New to Site but Not to Tinnitus Which Has Recently Got Worse, with Changed Tone and Volume!

[handmaiden]

HI everyone
found this site after googling online tinnitus support group
for some reason my tinnitus has got much louder!!! Its making it very hard to live normally, and making me full of despair on occasion
Alisha

 

[Aussie Lea]

HI everyone
found this site after googling online tinnitus support group
for some reason my tinnitus has got much louder!!! Its making it very hard to live normally, and making me full of despair on occasion
Alisha

Sorry!! How did your tinnitus start??

 

[handmaiden]

I think it started after standing next to a speaker listening to a band - I remember it being so loud it kept making me lose my balance -I was an idiot not to get out of there - I've lived with it for years now and had got used to it to a degree but last week my smoke alarm in my kitchen went off and it spiralled my tinnitus to a new tone and volume and since then I haven't had a minutes respite can't sleep or stay asleep and even listening to music does not drown it out - in fact only place I cannot hear it is under my extractor fan with the washing machine on - I've kept doing the same load of washing over and over again!! I'm at the GP waiting room now

 

[Bobby B]

This sounds like an acoustic trauma - you need to give you ears a rest not more noise to drown the t . It's just going to get worse if you subject you ears to more noise in the period right after the trauma... Hearing T is normal you need to be patient it will take a few months to go down provided you protect your ears
@handmaiden

 

[handmaiden]

Thank you - so do you think I should not put earphones on to try and drown it out?? It's hard to listen to it - I really felt suicidal I know that sounds dramatic but it's torture. I have just seen GP she said my ears do look "dull" - I also had flu last week and she thinks there may be a touch of fluid like glue ear exacerbating my tinnitus - she gave me Valium and sleeping tablets as I have had about 6 hours sleep in last 2 nights and that was broken sleep I wake up every 20 minutes - I'm glad I found this site it's good to know I am not alone in this and hopeful of it "going down" as you say - thank you for the advice

 

[Bobby B]

Earphones aren't bad per se as long as you put the sound to the lowest level - i mean really really low ! at home or in a quiet office.

I found that chimes sound - the app called Sleep Pillow with the owl icon is a good one if you have a smartphone - is very good to turn my brain away from T without having to be loud.

That app has been a life saver for me all these months, and I tried a bunch of different ones.

The app sound is on all night at low volume on my Iphone6 speaker and that helps with sleep and some Melatonin.

But if you go out in noisy streets, restaurants/cafe, ride in a car or take public transport I would wear sound protection ear muffs or good ear plugs for the next 6 months until the ears recover and no earphones of course.

Yes you will hear T louder than not in these situations but that's just the only way to get real improvements over the long term. You will not regret it !

I would not even go to bars, clubs or concerts at all even with plugs for the next 6 months.

 

[handmaiden]

Thank you so much for all your help i am going to get some earplugs today - i have been speaking to my noisy children about shouting too as all loud noises literally seem to hurt my ears!! i will check out those apps too - with the sleeping tablet i got a full nights sleep and even though the T is unchanged i feel less 'on the edge' today! Do you think the smoke alarm which was ridiculously loud and right about my head triggered this latest increase in my T?? I couldn't get it switched off for ages and after it felt like i could still hear the sound for ages! that was on the tuesday and by friday my T had gone from a 2 to a 10 in terms of bothering me! Really appreciate the advice thanks so much

 

[handmaiden]

UPDATE:
Wanted to update that the cause of my tinnitus getting worse was not noise exposure but in fact as the GP has suggested the flu that i had. However, turns out these are not recurrent colds i am getting but chronic allergic rhinitis - I know this now after having a 'cold' now since December the 5th!! Along with the constant blocked nose, i have blocked ears, that has made the tinnitus noise just go off the scale. If I try and pop my ears, i can actually make the loudest tinnitus noise disappear, but seconds later the ears block again and it comes back. Its maddening but I feel like I know what is going on more now and although the tinnitus us chronic and makes me full of despair at times, i do feel it will improve if I can get a handle on the chronic stuffed up nose and blocked ears - ENT on 1st Feb - has anyone else had this??

 

[Sambarker]

Hi this is an old thread but I'm having the same problem.

I have been diagnosed with chronic sinusitis and have had the blocked nose and cloggy throat for nearly a year, since September the 20th, I've not been able to shake it at all but I've coped with it.

My tinnitus is usually copable, with moments when it flares up but I was listening to a band (with plugs in) and it was rather loud and after I felt fine.

When I woke up in the morning I could no longer hear properly and had loads of pressure in my ears with a fullness which hindered my hearing. I didn't even notice the tinnitus until the next day when I woke up with a tickling sensation in my ear, I went to the GP and they said I had swelling behind the drum and redness and that it was most likely fluid. I couldn't help but worry about the timing. It continued and the ringing flared and quietened (in a new frequency than I'm used to) and I was just really worried about it.

I went to another GP and they too said it was chronic sinusitis and have given me antibiotics but the swelling in my ear was no longer visible. The fullness is still there and my ears like to pop.

I'm just worried that it isn't the sinusitis and it won't get better, which in turn is probably making it worse.