Poll: Was the Advice You Got on Tinnitus Talk More Useful Than Your ENT's Advice?

[IvanRus]

@Bill Bauer
With a gross error of the doctor, everything was working - the urologist prescribed me an aminoglycoside antibiotic, from a bacterium that most likely accidentally fell into the analysis in the laboratory. Even when I did not know anything about tinnitus, I told him that this is a well-known ototoxic drug, and I do not want to risk my ears. But he insisted on the reception.
It was my mistake that I agreed with him. Then the hell things began

 

[Contrast]

this means any proven knowledge about hidden hearing loss should not be accepted over the ENT"s tonal audiogram.

 

[Mark5398]

Considering that my ENT did not provide me with any advice whatsoever, then I would say this forum has been immensely more useful than the doctor in the last year.

I still remember when the ENT called me and said: "Great news, your MRI has turned completely clear. There is no physical problem whatsoever".

Part of me was hoping for an identifiable problem to blame...

 

[dpdx]

ENTs are garbage

 

[CricketEars]

Was the advice I got here better than "I don't know, I think the infection made your hearing worse. Based on your audiogram, you should expect some ringing. Use a fan or something to mask the sound"?

I'm gonna go with YES!

 

[Red]

What I voted for does not completely match with my experience. There is no option for "My ENT's advice wasn't completely useless but the advice here was far far more Illuminating."

 

[Bill Bauer]

@Bill Bauer
With a gross error of the doctor, everything was working - the urologist prescribed me an aminoglycoside antibiotic, from a bacterium that most likely accidentally fell into the analysis in the laboratory. Even when I did not know anything about tinnitus, I told him that this is a well-known ototoxic drug, and I do not want to risk my ears. But he insisted on the reception.
It was my mistake that I agreed with him. Then the hell things began

Ужасно...
(Awful...)

 

[BreachOfEuphoria]

The advice I got on this forum ended up being more useful; my ENT was useless

 

[MBH]

Well you know how I feel about 2 different ENTs, throw in GPs, Neurologist merry go around ride going around.

But I found Tinnitus talk where I learned to survive with tinnitus.

 

[Strife_84]

My first ENT didn't care. Second was specialized in Tinnitus. Wanted me to take off my earplugs and live the good life. Only protect in loud environments. He himself had hearing damage, up to 50db. Looks like following his own advice wasn't that great.

So did you use earplugs in normal life? My ENT said I should not use plugs when living normal life. Only if I go to loud places etc.

 

[HeavyMantra]

Following my ENTs advice, I continued to use headphones until my T got much much worse. Never trusting a doctor again

 

[Strife_84]

Following my ENTs advice, I continued to use headphones until my T got much much worse. Never trusting a doctor again

It is amazing how different solutions we get. My ENT told me to be at least a month without headphones and if Y tinnitus gets better, being very careful with the volume. Also live normal life without earplugs but in noisy places earplugs. Also gave a prescription cortisone for 1,5 weeks.

 

[linearb]

I already knew a lot about tinnitus before this forum existed, but my ENTs have been very helpful, and never suggested things that seemed insane, so... ENTs all the way, for me. Note that before T I had a complex neck issue that needed ENT intervention.

 

[HeavyMantra]

It is amazing how different solutions we get. My ENT told me to be at least a month without headphones and if Y tinnitus gets better, being very careful with the volume. Also live normal life without earplugs but in noisy places earplugs. Also gave a prescription cortisone for 1,5 weeks.

Better advice than I got. My hearing test up to 8000khz was perfect, and the ENT said there was NO WAY it was noise induced. That's what I wanted to hear, so I continued to mix and create music with headphones. I wish I had given it more thought myself and researched it. ENTs seem clueless and encourage continued noise exposure that risks making T worse. I have no idea why they would want this

 

[Cojackb]

This forum is worth its weight in gold, my ENT threw Diazepam at me and basically showed me the door.

 

[Strife_84]

Better advice than I got. My hearing test up to 8000khz was perfect, and the ENT said there was NO WAY it was noise induced. That's what I wanted to hear, so I continued to mix and create music with headphones. I wish I had given it more thought myself and researched it. ENTs seem clueless and encourage continued noise exposure that risks making T worse. I have no idea why they would want this

I also destroyed my hearing during mixing and music making. I was so excited doing my new track I forgot the flow of time and even accidentaly blasted some loud tunes into my ears. But my guess is I just did too long hours. 3 days, almost 40 hours of mixing. Now here I am, waiting when this nightmare stops.

My ENT did not want to take my hearing test at first. I said "Please! Let me do it, for my mental health". The most awful thing was that i didn't know! I had no idea how badly my hearing has been messed up. Luckily, the audiogram showed normal results of my age and the room was not perfect for measuring hearing.

But at least i know I can still hear. I did a test at home and at least I hear still up to 14khz, but I would love to see how my hearing performs in official tests over 8khz.

At the moment i am suffering from mild hyperacusis, sensitivity to certain sounds. Microwave beeps, birds singing, child crying, etc. certain frequencies feel really bad in my ear.

