Massive Improvements After a Year of Tinnitus

[Mr Worried]

Incoming wall of text

So in late August 2017 I was hit with a very strong case of tinnitus, strong ETD and crazy hypercausis that drove me absolutely insane. I had absolutely no idea what caused it, and antibiotics weren't improving my situation, so I was pretty much screwed and dreaded the idea of living with hell's soundtrack for the rest of my life. From time to time I would notice a coincidence here and there that made me think I had found the cause of my tinnitus (for example I had temporary relief when I avoided foods with salicylates), but it always came back not long after. I got my first break about two months after onset when hyperacusis finally vanished, and another break in December+January where tinnitus as a whole was a lot weaker, but it came back with an absolute vengeance from early February onwards.

My next suspicion was a blood sugar issue, because whenever I snacked it up, my tinnitus would spike really hard for days, so I went ahead with a blood test to find out if I had some kind of pre diabetes issue or something. The results came back negative, and I was happy to know that I didn't have to deal with diabetes, but one of the blood tests found something I wasn't expecting. A strong allergy to dust mites (or rather dust mite shit), which I never suspected in a million years. It explained so much, because in 2017 I had moved into student housing close to my university, and this place has carpets and an old-ish mattress while my previous house didn't have carpets and had a new mattress. I think I also remember sleeping on the floor for a few days around the time of my tinnitus onset as well, which probably made me breathe in a gigantic amount of allergens that kicked off my tinnitus to begin with.

Naturally once I learned about this allergy I went ahead and bought some allergy bedsheets to stop dust mite allergens spreading from my bed and into the air, and I vacuumed the carpets at least 20 times (which was pretty gross, because I literally could have built a small snowman with the amount of dust I recovered out of this damn place). I also now keep all the windows open to make sure there's decent airflow with the outside world to try and flush out whatever builds up in the air. Within a week my tinnitus was noticeably reduced, and by two weeks later it was about 95% reduced. It's been nearly two months since I made these changes and things have been GREAT.

-ETD almost completely gone
-Tinnitus only about 5% of its former strength and I can sleep without a white noise machine now
-Hearing in general is a far better
-Don't feel anywhere near as irritable
-Snacking still spikes it a tiny bit, but not enough to care about

The only downside really is that I still have to live in this cruddy apartment until at least next march, so I don't think I'll be able to kill off tinnitus completely until I get away from bad carpets and mattresses for good. Now that tinnitus is pretty much defeated, I only have to worry about bad eye floaters, but at least there's an operation for that.

It's finally over

t. mr not so worried

 

[threefirefour]

Congrats on losing most of your tinnitus. I can't wait to get to that point myself ^_^

The floaters suck but yeah there's options. I'm thinking about a laser treatment.

 

[Deamon22]

Congrats man i'm also doing an allergy test later this year.

 

[Mr Worried]

Congrats on losing most of your tinnitus. I can't wait to get to that point myself ^_^

thank you, fren

You'll reach that glorious place one day, either with the aid of something like fx322, or by discovering a menace in your life that's causing it. I'm positive that you won't have to live with it for much longer

The floaters suck but yeah there's options. I'm thinking about a laser treatment.

Young people are almost never advised to get lazer for floaters, because theirs are usually very tiny and sit very close to the retina, which is just far too dangerous to target. I've seen a lot of young people talk about their lazer results on floatertalk (basically the tinnitustalk forum for floaters), and overall most seem to be unhappy with how it turned out.
Floater only vitrectomy surgery is pretty much your only option as a young guy, but I'd wait for the new hypersonic vitrector tool to be released in the coming years (I think I posted about this in MPP, or some other thread here). It will make the surgery so much less risky than it currently is.

Congrats man i'm also doing an allergy test later this year.

