Newcomer Seeking Support and Guidance: Noise-Induced Hearing Loss May Have Caused My Tinnitus

[Vincent R]

Is this regarding the tympanometry?

When I went to an ENT myself, he did one test that beeped (I interrupted that one) and another which I think created pressure against the ear drum. I'm not sure about the names of these tests.

I do not have a strong opinion about the test I think created pressure against my ear drum, as I did not notice any tinnitus worsening afterward. It was pointless, though. ENTs do not seem to have any meaningful tools against tinnitus.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I truly feel as if I am just losing days of my life to nothingness. It might sound exaggerative, but given my general mental state and quality of life over the last two weeks (nearly), I can think of no better way to express my feelings.

HI @Drachen.

Tinnitus often makes people feel the way you do in the early stages and this is the reason I suggested that you read the posts that I have mentioned. It is important that you do this as it will make you understand the the way this condition affects a person's mental and emotional wellbeing. Medication in the form of antidepressant can help you not to feel so down. Please do not dismiss it if your GP/family doctor suggest trying it. An antidepressant acts as a safety net. The thing is. The more down a person becomes the more intrusive the tinnitus tends to be. The more intrusive the tinnitus the more down a person tends to feel. Which can result in slipping into a negative mindset. Therefore, please click on the links below and read the articles and print them if possible and refer to them often. This will help to reinforce positive thinking. Start using low level sound enrichment as mentioned in my posts. Do not try to mask the tinnitus but keep the sound slightly lower that it. Use classical or nature sounds during the day and nature sounds at night by the bedside. I suggest not to use music for sound enrichment at night, more is explained in my posts.

Hope you start to feel better soon.
Michael

Can Antidepressants and Other Medications Help Tinnitus?
Tinnitus and Mental Health

 

[Bill Bauer]

I just found this:

I can't imagine my audiologist doing anything to cause it. She performed a "bone-conduction" test... The fact that later that day I started suffering from tinnitus has got to be a coincidence.

Beware of "bone-conduction" tests, I guess...

 

[Drachen]

Everyone on this forum has been under tremendous stress early on.

Surely less distressing than to think that you will have tinnitus for the rest of your life.

Keep reminding yourself that chances are you will eventually get your life back. Try to survive one day at a time. Protect your ears, but be rational about it.

I had lost two full years to tinnitus. It is what it is. Beats losing the rest of your life to it.

You can adopt the position that is consistent with how risk averse you are and with your other values. You can also search this forum for evidence to support certain views.

Based on my understanding of what usually happens, if you are one of the few people who get better in the first three months, it won't take over your life. Otherwise, it makes sense to prepare yourself that the upcoming months will suck. Again, all of the above is just the output of my neural network given what I've read here.

There are threads about this on this forum. Many of us think that the only thing that's worse than tinnitus is chronic pain and becoming paralyzed. Having said this, those months fly by so before you know it, it will hopefully end up being a distant memory.

Who knows, this experience might allow you to change your behaviour and this way in the future you won't end doing something that causes tinnitus to stay for longer. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise.

Knowing that almost everyone was in a similar headspace as me when their symptom began is somewhat helpful, as it does show that there is a path beyond this, but I still worry. I will almost always worry until things change the better.

I would certainly benefit from more positive thinking, both in general and with regards to this situation, but it's hard to do given the circumstances. It would be great if changing one's psychological outlook was as simple as just doing it. Breaking negative feedback loops is very hard on its own, especially when there is a persistent stimulus feeding its mechanism. The many "ifs", "chances", and "probablys" further cloud my mind with doubt due to the uncertainty. I know nobody can't really guarantee anything either way, but I do feel as both my mental state and outlook are made worse when I come across these bits of negativity. I know the forum is likely to have a disproportionate amount of chronic suffers due to the nature of it being a support board, but this negativity still gets to me. I fear in some form it may be harming my ability to recover or adapt. I've said this several times over the past several days, but I probably should start pulling back from the forum.

But then again, I lose connection I have to others with this, as my friends I have told about this problem just do not seem able to understand how badly this has affected me. Once again, I am not sure of the benefits and risks going either way. I am all too worried that whatever I do will be the wrong choice and further set me back in some form.

I guess I will just have to continue going through the motions of each passing day and hope that with time, things improve. There is still hope for recovery, even if it is slowly waning. At the very least, I must improve.

I am not going to make any claims that this is as bad as chronic pain or paralysis, but I must say, when you have to suffer anything that is constant, hard to ignore, and distressing, it is a fairly bad condition to have.

I certainly am improving in terms of protecting my ears from now on. I'm not sure what other improvements I can start making until I get both my mood and motivation back up, since I'm still in that "what's the point?" stage, but I would like to think I can achieve at least something positive out of this whole mess.

Beware of "bone-conduction" tests, I guess...

Ah man, is there anything I can't be afraid of at this point? At this point, I'm not even sure what to get done at the audiologist next week besides a hearing exam.

