Hello There, 3 Months In

[Neilpk]

Hi there

I have been experiencing what I might describe as a high pitched hissing sound when I am in a quiet room. I can hear it over the tv when I'm by myself especially in the morning. If I'm preoccupied or out and about I don't notice it unless I try to focus on it, which I can do because I test my hearing a lot. I also have a hissing sound in my left ear when I move my head and neck in certain positions, press my forehead, cheekbone and around my ear. It resolves itself when putting my head back in normal position.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I have had my hearing tested by an audiologist who said I have no hearing loss. An ENT looked in my ears and said everything is normal. He told me there is no need for any scans, but I don't know.

I am seeing a physiotherapist who believes that the hissing sound in My left ear can be resolved due to its being caused my muscle/skeletal problem in my upper spine C1. I have been three times with no success though

I have been through some bad times recently. I lost my appetite, cry and feel consumed by this. I feel anxious all the time and am not in a good place right now. I try to put a brave face on it all but it's easier said than done. My doctor gave me Zoloft but have been wary to start this although I have heard some success stories using this medication.

Any discussion or feedback would be really great!

Thanks

 

[Xynic]

Hey Neil,

"which I can do because I test my hearing a lot." - That's your first mistake right there. I can't back this up with hard scientific data, but it seems very, very likely that people who concentrate on their hearing a lot are more likely to get tinnitus. Get away from that sh*t! From what you are telling, you seem like a nervous, depressed and slightly obssessive person. Do you have OCD? It would fit the profile. People like this are definitely more likely to develop tinnitus, since many of the causes appear to be psychosomatic.

Consider this: the times you are comfortable, you are not actually concentrating on your hearing. You may very well be concentrating on WHAT it is you're hearing, like music, but hardly on the process itself. You gotta stop checking your ears all the time. I know this because I am guilty of it myself, I know how hard it is to get rid of it. But realize that it gives you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, you're only making yourself crazy. Just treat your hearing as a given. You've already heard from an ENT that you don't have hearing loss.

Be careful with Zoloft. It's an SSRI, and those actually have tinnitus as a known side effect. They don't HAVE to cause it, but it's documented. Are you sure you need this heavy a medication? SSRIs are no joke. I've been there, man, been through some really hard times this year, cried a lot and also got a prescription for an SSRI which I didn't end up taking. I considered myself a clinical case and I still have my ups and downs, but in the end, discipline, doing nice things, friends and getting sleep are going a long way. I know that making salads, taking walks in the park and watching a good movie sounds like a dumb advice in the moment, but give it a go and force yourself - if you feel better, your tinnitus will get better, too. Think three times before taking antidepressants. Have you tried therapy? If you're anxious all the time, you may also want to try something weaker first - herbal stuff perhaps, breathing exercises, stuff like that. You know the 4 second breathing technique? Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it in for 4 seconds, breathe out for four seconds, rinse and repeat. Calms me down a bit.

It's very well possible that you need to change something about your life and that that would help you loads. Do you have anything in particular you feel you need to get away from, or change? Go through and consider everything. Is it your job? Do you feel you're lonely? Alcohol, drug abuse? Something in your family? Anything that's wrong in your life needs fixing. Even small things, like falling asleep with your computer's screen in front of you - why not try taking a calming book to bed instead?

It sounds like you might be the type of person who relies on immediate effect and satisfaction a lot (I know I do, and you checking your ears all the time gives a clue here), meaning that if something doesn't immediately help with your tinnitus, you consider it a failure, but you'll need to accept the fact that progress may be slow and barely noticeable in the immediate moment! These things take time - just as a depression takes time to heal, tinnitus takes its time to get better, too.

I wouldn't give up on the physiotherapy just yet. At least partly your tinnitus is dependant on your neck's position, which means that it's very well possible one of the causes is a wrong back/neck position (jaw issues can cause it, too, btw). Again, those take their sweet time to correct! Years of bad posture aren't just gone in a week. Just an aside, even should it not help with your tinnitus, fixing your posture is most definitely a good idea. If you feel the kind of therapy you are doing is not helping though, consider talking to your doctor/therapist and trying something else. There's different kinds of physio. Have you been to an orthopedic, or did you just straight go to your therapist? An orthopedic could do an x-ray and see if there is something obviously wrong with your spine.

Don't indulge in things that worsen your anxiety for now, like watching heavy movies or listening to dark music. It has more of an effect on us than we sometimes like to admit! If you're into rap at all, it definitely helps me along - there's so much inspirational hiphop out there, really teaches you to be stronger, helps you through the day. Things like that.

