Hello. My name is Ben (20 yrs old) and here is my story

[Ben Jubel]

on the 5th of September 2013..... I woke up with this noise in my ear. Its been about a month since the tinnitus began. I have been experiencing:

- lack of sleep. it depends. some nights I can barley sleep and others its okay. I tend to listen to music on my iPod next to my good ear.
- horrible thoughts . I cry so much. I'm depressed. I wish this noise would stop.
- stress. lots and lots of stress. I cannot remember the last time i was every truly happy and laughing.
- tinnitus in the left ear from time to time. usually happens during the night
- pressure and stiffness in my right jaw. sometimes I can barley open my mouth. maybe I have TMJ
- when coming out of the cafeteria at college the tinnitus is very low.
- in the morning the tinnitus is very loud

The cause?
- stress and depression
- on the 3rd of September I worked in the middle of the street with my dad. I protected his device as cars passed by me for 45 minutes exposure to loud noise?
- TMJ. my jaw randomly is becomes stiff at times. no pain just pressure and stiffness.
- wisdom tooth? maybe its putting pressure on my jaw, but my dentist says its all okay

What my doctors are saying: (I got an MRI and the results were positive. no tumor or anything)

- Kaiser was not helpful. They just said there is noting that can be done except live with it.
- Costco made it sound worse in order for me to buy a hearing aid.
- Dentist sees no problem with the wisdom tooth

All that I can hope for is that this tinnitus goes away by itself. Acupuncture and jaw massage might help. massage also helps me relax and get away from all the stress.

What do you guys think? Is it temporary... or will I have to live with tinnitus forever?

 

[Markku]

Is that your dog in the avatar? Lovely golden retriever. I've had two in my lifetime!

Welcome to the forums Ben. Too bad another young soul gets to experience this horrible condition...

I can't say if your tinnitus stays or not. The cause doesn't seem to be clear. It could be anything.

Did you have a hearing test? Since they suggested a hearing aid? Is your tinnitus high-pitched ringing? If it's noise trauma, then hearing loss & tinnitus combo would make sense. But I don't think 45 minutes of cars passing by is enough to cause permanent tinnitus.

Have you liked listening to loud music before you got tinnitus? Is it possible the damage could have been cumulative?

Stress plays a huge part too. Oftentimes I see stress being able to trigger tinnitus, yet it's not guaranteed to go away even if that was the reason.

You are still in the acute stage, and it's impossible to make predictions right now. It's a waiting game - and in the meanwhile you can try different kinds of coping mechanisms - just like you've already done with the massages etc.

This isn't the end of life either way.

Markku

 

[Ben Jubel]

Is that your dog in the avatar? Lovely golden retriever. I've had two in my lifetime!

Welcome to the forums Ben. Too bad another young soul gets to experience this horrible condition...

I can't say if your tinnitus stays or not. The cause doesn't seem to be clear. It could be anything.

Did you have a hearing test? Since they suggested a hearing aid? Is your tinnitus high-pitched ringing? If it's noise trauma, then hearing loss & tinnitus combo would make sense. But I don't think 45 minutes of cars passing by is enough to cause permanent tinnitus.

Have you liked listening to loud music before you got tinnitus? Is it possible the damage could have been cumulative?

Stress plays a huge part too. Oftentimes I see stress being able to trigger tinnitus, yet it's not guaranteed to go away even if that was the reason.

You are still in the acute stage, and it's impossible to make predictions right now. It's a waiting game - and in the meanwhile you can try different kinds of coping mechanisms - just like you've already done with the massages etc.

This isn't the end of life either way.

Markku

I used to listen to music on my iPod on a low volume. I took a hearing test and it seems that I have moderate hearing loss in my right ear. The noise changes from time to time and depending on where I am. Its not high pitched but does get loud during the night. I can also recall having a soft beating noise in my left year years ago while going to sleep. it went away after some time.

I read that tinnitus might go away in 2-3 months

 

[meeruf]

Hi Ben. Its early on for you, it might go away. You say that you can't remember last time you where truly happy and laughing. Depression can cause tinnitus, or, at least make you more sensitive to it. I first discovered my tinnitus when I had a heart break 3 years ago. That time, it went away after some weeks. No, it did not go away, but I forgot about it. I had a spike some weeks ago because of an accident. Now it's almost back to my old volume, but my habituation level have been restarted, I have to habituate all over again. This time it really rocked me to the core.

