stopped taking the antibiotics as I feared they would make things worse.
Anyway... things continued to get worse since that trip and the strange thing is, the sounds of T kept (and sometimes still keep!) changing. The high pitch ringing, however, was (and still is) always there. The flights to and from France were terribly loud (small plane:-/) and despite wearing my ear plugs, I felt my ears were definitely affected by it. I also had terrible pain in my right ear after the flight for a day or so.
This story is getting wayyyy to detailed for you guys, so a little fast forward!!
In the meantime, I've had a CT scan, hearing test was fine (slight ''dip'') in one of the tones, but otherwise fine. Blood work came back perfect, expect for an allergic reaction to dust mites. I was prescribed Avamys nose spray, later Rhinocort nose spray and Desloratadine Sandoz tablets. But of course, after reading a lot of scary stuff about how antihistamines can also make T worse, I stopped using all of it after two days. I've tried just about every supplement I could get my hands on, but nothing seems to have brought any form of relief so far.
Well it's now October 3rd and my life has taking a drastic turn. I practically stopped sleeping, the high pitch ringing is unmaskable, I've lost a lot of weight and can no longer work.
I keep thinking back of what might have caused this new outbreak, but can only think of:
- The night out (I've read on this forum that the T can have its onset days or weeks later).
- A mysterious undetectable infection after putting my head under water.
I'm not taking any medication at the moment, which I think might have to be the next step. Of course my biggest, biggest fear is to make things worse by taking them.
I you don't mind, I would like to ask you a few questions:
- Do you recognise this ''later onset'' tinnitus after a loud event which started with one new sound and has left me with about 4 sounds in each ear? Why would it continue to worsen weeks and weeks after?
- Do you think there might be a link with the dust mite allergy or is that wishful thinking? And would it be OK for me to take the antihistamines? My ears still click and pop.
- Do you have any experience with sleep deprivation literally making T louder or worse?
- Do you have any advice for me with regards to which medications to take (calmants/sleep medication)? I've tried Melantonine but unfortunately it doesn't work. When I lie awake the T just gets louder and louder, and if I wait long enough, even new sounds appear.
- I find it interesting that the Prednisone I took in France seemed to have an effect on my T, do you think it might be worth finishing a course? Or could this also make things worse? Any experience with this?
- Any luck with Betahistine?
For now, my plan is:
- I am looking into the possibility of trying hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
- I have started drinking An Shen Bu Xin Wan tea tonight, a Chinese herb used to treat palpitations and insomnia.
- Trying to get some sleep........ somehow.
Right now I just feel incredibly desperate and have little to no hope that things will ever improve. I'm 3 months in now and from what I read it could be too late for actual reduction in T levels as a result of acoustic trauma.
But I thought I'd ask for your advice and maybe take you on board of my ''journey''!
Thanks so much for reading.
I figured today would be a good today to ''show my face'' on this forum.
I have been suffering from tinnitus from the age of 17. It all started with a high pitch ringing that I first noticed when I was doing my homework on the computer. I panicked. I had definitely been to loud parties a few times and I recognised the ringing from the times I'd been to a party. It took me months to come to terms with the fact that I would have to deal with this sound for the rest of my life, but soon I became unaware of it.
Throughout my twenties, I still had the ringing, but most of the time it didn't bother me too much. It became a background noise and certainly didn't keep me up at night. Sometimes though, after a loud event (with earplugs), a long car journey or a cold, the ringing would get louder for a couple of days or weeks, after which it would go back to its usual level.
And then... just before I turned 30, I decided that it was time to celebrate my 20s with a night out with colleagues. I love to dance, so we went to a lounge with a DJ. I put my earplugs in, my noise cancelling head phones over the top, and danced, away from the speakers. I was in there for four hours and felt I was now ready to turn 30.
The following day, my T was at its usual levels.Things were going pretty well in life, both at work and at home. I was keeping fit by cycling to work and had recently taken up swimming.
And then, exactly one week after the night out, I went swimming and put my head under water. That night I felt some water in my ear, but didn't give it any thought, dried it, and went to sleep.