Also for some reason the world seems to be much louder and more silent at the same time. So I quess there is some notch somewhere in my hearing band. Unfortunately doctors are not very interested doing super accurate hearing tests. I guess If i would be some sort of celebrity and made living with music things would be different...

 

[Daniel Lion]

Shocking...

I got lucky and had an appointment with an ENT 72 hours after the onset of my T. As soon as he heard the word "T", he lost interest and then sent me on my way. He Could have tried those injections and they might have helped...

Same but worse, I travelled to the nearest big city, went to the ENT who completely screwed me, no steroids during that crucial window, the following visit a few weeks later, another ENT asked if I got injections, I said no, he shook his head sadly... gave me a massive bag of Zoloft and told me to sleep with a fan on. This forum is definitely my info source... would love to meet a caring ENT one day.

 

[HeavyMantra]

I also destroyed my hearing during mixing and music making. I was so excited doing my new track I forgot the flow of time and even accidentaly blasted some loud tunes into my ears. But my guess is I just did too long hours. 3 days, almost 40 hours of mixing. Now here I am, waiting when this nightmare stops.

My ENT did not want to take my hearing test at first. I said "Please! Let me do it, for my mental health". The most awful thing was that i didn't know! I had no idea how badly my hearing has been messed up. Luckily, the audiogram showed normal results of my age and the room was not perfect for measuring hearing.

You're still in the early stages, there's hope. The last three weeks my tinnitus has been gone 90 percent of the time, and this is after 5 months of intermittent but loud intrusive tinnitus. And even if this is just temporary, it got much easier to deal with for me after a few months.

Yeah, ENTs really don't understand the fact that it's very important to know if noise caused your tinnitus if you're a musician. They only told me to stop thinking about the cause and to stop worrying about it getting worse with continued mixing and playing live... Makes no sense to me, I guess it must cost money for them to do the hearing tests I need. They say hearing tests over 8000 Hz is "uncomfortable", sounds like an excuse. I was just about to seriously start playing live with one of my bands, and here I am instead not even going to shows with earplugs anymore because I don't know if it's going to make it worse. However, I have been able to continue making music. Speakers only, low volume, not 10 hours a day as I would have liked... But it's something.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

I just cast my vote. Actually, all three ENT Doctors I saw had virtually no advice; it was unconditionally the "There- is- nothing- that- can- be- done- about- this" point of view. (And, there is absolutely no indication about how long you will have this; perhaps for life).
In fact, way back in 2014 I asked one what he thought of AM-101, and instead of acknowledging the Auris Pharmaceutical drug trial he actually thought I was referring to a radio station app which provided masking.
Another gave a cursory suggestion regarding Lipoflavoniod, which after several weeks proved to be utterly useless.
Another one actually said, "Hey, it's only 2015 - did you really expect a truly effective treatment this early on in Medical History?"
It was solely an audiologist who recommended hearing aids.

 

[Fangen]

I find this interesting, so in another thread, there are people arguing that other members' aren't professionals so their advice is garbage, yet it shows clearly here that people think their PROFESSIONAL ENT are garbage and advice here at TT was more useful. I see a big contradiction...

 

[Jack Straw]

I find this interesting, so in another thread, there are people arguing that other members' aren't professionals so their advice is garbage, yet it shows clearly here that people think their PROFESSIONAL ENT are garbage and advice here at TT was more useful. I see a big contradiction...

There is a lot of good advice on here, there is also a lot of garbage. Lol

 

[Autumnly]

I find this interesting, so in another thread, there are people arguing that other members' aren't professionals so their advice is garbage, yet it shows clearly here that people think their PROFESSIONAL ENT are garbage and advice here at TT was more useful. I see a big contradiction...

Because certain ENTs don't warn their patients at all that their tinnitus could get worse if they're not careful or they say things such as "If you wear earplugs to a concert, you'll be totally fine" and that isn't the case for everyone, that's why I found the advice on here a lot more helpful and honest. Not a contradiction and if I remember correctly no one called anyone's advice garbage. Being an ENT doesn't automatically mean that you know more about tinnitus than a patient.

It's not about whether you're a professional or not, it's about whether you make over-generalized statements that might harm some people that don't fit the average tinnitus norm.

 

[Agrajag364]

Lol yes. In line with every other health condition I've ever got, forum advice taken as a whole was better than consultant advice. Crazy.

 

[Holly1987]

Oh my gosh don't even get me started on ENT's I went to three all up and found them to be extremely abrasive and dismissive. To be fair I was fairly hysterical when I saw the first one so I can understand why he didn't want to deal with me.

Of course I'm sure there are some really great one's out there but unfortunately not where I live.