 

[Drachen]

Thank you for your reply once again, Michael. I have read through both of those posts you have provided, as well as a few others you have written.

Medication in the form of antidepressant can help you not to feel so down. Please do not dismiss it if your GP/family doctor suggest trying it. An antidepressant acts as a safety net. The thing is. The more down a person becomes the more intrusive the tinnitus tends to be. The more intrusive the tinnitus the more down a person tends to feel. Which can result in slipping into a negative mindset. Therefore, please click on the links below and read the articles and print them if possible and refer to them often. This will help to reinforce positive thinking.

I personally have nothing against the use of antidepressants. It certainly would be great if one could simply go on their own and manage it without the need for medication, but that could honestly be said for any drug. For many years, I have had difficulties dealing with stress, anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive behaviors that perhaps could have been better mitigated on an antidepressant. I have already had past experiences with regimens of fluoxetine, amitriptyline, and Trazodone.

The concern that I have is that almost every antidepressant is claimed to have some degree of ototoxicity. Certainly, not everyone will react negatively towards taking them, but the risk of making things worse is almost paralyzing to me.

Despite that concern, I did agree to trying Amitriptyline again earlier this week. I had a great night that evening, I took the pill, and it did help me sleep. The next day, I had perhaps my worst day since this all began.

While I can't be certain that the Amitriptyline made things worse, I can't rule it out either. It perhaps could have simply been psychological. I'm still not even certain that ototoxicity is not responsible for my symptom in the first place, since this is why I stopped taking Trazodone abruptly.

I'm sure you understand the paradoxical situation I find myself in right now. Do I risk taking antidepressants in order to improve my mood with the risk that it makes my symptom worse, which further degrades my mood? Considering for most of these types of drugs, you need to build them up before you see any positive effect, this sort of risk seems even greater.

I can't seem to find any antidepressant in particular that has been given a clean bill of health from the community. I would say that Mirtazapine probably gets the most support, but there are still some sources that recommend to avoid it and some that say it could help. It truly does feel like any potential solution could instead be a mine in disguise.

Start using low level sound enrichment as mentioned in my posts. Do not try to mask the tinnitus but keep the sound slightly lower that it. Use classical or nature sounds during the day and nature sounds at night by the bedside. I suggest not to use music for sound enrichment at night, more is explained in my posts.

I am trying to find a way to become comfortable with the lower-level sound enrichment, as right now even hearing the noise for a short period of time can throw me on edge and disturb me. This weird, fluttering tone in my left ear has also provided additional distraction by nature of its action. It is even more difficult now not to focus on this.

One other thing that I am unsure about is the fact that my ears are almost subject to constant noise now. Should I be spending more periods in silence to give them mini-rests through the day? I am already someone who was used to being in silence for a bit before onset, so this has certainly been difficult to adjust to. This seems compounded by the fact that you should have the noise going all throughout the evening as well. I am actually worried this might cause damage as well.

I'm also finding myself becoming tired of a few of the tracks I use, and some work more effectively than others. Do you have any advice on keeping things fresh?

 

[Michael Leigh]

The concern that I have is that almost every antidepressant is claimed to have some degree of ototoxicity. Certainly, not everyone will react negatively towards taking them, but the risk of making things worse is almost paralyzing to me.

HI @Drachen

You are new to tinnitus and as I've explained in my posts it does take time but you will begin feel better. I suggest you take your time and read them again and other posts on my started threads, to help reinforce positive thinking. They are a form of counselling. It is important that your mental and emotional wellbeing are kept in check and you don't slip into a negative mindset. Therefore, talk things over with your GP about how you feel. Try not to dwell on the word ototoxicity for far too many people do this in tinnitus forums and this can easily reinforce negative thinking.

The same as some people that constantly monitor the food and beverages they consume, having convincing themselves their tinnitus is adversely affected by them. This is not good and know whereof I speak. Many years ago when I was a newbie, I pursued such a route. Kept a diary and wrote down everything I eat and drank. I could only endure five weeks of this as I was at the end of my tether and thoroughly fed-up with life as my tinnitus didn't improve in the slightest. In-fact I felt quite miserable. I threw the notebook away and returned to my normal eating and drinking in moderation and felt much better. This experience is mentioned in my post: Food drink and tinnitus, which you'll find on my started threads.

One other thing that I am unsure about is the fact that my ears are almost subject to constant noise now. Should I be spending more periods in silence to give them mini-rests through the day?

Sound enrichment whether classical or nature sounds, should be set at a level where they are not drawing attention to themselves. At the moment, my Oasis sound machine is playing just 1 metre away from me and can only hear it now because I'm focusing on it. It takes time to get used to sound enrichment, at least 6 to 8 weeks. Youtube have some splendid nature sounds that play continuously for 8hrs or more. Please read my post: Sound machines and tinnitus in the link below.

All the best
Michael

Sound Machines and Tinnitus | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

[Drachen]

Update: Just got back a bit ago from my appointment with the audiologist.

