I've had tinnitus every second of every day since the night I went to see August Burns Red live in concert on April 3rd (was actually the second time I've seen them before). Wonderful concert, though it didn't seem louder than any other concert I'd been too. Of course then, I hadn't fully realized the effect of loud music on my hearing, and how all of the other live music events have impacted my hearing.
I had never had tinnitus last any longer than a few hours after a concert before. I had gone to a concert just 3 weeks prior to this one, and the ringing was gone then when I woke up the morning after. I figure this small time span between acoustic trauma are likely the reason tinnitus has stayed with me as I'm sure my ears hadn't had time to recouperate (I know inner folicules can't actually heal, but I figure some of the hairs were still brittle or haven't had the time to come back up yet).
I don't regret going to the concert, I know most users here do (It wasn't the concert's fault, it was my fault. I knew full well that it would be loud), but I do regret not wearing the ear plugs that I had IN MY POCKET the whole time... I only wore them about a third of the time like I usually did after being frustrated that they were muddying up the music. If only I had known about musician's earplugs before all of this, or had just sucked up my audio stubbornness, and just left the earplugs in. I will never understand how every other person in the room who didn't have earplugs in and do this every weekend are not plagued with the same hell I now am. I've only been to about 7 live music events before, while I have friends who have been to 50 or more in their lifetime without ear protection, and have no symptoms of tinnitus at all...
Both of my friend's who came with me said their ears stopped ringing a few days after. Haven't talked to them about it since. Neither of them know mine are still ringing... If they were worried about their ears ringing for that long, I wonder how they would be handling my position. I wish I'd had a wake-up experience like that to make a change, mine just decided to stay the first time I suspected anything was wrong.
The temporal hearing shift was gone after a couple days, but my ears were full until about 2 weeks afterwards. They were actually full of fluid still, the fluid your inner ear releases to protect them. A visit to the chiropractor really helped with that.
I passed my hearing test with normal hearing levels, which puts me in the 10% of tinnitus sufferers who have normal hearing, so the doctors and ENT did pretty much absolutely nothing about it besides recommending dietary and lifestyle changes since I displayed no signs of hearing loss. It was really disheartening. I really wish now that I had pushed for more expertise from other ENT's around while I was still in the earliest stage. I couldn't get my hearing checked until 2 weeks after onset, and the ENT's said there were no steroids they could prescribe me. Even when I pushed them, they just prescribed me ototoxins... The last thing I wanted to introduce to my ears with tinnitus.
My tinnitus doesn't sound the same, it kind of changes every day, in both frequency and volume. Some days it's high, low, or a mixture of both, even multiple times a day. Although, it usually stays in the high range. It can sound constant, or sometimes pulsate. I have no single description. I take that it hasn't settled to one frequency as an early sign, and warning that I need to do everything I can about it while I still can.
Another symptom I notice is that every time I swallow since then, my ears crackle or pop a little bit. I absolutely do not understand this, as I've never had this symptom before my tinnitus. I would love if someone had an answer and could explain that to me.
I also got my wisdom teeth out earlier in the year before my onset, but over time, my teeth had all shifted, and I now experience some degree of TMJ. I catch myself clenching my teeth, and have been trying to stop, though it is quite hard. I believe it is contributing to my tinnitus also. I am seeing an Orthodontist about it in a full three weeks from now to attempt to fix my teeth and bite alignment (made the appointment 5 weeks ago...)
It's all of the waiting games for professional solutions that while my healing window is closing that just make me so upset. That's the major reason I'm creating this post and taking matters even more into my own hands.
I do notice my tinnitus intensify when my neck or back get tight or out of place, and have been seeing the chiropractor more often than normal to try to alleviate that.
Currently I am taking quite the amount of supplements in hopes of lessening or curing the tinnitus, but nothing is helping. It hasn't gotten louder or softer since the day of onset.
Due to my busy schedule as an engineering college student, I hadn't been able to treat the tinnitus at the beginning like I had hoped. I could only really focus on ordering solutions after school ended. All I did the first 4 weeks was avoid noise, reduce caffeine, and used some Juniper Oil.
I've been taking for roughly a month:
-Reconnect by Institute of Vibrant Living
Supplement contains ginkgo biloba, magnesium, L-Cysteine, and like 12 other pro-ear ingredients
more info: http://www.ivlproducts.com/Hearing/Reconnect----Hearing-Support-Formula.axd
-200mg Magnesium daily
-3mg Melatonin each night
-doTERRA Helichrysum (applied behind and under ear)
-doTERRA Juniper Oil (applied behind and under ear)
I've been avoiding excess salt and caffeine, but neither of those seem to make any difference when I have cheated and had them. I'd also been listening to all noise at much lower volumes that I used to. That was tough to do since I consider myself an audiophile (love my Hifiman's) but I am taking this ailment very seriously, I have been treasuring my hearing ability, and consider myself lucky I didn't give myself hearing loss.
I will also note that while I have changed my lifestyle to protect my ears, I do still go to movies, and have been to one concert since. This time, I came prepared with 32db earplugs as I couldn't find any musician's earplugs over 25db. I no longer trust rock/metal concert sound-department with my hearing well-being. I forgot to db-test the concert while I was there, but I'm sure it was 105-115 the entire time. This time I didn't take them out, and made sure they were sealed the entire time. I didn't experience any spikes afterwards, or any changes. (My tinnitus's frequency or volume is in no way predictable anyway, so for what that claim is worth)
It's been 2 months now, and nothing has changed, starting to lose quite a bit of hope. I'm getting increasingly worried. None of these remedies have been working.
I've scoured this site for months, and there's thousands of stories just like mine, but that's not why I'm posting this.
