Hi everyone,
I was really hoping I'd never have to make a post here asking for advice but here I am...
This is going to be a bit of a novella, so buckle up if you're willing to read.
A little background: I'm 25 years old and my tinnitus started in December of 2016. I was driving to a doctor's appointment and went through some higher altitude areas, popped my ears by yawning as I normally would do. I didn't notice the noise until I was in the quiet of the exam room, but it hasn't left me since. I tried an ENT at the time who put me through the usual rigors; MRI came back negative for any tumors, hearing test was normal (at least in the ranges that they tested, I'm not sure of the specifics), ears looked physically OK. Basically the same story that's been repeated here a thousand times. I was told to habituate, and so I did. In my right ear, its a two-toned stuttering ring that "reacts", as it were, to sound. It stays the same volume but shifts an octave higher if I hear a noise. I can also shift it to the higher note by flexing my tensor tympani. The higher note is less bothersome, so I've used this to my advantage, flexing when necessary to get it to linger on that note. In the beginning it was very reactive, stuttering all the time, and has become less so in recent years to the point where it mostly rings the higher note and doesn't bounce around so much. It was a tough road but I made it to the point where 3 years later I hardly let it bother me.
Until it got worse.
In November of 2019 I started to notice my good ear (the left) seemed sensitive to sound. If I stood next to a running faucet, for instance, I'd come away with some ringing that would eventually fade in a quiet enough environment. I went to the ENT once more and once more they found no hearing loss, no abnormalities in my ear from a visual exam. They sent me away with an RX for methylprednisone which I did not take, having read about the risks and side effects and having had less than optimal experiences with steroids in the past (none related to my hearing). I decided I'd try to habituate to this ear too, and I was getting along pretty well with it until about early April.
I was sitting idly at my laptop, working from home due to COVID-19 and scratched a small itch on the outside of my left ear. Doing so caused an ungodly loud crunching noise, so loud and startling that I actually gasped. I touched my lobe, the tip of my cartilage, the tragus, all of those produced the same crunching noise. It sounded like bones scraping inside my ear, it was terrible. With a little more experimentation I realized that I didn't even have to touch my ear to make it happen - it would appear if I so much as rubbed my temple - it seemed as though any physical manipulation from the outside, anything that caused my ear to move at all, would cause it to crunch. I know what clearing the Eustachian tubes sounds like, I've heard it a thousand times - this wasn't it. I know what jaw popping sounds like, my jaw has clicked and popped regularly for as long as I can remember - this wasn't it. I decided to wait it out to see what happened, meanwhile trying decongestants and antihistamines, neither of which worked. In about a week, it went away. And in another week, it started in my right ear. The same symptoms to a tinnitus. I arranged a phone call with a doctor through my insurance - I couldn't physically go to one on account of the pandemic. She was baffled, said to try Flonase, which I did to no avail. In about another week, the crunching went away, seemingly on its own. But with that came new ringing in both ears.
My baseline sound in my right ear remains the same, slightly more reactive than usual, but underneath it a new fluttering, morse code-like beeping now exists. My left ear is now 10x louder and more reactive than it was when it began - the tonal ring still fades in a quiet environment and there's an additional morse code-like beeping underneath that persists, similar to the right ear but slightly different in pitch, louder. I feel more sensitive to sound than ever before; I find myself wincing at the sound of plates and cutlery. Its been like this steadily for a week now, and I'm starting to fear its going to stay.
The only thing I can think of that might have contributed to this is Clonazepam. I was prescribed it in November for anxiety and took it on an as-needed basis. This ended up being about twice a week (0.5mg each time) if that, with longer intervals, sometimes months, in between. It quieted my baseline ring and the ring that started in November, but I always attributed that to the anxiety-reduction. Now I'm beginning to wonder if it, in fact, caused the left ear to start up in the first place. My last dose was on the 13th of this month. I was determined not to use it anymore as I learned long term use leads to dependency, and I'd already been using it intermittently for 6 months. The new sounds appeared in that 12-day window from my last dose to now. I don't believe I'm dependent considering the amount I was taking was minimal, and spaced out days in between doses, sometimes weeks. I never suffered any symptoms of withdrawal the during the periods I wasn't taking it before. I'm anxious as all hell now but I'm more willing to attribute that to the newly emerged tinnitus sounds than the lack of Clonazepam. But I won't discount the possibility entirely.
If you've managed to read this far, I thank you with my whole heart, and will only make you suffer through these questions:
Based on my story above, does it make sense that the new sounds have emerged as a result of Clonazepam withdrawal? If so, how long can I expect this to last? I've read conflicting reports all over the internet that sound sensitivity and worsened tinnitus can appear during the withdrawal period, but this still does not explain the many times I had stopped taking it in the past and remained symptom free.
And the crunching. Has anyone out there experienced that sound before? What could possibly be the cause there?
And if these horrid new sounds can't be explained by the Clonazepam, then what can? Where do I even go from here? Is there any kind of home therapy I can do to alleviate the sound sensitivity? I am beginning to lose hope and am absolutely desperate for answers.