Do these things at once - it really really sounds like what you need to do ASAP is feel better inside. Tinnitus is something that's often caused by a whole plethora of circumstances, and being depressed definitely "helps". Treat this as a wake-up call. You can't go on crying and feeling miserable, and putting a brave face on it won't help in the long run, you need to address the causes. It takes work, man, it's like rewiring yourself - I'm talking actual, permanent change in the way you see things, the way you act, the things you do. Trust me, it will help!

 

[billie48]

Welcome. Xynic provides some nice advise. I guess your T is very new. So my advice is to give it some time. Your reaction now is controlled by the limbic nerves which function in fight or flight mode and everything seems worse than they are, especially the new T sensation. Here is another support thread for a members with 5 months of T and some advice there about the habituation process can help if you understand what it takes to get better.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-for-5-months-will-it-go-away.10992/

 

[James Brown]

The hiss you have when you move your neck, press your head or similar are normal in people with T, at least on some, because each one is a different case. I have those symptoms too .About medication, what I can tell you is I am dealing with it for almost 20 years with just some occasionally ginkgo biloba, with no results, so my believe is if you can deal with it without any pills would be better and believe me, my T it's a lot worse than your's.

 

[Neilpk]

Hey Neil,

"which I can do because I test my hearing a lot." - That's your first mistake right there. I can't back this up with hard scientific data, but it seems very, very likely that people who concentrate on their hearing a lot are more likely to get tinnitus. Get away from that sh*t! From what you are telling, you seem like a nervous, depressed and slightly obssessive person. Do you have OCD? It would fit the profile. People like this are definitely more likely to develop tinnitus, since many of the causes appear to be psychosomatic.

Consider this: the times you are comfortable, you are not actually concentrating on your hearing. You may very well be concentrating on WHAT it is you're hearing, like music, but hardly on the process itself. You gotta stop checking your ears all the time. I know this because I am guilty of it myself, I know how hard it is to get rid of it. But realize that it gives you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, you're only making yourself crazy. Just treat your hearing as a given. You've already heard from an ENT that you don't have hearing loss.

Be careful with Zoloft. It's an SSRI, and those actually have tinnitus as a known side effect. They don't HAVE to cause it, but it's documented. Are you sure you need this heavy a medication? SSRIs are no joke. I've been there, man, been through some really hard times this year, cried a lot and also got a prescription for an SSRI which I didn't end up taking. I considered myself a clinical case and I still have my ups and downs, but in the end, discipline, doing nice things, friends and getting sleep are going a long way. I know that making salads, taking walks in the park and watching a good movie sounds like a dumb advice in the moment, but give it a go and force yourself - if you feel better, your tinnitus will get better, too. Think three times before taking antidepressants. Have you tried therapy? If you're anxious all the time, you may also want to try something weaker first - herbal stuff perhaps, breathing exercises, stuff like that. You know the 4 second breathing technique? Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold it in for 4 seconds, breathe out for four seconds, rinse and repeat. Calms me down a bit.

It's very well possible that you need to change something about your life and that that would help you loads. Do you have anything in particular you feel you need to get away from, or change? Go through and consider everything. Is it your job? Do you feel you're lonely? Alcohol, drug abuse? Something in your family? Anything that's wrong in your life needs fixing. Even small things, like falling asleep with your computer's screen in front of you - why not try taking a calming book to bed instead?

It sounds like you might be the type of person who relies on immediate effect and satisfaction a lot (I know I do, and you checking your ears all the time gives a clue here), meaning that if something doesn't immediately help with your tinnitus, you consider it a failure, but you'll need to accept the fact that progress may be slow and barely noticeable in the immediate moment! These things take time - just as a depression takes time to heal, tinnitus takes its time to get better, too.

I wouldn't give up on the physiotherapy just yet. At least partly your tinnitus is dependant on your neck's position, which means that it's very well possible one of the causes is a wrong back/neck position (jaw issues can cause it, too, btw). Again, those take their sweet time to correct! Years of bad posture aren't just gone in a week. Just an aside, even should it not help with your tinnitus, fixing your posture is most definitely a good idea. If you feel the kind of therapy you are doing is not helping though, consider talking to your doctor/therapist and trying something else. There's different kinds of physio. Have you been to an orthopedic, or did you just straight go to your therapist? An orthopedic could do an x-ray and see if there is something obviously wrong with your spine.

Don't indulge in things that worsen your anxiety for now, like watching heavy movies or listening to dark music. It has more of an effect on us than we sometimes like to admit! If you're into rap at all, it definitely helps me along - there's so much inspirational hiphop out there, really teaches you to be stronger, helps you through the day. Things like that.

