New to Having Tinnitus and Struggling

[Wade038]

@billie48 I read your story on how you've dealt with and overcome tinnitus. It has kept me going the last day or two. As I write this, I'm in tears and I just need some insight from you and others that have dealt with this condition.

Back in June I felt the moment my hearing change after I listen to headphones too loud. I began to hear a high pitched pulsating tapping noise.

Went to an urgent care doc. I explained to him what happened and why I thought loud noise exposure was the reason. The doc even with that info still thought I just had an ear infection (left ear) from allergies. I wasn't convinced he was right at all but didn't want to think it was tinnitus I was developing so I convinced myself he was right.

Was put on oral antibiotics (Amoxicillin) and ear drip antibiotics (Polymyxin b), after about 2 weeks I noticed that the hearing improved and the loud high pitched pulsating tapping sound had gone away. But only for about 2 weeks. The same doctor put me on the same round of antibiotics. It didn't improve this time and the sound now is just a high pitched ringing with weird sensations in my ear and some pain.

Went to an audiologist. They said I did not have significant hearing loss and thought my chances were very good for the ringing to subside. They noted, however, that my left ear didn't look very good (whatever that means). They didn't advise me to see an ENT.

Still not convinced of being treated correctly, I was finally able to book an ENT that I will see in a couple days.

I recently lost my job and I'm selling my home, in the process of moving very very soon and I enrolled in massage therapy school.

All of the stress has made the high pitched ringing louder and I'm afraid of being able to concentrate in school and pass my exams.

Any words of advice, words of hope and inspiration from you Billie or anyone, please.

Thank you so much everyone,
Wade

 

[JohnAdams]

The doctor misdiagnosed you and should have given you steroids, not antibiotics.

 

[Vicki14]

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear that you're struggling at the moment. @billie48 was my saviour in the early days and am sure he'll offer some words of comfort. Keep strong, your in good company here. Good luck with the new course! I was a Masseuse too! x

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum @Wade038.
Sorry I am late to replying your message as I just read it after a few days going out fishing for salmon. It is the pink salmon fishing season here in west coast of Canada and I intend to fully enjoy my life with my hobbies despite having tinnitus. I am living a happy, productive and absolutely enjoyable life. In a month I will be on a cruise ship going from Hawaii to Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia for 18 days. I am telling you this just to reassure you that good life will be back for you, like many of us who have written our success stories. T is not a life or dream stealer. It can create havoc to our lives when it is new. It seems dark right now because your T is relatively new. I was in a worse shape when my ultra high pitched T and severe hyperacusis (H) hit me initially. I was overwhelmed by relentless anxiety and panic attacks and had to survive by pills daily. I never thought at the darkest time that my good life can be back so I suffered badly, and I never thought T could be a non-factor now when it was new. I was wrong. Today my T is same as loud but it has zero effect on me whatsoever. But it surely was scary at the start with every loud ringing triggering relentless panic attacks the moment I got waken up by the loud T blasting away.

Being so scared or anxious of T initially is a very normal reaction of the body trying to protect us from harm and danger. We are often very scared when T is new because T is both an alien sensation and a new ailment to your body. Our brain doesn't understand T and doesn't know what to expect. Failing to shake T, the brain just reacts in trauma and shock. Your limbic nervous system kicks in overriding the normal parasympathetic nervous system and you function in fight or flight mode, the defensive mechanism for a human in face of a danger. The fight or flight center, the Amygdala, is in control now making every sensation quite acute and intense and you easily succumb to fear and worry as that is how the body tries to protect you. It tends to tell you to be aware of the threatening object which in this case is the new T. That is why we tend to monitor T non-stop initially and can't seem to help it. That is also the time our negative emotions overwhelm us to the point we can't function, losing sleep, perhaps losing jobs or worst, losing interest in life in general. This is the time to do the opposite and I will explain why.

Try remaining calm and positive as humanly possible as you can. By being calm and positive, and be more accepting of the new normal, by educating ourselves more about T (like what you are learning by joining this forum), and by doing some relaxing or interesting activities or by going back to living life again, our brain will have a better chance to restore the normal parasympathetic nervous system, and the pre-frontal cortex will take over processing the T ringing stimulus from the scare-crow center, the Amygdala. One of the functions of pre-frontal cortex is to suppress the fear reaction. It will also let you handle other negative reactions/emotions more normally. When your nerves are more back to normal, you can sleep better, less anxiety, and the road to recovery will slowly but surely begin.

This process is similar to a child being afraid of the dark because of not understanding what it is all about. Fear sets in and stress builds up and the child cries to get help and to relieve the stress. Later on and growing up the child learns more about the dark and the fear fades and no stress/fear will be forth coming to trigger the limbic system. Likewise with our tinnitus experience, our brain needs to take time to understand T more and be more hardened to it so the fear reaction will subside. But this process takes time and may take learning some good strategies. I mention some helpful strategies in my success story dealing with both severe T & H. Many other writers of their success stories also share their strategies. Perhaps you can remain more calm and positive by soaking in with these success stories.. Don't panic nor despair. Good life can be back. Believe it. Take good care. God bless your recovery.

 

[Astro]

Message me a phone number or a Facebook and call me when you're free. I was in tears and suicidal for a few years and I'm completly fine with it now, and its louder than ever.

 

[Sevv]

According to studies for noise induced tinnitus, about 50% cases have fading in 6 months, and 20% improvement. After 6 months, about further 10-15% have fading (overall about 60-65% cases have fading and 15-20% improvement). Even if it doesn't fade, most people eventually habituate. I'm 4,5 months in and am starting to habituate again to my T (it used to be quiet room stage, for some unknown reason it got a bit louder, so it's now audible when I'm not distracted) and to having a bit of visual snow, which is like getting tinnitus on top of already having tinnitus. I had many suicidal thoughts when VS started while trying to habituate to tinnitus. It's ok now (I stopped noticing VS, even if it's there). So if I can get through that stage, you'll too.
We're living in a good time to get tinnitus. Ok, it would have been better if it was already 2030 but it's also a lot better than 2010. We have an upcoming/existing treatment with Lenire, University of Michigan Device is also coming out in 2020/2021, and hearing regeneration medicine and other fancy stuff will also hit us in 3-5 years.

 

[Extreme]

Have you listened to loud music often? Have you been exposed to loud noises numerous times? Were your ears fine before?