Things went better than expected. After reading some of the stories here, I fully expected to just get pushed through my tests, advertised hearing aids, and shown the door. Surprisingly, I was fortunate enough to find one who was not only somewhat knowledgeable about tinnitus but also very accommodating and invested.

I went through a few tests, namely the tonal audiogram, words-in-quiet, words-in-noise, and bone conduction. I decided to forego the tympanometry for now given what I've read on here. As expected, everything fell within the normal expected range, though one point of note was a dip in the 4 kHz frequency on my left ear. For anyone interested, I can scan and share my audiogram.

This is somewhat concerning, because for a week now, my left ear has more or less been the worst one in terms of my symptoms. She did reassure me that the dip was within normal range and could be subject to variation, but it is something to be monitored going forwards.

Unfortunately, no extended audiogram was available. She did advise that at some point I reach out to the audiology department at both my university and one in the capital as they might have additional resources, both in terms of extended hearing testing and treatment options or counseling. It doesn't seem like this is something I will be able to achieve at another clinic in my county as specialists in this area are scarce.

Aside from the evaluations, we did spend a decent bit of time talking about my case, my symptoms, and what options there might be for treatment going forward. I got the feeling she was at least somewhat knowledgeable about this, and she also mentioned having several other patients with this as a concern. She was impressed with the knowledge and research I had put into things, and I'm sure that helped our conversation along a bit.

Unsurprisingly, she did take some time to talk about hearing aids and sound generators, but it was done more tactfully than I expected. She was also cognizant of the fact that given my age and hearing, they may not be the option to go for right now.

We had plans to do a frequency matching, but time had actually gone into closing! I am not used to having this much interaction with a doctor for so long. It'll be something we schedule for the next appointment.

All things considered, the visit wasn't bad. Informative. I'm not really sure what I was hoping to get out of it. I still have yet to see my primary care doctor (blood/urine analysis) and the ENT (general overview), so we'll see.

As of right now, I'm having a bit of a loud evening, so I'm trying to mitigate that with some masking. I drove to and from the clinic with earplugs, so that basically led to an hour straight of just hearing this blaring noise. Very uncomfortable.

 

[twa]

Update: Just got back a bit ago from my appointment with the audiologist.

Things went better than expected. After reading some of the stories here, I fully expected to just get pushed through my tests, advertised hearing aids, and shown the door. Surprisingly, I was fortunate enough to find one who was not only somewhat knowledgeable about tinnitus but also very accommodating and invested.

I went through a few tests, namely the tonal audiogram, words-in-quiet, words-in-noise, and bone conduction. I decided to forego the tympanometry for now given what I've read on here. As expected, everything fell within the normal expected range, though one point of note was a dip in the 4 kHz frequency on my left ear. For anyone interested, I can scan and share my audiogram.

This is somewhat concerning, because for a week now, my left ear has more or less been the worst one in terms of my symptoms. She did reassure me that the dip was within normal range and could be subject to variation, but it is something to be monitored going forwards.

Unfortunately, no extended audiogram was available. She did advise that at some point I reach out to the audiology department at both my university and one in the capital as they might have additional resources, both in terms of extended hearing testing and treatment options or counseling. It doesn't seem like this is something I will be able to achieve at another clinic in my county as specialists in this area are scarce.

Aside from the evaluations, we did spend a decent bit of time talking about my case, my symptoms, and what options there might be for treatment going forward. I got the feeling she was at least somewhat knowledgeable about this, and she also mentioned having several other patients with this as a concern. She was impressed with the knowledge and research I had put into things, and I'm sure that helped our conversation along a bit.

Unsurprisingly, she did take some time to talk about hearing aids and sound generators, but it was done more tactfully than I expected. She was also cognizant of the fact that given my age and hearing, they may not be the option to go for right now.

We had plans to do a frequency matching, but time had actually gone into closing! I am not used to having this much interaction with a doctor for so long. It'll be something we schedule for the next appointment.

All things considered, the visit wasn't bad. Informative. I'm not really sure what I was hoping to get out of it. I still have yet to see my primary care doctor (blood/urine analysis) and the ENT (general overview), so we'll see.

As of right now, I'm having a bit of a loud evening, so I'm trying to mitigate that with some masking. I drove to and from the clinic with earplugs, so that basically led to an hour straight of just hearing this blaring noise. Very uncomfortable.

If you are comfortable in sharing your audiogram, I'd be interested in seeing the test.

 

[Drachen]

If you are comfortable in sharing your audiogram, I'd be interested in seeing the test.

Hey there, @twa!

I don't mind sharing it, and I apologize it's taken me so long. I've wanted to take some time off from this subject, and my printer also refused to turn on. Thankfully, I remembered I had purchased a scanning app on my phone. It's pretty good!

Shown below are the results of my audiogram:

Not shown are the results from the words-in-quiet and words-in-noise test. The former was perfect, whereas on the latter, I received a -1.5 score on both ears. I am told this is still within the range of normal (-3 at worst).