Good luck! Hopefully your results are as life changing as they were to me

 

[threefirefour]

thank you, fren

You'll reach that glorious place one day, either with the aid of something like fx322, or by discovering a menace in your life that's causing it. I'm positive that you won't have to live with it for much longer



Young people are almost never advised to get lazer for floaters, because theirs are usually very tiny and sit very close to the retina, which is just far too dangerous to target. I've seen a lot of young people talk about their lazer results on floatertalk (basically the tinnitustalk forum for floaters), and overall most seem to be unhappy with how it turned out.
Floater only vitrectomy surgery is pretty much your only option as a young guy, but I'd wait for the new hypersonic vitrector tool to be released in the coming years (I think I posted about this in MPP, or some other thread here). It will make the surgery so much less risky than it currently is.



Good luck! Hopefully your results are as life changing as they were to me

Wow you know more about floaters than I do. Yeah please post about that thing on MPP it would be great.

I'm holding out for the tinnitus device, I think I can wait for this too.

 

[Contrast]

Incoming wall of text

So in late August 2017 I was hit with a very strong case of tinnitus, strong ETD and crazy hypercausis that drove me absolutely insane. I had absolutely no idea what caused it, and antibiotics weren't improving my situation, so I was pretty much screwed and dreaded the idea of living with hell's soundtrack for the rest of my life. From time to time I would notice a coincidence here and there that made me think I had found the cause of my tinnitus (for example I had temporary relief when I avoided foods with salicylates), but it always came back not long after. I got my first break about two months after onset when hyperacusis finally vanished, and another break in December+January where tinnitus as a whole was a lot weaker, but it came back with an absolute vengeance from early February onwards.

My next suspicion was a blood sugar issue, because whenever I snacked it up, my tinnitus would spike really hard for days, so I went ahead with a blood test to find out if I had some kind of pre diabetes issue or something. The results came back negative, and I was happy to know that I didn't have to deal with diabetes, but one of the blood tests found something I wasn't expecting. A strong allergy to dust mites (or rather dust mite shit), which I never suspected in a million years. It explained so much, because in 2017 I had moved into student housing close to my university, and this place has carpets and an old-ish mattress while my previous house didn't have carpets and had a new mattress. I think I also remember sleeping on the floor for a few days around the time of my tinnitus onset as well, which probably made me breathe in a gigantic amount of allergens that kicked off my tinnitus to begin with.

Naturally once I learned about this allergy I went ahead and bought some allergy bedsheets to stop dust mite allergens spreading from my bed and into the air, and I vacuumed the carpets at least 20 times (which was pretty gross, because I literally could have built a small snowman with the amount of dust I recovered out of this damn place). I also now keep all the windows open to make sure there's decent airflow with the outside world to try and flush out whatever builds up in the air. Within a week my tinnitus was noticeably reduced, and by two weeks later it was about 95% reduced. It's been nearly two months since I made these changes and things have been GREAT.

-ETD almost completely gone
-Tinnitus only about 5% of its former strength and I can sleep without a white noise machine now
-Hearing in general is a far better
-Don't feel anywhere near as irritable
-Snacking still spikes it a tiny bit, but not enough to care about

The only downside really is that I still have to live in this cruddy apartment until at least next march, so I don't think I'll be able to kill off tinnitus completely until I get away from bad carpets and mattresses for good. Now that tinnitus is pretty much defeated, I only have to worry about bad eye floaters, but at least there's an operation for that.

View attachment 21330

It's finally over

t. mr not so worried

Was the hyperacusis painful?

did the hyperacusis go away?

 

[Shelly75]

I've had vitrectomies in both eyes for very bad floaters - best thing I ever did in my life, completely solved the problem. Wish there was an equivalent for T!

 

[Mr Worried]

Was the hyperacusis painful?

did the hyperacusis go away?

Wow, didn't realize I was spelling it wrong all this time.

Yeah it was very painful. Even small disturbances like tapping a fork on a bench would not only hurt, but cause my eardrum to physically spasm. All of its symptoms vanished in October-ish without a trace or any sign of return.

I've had vitrectomies in both eyes for very bad floaters - best thing I ever did in my life, completely solved the problem. Wish there was an equivalent for T!

I envy you

Floaters have probably caused me a lot more suffering than T, but at least I can simply close my eyes when I need a break from them, unlike T. I think I'll probably undergo the operation after graduation.