I probably wouldn't care too much if it hadn't cost me so much $$.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

A few years ago Harper's Magazine had a lead article entitled "How To Be Your Own Best Doctor." A lady had tinnitus and, I believe, some sort of excruciating bladder condition. The doctor, in an effort to make a joke, said "Well, it won't kill you but it will make you wish you were dead."
I recall when I first got this that I was in a state of panic verging on vertigo ( and it appeared with the suddenness of a light switch being thrown on). In fact, my life was irrevocably destabilized at 1:15 PM on the first Saturday of January 2014. Three days later, I developed a near-fatal H1N1 headcold/flu. Fluid impaction and inflammation aggravated my tinnitus such that it astounded me; I had no conception that the brain could produce such a variety of bizarre, intrusive sounds.
Everyone assured me that this condition would eventually disappear (so that it was not necessary to take any immediate actions). In retrospect, everyone behaved as if I was complaining about a condition no more bothersome and temporary than itching from a mosquito bite.
I can also recall my unprecedentedly terrorized reaction when every on line site indicated that there was not even a partial treatment or drug available.
Several months ago a lady from New York State mentioned that over a ten year period she has spent $50,000.00 (!)
on every imaginable treatment, supplement, etc. to little or no avail. That prompted me to make my own rough expenditure calculation, with approached $12,500.00 (with the same negligible results).
That is why I am grateful for the debate and reportage on this forum regarding Neuromod and other potential treatments. After the fiasco of investing $5,269.00 in the utterly ineffectual Desyncra, I cannot keep withdrawing many thousands from my assets for uninsured treatments until I am assured of at least a modicum of success.
Finally, on a positive note: I recently saw an ENT Doctor who was in fact familiar with Dr. Susan Shore and said that the initial results of her research were very encouraging. There needed to be an increased range of participating subjects, however, before firm conclusions could be established.

 

[Starthrower]

Wow. This brings back memories. For me it started back in 2002 finding a different forum way before Tinnitus Talk.
It was both good and bad in different ways. But most of it was the best information.

That is why when I am here responding I never judge. Just listen because that is what helped me most. I disliked those who bragged about getting used to it and all my questions were absurd. The very same questions many new people here bring up.

I loved when those that were sort of okay with intrusive tinnitus just listened instead of the lecture thing.
Knowing they were there was a comfort.

Sometimes coming back here brings back those feelings I once had. I guess that is why many leave? I did for a while because of different reasons.

 

[david c]

So generally I think forums are more useful than ENTs on the day to day business of living with tinnitus. Also, as others have posted on this thread regarding things such as the dangers of loud noise exposure and headphone use.

I find this interesting, so in another thread, there are people arguing that other members' aren't professionals so their advice is garbage, yet it shows clearly here that people think their PROFESSIONAL ENT are garbage and advice here at TT was more useful. I see a big contradiction...

Where I would disagree with you is that I think it's fine for us all to offer general advice about living with tinnitus. What isn't OK though is a person claiming that they are able to diagnose a health condition when they have no medical training. That was what one particularly arrogant person was doing on another thread.

 

[JohnFox]

Do an MRI, and wear earplugs.

I forgot how loud they were, and my MRI was scheduled same day I saw GP so I didn't have time to see warnings in here about how loud they are. I suffered thru it, and don't think any damage was done. My Hearing loss and T was not noise induced, so maybe loud MRI didn't hurt much, but still wish I had ear plugs in. They put on these silly bad fitting ear muffs that did nothing. It was loud. Hard to believe they put you thru an MRI that cost what, 1 to 8 thousand dollars depending on where, and they can't provide adequate ear protection?

 

[Fangen]

Because certain ENTs don't warn their patients at all that their tinnitus could get worse if they're not careful or they say things such as "If you wear earplugs to a concert, you'll be totally fine" and that isn't the case for everyone, that's why I found the advice on here a lot more helpful and honest. Not a contradiction and if I remember correctly no one called anyone's advice garbage. Being an ENT doesn't automatically mean that you know more about tinnitus than a patient.

It's not about whether you're a professional or not, it's about whether you make over-generalized statements that might harm some people that don't fit the average tinnitus norm.

I can show you proof very easily in another thread (I don't wish to stir up anything or throw anyone under the bus so I will refrain from doing so here), where there were several members who went on to tell someone else that their advice or opinion was trash because he/she wasn't a medical professional. So this is highly contradictive to me.

The next point is, what is an over-generalized statement anyway? Is saying that people with T will habituate being categorized as over-generalization? Who decides what is over-generalization?

 

[Fangen]

So generally I think forums are more useful than ENTs on the day to day business of living with tinnitus. Also, as others have posted on this thread regarding things such as the dangers of loud noise exposure and headphone use.



Where I would disagree with you is that I think it's fine for us all to offer general advice about living with tinnitus. What isn't OK though is a person claiming that they are able to diagnose a health condition when they have no medical training. That was what one particularly arrogant person was doing on another thread.

I read that thread, and no, that person didn't claim to be a professional. You, and some others said that person's advice was garbage because that person isn't a professional (which again, that person never claimed to be, and pointed out several times that they never claimed to be) - yet the poll clearly shows that members here don't find professional ENT trustworthy anyway. I think you simply just want to start drama where it isn't necessary.