I find myself conflicted by these results. On the one hand, they're not bad enough to indicate objective hearing loss, but on the other, they're not perfect either. I find myself unsure to what extent there may be damage in my ears, and further, I have no idea what may or may not be contributing to my symptom.

I certainly tried to do my best on the test, slowing my breathing and such to ensure I could hear the beeps. Many times it felt as if I pressed the button more on sensing the tone rather than hearing it, which makes me worry it might actually be worse. I am also not sure if the issues with my left ear simply had to deal my failure to recognize the sound, actual hearing loss, or the phantom noise being too loud.

Another sense of worry is that the original dip at 4 kHz was lower, yet it was only raised when we retested and moved from the headphones to the inserts.

At the very least, this is something to monitor going forward with subsequent tests. I would very much like to have an extended audiogram to see where I stand in those higher frequencies. It was recommended both by my audiologist and FGG here on the forum that universities may be my best bet, so I will reach out to them towards the end of the month.

I probably should have expected this, but I am left with more questions than answers.

 

[twa]

Hey there, @twa!

I don't mind sharing it, and I apologize it's taken me so long. I've wanted to take some time off from this subject, and my printer also refused to turn on. Thankfully, I remembered I had purchased a scanning app on my phone. It's pretty good!

Shown below are the results of my audiogram:

View attachment 42627

Not shown are the results from the words-in-quiet and words-in-noise test. The former was perfect, whereas on the latter, I received a -1.5 score on both ears. I am told this is still within the range of normal (-3 at worst).

I find myself conflicted by these results. On the one hand, they're not bad enough to indicate objective hearing loss, but on the other, they're not perfect either. I find myself unsure to what extent there may be damage in my ears, and further, I have no idea what may or may not be contributing to my symptom.

I certainly tried to do my best on the test, slowing my breathing and such to ensure I could hear the beeps. Many times it felt as if I pressed the button more on sensing the tone rather than hearing it, which makes me worry it might actually be worse. I am also not sure if the issues with my left ear simply had to deal my failure to recognize the sound, actual hearing loss, or the phantom noise being too loud.

Another sense of worry is that the original dip at 4 kHz was lower, yet it was only raised when we retested and moved from the headphones to the inserts.

At the very least, this is something to monitor going forward with subsequent tests. I would very much like to have an extended audiogram to see where I stand in those higher frequencies. It was recommended both by my audiologist and FGG here on the forum that universities may be my best bet, so I will reach out to them towards the end of the month.

I probably should have expected this, but I am left with more questions than answers.

@Drachen,
thanks for sharing. You have stellar hearing in most areas and the dip in the one range. I also have a similar dip from 6,000-8,000 Hz range. One doctor said even though it is considered normal it is still enough of a difference to set off the tinnitus. Mine is a cross between high pitched static and ringing with a little typewriter thrown in occasionally. It does help to see what other audiograms look like and where we are in respect to "normal".

twa

 

[Drachen]

Update: Tonight will mark four weeks since onset. I would have to say my symptom is likely worse than the first night, as for nearly three weeks now my left ear has proven much more boisterous.

Family Doctor Visit
I had my appointment with the family doctor today, and I was sure to keep expectations low. I knew going in there was nothing magical he could do for me, so I made sure to focus on addressing two things: my sleep situation and my vitals. I figure since I can't seem to directly address my symptom, I'll work bit-by-bit on the things I can.

Sleep Progress
My sleep has improved from where it was weeks ago. I am now averaging about six hours per night instead three or four. This is an improvement, but it is far from ideal. I've made several changes, including cutting caffeine out almost entirely and better scheduling my sleep and wake times. Much of this has helped, but I figure I still require an extra push from some external sleep aid.

After reviewing what was covered by my insurance, I ended up deciding on Ramelteon. From my research, it has shown to be very well tolerated, does not lead to dependency, and isn't ototoxic. It is very similar already to Melatonin, though instead of providing an influx as supplements do, it instead acts upon Melatonin receptors. Since I am more or less on a decent circadian schedule, I should be producing enough Melatonin on my own to enable the effectiveness of an agonist, so I am excited to see how well this works.

Considering there is very few reference of it here on the forum, if I have anything noteworthy to report about the drug and its effectiveness, I will make a thread specifically addressing such.

Physical Work
My main goal from having my blood and urine taken is to determine if I currently have any outstanding deficiencies. I have been taking supplements, so it'd be nice to know if I need to continue doing so or if I should be focusing more specifically on others. In the past, I have had issues with Vitamin D deficiency, and I imagine the same is true considering several circumstances (my nature as a shut-in, it being winter, and the stay-at-home nature of the pandemic).

What's Next?
I have so far seen two primary care doctors and one audiologist, so my next appointment will be with an ENT. He is supposed to be one of the best in the county, but I am still keeping expectations low. Despite what I've read on the forum about how generally ineffectual they are, I want to ensure I have heard from the professionals. There is still the chance, however small, that I may get a benefit out of the meeting.

