ENT Said She's Certain My Tinnitus Will Go Away — False Hope?

[Sam Martin]

Hello,

Has anyone ever been told by an ENT that their tinnitus would go away? I'm going to repost my introductory post below, so you can understand my experience with tinnitus.

I'm posting again because, after seeing an ENT, she told me that my hearing is actually above average, and that she'd "bet the house" on my tinnitus going away in 3-4 weeks (it's been 2 weeks and 5 days so far). She said my sinuses were fine, but that my tinnitus may be caused by allergies (she also noted the bags under my eyes as symptoms of allergies) This was obviously great to hear, but I'm wondering if I can take confidence in her analysis, or if it's just false hope.

Here's the story:

I'm 23 years old. About five months ago, I was unexpectedly exposed to some very loud noise for 10-15 minutes at a concert that I assumed would be much quieter than it was. The following morning, my left ear felt very "full" and I heard an intermittent ringing in both ears -- not like tinnitus, but the kind that comes fleetingly to pretty much every one (more in the ear than in the brain).

I went to an audiologist about a two months ago. She checked my hearing and enthusiastically said it was "perfect!" and that the intermittent ringing would go away. Fortunately, the fullness in my left ear is completely gone. Unfortunately, I noticed (on Christmas Eve no less) a mild ringing/hissing in my right ear. This was about 10 days ago, and it has persisted since.

It is mild, so I cannot hear it through most of the day. When I can, I only really register it as a little hissing in my hear, and can only really hear the ringing if I'm trying to sleep, or if I put my finger in my ear.
I'm wondering what people think I can expect here. I'm seeing an ENT tomorrow and another audiologist on Monday. My confusion stems from how this seems to have started literally three months after the initial loud noise. Again, it is relatively mild compared to many of the awful stories I've read on here, but it is enough to be quite bothersome and to send me into a depression.​

 

[LukeYoung]

Hate to say it. A lot of people say it..
It could go away but if it's lasted longer than 6 months then it's likely permanent. Usually will fade to manageable levels for most people though.

 

[Sam Martin]

Hate to say it. A lot of people say it..
It could go away but if it's lasted longer than 6 months then it's likely permanent. Usually will fade to manageable levels for most people though.

To be clear, it's only been about one month at this point.

 

[LukeYoung]

To be clear, it's only been about one month at this point.

Yeah. But it's one of those things. It's better to just try and accept it now and not be disappointed. That way if it goes, Awesome. But if it's stays, you're already on your way to habituate.

 

[Phat Tuna]

If yours is really mild and can only hear the ringing if you plug your ears, the best thing you can do is leave and never come back here. People here will only depress your and scare the shit out of you. If you can forget about it, it probably will just go away. But if you monitor it all the time and get scared, you will be teaching your brain that it is a threat and your brain will focus on it. You don't want that. If it is really mild, it is best to just chill. It probably will go away. Just protect your ears. No more ear buds and going to concerts without earplugs.

And stop reading awful stories about tinnitus!

 

[Flyingsheep]

My mom got tinnitus from working in a UPS facility with a super loud conveyer belt for 5 years, but it went away completely after having it for 2 years. She is 60 now and just got an audiogram, and it shows no noticeable hearing loss. It's going to be different for everyone and there can never be a sure answer, but it's definitely not impossible for it to fade past 6 months, as long as you are kind to your ears from this point on.

I'm almost 31, my audiogram is ridiculously good and word recognition shows better than average hearing, and I've had reactive tinnitus/hyperacusis for 1.5 years which started after one bad night of drinking. The hyperacusis is mostly gone, and I'm getting a lot less reaction to most noises, so I'm still showing some signs of improvement even long after 6 months. I still get super depressed sometimes but looking back, there are things to be positive about.

 

[LukeYoung]

@Phat Tuna

Agreed 100%.

 

[Earing]

I would get on a high dose course of prednisone for about 2 weeks ASAP.

 

[MRItechssuck]

I would get on a high dose course of prednisone for about 2 weeks ASAP.

It's been about 3 weeks, it is doubtful, prednisone would do anything now... actually even after 3 days I would be doubtful prednisone would do anything.

Almost 20 years ago when I was 30 I had mild tinnitus from a concert, it went away after about 4 years... I enjoyed 15 years free of tinnitus, but always protected my ears until I was stuck by loud noise 3 months ago.
So you are young, and if you accept that it's there and don't worry about it... the chances are very good it will go away.

Phat Tuna gave good advice.

 

[LukeYoung]

I would get on a high dose course of prednisone for about 2 weeks ASAP.

It's been too long now..

 

[Earing]

It's been too long now..

You can do it up to 2 months after and get results. The sooner the better though.

 

[morgothaod]

My mom got tinnitus from working in a UPS facility with a super loud conveyer belt for 5 years, but it went away completely after having it for 2 years.