Wow you know more about floaters than I do

I'm basically the @Contrast of eye floaters

I've fished the internet completely dry for all floater information, because I've suffered from them for a decade now.

 

[threefirefour]

Wow, didn't realize I was spelling it wrong all this time.

Yeah it was very painful. Even small disturbances like tapping a fork on a bench would not only hurt, but cause my eardrum to physically spasm. All of its symptoms vanished in October-ish without a trace or any sign of return.



I envy you

Floaters have probably caused me a lot more suffering than T, but at least I can simply close my eyes when I need a break from them, unlike T. I think I'll probably undergo the operation after graduation.



I'm basically the @Contrast of eye floaters

I've fished the internet completely dry for all floater information, because I've suffered from them for a decade now.

Yeah floaters are AIDs. Thanks for your knowledge.

 

[Shelly75]

Get the FOVS done!
I tried Laser first with no improvement whatsoever. FOV is life changing!

 

[Contrast]

Wow, didn't realize I was spelling it wrong all this time.

Yeah it was very painful. Even small disturbances like tapping a fork on a bench would not only hurt, but cause my eardrum to physically spasm. All of its symptoms vanished in October-ish without a trace or any sign of return.



I envy you

Floaters have probably caused me a lot more suffering than T, but at least I can simply close my eyes when I need a break from them, unlike T. I think I'll probably undergo the operation after graduation.



I'm basically the @Contrast of eye floaters

I've fished the internet completely dry for all floater information, because I've suffered from them for a decade now.

thanks good to know!

 

[threefirefour]

Get the FOVS done!
I tried Laser first with no improvement whatsoever. FOV is life changing!

Thank you for the advice. I'll definitely look at it.

 

[PetitGarsTimide]

It's finally over

t. mr not so worried

I promised myself I wasn't gonna cry

 

[glynis]

@Mr Worried ,
It is so good to hear a member is doing so well and it looks like you found the cause of your tinnitus.
Well done and hope you can now enjoy your life better and keep earplugs handy if you should ever need them.
love glynis

 

[Lane]

I only have to worry about bad eye floaters, but at least there's an operation for that

Really? There's an operation for eye floaters? Would be interested to hear more.

BTW, congratulations on tracking down the cause of your tinnitus, and then having it reduce by 95%. That amazing!

 

[Mr Worried]

Really? There's an operation for eye floaters? Would be interested to hear more.

BTW, congratulations on tracking down the cause of your tinnitus, and then having it reduce by 95%. That amazing!

tyty

Yes there's a surgery for floaters called a Vitrectomy, which involves sucking out most of the vitreous (IE the jelly) in the eye and replacing it with a clear saline solution. It's not advised for people with bearable floaters, because it comes with its own risks and problems at somewhat significant rates. Last I calculated after reading a boatload of reports on the matter, there was a 2-5% chance of a serious complication and a 15-20% chance of a minor complication after the surgery. Having said that, if floaters are seriously destroying your life, at least you've got this option which will succeed the overwhelming majority of the time.

Here's a highlight video of the surgery (warning for the squeamish. It involves eyes getting jabbed by large needles)

 

[Shelly75]

When you have a consultation they talk through the chances of all kinds of things happening and give you the likelihood for each event. The chance of going blind following the operation which is what everyone obviously fears most is around 1/100,000. Most of the other things that can happen are remediable. I had a leak and hypotony after my right eye which can lead to blindness if it's not fixed but it was fixed within hours and my eyesight is perfect now. The surgeons who perform these operations are literally doing hundreds of them a month. You can look up each surgeons success rate too to see what rate of complications they have. When you read about FOV it's scary and puts you off but thousands of people have it done everyday for various other eye complaints. It's a very safe and successful operation. I had both mine done 5 years ago. My mum saw my surgeon recently to see about having her floaters done and he told her that the improvements in equipment and technique even in 5 years mean that it's even safer and less risky again now. Google Niall Patton Floaters and listen to him speak about it. If they are making your life a misery as they were mine (I had hundreds of the bloody things!) I would seriously consider it

 

[rach125]

Excellent news that your T has gone away. Where are you based? how did you get the blood test to identify if you have blood sugar issues?