Go to you GP and discuss your lack of happiness. If you get rid of that, you will most likely be less sensitive to your ringing. I have had some serious mood swings after my accident. If I had a bad emotional day, my tinnitus feels worse. But its not louder, its still the same. You see?

You also seems very concerned about why you have tinnitus and what caused it. I understand that, but try not give it to much thought. You will most likely habituate like most people do. Yesterday I had some hours I did not think about my T at all. Today, it's been slightly harder to do that. But I think that is because I stopped to take anti-anxiety pills today. So I'm a little bit more shaky.

Anyways. I held out, if I can to it. So can you. Be strong!

 

[Ben Jubel]

Hi Ben. Its early on for you, it might go away. You say that you can't remember last time you where truly happy and laughing. Depression can cause tinnitus, or, at least make you more sensitive to it. I first discovered my tinnitus when I had a heart break 3 years ago. That time, it went away after some weeks. No, it did not go away, but I forgot about it. I had a spike some weeks ago because of an accident. Now it's almost back to my old volume, but my habituation level have been restarted, I have to habituate all over again. This time it really rocked me to the core.

Go to you GP and discuss your lack of happiness. If you get rid of that, you will most likely be less sensitive to your ringing. I have had some serious mood swings after my accident. If I had a bad emotional day, my tinnitus feels worse. But its not louder, its still the same. You see?

You also seems very concerned about why you have tinnitus and what caused it. I understand that, but try not give it to much thought. You will most likely habituate like most people do. Yesterday I had some hours I did not think about my T at all. Today, it's been slightly harder to do that. But I think that is because I stopped to take anti-anxiety pills today. So I'm a little bit more shaky.

Anyways. I held out, if I can to it. So can you. Be strong!

sometimes I hear some clicking noise in my ear. what is that?

 

[Leah]

I have the clicking too, it seems that people with the ringing may have this noise too.
So sorry you are going through this tough time but glad you found this forum.

 

[Markku]

sometimes I hear some clicking noise in my ear. what is that?

I do hear faint clicking in my left ear when I'm either in a very quiet environment or plug my ear. It's really faint compared to the high-pitched ringing in my case, but no doubt people can have louder clicking noise too.

 

[meeruf]

sometimes I hear some clicking noise in my ear. what is that?

Sometimes it clicks in your joints, you don't get bothered or worried about that? I have clicking too. It's normal, don't worry about that.

 

[MT09]

@Ben Jubel; Your T might be caused due to the stiffness in the jaw! Don't lose hope, go see a doc or a dentist and see how you can rectify that. My T started due to severe stiffness in the neck. Within 2 weeks, I exercised the neck with relief exercises and also the surrounding muscles. My T has reduced 90%. I need a few more days or weeks to reduce my stiffness completely and my T might go away. So, start doing some exercises to ease the stiffness in your jaw. Also exercise the surrounding muscles n joints, they're important too. Don't lose faith, I hope it goes away soon! Have a great day, and keep updating us on your T.

 

[Sherri786]

So sorry to hear that Ben, hope the T goes away for you, meanwhile protect your ears from any possible loud noises, carry an ear plug with you.

 

[Ben Jubel]

So sorry to hear that Ben, hope the T goes away for you, meanwhile protect your ears from any possible loud noises, carry an ear plug with you.

will do. I'll probably just avoid loud places for a while now

 

[Ben Jubel]

@Ben Jubel; Your T might be caused due to the stiffness in the jaw! Don't lose hope, go see a doc or a dentist and see how you can rectify that. My T started due to severe stiffness in the neck. Within 2 weeks, I exercised the neck with relief exercises and also the surrounding muscles. My T has reduced 90%. I need a few more days or weeks to reduce my stiffness completely and my T might go away. So, start doing some exercises to ease the stiffness in your jaw. Also exercise the surrounding muscles n joints, they're important too. Don't lose faith, I hope it goes away soon! Have a great day, and keep updating us on your T.

... this might just be the case. And even know during college.. I sit at home in front of my computer almost the whole day. the constant sitting probably caused this Tinnitus. I need to go outside more and exercise

 

[erik]

@Ben Jubel - now that you know you don't have a tumor or other life threatening issue, the next thing to do is get your stress under control. This should really be your priority. Stress not only makes your T worse but it can affect other things like your jaw and muscles. Bad stress leads to physical symptoms like muscle tension. At the onset of my T, I was so stressed I had daily migraines for weeks, my jaw was sore every day, I had stiff neck and shoulders. All that was stress. Once I relieved the stress, all those things went away. Once I didn't' stress out as much, then my T started to improve.