Was your mom doing anything that you can think of to make her tinnitus go away?

 

[Yuuls]

I think ENTs just say this to not freak you out so they don't have to deal with anxious patients in their office tbh...

The trend seems to be either they say it will go away, or they give you a brochure or pamphlet to "read on your own" that mainly explains its likely to be permanent.

As someone above mentioned, the best option seems to be to just wait and find out for yourself. Protect your hearing and stay busy. Easier said than done, I'm 2 months in and struggling with this as well but on the days where I'm bored and have absolutely nothing to do, I'm absolutely MISERABLE because all I do is go down a rabbit hole of threads. Slowly trying to get back to life and keep myself occupied.

 

[Flyingsheep]

Was your mom doing anything that you can think of to make her tinnitus go away?

She just said she played sound therapy tracks with earbuds when trying to go to sleep so she wouldn't hear it.

 

[LukeYoung]

I think ENTs just say this to not freak you out so they don't have to deal with anxious patients in their office tbh...

The trend seems to be either they say it will go away, or they give you a brochure or pamphlet to "read on your own" that mainly explains its likely to be permanent.

As someone above mentioned, the best option seems to be to just wait and find out for yourself. Protect your hearing and stay busy. Easier said than done, I'm 2 months in and struggling with this as well but on the days where I'm bored and have absolutely nothing to do, I'm absolutely MISERABLE because all I do is go down a rabbit hole of threads. Slowly trying to get back to life and keep myself occupied.

You're on these forums a lot.

whilst they can be helpful it seems you're digging yourself a hole.
Stay off them for a while and let your brain comprehend what's happened. Acceptance is key.

it will take a while
But the faster you get off here and keep busy it'll be pushed to the background. I was the same as you. But I got off these forums after about 2 months..

 

[Yuuls]

You're on these forums a lot.

whilst they can be helpful it seems you're digging yourself a hole.
Stay off them for a while and let your brain comprehend what's happened. Acceptance is key.

it will take a while
But the faster you get off here and keep busy it'll be pushed to the background. I was the same as you. But I got off these forums after about 2 months..

But 4 years later you're still on here?

 

[Bill Bauer]

it's been 2 weeks and 5 days so far

It sounds like you are where many people here get to after a year or two. If you experience improvement improvement 2-4 months after the onset, it ought to continue to improve. If I were you, I would want to stay away from concerts and do what I can to not be around loud noises. Personally I stay away even from the moderate noises to make sure that I am easy on my ears during this time of vulnerability.

 

[Jack Straw]

If yours is really mild and can only hear the ringing if you plug your ears, the best thing you can do is leave and never come back here. People here will only depress your and scare the shit out of you. If you can forget about it, it probably will just go away. But if you monitor it all the time and get scared, you will be teaching your brain that it is a threat and your brain will focus on it. You don't want that. If it is really mild, it is best to just chill. It probably will go away. Just protect your ears. No more ear buds and going to concerts without earplugs.

And stop reading awful stories about tinnitus!

This should be stickied.

 

[JohnFox]

If I can get on with life with what I have,....you will be fine. Consider yourself lucky that you dodged a bullet, and just take care of your ears from here on. Cheers.

 

[mrbrightside614]

If yours is really mild and can only hear the ringing if you plug your ears, the best thing you can do is leave and never come back here. People here will only depress your and scare the shit out of you. If you can forget about it, it probably will just go away. But if you monitor it all the time and get scared, you will be teaching your brain that it is a threat and your brain will focus on it. You don't want that. If it is really mild, it is best to just chill. It probably will go away. Just protect your ears. No more ear buds and going to concerts without earplugs.

And stop reading awful stories about tinnitus!

Co-sign.

Seriously, if it is masked by normal, feint, everyday noises (job/television), that's like 23.5 hours of your day when you factor in sleep. Might be a little hard to get to sleep so you could mask it to reduce your anxiety response and get to bed faster. I use the app Resound Relief and go to the "therapeutic" tab to tamper with violet and brown noise. Use the lowest volume setting possible to mask it.

You're in all likelihood going to be fine.

 

[dan]

If I can get on with life with what I have,....you will be fine.

What do you have?

 

[JohnFox]

What do you have?

Hi dan,... I have SSHL sudden hearing loss with Tinnitus. Over a year ago I suddenly woke up in middle of night with loud popping and crackling in right side of my head and also realized I could not hear anything out of right ear. The popping and crackling settled down after a few hours but now left with significant Tinnitus on deaf side, and Hyperacusis in left ear. I am completely deaf on right side. My Tinnitus sounds like a hissing untuned radio on good days, and an idling Jetliner on bad days. It never stops. On top of that, I cannot tolerate being in a room with people talking a lot or other sounds because of the Hyperacusis in left ear that feeds the Tinnitus. I often have to use ear plugs when in a noisy environment, not because the noise is dangerously loud, but because literally any noise is like pouring gasoline on my Tinnitus, especially when indoors. That about sums it up.