Reflections and the Future
These last few weeks have been rough, but I am still hanging on. I recognize that I am fortunate to not have any major complications aside from the symptom. Thinking positive is not easy, and I am not sure it has helped much, but the negative feedback cycle must be broke where it can be. I still can't help shake the feeling that these last four weeks have been a dark spot I would very much like to go away.

Next week I will start my final semester of university, and this is going to introduce another major source of stress and anxiety. This could go one of two ways: 1) I focus mostly on my coursework, which distracts my attention from the symptom or 2) the anxiety from my work compounds on the anxiety due to the symptom which sets me back even further. There's no telling which way it will go, but I will try to be optimistic.

One point of note is that I will need to do a lot of reading due to the nature of the classes. I still have not figured out how to do this effectively with this symptom because I always had to read in silence before. Does anyone have any specific advice they can drop on this point? I might need to find a specific masking track I can use that doesn't distract me from reading but greatly reduces or eliminates the noise.

If you've read this far, thank you for your time, and I wish you the best! If you have any constructive comments or suggestions, I am more than happy to hear them.

 

[buttercake]

Hey @Drachen, I am always glad to read your posts. My opinion is that, unless your tinnitus got noticeably worse, what you call "worse" is simply a fluctuation of a phenomenon that has to be accepted to be volatile in its nature, and that will eventually stabilize and possibly fade. At the moment my right ear keeps having little and short spikes of half of second each, what is causing them? I followed the protocol, barely left my room. Well, it freaks me out, but the instability seems to be intrinsic, what can we do?

Next week I will start my final semester of university, and this is going to introduce another major source of stress and anxiety. This could go one of two ways: 1) I focus mostly on my coursework, which distracts my attention from the symptom or 2) the anxiety from my work compounds on the anxiety due to the symptom which sets me back even further. There's no telling which way it will go, but I will try to be optimistic.

I believe you will be able to focus your attention on the university stuff. It takes some effort, but you can do it. I am not sure that completely mask the tinnitus is the way to go, but you could try to reproduce some nature sound with your speakers or your smartphone, just set it to a very low volume... so you give to your brain something else to pay attention to (or be distracted with).

 

[Drachen]

I greatly appreciate you stopping by and reading, @buttercake! The feeling is most certainly mutual.

My opinion is that, unless your tinnitus got noticeably worse, what you call "worse" is simply a fluctuation of a phenomenon that has to be accepted to be volatile in its nature, and that will eventually stabilize and possibly fade.

Honestly, this is a question I constantly ask myself: what is a spike and what is just my overreaction? I often read folks stating "if you have a spike, you just know", which I guess makes sense for those with an established baseline. However, for me, I can't be sure what is "baseline" and what is an evolving symptom. There's also, as you mentioned, the possibility it is just my attentiveness going into overdrive.

This all serves as just another example of how there is almost zero certainty to anything with this symptom aside from the fact that it is both cruel and unusual. My logical mind struggles to deal with it considering there is no way to fully grab hold of the situation and evaluate it.

I believe you will be able to focus your attention on the university stuff. It takes some effort, but you can do it.

I'm hoping you are right. As I stated before, this is my last semester, and I have done extremely well up to this point. There have been many classes I am absolutely amazed I was able to ace, especially given how difficult they proved for me in the midst of other problems. I really don't want to flounder out in the final stretch because of this invisible enemy I can't seem to directly combat.

I am not sure that completely mask the tinnitus is the way to go, but you could try to reproduce some nature sound with your speakers or your smartphone, just set it to a very low volume... so you give to your brain something else to pay attention to (or be distracted with).

I've seen the arguments on both sides between masking the noise completely and undergoing sound enrichment, and I can't really decide for myself what is best. The former helps me acquire the most sense of normalcy I can, though it's not without its caveats, and it's certainly not silence. The latter is stated to help more with you getting used to it, but it doesn't really seem effective at all for me as the noise tends to drown it out regardless. I feel like this is another situation where you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.

My current go-to for background noise is still this Japanese Garden track, but I can't lie that it's getting a bit worn out. I actually took three days off from even listening to it, and I was proud of that, but yesterday evening was really bad.

Things were actually going alright for me as far as sleep went, but I completely and utterly failed to get a decent night's rest. I dropped from my typical six hours back to three. I am very scared at what may come tonight as I have not been able to figure out exactly what caused the problem.

I'm feeling like it may have been this new green tea I purchased to use in my teapot. I have severely limited or altogether eliminated my caffeine intake over the last four weeks, but I figured I could get back into it. I'm not sure it is the cause, but I know many have reported either green tea itself or caffeine spikes their symptom, and it could have certainly mucked with my ability to sleep.

There's also the B-complex and Vitamin D I have been taking in addition to my supplement regimen, as I am suspicious I may have a deficiency in either. Again, no telling for sure what might have caused it, and I'm hesitant to stop taking anything like this as I may need to build up on it. I'm still wanting to get into others as well, particularly the bottle of Alpha Lipoic Acid I got back in December but have not yet started.