Do these things at once - it really really sounds like what you need to do ASAP is feel better inside. Tinnitus is something that's often caused by a whole plethora of circumstances, and being depressed definitely "helps". Treat this as a wake-up call. You can't go on crying and feeling miserable, and putting a brave face on it won't help in the long run, you need to address the causes. It takes work, man, it's like rewiring yourself - I'm talking actual, permanent change in the way you see things, the way you act, the things you do. Trust me, it will help!

Wow.... Thank you so much for your feedback.

Your observations are so accurate. I am very ocd and I suffer from anxiety a lot. It's not just this, but lots of things in my life just seem to go around and around in my head.... And I find it hard to get passed things especially when it comes to my health. I think some of it probably originates from seeing my mum get ill and passing away combined with my irrational fear of something similar happening to me. I just seem to get stuck mentally with these things.

I haven't worked in a while either, so I'm stuck at home mostly by myself. To be honest I'm single, and am basically lucky enough that I don't need to work. This was a conscious decision on my part. I thought it was what I wanted at the time but it's turning out to be difficult. Sometimes I feel isolated and trapped in myself. I do get out, I like to exercise, go eat and play Xbox. I thought I wanted a simple life withittle responsibility but it's ironic how it's turning out. It's definitely feeding into my anxieties an causing me to feel down. I need to get out more and take things easier. Most importantly I need to go back to work, and that's not because of tinnitus, it's more to do with my wellbeing in its entirety. I am definitely an introvert too.

I think that if I'm honest and look at this practically and rationally the "tinnitus" I have in both ears is not as bad as I perceive it to be. I know I am probably magnifying it X amount by continuing to focus and refocus on it over and over again. It's like a vicious circle.

The hissing in my left ear when I move my head etc is very real. I have been told that it is a muscle problem caused by sitting in front of a monitor for 40 to 80 hours a week for 20 years and that this somehow manifests itself as a hissing sound as it resolve when I put my head in a neutral position. Again I keep pressing my head and putting my neck in those certain positions to test if it's still there. Every time I do this I get stressed, depressed and anxious. I keep going around and around with this. It's like I'm stuck in a vicious circle. I know it sounds crazy but that's how it has been. I even convinced myself I have an acoustic neuroma But I have been told there should be unilateral hearing loss And a continue ringing which I don't have so far. Spending hours and days googling stuff is not healthy, even when the doctors tell me there is no need for any scans, I don't trust them. Again it sounds crazy.

I want to find a way passed this. Right now I'm sitting in a silent room writing this an I don't hear i because I am not searching for it.

Once again, thanks so much for your supportive comments. I really appreciate it!

 

[Neilpk]

The hiss you have when you move your neck, press your head or similar are normal in people with T, at least on some, because each one is a different case. I have those symptoms too .About medication, what I can tell you is I am dealing with it for almost 20 years with just some occasionally ginkgo biloba, with no results, so my believe is if you can deal with it without any pills would be better and believe me, my T it's a lot worse than your's.

Hi James Brown

Thanks for your comments.

I really appreciate it. I am sorry to hear of your issues too! You are a veteran!Does your T resolve when you put your head in a neutral position. Is it constant or intermittent? I am just wondering if you tried to do any physio work on your upper cervical spine, neck or back? Did you have any scans to rule out any issues? During your 20 years did it ever disappear? What kind of sound do you hear and I'd it in one ear or both?

I am really sorry I have so many questionS. I am just curious.

 

[Neilpk]

Welcome. Xynic provides some nice advise. I guess your T is very new. So my advice is to give it some time. Your reaction now is controlled by the limbic nerves which function in fight or flight mode and everything seems worse than they are, especially the new T sensation. Here is another support thread for a members with 5 months of T and some advice there about the habituation process can help if you understand what it takes to get better.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-for-5-months-will-it-go-away.10992/

Thanks Bilie!

 

[Xynic]

Neil,

I'm sorry to hear about your mom. I guess I don't need to tell you that shouldn't stop you from living your life.

I have OCD as well, and you'll be glad to hear that for most of the time, I very much keep it in check. This wasn't always like this - in the past, sometimes it was hard to walk the streets! (My OCD has a lot to do with magical thinking, meaning I have to walk back and perform a ritual many a time when it rears its head).

The vicious circle you are describing sounds very familiar as well. I realize that it doesn't seem easy to break through it, it's a circle after all, and keeps feeding itself. But that's definitely what it takes. You're absolutely right with your assumption that you're maginifying your tinnitus; from your description the tinnitus really doesn't sound all that bad. In fact this is the case generally - think about it, what's actually so bad about tinnitus? It's just another sound you can't turn off. What's bad is the anxious reaction to the tinnitus. Change that, and things will start to look up right away. You'll be interested to learn that there are many people who have quite strong tinnitus and have zero problems working, sitting in silent rooms, sleeping, and generally going about their lives. They don't even begin to assume they might have a problem. Chances are you know people like this, you just never knew they have tinnitus because it's never a topic. It may take time and a bit of a perspective change to get there, but it's most definitely possible.