 

[JohnFox]

Acceptance is key.

Yep. The day I gave in to the reality that this is me from here on out...the T ain't gonna get better, so stop thinking Im gonna wake up some day in quiet land,....was the day I began heading down the road to.. (tolerance.) I don't even say "habituate" cuz that still seems a distant dream. "Tolerance" seems a little more realistic. I don't wanna set the bar too high. So,...my tolerance has improved quite a bit over the past year and hopefully that will continue little by little until someday maybe I will entertain the idea of using the word "habituate" to describe my relationship with Tinnitus. Without total acceptance, that road would be very bumpy.

 

[monkey124]

Hey, hope you don't mind me jumping on this thread? My ENT has also said that he believes my tinnitus will go and I do wish he hasn't of given me the false hope as here we are 9 weeks on and still have it. He believes mine was caused due to stress (have had an extremely stressful and sad couple of years).

He did a hearing test at low frequency and hearing was absolutely fine but haven't had a higher frequency test done yet. I have been playing the blame game and wondering if I have done it to myself which really hasn't helped matters and made coming to terms with tinnitus much more difficult and has had a severe impact on my mental health and not to mention marriage! I had the flu at Christmas and felt so awful and then a month later I woke up and my ears were really blocked and just put it down to constantly blowing my nose etc. It got to the point where I actually couldn't hear the children that I nanny for so I decided to buy some olive oil drops from the pharmacy and try and soften the wax but 10 days later the wax still wasn't out and my left ear started sounding like a bass line it was most peculiar. I then went to the doctors and she said that she could see wax and to keep putting the drops in but I realised they were not doing anything and the humming was getting even worse in the left ear. I had my ears microsuctioned 10 days after onset of blocked ears and to my horror the left ear was still humming afterwards but right ear was fine at the time. 9 weeks on I have a very distant washing machine noise in my left ear and then a random noise in my right ear . My ENT is convinced it is stress as the stress started the moment I woke up with blocked ears and it is not the olive oil or micro suction. He believes if I can just calm down it will fade / completely go away. The first month was awful and I had to take a week off work as was so anxious and depressed but now I am able to sleep and try and forget about tinnitus but of course left ear sounds super loud now that I am talking about it.

I really hope it goes and for all of you too ~ not really sure of the point of this message but am feeling pretty disheartened with it all at the minute. I do wonder in some ways if I have made it much worse as I am constant plugging my ears and listening out for it all the time I honestly don't think I have ever been so obsessed over something before it is truly frightening.

I suppose I am lucky that I can only hear t in quiet rooms but I am such a perfectionist and want it gone lol.

 

[twa]

My mom got tinnitus from working in a UPS facility with a super loud conveyer belt for 5 years, but it went away completely after having it for 2 years. She is 60 now and just got an audiogram, and it shows no noticeable hearing loss. It's going to be different for everyone and there can never be a sure answer, but it's definitely not impossible for it to fade past 6 months, as long as you are kind to your ears from this point on.

I'm almost 31, my audiogram is ridiculously good and word recognition shows better than average hearing, and I've had reactive tinnitus/hyperacusis for 1.5 years which started after one bad night of drinking. The hyperacusis is mostly gone, and I'm getting a lot less reaction to most noises, so I'm still showing some signs of improvement even long after 6 months. I still get super depressed sometimes but looking back, there are things to be positive about.

Hi,

Can I ask what your word recognition was?

 

[twa]

My mom got tinnitus from working in a UPS facility with a super loud conveyer belt for 5 years, but it went away completely after having it for 2 years. She is 60 now and just got an audiogram, and it shows no noticeable hearing loss. It's going to be different for everyone and there can never be a sure answer, but it's definitely not impossible for it to fade past 6 months, as long as you are kind to your ears from this point on.

I'm almost 31, my audiogram is ridiculously good and word recognition shows better than average hearing, and I've had reactive tinnitus/hyperacusis for 1.5 years which started after one bad night of drinking. The hyperacusis is mostly gone, and I'm getting a lot less reaction to most noises, so I'm still showing some signs of improvement even long after 6 months. I still get super depressed sometimes but looking back, there are things to be positive about.

Hi,

It's been almost a year since you posted this. Hope you are continuing to improve.

 

[Flyingsheep]

It's been almost a year since you posted this. Hope you are continuing to improve.

Hi, word recognition score is 100% in two separate tests I've had with audiologists.

After that post I made I started getting terrible spikes that would last a couple days and resolve for 2-3 weeks before they came back. Now it's about every 3-4 days I go into a week of spiked days. So I've worsened in this regard. But the hyperacusis is GONE and the reactivity factor of my tinnitus is very minimal now.