Hi, everybody. I'm suffering from a persistent ringing in my left ear and I'm looking for answers.
I am a 41-year old male. I do not smoke and do not take medications.
It started about a year ago. I work in retail and I was wrapping some plastic wrap around pallets of merchandise to get ready for Black Friday. I remember feeling dizzy afterwards. I don't really think wrapping the pallets caused my tinnitus, but that's the time period when I remember it starting.
It used to be that I would get occasional ringing in both ears, but one trick I learned was that if I tried to focus on the source of the sound, as if it were coming from an external source like a speaker, then it would convince my brain that there was no such sound and it would promptly go away. I can't do that this time.
I would describe the sound as approximately 10,000 Hz and maybe around 75-100 dB. I am not experiencing any hearing loss but the phantom sound is "loud" enough that it interferes with my ability to hear people speaking to me.
After several months of dealing with this, I saw an ear doctor and they ran some tests. I do not have earwax buildup, there is no infection, and there is no physical blockage. My eardrums are properly responsive and I have normal hearing for my age. They were not able to find the cause of the problem.
I have observed that when I clench my jaw tightly, it changes the intensity and pitch of the sound. I believe this means it may have a physical origin, perhaps some kind of fluid build-up behind the ear or maybe something vascular that I am able to detect on an auditory level.
The constant sound is infuriating. It makes it very difficult for me to fall asleep. I have to be utterly exhausted in order to be able to sleep through it, and if I am awakened, it's hard to fall asleep again.
I've read about a lot of home remedies but I'm hesitant to just start pouring things into my ear canal (tea tree oil, etc.) I've put water in there when I shower, but that's about it.
The sound seems to have gotten louder in recent days. It used to be that I didn't really notice it when I was at work, but now it bothers me all the time. I did have a cold recently so that may be a contributing factor. The weather has also gotten colder, but I'm unsure if that would have any effect.
I am looking for some suggestions to alleviate this, maybe some things I haven't yet tried or read about.
I am a 41-year old male. I do not smoke and do not take medications.
It started about a year ago. I work in retail and I was wrapping some plastic wrap around pallets of merchandise to get ready for Black Friday. I remember feeling dizzy afterwards. I don't really think wrapping the pallets caused my tinnitus, but that's the time period when I remember it starting.
It used to be that I would get occasional ringing in both ears, but one trick I learned was that if I tried to focus on the source of the sound, as if it were coming from an external source like a speaker, then it would convince my brain that there was no such sound and it would promptly go away. I can't do that this time.
I would describe the sound as approximately 10,000 Hz and maybe around 75-100 dB. I am not experiencing any hearing loss but the phantom sound is "loud" enough that it interferes with my ability to hear people speaking to me.
After several months of dealing with this, I saw an ear doctor and they ran some tests. I do not have earwax buildup, there is no infection, and there is no physical blockage. My eardrums are properly responsive and I have normal hearing for my age. They were not able to find the cause of the problem.
I have observed that when I clench my jaw tightly, it changes the intensity and pitch of the sound. I believe this means it may have a physical origin, perhaps some kind of fluid build-up behind the ear or maybe something vascular that I am able to detect on an auditory level.
The constant sound is infuriating. It makes it very difficult for me to fall asleep. I have to be utterly exhausted in order to be able to sleep through it, and if I am awakened, it's hard to fall asleep again.
I've read about a lot of home remedies but I'm hesitant to just start pouring things into my ear canal (tea tree oil, etc.) I've put water in there when I shower, but that's about it.
The sound seems to have gotten louder in recent days. It used to be that I didn't really notice it when I was at work, but now it bothers me all the time. I did have a cold recently so that may be a contributing factor. The weather has also gotten colder, but I'm unsure if that would have any effect.
I am looking for some suggestions to alleviate this, maybe some things I haven't yet tried or read about.
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