 

[TheDanishGirl]

thank you, fren

You'll reach that glorious place one day, either with the aid of something like fx322, or by discovering a menace in your life that's causing it. I'm positive that you won't have to live with it for much longer



Young people are almost never advised to get lazer for floaters, because theirs are usually very tiny and sit very close to the retina, which is just far too dangerous to target. I've seen a lot of young people talk about their lazer results on floatertalk (basically the tinnitustalk forum for floaters), and overall most seem to be unhappy with how it turned out.
Floater only vitrectomy surgery is pretty much your only option as a young guy, but I'd wait for the new hypersonic vitrector tool to be released in the coming years (I think I posted about this in MPP, or some other thread here). It will make the surgery so much less risky than it currently is.



Good luck! Hopefully your results are as life changing as they were to me

Could you link to that post? I would love to read it. I have a fairly bad case of floaters (not just tiny dots) at 32 years old, and I think at some point I will choose to have surgery for it.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

Get the FOVS done!
I tried Laser first with no improvement whatsoever. FOV is life changing!

I really want to have it done but I am not sure I will ever afford it. But I am saving up and hope one day it will be possible.

I contacted a clinic and the price is 5500 euro's for each eye, so 11000 euro's for both eyes (I have the floaters on both eyes) very expensive!

 

[Shelly75]

I think I paid around £4000 each eye, it was less to have it done under sedation but I wasn't brave enough so I paid more to have an anaesthetist to knock me out! Maybe about £3000 each eye I think it was if done under sedation

 

[Shelly75]

Mine were bad too. I had something that looked like a black sea creature/octopus in my right eye and hundreds of blobs and circles and lines in both eyes

 

[Lane]

I have a fairly bad case of floaters (not just tiny dots) at 32 years old, and I think at some point I will choose to have surgery for it.

Hi @TheDanishGirl

Until that day of surgery arrives, you might want to check out herbal eyewashes. They've been known to improve all every kind of eye ailment that exists; and as I recall, floaters as well. I believe it was herbalist Dr. John Christopher that popularized them, and there's current an herbal tincture that is sold specifically for eyewashes. -- Just a thought, in case you have an interest.

Below is a snippet from THIS ARTICLE (which doesn't specifically mention eyewashes). Natural care for all kinds of eye issues is a very broad topic, but the what's written below encapsulates a variety of things that are involved, and indicates that natural remedies can indeed be effective. -- Best!
-
"I've worked with some very fine ophthalmologists on patients who have annoying floaters. With treatment in the form of diet, herbs, acupuncture and qigong many floaters are substantially reduced or eliminated. The treatment includes cleansing and detoxification protocols, herbal and nutritional therapies, acupuncture, and energy exercises like qigong and tai chi. I instruct my patients in eye exercises and eye massage as well as appropriate lifestyle choices. Here are some of my recommendations - I hope they help you maintain good vision well into your golden years."

 

[TheDanishGirl]

I think I paid around £4000 each eye, it was less to have it done under sedation but I wasn't brave enough so I paid more to have an anaesthetist to knock me out! Maybe about £3000 each eye I think it was if done under sedation

I also spoke with someone in here who provided me with a link to the clinic I contacted and he said it was much cheaper when he had the FOV done at that clinic some years ago. It was around 3500 euro for him as well. Price seems to have gone up.

Mine is not as bad as yours sounded like. I think mine is a more moderate case, but it has gotten worse in the 10+ years I have had the floaters so I suspect it will continue to get worse and I will eventually end up with a severe case, that I would want fixed.

 

[Shelly75]

I also spoke with someone in here who provided me with a link to the clinic I contacted and he said it was much cheaper when he had the FOV done at that clinic some years ago. It was around 3500 euro for him as well. Price seems to have gone up.

Mine is not as bad as yours sounded like. I think mine is a more moderate case, but it has gotten worse in the 10+ years I have had the floaters so I suspect it will continue to get worse and I will eventually end up with a severe case, that I would want fixed.

They drive you crazy don't they!

