Doctors' Advice Amount to: "Live With It"

[nomadreid]

As I write this, my tinnitus is less than a month old. Both doctors I have seen about it said that they didn't have a clue for the immediate biological cause, let alone any cure, so getting used to it seems to be the only option. For the indirect cause, I can safely say that it was not from stress. By the timing, I would attribute it to my own stupidity: trying to get wax out of my ear, I put some over-the-counter wax softener in my ear one evening, lay down to let it act for the indicated 5 minutes.... and fell asleep. I often don't move during sleep (an unusual trait of mine), such was the case that night, so that when I woke up, the liquid was still in my ear. I rinsed it out... and my tinnitus started. So, in addition to reading a bit up on the biology of the ear, I signed up to this forum. So far, quite a lot of interesting posts.

 

[Georgia]

Have your doctors offered you a hearing test yet to see if you lost any hearing and thats why you have T? T is a symptom of something usually eg; a hearing loss

 

[nomadreid]

Thanks for the answer, Georgia. To answer your question, both doctors gave me a hearing test. (The two doctors were in two different countries, but the test was the same, so I presume it is a standard one.) The first one showed that I had hearing difficulty for high tones in both ears, with a marked contrast between the left ear (the worse one) and the right one. The second one, three weeks later (after Ciloxan drops had cleared up an infection in both ears, and an additional cleaning of the left ear by the second doctor), there was a marked improvement in both ears, with the difference between the two ears having also diminished. However, the hearing improvement was not matched by a reduction of the tinnitus.

 

[Georgia]

Interesting, how are you coping with it, is it already really frustrating or are you starting to adjust?

 

[nomadreid]

Being a realist, I adjust. There are plenty of positive things in life, so I accept a few negatives. But of course it is frustrating, not to mention tiring.

 

[Cheza]

First, I'm not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt.

Since the tinnitus started as soon as you rinsed out the wax remover from your ear, that certainly sounds like a case of cause and effect. I would suspect that there's some irritation deep within your ear that isn't observable. As that irritation subsides and your ear heals, the tinnitus hopefully will go away. Maybe you can ask your docs for an anti-inflammatory med, or perhaps try something like cat's claw which is an anti-inflammatory supplement.

Good luck

 

[nomadreid]

Thanks for sharing those ideas, Cheza. Your "mood indicator" showed "hopeful", and I do see that you are an optimist, which is refreshing. It would be nice if the possibility that the tinnitus is produced by a temporary irritation that could eventually go away is realized. As it has been almost a month, I am more afraid that I may have damaged permanently some of the inner hairs in my ear, and these hairs do not grow back or repair themselves. But I follow the maxim "hope for the best; prepare for the worst", so I will look into the idea of using some anti-inflammatory. Thanks again.