Hello, my name is Clint. I've had Tinnitus since sometime in mid 2015 after spending an extended time practicing on my drums in a very loud room where I had the music blasting through a PA system. It was pretty much similar to how it is after you leave a concert and your ears are ringing for a few hours or even a day or two after. However, this time, it never went away. At first I felt like my life was screwed. I was so scared and didn't know what to do. While I never did post on this site, I spent many hours looking for hope from some success stories.
I can't remember exactly how long it took, but I do know that sometime within that first year, the volume of the tinnitus definitely got better. Hell, it could have been within months, I'm not sure. But, it never completely went away. I had to learn to sleep with background noises like the TV on and a fan blowing. The only time it was truly annoying was when I was in complete silence. So I learned to always try and make sure I had some background noise, which wasn't that difficult. Needless to say, while I would sometimes think about it and feel a little annoyed, I'd accepted it and learned to live with it. Well, just under a week ago, while just laying down and messing around on my laptop, out of nowhere, the volume got cranked up. I can't remember if it is just as bad or slightly worse than when it first started, but it DEFINITELY spiked.
I've been dealing with a back injury from a herniated disc for the last 2.5 months, which forced my supervisor to send me home from work. I am not allowed to go back without medical clearance. I've gone to a pain management doctor, a general practitioner, and physical therapy. I'm finally to a point to where I feel well enough to return to work, at LEAST on light duty, but now I am not able to get either one of my doctors to sign off on the paperwork my job requires. My holiday, vacation, and sick time have all been used up, and I am not allowed to return to work. I have no money coming in, now and don't know what to do. So needless to say, for the last 2.5 months, I have been highly stressed out. I read on here that stress can make tinnitus worse or cause spikes, but I'm not sure. Seems to be different for everybody.
But the craziest thing about it is that if I distract myself, it appears to go away completely. Like, if I'm sitting around my house, even with background noise, I can hear it ringing away. However, if I'm taking a shower, or paying close attention to a movie or video on youtube or whatever... if something has my mind occupied, the noise almost goes away completely. But the second I think about it again, I zone in on it and the volume jumps up again immediately. Now, I know thinking about it makes it worse, but it's hard not to think about it after you've had a recent spike. The only thing that REALLY has been bothering me is that any time I fall asleep, even if only for a few moments, I wake up with my head screaming. It doesn't last too long if I find a way to distract myself quickly, but it scares the hell out of me. I may try taking a shower as soon as I wake up every day as to try and distract myself right from the get go. Maybe try a new routine and go to the gym or SOMETHING to improve my overall health, because as unhealthy as I am, I am a prime candidate for Tinnitus.
I am a smoker, I spent many years around really loud music, as I am a drummer who plays extreme metal music. Granted, since this started a few years ago I have been very careful about being around noise that is excessively loud, and I use in-ear monitors now, which I should have been doing for the last 15 years. I am like 80ibs overweight, I drink multiple times per week as a coping mechanism, and have high blood pressure that I refuse to take meds for (because I'm only 30 and they refuse to ever take you OFF the medications), and I am a highly stressed individual. But all of that has been the case since before the Tinnitus originally started, so I don't know why it would just spike after over a few years of being relatively unchanging. I don't know... I'm just seriously hoping it goes back to the volume it was at before, because right now it really sucks. I know some people on here may have it a lot more severe, but it just sucks to know that at ANY moment, for seemingly no reason at all, it can just get worse.
Lastly, I did suffer from a cough and a sore throat for about a week before the Tinnitus got worse. Granted, I never had an ear ache, but I'm wondering if allergies could be playing a part in making it worse. And one thing that has always been strange is that ever since it started a few years ago, I almost ALWAYS feel pressure in both of my ears. Flexing the muscles around my jaws either increase or decrease the pressure, sometimes muffling my hearing completely until I am able to flex it back open. I know that may sound wack, it's hard to explain. Other times, it will seem to actually increase my hearing in one or both ears, which helps to reduce the Tinnitus a little. So needless to say, I'm constantly flexing my jaw muscles to try and help it, but sometimes it just makes it worse. Does anybody else experience this? It's not ear wax, because I've had both of my ears cleaned out twice in the last few years, and the last time was less than a week ago, so I know it's not wax build up.
Anyways, I'm sorry for my post being so long and probably unorganized. I'm just here awake at 5:30AM and can't sleep because I fell asleep for less than an hour around 1AM and woke up with my Tinnitus really loud, so I have been scared to go back to sleep. But I have to help my wife with a job at 9AM, so I don't know if I will be going back to sleep or not. I'm kind of scared to, even though sometimes it doesn't get worse. I just HATE it when it does. Just figured I'd throw my story out there.