Let me try to give you a bit of a different perspective here. You're in the lucky position to not have to work to survive - which means you can do whatever job you want. That's amazing! Most of us can't do that, or at least it's harder than in your case (never impossible, though). Look, you obviously have energy - otherwise you wouldn't invest so much of it into your OCD and your hypochondria. It really sounds like it's a great idea to apply your energy elsewhere. Exercising, going out to eat and such is great (have you been doing it much lately though? Perhaps you stopped doing it because of your going through hard times?) - maybe you should also consider picking up a larger project. If you want to find a job, find a job, that sounds awesome! - otherwise, if you don't need the money and change your mind, there will also be other things you could consider. Maybe you always wanted to study something particular, or you had some crazy idea it is now time to start realizing? Maybe volunterring to help others could be an option?

I know having an easy life with little responsibility sounds great in theory, but in practice it more often than not turns out that we humans need some sort of direction and goal to dedicate ourselves to to feel good about ourselves. Especially people with psychological profiles similar to yours or mine - they just tend to concentrate on ourselves and our woes, real or imagined (and you've already understood that tinnitus is sort of both) otherwise.

About the introvertedness. This is a bit of a tough one, because on the one hand, I don't want to be telling you what you are and what you are not. On the other hand, so much of what you're describing fits the bill that I at least want to try to inquire here - are you totally sure that an introvert is just what you are, and that you're happy on your own? I'll be frank with you here, some people really are, but those people's lives don't necessarily look like yours is looking right now. The truth is that very often, for one reason or another, we like to tell ourselves we're introverted and a loner - for one, it's a really convenient cop-out -, but we really aren't.

If you think that fits the bill, there are ways of meeting people, and meeting people helps, at least it helps me greatly. The easiest way to meet people is simply to meet them - like finding an event or simply a pub in your hood, going there and talking to someone. Perhaps this someone will not even want to talk with you. Perhaps they will think you're a freak. But you can do that - over and over again, until you run into someone cool. As I told you, I went through some tough times myself in the past months, so going outside had become hard. But now I'm doing it. Last night, I saw on Facebook that a listening event for a composer I like was taking place not far away from here, and a friend was attending. So instead of worrying how that would play with my tinnitus and ending up staying at home and watching a movie on my own as I had planned, I promptly decided to go down there. I had a good time, met my friend and two new people. These people will be in my life now, I'll see what they are doing on Facebook, next time I'll run into them we'll say hi and continue talking, at some point we might go to the movies together, or hang out at a lake. We might not. But it's new people, which means new experiences! This is part of what I mean by changing your habits and your life for the better. It's a small example of course, but nevertheless. You need to find out what works for you.

And get off the screen a bit!! It's an important one as well. You're seriously overdoing it, man, trust me!

Anyway, sorry about the long rant. I hope you don't think I'm being condescending. I just think I know the place you're at really well, and I wanna share how I got/am getting out of that place.

Lastly, I would highly recommend this post by Honey_Bee, which I found contains some really really excellent advice: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/3-months-in-and-going-strong.9747/

Okay, I need to run to my own physio now.

 

[James Brown]

Hi James Brown

Thanks for your comments.

I really appreciate it. I am sorry to hear of your issues too! You are a veteran!Does your T resolve when you put your head in a neutral position. Is it constant or intermittent? I am just wondering if you tried to do any physio work on your upper cervical spine, neck or back? Did you have any scans to rule out any issues? During your 20 years did it ever disappear? What kind of sound do you hear and I'd it in one ear or both?

I am really sorry I have so many questionS. I am just curious.

I have T 24 hours a day, I believe it was caused by noise trauma and for sure it was aggravate by noise trauma. A balloon who blew to close to my ear 3 years ago increased my T from a mild level to a high level that can be heard in all kinds of environment above all noises. I also have some cervical issues more present in the last five years. I believe it's a mix of all. I never tried to do any neck work.I am afraid to damage it more. When it was mild I had like a hiss just in the left ear. Now I have a hiss in the good days and a lot of noises in the bad days like crickets and other sounds. Now I have also a mild sound on my right ear, I wish my other ear could be like the right. I will not complain for sure. During my 20 years the sound never stopped except when I am sleeping and my brain like shutdown but when I wake up the sound awakes too.
I never had a scan, and i after some years, and 3 ENT visits I lost hope that this could go away.
Since we are in a Era of great evolution maybe one of this days someone can create a pill to end all this problem. Let's have some hope.