Sorry to go off on a tangent here, but the whiplash from last night is still affecting me greatly. I feel miserable today, and I am worried I have now lost my evenings that once used to provide some degree of respite. As close as I often feel to getting my life back on track, there's some time period or instance where things are considerably rough, and I feel beat back down yet again.

 

[buttercake]

Remember that it's two steps forward and one step back. Don't be discouraged by this inconvenience. It will happen again probably. Fine. You'll deal with that. You have been able to improve so far, you will be able to improve more.

 

[Drachen]

Remember that it's two steps forward and one step back. Don't be discouraged by this inconvenience. It will happen again probably. Fine. You'll deal with that. You have been able to improve so far, you will be able to improve more.

I understand. It's just very challenging to encounter a setback when you're already undergoing a daily battle. The biggest difficulty for me is just figuring out what to do and what not to do.

I will say that I can report last night's sleep yielded about six or seven hours of total, which may indicate the night before was just an odd event. Certainly wont be touching that green tea for some time, and I think I may also closely monitor and validate those new supplements I was taking to ensure they aren't a cause as well.

Sleep still remains the priority to getting back on track. I hate that I already had to deal with insomnia before, but now it's become even more pressing to address.

 

[Drachen]

Update: Things have not been doing well lately. I have not had a single "okay" day for almost two weeks.

The ENT Visit
At long last, I've finally managed a visit to my ENT. Of course, to nobody's surprise, I am not cured after the visit. I did manage to keep my expectations low, so I can't say I'm too disappointed, but it wasn't all bad.

For starters, he had a much better bedside manner than I could have ever hoped for given my experience with doctors in this county. It was also clear he wasn't completely in the dark when it comes to this symptom, as though I led with a lot of what I know, he was able to respond intelligibly and say things I have also read and researched to be true.

With that being said, a lot of what we discussed was just my case, and we of course couldn't nail down an exact cause because that's almost impossible anyway unless it's one of the more obvious problems. He determined that the insides of my ears and my eardrum were clean and clear of any suspected infection or inflammation. He further seems to think that Eustachian Tube Dysfunction is not a problem, though given some instances of discomfort I've felt lately, he thought it might be alright to prescribe nasal steroids anyway.

I was glad at the very least he brought up the idea of supplements and herbs to take, and we discussed a few though he stated that I already was going for most of what he has read to be potentially helped (as I brought a list of what I had been taking). He seemed to be a big fan of Amitriptyline and admitted he has prescribed it as a fringe treatment for other sufferers, but I mentioned by history and fear of it and he understood completely. He didn't seem to believe that the Amitriptyline or the Trazodone were ototoxic contributors, though.

The drive home was a bit grim, I must say. With my ears blasting off, I lamented the fact that I would have really enjoyed a drive today. It's a bit rainy, just as I like it, and the whole atmosphere was something that pre-onset me would have really gotten into.

Lack of Progress
I would have to say that five weeks into this thing, and I feel worse off than I was at the start. I have managed to become "functional" so to say but only just barely.

Today is perhaps my worst day of noise ever, and it's considerably hammering me right now as I'm writing this. It's so bad that my preferred masking track isn't even that effective and beating it back, something I've noticed has been becoming more and more of an issue these past few days.

It's very, very hard to think positive or be remotely optimistic. The only escapes that I have at the moment appear to be the shower and sleep, but I can't rely on those for the rest of the time I spend awake. Keeping myself busy doesn't seem to be as effective as I would like.

Definitely would like any additional support or advice if anyone has any to offer. Feeling very dark.

 

[JayZee]

Have you tried Benadryl recently?

I found that it helps me sleep through most of the night.

It also knocked down my tinnitus to a tolerable level for the next day.

The effects wore off after 24 hours, but it did give me a mental break.

Possibly worth a shot?

 

[buttercake]

Hey Drachen, I do not remember: is your tinnitus perfectly symmetric or do you have it just in one ear? I am asking this because right after my onset, when I still thought that mine was idiopathic, I communicated via email with a professor of KI here in Sweden who does research in tinnitus (and has loud tinnitus himself). At that time the noise was remarkably louder in my left ear and this led him to suspect that the cause was a mini clot in the ear depriving it from oxygen overnight; he suggested a blood pressure check and to possibly ask for a round of anticoagulants / glucocorticoids.

Incidentally the fifth and six weeks were my worst, too. I woke up in the middle of the night with screaming tinnitus for a few nights in a row. What helped me was indeed to get back to my work. I forced myself to some sort of discipline. When the motivation lacks you have nothing left but discipline. It's an exercise of patience, but deep down you know that you can overcome this. Better days ahead

 

[Drachen]

Have you tried Benadryl recently?

Recently, I haven't, but Benadryl is something I used to rely on for sleep, especially when things are pretty bad. I stopped taking it because as its a first-generation antihistamine and did not come off as safe for long-term use. I'm not sure it helped me stay asleep, but it is certainly the best thing I've taken in terms of getting me to sleep.