Thanks for reading
I can't remember exactly how long it took, but I do know that sometime within that first year, the volume of the tinnitus definitely got better. Hell, it could have been within months, I'm not sure. But, it never completely went away. I had to learn to sleep with background noises like the TV on and a fan blowing. The only time it was truly annoying was when I was in complete silence. So I learned to always try and make sure I had some background noise, which wasn't that difficult. Needless to say, while I would sometimes think about it and feel a little annoyed, I'd accepted it and learned to live with it. Well, just under a week ago, while just laying down and messing around on my laptop, out of nowhere, the volume got cranked up. I can't remember if it is just as bad or slightly worse than when it first started, but it DEFINITELY spiked.
I've been dealing with a back injury from a herniated disc for the last 2.5 months, which forced my supervisor to send me home from work. I am not allowed to go back without medical clearance. I've gone to a pain management doctor, a general practitioner, and physical therapy. I'm finally to a point to where I feel well enough to return to work, at LEAST on light duty, but now I am not able to get either one of my doctors to sign off on the paperwork my job requires. My holiday, vacation, and sick time have all been used up, and I am not allowed to return to work. I have no money coming in, now and don't know what to do. So needless to say, for the last 2.5 months, I have been highly stressed out. I read on here that stress can make tinnitus worse or cause spikes, but I'm not sure. Seems to be different for everybody.
But the craziest thing about it is that if I distract myself, it appears to go away completely. Like, if I'm sitting around my house, even with background noise, I can hear it ringing away. However, if I'm taking a shower, or paying close attention to a movie or video on youtube or whatever... if something has my mind occupied, the noise almost goes away completely. But the second I think about it again, I zone in on it and the volume jumps up again immediately. Now, I know thinking about it makes it worse, but it's hard not to think about it after you've had a recent spike. The only thing that REALLY has been bothering me is that any time I fall asleep, even if only for a few moments, I wake up with my head screaming. It doesn't last too long if I find a way to distract myself quickly, but it scares the hell out of me. I may try taking a shower as soon as I wake up every day as to try and distract myself right from the get go. Maybe try a new routine and go to the gym or SOMETHING to improve my overall health, because as unhealthy as I am, I am a prime candidate for Tinnitus.
I am a smoker, I spent many years around really loud music, as I am a drummer who plays extreme metal music. Granted, since this started a few years ago I have been very careful about being around noise that is excessively loud, and I use in-ear monitors now, which I should have been doing for the last 15 years. I am like 80ibs overweight, I drink multiple times per week as a coping mechanism, and have high blood pressure that I refuse to take meds for (because I'm only 30 and they refuse to ever take you OFF the medications), and I am a highly stressed individual. But all of that has been the case since before the Tinnitus originally started, so I don't know why it would just spike after over a few years of being relatively unchanging. I don't know... I'm just seriously hoping it goes back to the volume it was at before, because right now it really sucks. I know some people on here may have it a lot more severe, but it just sucks to know that at ANY moment, for seemingly no reason at all, it can just get worse.
Lastly, I did suffer from a cough and a sore throat for about a week before the Tinnitus got worse. Granted, I never had an ear ache, but I'm wondering if allergies could be playing a part in making it worse. And one thing that has always been strange is that ever since it started a few years ago, I almost ALWAYS feel pressure in both of my ears. Flexing the muscles around my jaws either increase or decrease the pressure, sometimes muffling my hearing completely until I am able to flex it back open. I know that may sound wack, it's hard to explain. Other times, it will seem to actually increase my hearing in one or both ears, which helps to reduce the Tinnitus a little. So needless to say, I'm constantly flexing my jaw muscles to try and help it, but sometimes it just makes it worse. Does anybody else experience this? It's not ear wax, because I've had both of my ears cleaned out twice in the last few years, and the last time was less than a week ago, so I know it's not wax build up.
Anyways, I'm sorry for my post being so long and probably unorganized. I'm just here awake at 5:30AM and can't sleep because I fell asleep for less than an hour around 1AM and woke up with my Tinnitus really loud, so I have been scared to go back to sleep. But I have to help my wife with a job at 9AM, so I don't know if I will be going back to sleep or not. I'm kind of scared to, even though sometimes it doesn't get worse. I just HATE it when it does. Just figured I'd throw my story out there.
Thanks for reading
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