Noise-Induced Tinnitus — Positive Success Stories

Does anyone get loud T followed almost immediately by a quieter version? I have a fan and aquarium in the room but it's not a piercing T with that background noise. This is after I had my loudest T in weeks 5 minutes ago. If I go to a quieter room I know it will be there. Ears are half to 3/4 full and almost sore. So confused.
 
@Chris M

That's a good one. Will Farrell is so committed to his parts he can pull off anything. It's fun to watch him transform through the movie.
 
@Bill Bauer

I assumed you were in the act of brushing your teeth and somehow brushed your ear. Mom always said when you assume you make a jerk out of yourself. My bad.
 
@DBT

I think I've still got a decent amount of h. It's definitely gone down since things started but has a ways to go. If I compare how I was a month ago to today it's a huge difference.

Tonight I went backwards because it's piercing and my ears are full and almost sore. Hopefully it's just a normal bump in the road. Everyone says progress isn't linear. I swear as I was typing this post the ringing got lower. This makes no sense.

I had H at the beginning but thing it was about perception in my case. I was so afraid of this thing that I thought everything would make it worse. Even just brushing my teeth seemed to make it worse.

Later on I got H every now and then accompanied by a more piercing and electric T. But it was always after a few quiet days. Have discovered that it's because of the meds I take. They can lower it to a nice quiet level, but then the T returns even worse for a few days, before it goes down again.

I can relate to the fullness that like create a physical pain in the ears. And also that even when I feels it's pretty bad at some point during the day, and then later it's suddenly not so bad.

It leads me to think there is a lot in the perception of this thing. When I think that's it's piercing it becomes piercing. But when I forget about it, it not so bad.
 
@DBT

Are you on meds for t or other things? I don't need to know what other things or even the meds.

I agree it's perception but there are other things going on with our ears. Last night it got loud for about a half hour and I wasn't super focused or anxious about t all day. When it got louder I noticed my ears felt full. I admit my anxiety peaked and I'm sure that made it feel worse but something was going on.

You could be right about us causing the trouble. My ears are starting to feel full as I write this post. Dunno. There's just so little logic to all this. My masking noise was louder than I realized, maybe that was the problem.
 
I spent about 3 hrs last night on TT and 3 hrs this morning on TT and had some awesome conversations with my new friends. Something clicked last night with my understanding of t or perhaps my feeling that I'm not alone. Probably my feeling that I'm not alone.

I'm going to try and stay off tt the rest of today and enjoy the beautiful sunny day. Hopefully I can do it.
 
@DBT

Are you on meds for t or other things? I don't need to know what other things or even the meds.

I agree it's perception but there are other things going on with our ears. Last night it got loud for about a half hour and I wasn't super focused or anxious about t all day. When it got louder I noticed my ears felt full. I admit my anxiety peaked and I'm sure that made it feel worse but something was going on.

You could be right about us causing the trouble. My ears are starting to feel full as I write this post. Dunno. There's just so little logic to all this. My masking noise was louder than I realized, maybe that was the problem.

I started to use antidepressants about 14 days after I got T. They administered it on the psychiatric hospital. After being on them for a few months I learned that one of them might even make it worse. A SRRI type I think it's called. Also took some benzo's in emergency situation. Found a pattern that when I had taken one of those and got rest, the sound would go down. But the following day it would be worse than normal for a day or 2 before it settled back down.

Now I'm only on Mirtizapine that should be on the safe end. On my way out of those so I'm down to half dose right now. Doing it con my own as I have been abandoned by just about anything but my own doctor.

I've been looking for logic in all this too. The only patterns I have found is related to the meds. But when I have a relatively quiet day, I get some spikes in one ear. Just like we can normally get without T but it's just a very high frequency. Usually only lasts max 30. Mostly just 3-5 seconds. Beyond 10 sec and I freak a bit.

I've not been on here so much. But I too find comfort that I'm not alone with this. Sadly this is the only place I can really turn to.

Hope you enjoyed the sunshine ;-)
 
@DBT

Are you on meds for t or other things? I don't need to know what other things or even the meds.

I agree it's perception but there are other things going on with our ears. Last night it got loud for about a half hour and I wasn't super focused or anxious about t all day. When it got louder I noticed my ears felt full. I admit my anxiety peaked and I'm sure that made it feel worse but something was going on.