It's really interesting to read that it also gave you a reprieve from your symptom. I'm not sure what the mechanism of that would be. You don't happen to have any problems with your sinuses or pressure in general, do you? Either way, relief is good, and I'm glad you got some from it. Though it's impossible to say for sure if you'd have had a quieter day otherwise, I am certainly more interested in trying it...

The main thing I would say that's kept me from trying it is the fact it's on the ATA's list of ototoxic medications. Of course, so are hundreds of other substances with no real indication of risk or severity, but it's on there all the same. I'm starting to feel like the list itself is a bit disingenuous by not providing this additional information. It is clear there are substances that are much worse for your ears than others, but they are listed together all the same.

At the moment, I only plan to take it if I have an emergency night where I just cannot sleep for whatever reason. Thankfully, I've been doing okay lately, but that has not been translating into to better days.

Sorry for a longer reply than you had probably anticipated, but my mind has just been exhausted by this all lately.

 

[Drachen]

Hey Drachen, I do not remember: is your tinnitus perfectly symmetric or do you have it just in one ear?

I would have to say neither. While it may have been "perfectly symmetric" at the start, it has likely since evolved (devolved?) into what it is now. My symptom is bilateral, but each ear has its own tone; the left ear's tone is higher pitched than the right ear's. I also have some sort of cicada chanting or television feedback noise localized in my head, but from what I've read this could just be a dual channel effect of both tones. I don't really know for sure, and all I can conclusively say is I hate this.

t that time the noise was remarkably louder in my left ear and this led him to suspect that the cause was a mini clot in the ear depriving it from oxygen overnight; he suggested a blood pressure check and to possibly ask for a round of anticoagulants / glucocorticoids.

How did this pan out in your case? Did you end up having high blood pressure? To what extent?

I have actually been testing my blood pressure at home here and there to see whether or not it is related to my symptom, but I can't find any sort of connection. In fact, my numbers are well within normal range, which is odd given both my inactivity and stress.

The prevailing theory I have for why my left ear is in a worse spot is that most of my loud noise exposure in the last few months would have arisen from the time I've spent driving. My left ear is closer to the left speaker than my right ear to the right speaker given American car design, and there we are. This is not a guarantee of course but frankly I am failing to find any other more likely cause at this point.

Incidentally the fifth and six weeks were my worst, too. I woke up in the middle of the night with screaming tinnitus for a few nights in a row. What helped me was indeed to get back to my work. I forced myself to some sort of discipline. When the motivation lacks you have nothing left but discipline. It's an exercise of patience, but deep down you know that you can overcome this. Better days ahead

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm wondering if there is anything specific to this time frame that might imply a period of psychological suffering. I feel as if I read something to this effect elsewhere on the forum, but I can't recall it.

Either way, I'm still trudging through. It's not so bad right now, thankfully, but I have also left my masking from last night on at a lower volume. I seem to be following the pattern now of it being decent in the morning and having it slowly progress in intensity until the evening.

I have been trying to keep on track of things I need to do, especially with regards to university, but so far it hasn't proven enough for my mental state. I still fear that when things get worse, I wont be able to adapt appropriately. Only time will tell, and I sure as hell wish I had a fast forward button. Or, better yet, a reverse button, so I could undo this damage that has been done, among other things.

The fact that I never really had much patience to begin with before really makes me wonder how much more likely it is for those with this symptom to be a sufferer given negative traits they had beforehand. Comorbidities are really living up to the name.

 

[buttercake]

How did this pan out in your case? Did you end up having high blood pressure? To what extent?

No, my blood pressure was fine and so were my blood samples. At that time I still thought that my tinnitus was idiopathic and it was more prominent in my left ear... but in the end it was clearly caused by (ab)use of headphones.

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm wondering if there is anything specific to this time frame that might imply a period of psychological suffering. I feel as if I read something to this effect elsewhere on the forum, but I can't recall it.

One user from this forum was saying something along those lines...

I seem to be following the pattern now of it being decent in the morning and having it slowly progress in intensity until the evening.

I too have this! It seems to be rather common.

 

[Drachen]

No, my blood pressure was fine and so were my blood samples. At that time I still thought that my tinnitus was idiopathic and it was more prominent in my left ear... but in the end it was clearly caused by (ab)use of headphones.

Good to know that your health was fine in that respect, but it's an interesting theory all the same. Without any sort of indication that my blood pressure is poor, though, I can't really consider this or even bring it to a doctor for consideration.

I had also been taking Ginkgo biloba, and this does appear to be a case where it might actually have some benefit due to its function as a vasodilator. Then again, I've since dropped it due to some concerns. Ugh, it's always a gamble with these supplements!

Sorry to hear that you find yourself in the noise-induced front. Frankly, as much as I am trying to distance myself there, it is looking more and more likely with time that this may also have been the impetus in my case. Still holding out hopes for natural recovery, supplement effectiveness, and perhaps even these regenerative medicines on the horizon...

One user from this forum was saying something along those lines...

