New to Forum, not to Tinnitus

[CallaLily]

Hello everyone!
I was recommended to join this forum by another Tinnitus sufferer from a health forum and I joined this evening.

A bit about me - I started experiencing ringing in my ears in 2009, I had had ear problems, infections etc., as a child resulting in a few operations to repair ear drums and inside my ears. Apparently many of the small bones inside have disintegrated, there is a lot of scar tissue and my hearing has been affected badly in my right ear and my hearing in my left ear gets me by thankfully but that isn't great either.

My Tinnitus slowly got worse and worse and today it drives me nuts! During the day I can distract myself but I am always aware of it. At night it's at it's worst - ringing, high pitched shrieks, incessant noise. I also get a pumping, thumping heart beat sound when I put my head on my pillow when I am lying on my side trying to get to sleep.

I have been to my GP about it but was told to give it more time as I have been recently widowed and she thinks the upset has worsened my Tinnitus. Time will tell I suppose.

I also have Fibromyalgia, I was diagnosed in 2009. It can be very restricting but I am learning to adapt and make the most of my life. It's all about pacing myself, resting in between and using my energy sensibly, exercising and keeping active and positive too.

I live in the South of England, UK and hope to make new friends here who understand how awful this condition is but also that life goes on and we have to make the most of it in spite of the noise we constantly hear.

Blessings to all!

Calla

 

[Robert44]

CallaLily

Hi take care of your ears. No caffeine, Advil, Aspirin or loud sounds. get ear plugs. Don't take naps during the day so you'll be tired at night. reduce salt intake. I feel your pain . your not alone . good luck .

 

[Davo]

Hang in there - everyone else here is! Personally it has gotten better, much better. First up find yourself a very good audiologist - shop around. You need support and deserve to get it. For me stress and lack of sleep make my tinitus worse so I try to safe guard against those. Maybe the stress has made it worse? In any case, don't isolate yourself from the people and things you love. Reach out. David

 

[billie48]

Welcome @CallaLily and please don't panic nor despair. Stress and anxiety or panic are toxic to T. Sorry about your spouse. Loss of love ones is a known cause for sudden flare up of T. The lady janitor in our office told me that she had T many years ago and it was after suffering major grief when her mom passed away. She was feeling bad enough about her T to see the doctor. What else would her doctor say? Learn to live with it, of course. She had no choice but to move on and after a while she habituated to her T and she said she wasn't aware of it most of the day. But up to now, she still has a sound machine by her bed side to help her sleep. So people do use masking actively, and the quiet bedroom where you slow down and without any distractions is where T can become very noticeable. That is why people, even veterans of T want to use some background sounds to focus on other sounds than T. During my worst time, I had full day of masking, like using a sound machine at bed time, ipod on the go, PC at work and at home loaded with a free sound generator 'aire freshener' to mask my ultra high pitch T. With my ultra high pitch T, I need nature sounds in high frequency, such as heavy & continuous rain sound, continuous crashing waves, waterfalls, showers, even squeaky faucet sounds. For insect sounds, cricket can't do it for me. I need cicada continuously to mask. White noise is also not good enough. Blue or violet noises are more up there in my frequency. So masking saved my life, you can say. Without masking, my nerves would have caved in easily to the horrible high pitch dog whistle T I have and I would need to use more meds. Give it time. The body can learn to adapt to the high pitch ringing. I used to be in a mess when my T screamed. Not longer. My body has hardened to that sound. Now I can face it and don't need masking most of the time.

You can use the masking sounds on this TT thread too and they are very good for different pitches of T:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

If your T is following your heart beats, you may be having pulsatile T. @Karen is a notable member here who is the best person to ask questions on PT if you ever need to. Take good care.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Calla Lilly, and welcome! I agree with the others' comments above. We understand how you feel, and hope we can be supportive to you as you deal with this affliction that we all share.