You could be right about us causing the trouble. My ears are starting to feel full as I write this post. Dunno. There's just so little logic to all this. My masking noise was louder than I realized, maybe that was the problem.

I started to use antidepressants about 14 days after I got T. They administered it on the psychiatric hospital. After being on them for a few months I learned that one of them might even make it worse. A SRRI type I think it's called. Also took some benzo's in emergency situation. Found a pattern that when I had taken one of those and got rest, the sound would go down. But the following day it would be worse than normal for a day or 2 before it settled back down.

Now I'm only on Mirtizapine that should be on the safe end. On my way out of those so I'm down to half dose right now. Doing it con my own as I have been abandoned by just about anything but my own doctor.

I've been looking for logic in all this too. The only patterns I have found is related to the meds. But when I have a relatively quiet day, I get some spikes in one ear. Just like we can normally get without T but it's just a very high frequency. Usually only lasts max 30. Mostly just 3-5 seconds. Beyond 10 sec and I freak a bit.

I've not been on here so much. But I too find comfort that I'm not alone with this. Sadly this is the only place I can really turn to.

Hope you enjoyed the sunshine ;-)
 
I've been using headphones in my truck so I don't notice the distortion anymore. I've listened to the radio very softly in my wife's Honda and it sounds ok. I keep the radio so low I usually turn it off anyway. I'm so nervous. If I listen to the TV in the house, again very low, it sounds fine.
Hey @New Guy

I've been a silent onlooker on this forum for most of my stay here. Every now and then I read your posts and have been following your progress and progress it is! I find it encouraging to see you have improvement with H since last month.

I'd like to ask you a question regarding this 'distortion' you experience. I seem to have the same thing. I can best describe it as a sort of whistling and a mechanical echo over or within low frequency sounds (especially when driving my car).

Recently my left ear has really begun hurting after a while of moderate sound exposure, leaving me with a burning sensation, but I ask myself whether this is 'just' H. I'm wondering whether you also have TTTS (or the chronic contraction of the Tensor Tympani muscle within the ear) when hearing certain sounds. In my case, the muscle is highly reactive to sudden and shrill noises (such as clanking plates or cutlery). I've read a bit about this condition and it seems like, what the medical world calls, 'dysacusis' is one of the accompanying symptoms. I haven't, however, read the same thing about H yet. Wondering whether you experience this as well and if it has gotten better...
Best wishes to you and thanks for sharing your experience thus far.
 
Hope you enjoyed the sunshine ;-)

I did enjoy the sunshine. I took 2 trips to the dump, took the dog for a two mile walk on a new path surrounded by nature, raked up sticks in the yard and did some other work in the garden. I usually put my own gardens last but this year I'm giving them more of a priority because it's something I enjoy and helps me relax.

Thank you for sharing what you're going through and your meds. It's a reminder of how trying this can be. I never visited my family doctor because I knew he wouldn't be able to help. I saw him yesterday for a checkup and brought my supplements to ask if they were ok but he was so rushed he never looked at them.

I've been to two different ENT's and they could care less if I come back and would have no idea who I was if I did. I feel alone too.

If you ever want to talk you're welcome to message me.
 
@Mellow7

Hmmm. h(yperacusis) is when your ears are more sensitive to sound, right? My ears have been much more sensitive to sound since the t started. I feel like they are becoming less sensitive but they still have a long way to go. I would ask my kids to talk quieter and my wife to talk quieter a month ago and I still do, but less often.

The biggest improvements I've noticed with h is that traffic in front of my house doesn't bother me as much, I can listen to it for a while without freaking out and grocery store beepers don't bother me as much, I don't run for cover when I hear them. If the noise seems sharp or painful I'll plug my ears with my fingers and move away.

I listen to the speakers on my laptop at about 1/3 the max volume. Before t I often cranked the speakers to the max so I could get the best sound. They're really small lousy speakers so I don't feel too bad admitting to that. Since t going more than about 1/2 way with the volume makes me fear damaging my ears. I suppose it's part mental and part physical but I don't think a loud noise would be good for me.