Talk to your doctor. It seems your stress is high and maybe you can get a short term prescription to get it under control. There are also other things to relieve your stress.

• Supplements--like Magnesium, Vitamin D, help with stress
• Exercise-- like taking walks or playing sports helps your body break down stress.
• Relaxation--do relaxation exercises like progressive muscle relaxation (see youtube videos). Listen to music or sounds (not too loud)
• Eat healthy. Healthy eating helps your body deal with stress. A bad diet adds to it.
• Socialize. Nothing helps you to wind down then hanging out with family and/or friends.

Get stress under control, you will improve and so will your reaction to your T. T is a vicious cycle with feeds on stress. Break the cycle and things will improve. You can't do anything about your T. It may or may not go away. Only time will tell. While you wait, work on things you can control, like your stress. In the end it will help you in all facets of your life.

 

[Ben Jubel]

@Ben Jubel - now that you know you don't have a tumor or other life threatening issue, the next thing to do is get your stress under control. This should really be your priority. Stress not only makes your T worse but it can affect other things like your jaw and muscles. Bad stress leads to physical symptoms like muscle tension. At the onset of my T, I was so stressed I had daily migraines for weeks, my jaw was sore every day, I had stiff neck and shoulders. All that was stress. Once I relieved the stress, all those things went away. Once I didn't' stress out as much, then my T started to improve.

Talk to your doctor. It seems your stress is high and maybe you can get a short term prescription to get it under control. There are also other things to relieve your stress.

• Supplements--like Magnesium, Vitamin D, help with stress
• Exercise-- like taking walks or playing sports helps your body break down stress.
• Relaxation--do relaxation exercises like progressive muscle relaxation (see youtube videos). Listen to music or sounds (not too loud)
• Eat healthy. Healthy eating helps your body deal with stress. A bad diet adds to it.
• Socialize. Nothing helps you to wind down then hanging out with family and/or friends.

Get stress under control, you will improve and so will your reaction to your T. T is a vicious cycle with feeds on stress. Break the cycle and things will improve. You can't do anything about your T. It may or may not go away. Only time will tell. While you wait, work on things you can control, like your stress. In the end it will help you in all facets of your life.

this is my 3rd ( final ) time taking a match class at college . if I don't pass it, I'll be in trouble. this adds more stress

 

[Sherri786]

Ben, you remind me so much of my son, he's your age. Wish I could give you a hug and tell you not to worry so much, your health is more important than any class or test. I've inboxed you some helpful tips xox.

 

[MT09]

@Ben Jubel; Exactly! Sitting in front of the computer for long hours was one of the reason why I had stiffness in my neck. That, coupled with extended hours of reading sitting in the same position... I quit using the computer for a week, did some exercises and in one week I was healed upto 50%. Stiffness was reduced, and more importantly, my T was reduced too! That's when I was perfectly sure that the stiffness is what caused my T and I started exercising more. Go for a walk, fast walk for about 30 minutes each day. And do some jaw relaxing exercises. Consult your doc or search online for the exercises. And don't get stressed out man, I know how you feel. I was in the EXACT same situation you're in right now! I'm 20 too, and I've got my tests coming up next month and I've got lots n lots to read. When the T started, I lost concentration and couldn't read for a week. Don't let that happen to you. Hope that this is just a temporary T and will reduce soon. Take those exercises seriously, they're REALLY effective! All I did was 2 exercises for my neck and in one week I saw results. So start exercising your jaw and get rid of the stiffness or other problems, that might make your T go away too.

 

[stickywicket]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosthodontics

A Prosthodontist is a specialized dentist who can evaluate your jaw pain, look at your bite, and make sure it is aligned properly.

 

[Ben Jubel]

UPDATE: The tinnitus is getting lower over time, but a recent massage did bring the volume up a bit. its not too bad in the morning and at times I can barley hear it. I try not to focus on the T. The pressure in my jaws randomly comes and goes, moving from left to right and sometimes even causing tinnitus to appear in my left ear for a brief moment, even though my left ear is fine.

 

[Sherri786]

Hi Ben , if at times you can barely hear it, that's a good sign, just be very careful now and protect your ears from cold and noise, and it should heal soon.

 

[Ben Jubel]

C

Hi Ben , if at times you can barely hear it, that's a good sign, just be very careful now and protect your ears from cold and noise, and it should heal soon.

cold? Does cold air make it worse?

 

[Sherri786]

Sorry Ben , I mean don't catch a cold or flu !