Hello! My name is Brittany, I'm 19 years old and my Tinnitus started early to mid January of this year (yeah, happy New Years to me right? haha). It all began with a cold that I had gotten shortly after Christmas. A few days later I noticed a loud drumming sound in my ears. Went to my family doctor and she said that I may have a sinus infection. I had a considerable amount of fluid but no infection, which she claimed may be the source of the drumming. Several days later it turned into ringing in my left ear. Called the ENT since it felt suicide inducing and a week later I got in. By that time my T felt more manageable...duller you could say? He told me that there was a little bit of fluid but that my eardrum was slightly caved in. He was pretty optimistic about the health of my ears, even stating that he wouldn't give me a hearing test because he was confident that I didn't need it. He diagnosed me with "Subjective Tinnitus," and said to return in a few weeks if the ringing didn't disappear. And that's where I currently am, just waiting. He said to take Sudafed and use nasal sprays (got ahold of some Sudafed yesterday, so we'll see) so I'm doing that.
My T is loud, I can hear it over almost everything else. Along with it is sound sensitivity and fullness, even ear pain sometimes. The headaches are terrible as well. I seem to have them in the same spot every time too. The "dullness" from that time has faded back to loudness. Music and white and pink noise seems to irritate it even more. The TV and youtube videos without music are bearable.
I'm not quite at terms with fully accepting it yet. A part of me wants to believe that maybe it'll go away, since I've heard stories of such things. The realist part of me knows that it probably won't and it makes me both depressed and enraged. Family and friends don't seem to get it. My mom admitted that she avoids the subject because it hurts her that she can't do anything for me. Others seem confident that it'll go away too and brush it off so I'm a little relieved that there's a forum like this where people DO understand, as unfortunate as that may be. I'm going to make another ENT appointment soon and hopefully he can transfer me to an expert that may offer me some kind of treatment.
As far as habituation goes, can someone tell me approximately how long it can take? I've heard anywhere from 6-18 months. I've also heard that tinnitus in one ear could be dangerous or something...hopefully that isn't the case!
Anyways, that's about it. I hope to connect with all of you and will be visiting this forum often since this information is a godsend! Hope you all have a great day and may a cure be found one day!
My T is loud, I can hear it over almost everything else. Along with it is sound sensitivity and fullness, even ear pain sometimes. The headaches are terrible as well. I seem to have them in the same spot every time too. The "dullness" from that time has faded back to loudness. Music and white and pink noise seems to irritate it even more. The TV and youtube videos without music are bearable.
I'm not quite at terms with fully accepting it yet. A part of me wants to believe that maybe it'll go away, since I've heard stories of such things. The realist part of me knows that it probably won't and it makes me both depressed and enraged. Family and friends don't seem to get it. My mom admitted that she avoids the subject because it hurts her that she can't do anything for me. Others seem confident that it'll go away too and brush it off so I'm a little relieved that there's a forum like this where people DO understand, as unfortunate as that may be. I'm going to make another ENT appointment soon and hopefully he can transfer me to an expert that may offer me some kind of treatment.
As far as habituation goes, can someone tell me approximately how long it can take? I've heard anywhere from 6-18 months. I've also heard that tinnitus in one ear could be dangerous or something...hopefully that isn't the case!
Anyways, that's about it. I hope to connect with all of you and will be visiting this forum often since this information is a godsend! Hope you all have a great day and may a cure be found one day!
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