Last night and tonight my ears feel full and a little sore. I didn't expose myself to any crazy noises. Just traffic going by my house and my families voices and videos on the computer at a low volume.

I noticed the paper crumbling feel in my ear in the last week for a few hours but I haven't had it for days like in the beginning. That was really freaky. I'll probably get it tomorrow since I said I haven't had it in a while.

I don't know exactly what TTTS is but I can tell you occasionally my eardrum will flutter. That too has been happening less often but it definitely happens.

I don't think my h has improved as much as I think because the thought of loud sounds still scares me. It could be mental but I feel like my ears would go nuts if I played my laptop speakers on full blast or didn't plug my ears when a group of 20 Harley's drove by my house.

My son was helping organize a 5k today and I would have run it 2 1/2 months ago but there was no way I wanted to be near a possible starters pistol or loud speakers at the start or finish line. I don't see me going to any public events like that for at least I don't know another 6 months.

My wife and I are supposed to go to a wedding over the summer and I can't figure out how to pull that one off. I could see going to the service with earplugs and suffering through it to be with my wife but the thought of a wedding reception with a loud DJ for 3 hours. No f'in way!

I hope that helps.
 
I fear my attitude may be leading people to believe that things are better than they are for me. I don't want someone to read this in a few months or years and think they should be doing better. I'm not moving forward that fast and I still have no idea where I'll end up.

I want to write this post to anyone who has been following my thread. It's a little over 8 weeks since I got t.
  • I still have h and I still avoid loud situations.
  • My t has been acting up the last couple days and getting really loud. Probably 1.5x louder than it's normal level. So far this is only for an hour or two at a time. My t is in no way stable.
  • I have times when the EEE turns to a hiss or static for 15 minutes to 1-2 hours. It's much less bothersome when this happens but the volume of the hiss or static is the same as the EEE. It's just a more pleasant noise. I usually notice the hiss or static when I'm driving with my ear muffs on. The hiss or static sounds different with the ear muffs on. I sometimes think I have the hiss or static when I'm outside and don't hear my t. However, the times I didn't notice my t I was working near a stream or during light rain. This may have provided enough masking to cover my t.
  • If I go into a quiet room and listen to my t it's very similar to when I first got it. Even if I'm hearing the hiss or static if I go into a quiet room it's loud and uncomfortable. I don't want to be alone in a quiet room any longer than it takes to go to the bathroom.
  • I've been using less masking because I want to hear my t and judge any changes. This is wrong and probably has made my t stand out more.
I'm writing this because today as I was walking through the forest I could hear my t. This upset me and made me feel depressed. The first week I got t I walked in my yard and got upset because I could hear my t outdoors. It appears there has been no change based on what happened today.

I apologize if I'm giving anyone the wrong impression. That wasn't/isn't my intent.
 
I noticed the paper crumbling feel in my ear
Do you hear it every time you (or someone else) stop talking? If that's the case, what you have is tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS). It should eventually (may take a year...) get better or even disappear.
I still avoid loud situations.
I plan to avoid loud situations for the rest of my life. I would not enjoy any activity that has the potential to ruin the rest of my life.
Last night and tonight my ears feel full and a little sore. I didn't expose myself to any crazy noises.
T can take several days to react. Have you been exposed to any noises over the past week?
I don't know exactly what TTTS is but I can tell you occasionally my eardrum will flutter.
That's definitely TTTS.
 
@Bill Bauer

No I don't hear the paper crumbling every time someone stops speaking. The paper crumbling thing would last 2-3 days in the first month. It felt like something was loose in my ear.

I don't remember exposing myself to any loud noises but it is possible a loud truck went by the house when I was outside. Actually yesterday I heard a leaf blower and that was loud so that may have been the cause.

The fluttering only happens every few days. Is that still TTTS?

My idiot neighbor just lit off a firework at 11:00 at night. A firework that could have been in the town display. I'm inside and doors and windows are closed but are you freakin' kidding me.
 
it is possible a loud truck went by the house when I was outside.
My guess is that something like that would probably Not do it. It is very different from the sound of slamming doors that I have had bad experiences with.
The fluttering only happens every few days. Is that still TTTS?
I used to notice mine every few days. These days I still notice it sometimes, but it is a lot less often. I think I have TTTS.
I'm inside and doors and windows are closed but are you freakin' kidding me.
Unbelievable...

