This is going to be long. Sorry!
I've had tinnitus since the beginning of April. I woke up one morning with it in my left ear and had excruciating pain. Three weeks in my left ear changed to 3 tones (a doorbell sound, musical sound, and what sounds like a tornado siren) that I hear all the time and I have a sound in my right ear that I only hear in complete silence.
I originally thought it was caused by overuse of earbuds over a few months. There was 2 1/2 weeks between not using earbuds anymore and tinnitus starting. I could tell something was up with my hearing after it started though. I've been protecting my ears like crazy since.
A couple weeks ago I was taken to the psych ward at a local hospital by the police for a week because I was just done. They ran a bunch of blood tests that showed that my vitamin d and iron levels were bottomed out. The doctor said he's never seen levels so low in his career. They put me on an iron pill 3 times a day for anemia and a vitamin d pill (50,000 IU) once a week. I also had an MRI and said they'd call if something showed up. Never heard from them.
They also had an audiologist and ENT come to see me. The ENT didn't do much except look in my ears, check my throat, and teeth. He seemed to be concerned that I had frequent ear infections as a child until I was 14. He said it was unusual. The audiologist did a hearing test in my hospital room (the AC was on, roommate was in the room, and the tv outside of my room was loud) and it showed a slight loss in low frequencies in both ears. I believe it though because mufflers and air conditioners sound distorted to me. I also couldn't understand the last couple words when she did the test with words with the background noise. She checked pressure and said it was perfect. We both noticed I didn't have a dip at 4,000 like it would normally show if the music had caused it. She said she doesn't believe mine was caused by music because of that. She said she doesn't think it's Meniere's because I don't have any other symptoms.
My problem is the doctors I saw think they can cure it. I kept telling them the hearing loss has to be the cause and they kept pulling the whole "we're the doctors, not you" thing and kept saying I don't know if it can be cured and I need to stop my "catastrophic thinking"
They seem to think that maybe my severe vitamin deficiencies or other issues could be the cause and I don't believe them. They also thought Prozac and Nortriptyline might get rid of it. Wrong. They have since made it worse, so now I have to figure out how to come off of them without doing more damage.
They also mentioned ECT for my severe depression because they read case studies of 2 people that didn't have tinnitus anymore after ECT. I think it sounds crazy.
Does anyone have any ideas? What should my next move be, if anything? I know no one here is a doctor, but a lot of you are very knowledgeable.
Sorry again for the long post and thanks in advance!
I've had tinnitus since the beginning of April. I woke up one morning with it in my left ear and had excruciating pain. Three weeks in my left ear changed to 3 tones (a doorbell sound, musical sound, and what sounds like a tornado siren) that I hear all the time and I have a sound in my right ear that I only hear in complete silence.
I originally thought it was caused by overuse of earbuds over a few months. There was 2 1/2 weeks between not using earbuds anymore and tinnitus starting. I could tell something was up with my hearing after it started though. I've been protecting my ears like crazy since.
A couple weeks ago I was taken to the psych ward at a local hospital by the police for a week because I was just done. They ran a bunch of blood tests that showed that my vitamin d and iron levels were bottomed out. The doctor said he's never seen levels so low in his career. They put me on an iron pill 3 times a day for anemia and a vitamin d pill (50,000 IU) once a week. I also had an MRI and said they'd call if something showed up. Never heard from them.
They also had an audiologist and ENT come to see me. The ENT didn't do much except look in my ears, check my throat, and teeth. He seemed to be concerned that I had frequent ear infections as a child until I was 14. He said it was unusual. The audiologist did a hearing test in my hospital room (the AC was on, roommate was in the room, and the tv outside of my room was loud) and it showed a slight loss in low frequencies in both ears. I believe it though because mufflers and air conditioners sound distorted to me. I also couldn't understand the last couple words when she did the test with words with the background noise. She checked pressure and said it was perfect. We both noticed I didn't have a dip at 4,000 like it would normally show if the music had caused it. She said she doesn't believe mine was caused by music because of that. She said she doesn't think it's Meniere's because I don't have any other symptoms.
My problem is the doctors I saw think they can cure it. I kept telling them the hearing loss has to be the cause and they kept pulling the whole "we're the doctors, not you" thing and kept saying I don't know if it can be cured and I need to stop my "catastrophic thinking"
They seem to think that maybe my severe vitamin deficiencies or other issues could be the cause and I don't believe them. They also thought Prozac and Nortriptyline might get rid of it. Wrong. They have since made it worse, so now I have to figure out how to come off of them without doing more damage.
They also mentioned ECT for my severe depression because they read case studies of 2 people that didn't have tinnitus anymore after ECT. I think it sounds crazy.
Does anyone have any ideas? What should my next move be, if anything? I know no one here is a doctor, but a lot of you are very knowledgeable.
Sorry again for the long post and thanks in advance!
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