Seeing as I've just passed the 2 month window, and only know so much as an early victim of tinnitus who hasn't had to live with this for long yet, the real reason I'm posting is to ask you all:
What else do you suggest I try or do next to cope with or cure this disease?
I had never had tinnitus last any longer than a few hours after a concert before. I had gone to a concert just 3 weeks prior to this one, and the ringing was gone then when I woke up the morning after. I figure this small time span between acoustic trauma are likely the reason tinnitus has stayed with me as I'm sure my ears hadn't had time to recouperate (I know inner folicules can't actually heal, but I figure some of the hairs were still brittle or haven't had the time to come back up yet).
I don't regret going to the concert, I know most users here do (It wasn't the concert's fault, it was my fault. I knew full well that it would be loud), but I do regret not wearing the ear plugs that I had IN MY POCKET the whole time... I only wore them about a third of the time like I usually did after being frustrated that they were muddying up the music. If only I had known about musician's earplugs before all of this, or had just sucked up my audio stubbornness, and just left the earplugs in. I will never understand how every other person in the room who didn't have earplugs in and do this every weekend are not plagued with the same hell I now am. I've only been to about 7 live music events before, while I have friends who have been to 50 or more in their lifetime without ear protection, and have no symptoms of tinnitus at all...
Both of my friend's who came with me said their ears stopped ringing a few days after. Haven't talked to them about it since. Neither of them know mine are still ringing... If they were worried about their ears ringing for that long, I wonder how they would be handling my position. I wish I'd had a wake-up experience like that to make a change, mine just decided to stay the first time I suspected anything was wrong.
The temporal hearing shift was gone after a couple days, but my ears were full until about 2 weeks afterwards. They were actually full of fluid still, the fluid your inner ear releases to protect them. A visit to the chiropractor really helped with that.
I passed my hearing test with normal hearing levels, which puts me in the 10% of tinnitus sufferers who have normal hearing, so the doctors and ENT did pretty much absolutely nothing about it besides recommending dietary and lifestyle changes since I displayed no signs of hearing loss. It was really disheartening. I really wish now that I had pushed for more expertise from other ENT's around while I was still in the earliest stage. I couldn't get my hearing checked until 2 weeks after onset, and the ENT's said there were no steroids they could prescribe me. Even when I pushed them, they just prescribed me ototoxins... The last thing I wanted to introduce to my ears with tinnitus.
My tinnitus doesn't sound the same, it kind of changes every day, in both frequency and volume. Some days it's high, low, or a mixture of both, even multiple times a day. Although, it usually stays in the high range. It can sound constant, or sometimes pulsate. I have no single description. I take that it hasn't settled to one frequency as an early sign, and warning that I need to do everything I can about it while I still can.
Another symptom I notice is that every time I swallow since then, my ears crackle or pop a little bit. I absolutely do not understand this, as I've never had this symptom before my tinnitus. I would love if someone had an answer and could explain that to me.
I also got my wisdom teeth out earlier in the year before my onset, but over time, my teeth had all shifted, and I now experience some degree of TMJ. I catch myself clenching my teeth, and have been trying to stop, though it is quite hard. I believe it is contributing to my tinnitus also. I am seeing an Orthodontist about it in a full three weeks from now to attempt to fix my teeth and bite alignment (made the appointment 5 weeks ago...)
It's all of the waiting games for professional solutions that while my healing window is closing that just make me so upset. That's the major reason I'm creating this post and taking matters even more into my own hands.
I do notice my tinnitus intensify when my neck or back get tight or out of place, and have been seeing the chiropractor more often than normal to try to alleviate that.
Currently I am taking quite the amount of supplements in hopes of lessening or curing the tinnitus, but nothing is helping. It hasn't gotten louder or softer since the day of onset.
Due to my busy schedule as an engineering college student, I hadn't been able to treat the tinnitus at the beginning like I had hoped. I could only really focus on ordering solutions after school ended. All I did the first 4 weeks was avoid noise, reduce caffeine, and used some Juniper Oil.
I've been taking for roughly a month:
-Reconnect by Institute of Vibrant Living
Supplement contains ginkgo biloba, magnesium, L-Cysteine, and like 12 other pro-ear ingredients
more info: http://www.ivlproducts.com/Hearing/Reconnect----Hearing-Support-Formula.axd
-200mg Magnesium daily
-3mg Melatonin each night
-doTERRA Helichrysum (applied behind and under ear)
-doTERRA Juniper Oil (applied behind and under ear)
I've been avoiding excess salt and caffeine, but neither of those seem to make any difference when I have cheated and had them. I'd also been listening to all noise at much lower volumes that I used to. That was tough to do since I consider myself an audiophile (love my Hifiman's) but I am taking this ailment very seriously, I have been treasuring my hearing ability, and consider myself lucky I didn't give myself hearing loss.
I will also note that while I have changed my lifestyle to protect my ears, I do still go to movies, and have been to one concert since. This time, I came prepared with 32db earplugs as I couldn't find any musician's earplugs over 25db. I no longer trust rock/metal concert sound-department with my hearing well-being. I forgot to db-test the concert while I was there, but I'm sure it was 105-115 the entire time. This time I didn't take them out, and made sure they were sealed the entire time. I didn't experience any spikes afterwards, or any changes. (My tinnitus's frequency or volume is in no way predictable anyway, so for what that claim is worth)
It's been 2 months now, and nothing has changed, starting to lose quite a bit of hope. I'm getting increasingly worried. None of these remedies have been working.
I've scoured this site for months, and there's thousands of stories just like mine, but that's not why I'm posting this.
Seeing as I've just passed the 2 month window, and only know so much as an early victim of tinnitus who hasn't had to live with this for long yet, the real reason I'm posting is to ask you all:
What else do you suggest I try or do next to cope with or cure this disease?
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