You might consider talking to him about it...
 
I gave up with that one. It's not worth it.
 
@Bill Bauer

No I don't hear the paper crumbling every time someone stops speaking. The paper crumbling thing would last 2-3 days in the first month. It felt like something was loose in my ear.

I don't remember exposing myself to any loud noises but it is possible a loud truck went by the house when I was outside. Actually yesterday I heard a leaf blower and that was loud so that may have been the cause.

The fluttering only happens every few days. Is that still TTTS?

My idiot neighbor just lit off a firework at 11:00 at night. A firework that could have been in the town display. I'm inside and doors and windows are closed but are you freakin' kidding me.

If it doesn't bother you, it's not worth being worried about imo. I'm kinda ashamed to have brought it up actually, since you hadn't heard of it. I sometimes go half an hour without thinking about it and I swear I don't have any fluttering then, so it largely will depend on how much you are focused on sound being harmful to the ear. In that way the muscle reaction is psychosomatic, I think.

I did not mean to imply you were quasi healed of this affliction, by the way, but I thought that certain sounds being less bothersome is an all-around improvement of H. Lately, I have been moving the opposite direction (I used to have just the fluttering and mild discomfort and now I get a burning sensation after exposure), so it encourages me when I see progress this way, however small it may be.

Take care.
 
@Mellow7

I get very excited to see progress in the right direction too. That's why I feared I was making myself out to be a miracle case. I pour over the forums looking for success stories and I don't want to lead anyone down the wrong path in the future.

It's great to see someone being positive and supportive of me and following my story. If I met someone on the street and they said their t is going down I would high 5 them quietly and be happy too.

I do feel like the h is getting better but still a ways to go. I put on my truck radio the first or second week and it sounded so bad. That scared me a lot. I haven't tried the truck radio but the TV and computer at a low level sounds ok so I'm going to go with things are getting better.

My eardrum flutters are probably only a few times a day if that. Like you say I'll probably notice it more now. I never had a ton of eardrum fluttering but when it did I would think to myself how weird it was because it never happened before.

I do have more fleeting t than before. At least once every 3 days give or take. There was one night it happened twice in a row in the same ear. That assured me that things weren't like before. Before t fleeting t happened so little I didn't keep track. Dunno, once every 1-6 months?

I want to believe that whenever the swelling goes down in my ear or the ttts muscle chills out things will start to improve more but only time will tell. Everyone on the site says you have to be patient and I'm trying but it's hard.

I don't feel like the emotional and physical wreck I was the first month, though I still have moments, but I'm nowhere near where I was before t.

I hope your h is just a temporary spike or perhaps exposure to too much noise. I have had days where I felt like my noise threshold was met and my ears felt full around dinner time. I would excuse myself and go to a quiet room because my family's talking would get too me. I sometimes wonder if we can only handle so much sound in a day in the beginning and once we cross that threshold our ears start to bother us again.

Have you become more comfortable with the h or TTTS and exposing yourself to more sound? I know exposing yourself to sound helps healing. Perhaps too much for too long? When you jog if you pull a muscle you can't keep jogging on that muscle. You have to cut back and give it time to heal. I'm pulling at straws trying to use logic which seems to never work with t.

Thank you for your support and encouragement Mellow7.
 
I fear my attitude may be leading people to believe that things are better than they are for me. I don't want someone to read this in a few months or years and think they should be doing better. I'm not moving forward that fast and I still have no idea where I'll end up.

I want to write this post to anyone who has been following my thread. It's a little over 8 weeks since I got t.
  • I still have h and I still avoid loud situations.
  • My t has been acting up the last couple days and getting really loud. Probably 1.5x louder than it's normal level. So far this is only for an hour or two at a time. My t is in no way stable.
  • I have times when the EEE turns to a hiss or static for 15 minutes to 1-2 hours. It's much less bothersome when this happens but the volume of the hiss or static is the same as the EEE. It's just a more pleasant noise. I usually notice the hiss or static when I'm driving with my ear muffs on. The hiss or static sounds different with the ear muffs on. I sometimes think I have the hiss or static when I'm outside and don't hear my t. However, the times I didn't notice my t I was working near a stream or during light rain. This may have provided enough masking to cover my t.
  • If I go into a quiet room and listen to my t it's very similar to when I first got it. Even if I'm hearing the hiss or static if I go into a quiet room it's loud and uncomfortable. I don't want to be alone in a quiet room any longer than it takes to go to the bathroom.
  • I've been using less masking because I want to hear my t and judge any changes. This is wrong and probably has made my t stand out more.
I'm writing this because today as I was walking through the forest I could hear my t. This upset me and made me feel depressed. The first week I got t I walked in my yard and got upset because I could hear my t outdoors. It appears there has been no change based on what happened today.