Wow, go figure! That is the exact same post I was thinking about, and it was in reply to you! I do hope that I start to see both mental and physical improvements in the next couple weeks.

I too have this! It seems to be rather common.

Yeah, this does appear to be the most common trend. I have, however, had some days where it was the reverse; the morning was loud and obnoxious, but it tapered off towards the end of the day. I can't say which I would prefer. Frankly, I want the entire day to be good!

I am curious to test your "nap" experiment, because I wonder if the same would be true for me. The only problem with that is I have found it very difficult to sleep and any other point during the day besides the evening. I think, for once in probably many months, my body is finally on a relatively decent circadian schedule. I don't know if I want to muck with that, as my sleep quality is already on thin ice.

 

[Drachen]

I've got an update to share with those who are interested. Unfortunately, I am not yet cured of this nuisance, but I do perceive that I am making personal improvements, even if slightly, as the weeks go on.

Noise Evaluation and Emotional Response
Unfortunately, I don't think there's really been any improvements as far as the noise itself goes. Perhaps there are more minor fluctuations that occur either throughout the day or day by day, but I can't really judge them as such.

Sleep is still important, and I am continuing to find a correlation between better days and better nights of quality sleep. Please be sure you get this under control, everyone. I must say that I am impressed that I have been able to actually sleep on my side again despite that side being so much more intense, but my body is somehow able to be bothered by that less and less. Of course, some nights are more challenging to do this than others, but it's worth noting all the same.

One remarkable aspect of my day-to-day is that I am much less reliant on masking, and unless I have a particularly bad day, I don't even use it until late in the evening (as the noise tends to get prominent at that point). I do not know to what extent this is a good sign. Even now as I write this, I am doing it in a silent room, and the noise only periodically bothers me. I wouldn't say I've completed evicted it from my attention, not even close, but it's better than say a few weeks ago where it was a constant bother.

I am also trying to not have my sleeping time masking run all evening, but rather I'll play it for a few hours and then have it end, only restarting if it I wake up in the middle of the night (as I tend to do). Optimistically, I may be finding myself able to sleep without any masking at all soon. I seem to notice often that if I wake up with the masking off that the noise isn't as prevalent in the morning and for a while after. I cannot say if this is a coincidence, but it is something I will continue testing all the same.

Supplements
I've been taking Curcumin, Astaxanthin, Vitamin B, and Vitamin D daily consistently for a while now, but I can't determine if they're having any effect on my body whatsoever, and I am almost certain they have not affected the sound one way or another. It's a shame, as I had high expectations for some of these, but it's very possible I still have not yet taken each of them for long enough. After I finish the bottles I have now, I'll reevaluate my options.

Magnesium Glycinate still remains as the one supplement that I feel has had any sort pronounced impact for me. I actually had to go a few days recently without it as my first bottle had been completed, and some of those days were pretty rough.

I had intended to take N-Acetyl Cysteine daily, but I seem to react very negatively towards it, either getting a headache or having a stomachache that makes it not worth the hassle. I had also taken nearly a month's worth of Valerian Root with no measurable effect whatsoever.

I am considering looking into Ashwagandha or St. John's Wort to further bolster my mood, but I am holding off for now in case I make any reasonable, natural improvements.

Miscellanea
I had my birthday a few days ago. I unfortunately didn't get the gift I had wanted most, but I managed to have an alright day. I've also been able to continue performing very well with my classes, and this could even end up being my easiest semester yet. I am looking forward to graduating two months from now.

Notably, I've also started listening to music again, as it had been around two months after onset until I finally did so. I've been doing what I can to keep volume and duration low, however, in order to avoid exacerbating things further. Saying it has been nice would be an understatement, but I still long for the days before where it was more of a carefree pursuit.

Resolution
At the moment, I have no plans to return back to the forum as I was before. It feels as if stepping back as I did has actually helped clear my mind somewhat. I only came back today to see if the partial results for the current FX-322 trial had been posted yet, and they had not, so I'll probably be back in a few days to check again. If you happen to be keeping up with it yourselves and want to shoot me a direct message when the news arrives, I would greatly appreciate it.

I'd like to say I hope things get better for both myself and you all, but I am starting to find the word "hope" a bit distasteful at this point. I would still very much like to see us all writing our success stories and sooner rather than later. Best wishes, all.

 

[kuromi]

I hadn't realised you had logged on until my attention drifted over to the forum tonight, but I'm truly glad to see your update.

I think the progress that you're making with lessening your need for masking throughout the day is commendable progress, Drachen. As others have said before, and as I know to be true, this symptom is a condition of slow, glacial progress towards a greater end - and you're getting there with time. I know that your initial reactions to this experience have been unsavory and deeply fearful; so it gives me joy to know that by and large, with the passage of time things are starting to improve, somewhat.

I don't want to let my response run too long at the risk of being redundant, but I'm certainly glad you're finding progress with the reduction of masking, that you've found comfort in listening to music and that your sleep is starting to get better. I have full confidence that you will see the other end of this soon, however recovery may manifest itself.

❤❤❤