New Guy and Long Term Condition

[Michael Murray]

Hello,


I stumbled across this forum and just joined. I have been dealing with this noise for about 20 years, maybe more. I am only 43, but I had early ear infections, military duty, etc... I also take some pain meds for my spine.

sometimes, I can be listening to someone and the tinnitus can get to a loud hum to the point I can barely hear, but it is rare and in short durations. i hope to find answers here.

 

[Hudson]

Hello,


I stumbled across this forum and just joined. I have been dealing with this noise for about 20 years, maybe more. I am only 43, but I had early ear infections, military duty, etc... I also take some pain meds for my spine.

sometimes, I can be listening to someone and the tinnitus can get to a loud hum to the point I can barely hear, but it is rare and in short durations. i hope to find answers here.

@Michael Murray

Hey! Welcome to our forum. It sounds like you've been dealing with tinnitus for quite a long time. It also sounds like the usual suspects (ear infections, noise exposure in the military) are probably to blame for your experiences. I've had tinnitus now for over 10 years myself as well.

Do you have a solid, constant noise? Then you also get the "fleeting" tinnitus as you describe, that goes away after a bit? I have the same issue. I have my constant "hiss-static" like tinnitus, and then occasionally, I get the loud intermittent tinnitus as well, which goes away after a a few seconds to a couple minutes. I don't think that's anything to get terribly concerned about. I remember having ear ringing bouts like that long before I had my constant tinnitus induced from noise exposure, and I never had ear infections or anything to warrant a description of damaged ears as a young person. I think that those periodic extra tinnitus occurrences are completely normal. I know lots of people who don't have chronic tinnitus that have told me they experience them. I've read in the past that many of those episodes may be due to pressure changes in the middle ear.

I'm no doc though, that's just what I've read, hear from other people and experienced myself. Have you had an audiogram? How are you coping with your "constant" tinnitus?

As I said earlier, welcome to our forum. We're a great community for support and information here, if that's what you're looking for!

Hudson

 

[Michael Murray]

Hudson, thanks for the warm welcome. I didn't know others get that temporary loud hum or lower frequency ring also. When it first happened, I thought something bad was happening and it scared me. I learned to just deal with it. I have had bouts for a few minutes or more than once in one day, but it is still not often. It is nice to know others know what I mean.

I constantly experience a high pitch ring, with some lower level hissing... mostly a ringing in both ears. I had a hearing test about 2 years ago. I lost the sensitivity to higher freq. and some mid-range. They let me try hearing aids which had a tinnitus therapy program in it (using tones). it was great to basically turn up the treble, but the worst was turning the expensive hearing aids back in - they were not covered by insurance. They were masking the tinnitus so well that it made me realize how strong and load it really is. Now, I am used to it again. I guess I learn to ignore it and focus on other things. I have to!

I hope to learn something here and I am currently trying out mynoise.net thanks to this forum.