I apologize if I'm giving anyone the wrong impression. That wasn't/isn't my intent.

I get what you mean. Sometimes it can bring the mood down to see others coping better.

But we shouldn't forget that we often feel way better than we did previously.

Btw I sent you a message
 
@Mellow7

I get very excited to see progress in the right direction too. That's why I feared I was making myself out to be a miracle case. I pour over the forums looking for success stories and I don't want to lead anyone down the wrong path in the future.

It's great to see someone being positive and supportive of me and following my story. If I met someone on the street and they said their t is going down I would high 5 them quietly and be happy too.

I do feel like the h is getting better but still a ways to go. I put on my truck radio the first or second week and it sounded so bad. That scared me a lot. I haven't tried the truck radio but the TV and computer at a low level sounds ok so I'm going to go with things are getting better.

My eardrum flutters are probably only a few times a day if that. Like you say I'll probably notice it more now. I never had a ton of eardrum fluttering but when it did I would think to myself how weird it was because it never happened before.

I do have more fleeting t than before. At least once every 3 days give or take. There was one night it happened twice in a row in the same ear. That assured me that things weren't like before. Before t fleeting t happened so little I didn't keep track. Dunno, once every 1-6 months?

I want to believe that whenever the swelling goes down in my ear or the ttts muscle chills out things will start to improve more but only time will tell. Everyone on the site says you have to be patient and I'm trying but it's hard.

I don't feel like the emotional and physical wreck I was the first month, though I still have moments, but I'm nowhere near where I was before t.

I hope your h is just a temporary spike or perhaps exposure to too much noise. I have had days where I felt like my noise threshold was met and my ears felt full around dinner time. I would excuse myself and go to a quiet room because my family's talking would get too me. I sometimes wonder if we can only handle so much sound in a day in the beginning and once we cross that threshold our ears start to bother us again.

Have you become more comfortable with the h or TTTS and exposing yourself to more sound? I know exposing yourself to sound helps healing. Perhaps too much for too long? When you jog if you pull a muscle you can't keep jogging on that muscle. You have to cut back and give it time to heal. I'm pulling at straws trying to use logic which seems to never work with t.

Thank you for your support and encouragement Mellow7.

You are very welcome. One of the advantages of this century is the internet, as the greatest forum for communication we have ever seen, allowing us kindred souls to stick together (at the risk of sounding sentimental). Just knowing that there are others out there, dealing with similar problems, and still thinking positive and taking each day head on, gives me mental strength. Though, of course I would rather see no one have this problem at all. In the meanwhile, the next best thing is coping until we reach habituation. And who knows, maybe we will come out the other end, feeling stronger and more confident in ourselves than ever before...

As for my current state of affairs. I have honestly not a single clue. I've been riding the T-Train for a good 3 months now and, apart from the first two weeks, my first two months were very bearable. Since about a month and a bit (when I had an unpleasant although moderate noise exposure), I've had a much more difficult time.

I tried the 'laissez faire' approach for that first period, where I didn't let myself be bothered by most sounds, except for 80db+ (when I started plugging the ears) and still went out and did all my old activities, but that ended up costing me dearly. I had a 'spike' (if it can still be called that) that hasn't gone away. Since then I've been limiting myself in my activities and avoiding prolonged exposure to even moderate sounds or wearing Peltor muffs (such as when driving on the highway). Still had a worsening of H since 5 days... Guess I'm at a bit of a loss right now. Sorta between a rock and a hard place, between not wanting to further lower my LDL's and increasing H or increasing T due to being careless around noise. Gotta find the 'sweet spot' and see from there how I can desensitize the auditory system.