The following morning I woke up with a strange noise in my left noise. This was on July 15th. It was an irregular semi-low tone. It sounded something like this: eeeee-uuuuu-eeee-uuuu. (Just to give you an idea
).I didn't give it too much thought as I'd had strange sounds before and they had always gone. This one though, seemed more persistent. In fact, it became louder and I started hearing it during the day. Strangely enough, it was in the ear that had water in after swimming.
After a week or so, I started hearing 'cracking' noises in my right ear. I started worrying and went to an ENT specialist, who told me I had tinnitus (something I had known for 13 years, but fine) and he gave me a leaflet. He suggested I should see someone to learn how to deal with it.
OK. So now starts the drama. The noises continues to get worse and I could now feel pressure in my ears, they were popping and I felt little pains in them too. I went to another ENT specialist and was sent home for the second time. He told me my ear drums looked perfectly normal and that there was no sign of infection.
I then decided to get away from it all and on August 9th, I went to stay with my parents in France for a week. The night I arrived my T was terrible. The following morning I was tired and scared, and ended up going to a French doctor. She told me I had slight redness in my ears, and prescribed me Prednisolone 20MG and Cefpodoxime 100MG (they do love antibiotics in France!). I took my first dose that same evening and woke up in the middle of the night with much lower volume T. But one day later it was worse again and I stopped taking the antibiotics as I feared they would make things worse.
Anyway... things continued to get worse since that trip and the strange thing is, the sounds of T kept (and sometimes still keep!) changing. The high pitch ringing, however, was (and still is) always there. The flights to and from France were terribly loud (small plane:-/) and despite wearing my ear plugs, I felt my ears were definitely affected by it. I also had terrible pain in my right ear after the flight for a day or so.
This story is getting wayyyy to detailed for you guys, so a little fast forward!!
In the meantime, I've had a CT scan, hearing test was fine (slight ''dip'') in one of the tones, but otherwise fine. Blood work came back perfect, expect for an allergic reaction to dust mites. I was prescribed Avamys nose spray, later Rhinocort nose spray and Desloratadine Sandoz tablets. But of course, after reading a lot of scary stuff about how antihistamines can also make T worse, I stopped using all of it after two days. I've tried just about every supplement I could get my hands on, but nothing seems to have brought any form of relief so far.
Well it's now October 3rd and my life has taking a drastic turn. I practically stopped sleeping, the high pitch ringing is unmaskable, I've lost a lot of weight and can no longer work.
I keep thinking back of what might have caused this new outbreak, but can only think of:
- The night out (I've read on this forum that the T can have its onset days or weeks later).
- A mysterious undetectable infection after putting my head under water.
I'm not taking any medication at the moment, which I think might have to be the next step. Of course my biggest, biggest fear is to make things worse by taking them.
I you don't mind, I would like to ask you a few questions:
- Do you recognise this ''later onset'' tinnitus after a loud event which started with one new sound and has left me with about 4 sounds in each ear? Why would it continue to worsen weeks and weeks after?
- Do you think there might be a link with the dust mite allergy or is that wishful thinking? And would it be OK for me to take the antihistamines? My ears still click and pop.
- Do you have any experience with sleep deprivation literally making T louder or worse?
- Do you have any advice for me with regards to which medications to take (calmants/sleep medication)? I've tried Melantonine but unfortunately it doesn't work. When I lie awake the T just gets louder and louder, and if I wait long enough, even new sounds appear.
- I find it interesting that the Prednisone I took in France seemed to have an effect on my T, do you think it might be worth finishing a course? Or could this also make things worse? Any experience with this?
- Any luck with Betahistine?
For now, my plan is:
- I am looking into the possibility of trying hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
- I have started drinking An Shen Bu Xin Wan tea tonight, a Chinese herb used to treat palpitations and insomnia.
- Trying to get some sleep........ somehow.
Right now I just feel incredibly desperate and have little to no hope that things will ever improve. I'm 3 months in now and from what I read it could be too late for actual reduction in T levels as a result of acoustic trauma.
But I thought I'd ask for your advice and maybe take you on board of my ''journey''!
Thanks so much for reading.
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Founder