I thought I'd comment about the possibility that you have pulsatile tinnitus, since I have both tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus, too. There are many possible causes for pulsatile tinnitus, but in your case, it might be due to thinning of the temporal bone. You might want to go to an ear specialist to have your ears checked, and to be tested if they deem it necessary. Thinning of the temporal bone can be detected by a CT scan of the area. I'm no doctor, but since you've had scarring, etc., that could be a possibility.

We're glad you've joined us, and wish you well!!

Best wishes,
Karen

 

[July23]

Welcome @CallaLily and please don't panic nor despair. Stress and anxiety or panic are toxic to T. Sorry about your spouse. Loss of love ones is a known cause for sudden flare up of T. The lady janitor in our office told me that she had T many years ago and it was after suffering major grief when her mom passed away. She was feeling bad enough about her T to see the doctor. What else would her doctor say? Learn to live with it, of course. She had no choice but to move on and after a while she habituated to her T and she said she wasn't aware of it most of the day. But up to now, she still has a sound machine by her bed side to help her sleep. So people do use masking actively, and the quiet bedroom where you slow down and without any distractions is where T can become very noticeable. That is why people, even veterans of T want to use some background sounds to focus on other sounds than T. During my worst time, I had full day of masking, like using a sound machine at bed time, ipod on the go, PC at work and at home loaded with a free sound generator 'aire freshener' to mask my ultra high pitch T. With my ultra high pitch T, I need nature sounds in high frequency, such as heavy & continuous rain sound, continuous crashing waves, waterfalls, showers, even squeaky faucet sounds. For insect sounds, cricket can't do it for me. I need cicada continuously to mask. White noise is also not good enough. Blue or violet noises are more up there in my frequency. So masking saved my life, you can say. Without masking, my nerves would have caved in easily to the horrible high pitch dog whistle T I have and I would need to use more meds. Give it time. The body can learn to adapt to the high pitch ringing. I used to be in a mess when my T screamed. Not longer. My body has hardened to that sound. Now I can face it and don't need masking most of the time.

You can use the masking sounds on this TT thread too and they are very good for different pitches of T:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

If your T is following your heart beats, you may be having pulsatile T. @Karen is a notable member here who is the best person to ask questions on PT if you ever need to. Take good care.

Hi Sunshine,

I had my tinnitus from 2009, then after the specific depression, in about 8-10 month and with TRT help, I manage to forgot about him. I realize, when this new sound hit me, 3 weeks ago, that I wasn't thinking about it from years, maybe some time to time when I was tired and the T was louder. But now, 3 weeks ago, with no possible explanation, the noise from my right ear became very very high pitch. Not necessarily louder but sharper, almost impossible to cover with external noise, i hear this in my head all the time, and the white noise in not good anymore, like last time.
Can I also use with this new sound? Now seems impossible!!
July23

 

[billie48]

Sunshine? LOL. Thanks anyway. Sorry about your struggle @July23. Your sudden spike in pitch after many years of stability is quite similar to what Dr. Nagler told us about his latest spike. He said he has to go through TRT again to get used to the new sound. Here is his thread talking about what he has to do with TRT again.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/my-tinnitus-has-changed.8372/

If white noise can't mask your T, how about blue and violet noises? They are higher frequency than white. How about squeaky faucet sound or cicadas? You can use this TT link for the various sounds (click on the audio player), or you can search youtube with tinnitus masking, or simply type in faucet sound to see if you will find some sounds which can help.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

 

[July23]

Thanks billie 48, in this moment, for me, seems impossible to habituate with this new sound. They are days like today, when I hear it only if i focus, and are days when life seems impossible to live. I don't understand from were this noise came, I feel very frustrated, because is very very high frequency, maybe is not loud, but it's very sharp and when is louder than today, i can hear it even in noisy environment, for example on a terrace with friends. Is always there in my head. I want him to remain like today, if not, how I will get trough? Now is like my life has no chance to go further, I felt stuck in here. I got a good job, I make a new college, I make a lot of sport, but know I m not in the mood for nothing of these, I m just acting like a child, and screaming that I don't want that in my head!!!!