Absolutely essential in the long run is the positive outlook and the belief in better times, which I think you, @New Guy, have in you, having read your posts. Sure, you can experience setbacks, but in the long run, you'll come out on top. That belief is essential and is what I'm trying to assimilate into.

Cheers!
 
@Mellow7

That's rough. I'm more positive now because I know nothing can suck as much as the first month. Man that sucked. I mean it really sucked and hope was non existent. It was like how am I going to live a life like this. It sucked.

People like you and others have warned me to be careful because things can change in an instant. I'm sorry something happened to you and it sounds like you've been very careful. I hope it's just a temporary change.

I spoke to one member who said his t amped up a bit around month 2 but settled back down around month 3. I've noticed I get some louder moments the last few days but they seem to settle down in less than an hour. I pray it stays that way.

If you wonder why I'm so positive read the first paragraph again. I mean everything I say in it.
 
But we shouldn't forget that we often feel way better than we did previously.

Btw I sent you a message

I was at the local big box home improvement store today and when I left it occurred to me how far I've come. The t was there though not quiete as piercing but what was different was that I was out in public and slowly moving forward with my life. I looked at supplies for a vegetable garden I want to start and had some fun wandering the store. I brought some plants home to put in my garden. I didn't bother looking at the power tools. Not ready for new power tools yet. The whole time I was carrying my 30 db nrr ear muffs just in case there was a fire alarm, fork lift, who knows what.

I feel better than I did 2 months ago. Yes.
 
I was at the local big box home improvement store today and when I left it occurred to me how far I've come. The t was there though not quiete as piercing but what was different was that I was out in public and slowly moving forward with my life. I looked at supplies for a vegetable garden I want to start and had some fun wandering the store. I brought some plants home to put in my garden. I didn't bother looking at the power tools. Not ready for new power tools yet. The whole time I was carrying my 30 db nrr ear muffs just in case there was a fire alarm, fork lift, who knows what.

I feel better than I did 2 months ago. Yes.

That's great! Small steps are still steps. And you really can't rush this.

When I was about 2 weeks in, I went to a dollar store to pick up a few things. They had this spot lights in the store that had a buzzing and screaming sound. That freaked me out so bad. Thought I never would be able to go anywhere again. Now I'm looking forward to it. It keeps me busy and the background noise and things going on, makes me forget about the T some times. Going out to buy a new washing machine tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it.

I know the feeling having to pass the power tools. It used to be like a magnet. And I don't even have that many.

I think it's cool that you just wear your muffs. I should be doing the same more often, but I keep wanting to be my old self. And it's not working out too good.
 
You need more power tools. You should have at least as many power tools as your wife has pairs of shoes. Probably more.

I didn't wear the ear muffs I just carried them around with me in case. A small store I could run out of but this store was huge.
 
I went to the Home Improvement store today and some more plants followed me home. I carried my ear muffs with me through the store in case of an emergency. While at the store I spent some time looking at battery powered lawnmowers and weed wackers because they're supposed to be quieter than gas (I would still wear full hearing protection when using them) and looking at lumber to build some raised beds for a vegetable garden. I've been putting off the vegetable garden forever and figure why not get started now.

I can't say I started any huge project today but a couple things struck me. One, I wasn't wallowing in self pity. I got out and did something I enjoy. Two, I was planning for the future. I'm looking forward to enjoying the plants through the summer.

My t switched sides today for a while. Usually it's 75% right, 25% left but if flipped. Three weeks ago I was getting nervous because there were no changes but now it's quite variable. I notice a trend where it gets louder and then it becomes more of a hiss or static for a while. That's what happened today after it switched sides. I sometimes get crickets on my right side but they came on my left today too.

Earlier in the thread I wrote that perhaps when the fullness in my ears goes away my t will start to improve. Today I learned that my t has nothing to do with my ears. It literally flipped completely for a couple hours. That can't be from physical damage to my ears. I hope that DCN or DNC or Run DMC thingamajiggy is healing well and is ready to get back to how things used to be.
 
Without further ado the plants that followed me home today. This is a Dahlia. To me it's an old fashioned flower. I love the large flowers. It' supposed to bloom all summer if you deadhead the spent flowers.
Dahlia13.jpg
 

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