Thank you kindly,
Cass
I was really hoping I'd never have to make a post here asking for advice but here I am...
This is going to be a bit of a novella, so buckle up if you're willing to read.
A little background: I'm 25 years old and my tinnitus started in December of 2016. I was driving to a doctor's appointment and went through some higher altitude areas, popped my ears by yawning as I normally would do. I didn't notice the noise until I was in the quiet of the exam room, but it hasn't left me since. I tried an ENT at the time who put me through the usual rigors; MRI came back negative for any tumors, hearing test was normal (at least in the ranges that they tested, I'm not sure of the specifics), ears looked physically OK. Basically the same story that's been repeated here a thousand times. I was told to habituate, and so I did. In my right ear, its a two-toned stuttering ring that "reacts", as it were, to sound. It stays the same volume but shifts an octave higher if I hear a noise. I can also shift it to the higher note by flexing my tensor tympani. The higher note is less bothersome, so I've used this to my advantage, flexing when necessary to get it to linger on that note. In the beginning it was very reactive, stuttering all the time, and has become less so in recent years to the point where it mostly rings the higher note and doesn't bounce around so much. It was a tough road but I made it to the point where 3 years later I hardly let it bother me.
Until it got worse.
In November of 2019 I started to notice my good ear (the left) seemed sensitive to sound. If I stood next to a running faucet, for instance, I'd come away with some ringing that would eventually fade in a quiet enough environment. I went to the ENT once more and once more they found no hearing loss, no abnormalities in my ear from a visual exam. They sent me away with an RX for methylprednisone which I did not take, having read about the risks and side effects and having had less than optimal experiences with steroids in the past (none related to my hearing). I decided I'd try to habituate to this ear too, and I was getting along pretty well with it until about early April.
I was sitting idly at my laptop, working from home due to COVID-19 and scratched a small itch on the outside of my left ear. Doing so caused an ungodly loud crunching noise, so loud and startling that I actually gasped. I touched my lobe, the tip of my cartilage, the tragus, all of those produced the same crunching noise. It sounded like bones scraping inside my ear, it was terrible. With a little more experimentation I realized that I didn't even have to touch my ear to make it happen - it would appear if I so much as rubbed my temple - it seemed as though any physical manipulation from the outside, anything that caused my ear to move at all, would cause it to crunch. I know what clearing the Eustachian tubes sounds like, I've heard it a thousand times - this wasn't it. I know what jaw popping sounds like, my jaw has clicked and popped regularly for as long as I can remember - this wasn't it. I decided to wait it out to see what happened, meanwhile trying decongestants and antihistamines, neither of which worked. In about a week, it went away. And in another week, it started in my right ear. The same symptoms to a tinnitus. I arranged a phone call with a doctor through my insurance - I couldn't physically go to one on account of the pandemic. She was baffled, said to try Flonase, which I did to no avail. In about another week, the crunching went away, seemingly on its own. But with that came new ringing in both ears.
My baseline sound in my right ear remains the same, slightly more reactive than usual, but underneath it a new fluttering, morse code-like beeping now exists. My left ear is now 10x louder and more reactive than it was when it began - the tonal ring still fades in a quiet environment and there's an additional morse code-like beeping underneath that persists, similar to the right ear but slightly different in pitch, louder. I feel more sensitive to sound than ever before; I find myself wincing at the sound of plates and cutlery. Its been like this steadily for a week now, and I'm starting to fear its going to stay.
The only thing I can think of that might have contributed to this is Clonazepam. I was prescribed it in November for anxiety and took it on an as-needed basis. This ended up being about twice a week (0.5mg each time) if that, with longer intervals, sometimes months, in between. It quieted my baseline ring and the ring that started in November, but I always attributed that to the anxiety-reduction. Now I'm beginning to wonder if it, in fact, caused the left ear to start up in the first place. My last dose was on the 13th of this month. I was determined not to use it anymore as I learned long term use leads to dependency, and I'd already been using it intermittently for 6 months. The new sounds appeared in that 12-day window from my last dose to now. I don't believe I'm dependent considering the amount I was taking was minimal, and spaced out days in between doses, sometimes weeks. I never suffered any symptoms of withdrawal the during the periods I wasn't taking it before. I'm anxious as all hell now but I'm more willing to attribute that to the newly emerged tinnitus sounds than the lack of Clonazepam. But I won't discount the possibility entirely.
If you've managed to read this far, I thank you with my whole heart, and will only make you suffer through these questions:
Based on my story above, does it make sense that the new sounds have emerged as a result of Clonazepam withdrawal? If so, how long can I expect this to last? I've read conflicting reports all over the internet that sound sensitivity and worsened tinnitus can appear during the withdrawal period, but this still does not explain the many times I had stopped taking it in the past and remained symptom free.
And the crunching. Has anyone out there experienced that sound before? What could possibly be the cause there?
And if these horrid new sounds can't be explained by the Clonazepam, then what can? Where do I even go from here? Is there any kind of home therapy I can do to alleviate the sound sensitivity? I am beginning to lose hope and am absolutely desperate for answers.
Thank you kindly,
Cass
Member