 

[TheDanishGirl]

They drive you crazy don't they!

Yes, occasionally they do. Not every single day, but pretty often still.....sometimes they are just an annoyance. But in generel, I hate them very much.

 

[Mr Worried]

Could you link to that post? I would love to read it. I have a fairly bad case of floaters (not just tiny dots) at 32 years old, and I think at some point I will choose to have surgery for it.

I'll just rewrite it here, because I was very brief in the other thread and there seems like a bit more interest here.

So basically vitrectomy has been around since the 70s, and it has essentially used the exact same surgical tool made back then, only they've made it smaller and safer since. Now while the vitreous gel in the eye is very "jelly" like, it's actually packed full of proteins that make it very thread like in a way, which can cause issues during the surgery. The current vitrector tool works by sucking this thread like jelly into the tool, cutting it off like a guillotine, and then sucking it away. This can cause a lot of tugging like motion within the eye that can lead to retinal tears or even retinal detatchment.

Now the new hypersonic vitrector tool works completely differently. Instead of the old guillotine like cutter, the new tools tip vibrates extremely fast to the point where the thread like jelly is liquified and can easily be sucked up. Without all that tugging motion within the eye, the chances of retinal tears or detatchment should be lowered dramatically. I haven't followed the news for it in about a year (thanks to T turning my life upside down), but last I checked they were in the human testing phase and were doing great. A quick google search right now has just shown me that a company making these new instruments has been given the green light to sell them for use in Europe, so I assume the human tests concluded with positive results. Considering you're from Denmark, that sounds like some pretty great news for you

source: http://www.bausch.com/our-company/recent-news/id/2402/182018-monday


and here's a video of the new tool in use compared to the old one. Notice how the currents and motions within the eye on the left clip are far more aggressive than the other



hope this helps

 

[Deamon22]

@Mr Worried Damn thats super interesting. Right now i have just about 1-2 floaters in each eye so i just see them on bright screens or when looking in the sky and they don´t bother me. However since i don´t know how they behave in the coming years it´s nice to know there will maybe be a save option later on.

 

[TheDanishGirl]

I'll just rewrite it here, because I was very brief in the other thread and there seems like a bit more interest here.

So basically vitrectomy has been around since the 70s, and it has essentially used the exact same surgical tool made back then, only they've made it smaller and safer since. Now while the vitreous gel in the eye is very "jelly" like, it's actually packed full of proteins that make it very thread like in a way, which can cause issues during the surgery. The current vitrector tool works by sucking this thread like jelly into the tool, cutting it off like a guillotine, and then sucking it away. This can cause a lot of tugging like motion within the eye that can lead to retinal tears or even retinal detatchment.

Now the new hypersonic vitrector tool works completely differently. Instead of the old guillotine like cutter, the new tools tip vibrates extremely fast to the point where the thread like jelly is liquified and can easily be sucked up. Without all that tugging motion within the eye, the chances of retinal tears or detatchment should be lowered dramatically. I haven't followed the news for it in about a year (thanks to T turning my life upside down), but last I checked they were in the human testing phase and were doing great. A quick google search right now has just shown me that a company making these new instruments has been given the green light to sell them for use in Europe, so I assume the human tests concluded with positive results. Considering you're from Denmark, that sounds like some pretty great news for you

source: http://www.bausch.com/our-company/recent-news/id/2402/182018-monday


and here's a video of the new tool in use compared to the old one. Notice how the currents and motions within the eye on the left clip are far more aggressive than the other



hope this helps

That was very well explained, and sounds like great news!

Thank you very much

 

[Mr Worried]

I have made a huge mistake.

Tinnitus returned last monday, and it's 100% my fault. I had a decently large genetics assignment to get through on the weekend, and I ate a large amount of chocolate (2x200g blocks I think) over the weekend to stay energized enough to power through it. T returned the next morning at full strength. No other snacks over the past month have made it increase this much, so I guess I got a little too overconfident.

I have no idea what the f my bodies issue with chocolate is, but it looks like if I want to remove T forever, I'm going to have to avoid chocolate for life (is that even living?).