Hi everyone,
I am posting because I don't know what to do at this stage. I am totally at the end of my rope.
I got T in March, only in left ear, several sounds, the most annoying one was a very high pitch hissing noise, but I also had the usual ringing(s). Long story short, ENTs saw nothing wrong, no hearing loss, very slight TMJ which I've had for years, but does not really explain the sudden onset of T. No acoustic trauma. Only other symptoms present was a feeling of trapped mucus in both ears, more or less pronounced depending on the days. Nose was also quite congested with no external secretion. It just felt dry and often blocked, but this also varies from day to day. ENTs said there was a bit of an inflammation in the nasal area but nothing serious. Apart from this, like many people, I used to ear a pretty loud clicking noise only in my left ear whenever I swallow - it has been the case for years. Since March this click has been much louder.
Things gradually got better over the last months, the ringings went away, and the hissing noise remained but faded away into the background, also decreasing in volume, to the point where I did not really care if I heard it (which was rare). Things were definitely going in the right direction. I even considered writing a success story here...
And then this Monday, I slipped on a wet floor and fell. My head did not hit the ground, I just fell on my left side. An hour later I lied down in bed and immediately noticed that T was much, much stronger, the ringing(s) were suddenly back - and then there is this new hissing tone, very high picth, which almost never stops. T is still only in my left ear, right one is fine. It feels like I have an electrical machine running in my left ear. I can hear and 'feel' it over everything. The volume sometimes decreases a bit, but then it goes up again. The ringings also come and go, there are moments when they are just not there, and then they come back. I saw a chiro in emergency yesterday, just in case I was missing something on this front. No change in T.
In the morning it is almost non existent - I wake up and I can almost hear silence. But then about an hour later the hissing start, mild first, and is very strong from noon onwards. I am on sleeping pills again - had stopped taking them three weeks ago as my T was so low. And I do sleep 6 hours straight, so my mood is not really dependent upon lack of sleep. I just feel desperate because of the noise, nothing else.
I have read this forum extensively over the last few months (including the positivity thread, and the negativity one). I can't focus on anything else but the sound. It ruins every single moment of my life. Every little joy I could get from my children. Back to Silence does not seem to work for me. The only thing which is true is that 'I can hear my T over everything and I feel utterly desperate that I do'. I just went through the tougher 5 months in my life with this, and really thought the end was in sight, and to see that things are now so much worse is killing me. Literally. Dying is the only way to stop the noise I can think of, and if it does, that's good enough for me.
I don't want to be told it is due to stress, or that stress does have an impact upon it - I totally agree that it may be the case for most T, but over the last months, one thing was very clear: it did not matter one single bit whether I was stressed or not. Some days I was extremely stressed but objectively noticed that the T was indeed less loud. Other days I was a bit less stressed and noticed that the T was in fact a bit louder than the day before. It fluctuates. It is not that I 'perceive' it more or less depending on my stress levels: it is objectively either louder or lower.
I am not sure what I expect to hear from you, frankly. I guess I would like to know whether what I am going through can be considered as a spike. It has been going on for 5 days now, with no real improvement. I don't know how long a spike can last. I guess I could live with the thought that it will get back to baseline (especially so since the baseline in question was so mild), but right now I don't really think it will. I would also like to ask you whether you have any idea about what caused this new onset - for me it is likely that the fall has something to do with it, but I am not sure how it could have triggered it.
The only thing I did apart from seeing a chiro is to get another ENT appointment - but I am pretty sure the doc will find my ears perfect, as usual. This is essentially to get an MRI, since I wonder whether that would show something on the left side.
Any ideas/input that could be of help?
I am posting because I don't know what to do at this stage. I am totally at the end of my rope.
I got T in March, only in left ear, several sounds, the most annoying one was a very high pitch hissing noise, but I also had the usual ringing(s). Long story short, ENTs saw nothing wrong, no hearing loss, very slight TMJ which I've had for years, but does not really explain the sudden onset of T. No acoustic trauma. Only other symptoms present was a feeling of trapped mucus in both ears, more or less pronounced depending on the days. Nose was also quite congested with no external secretion. It just felt dry and often blocked, but this also varies from day to day. ENTs said there was a bit of an inflammation in the nasal area but nothing serious. Apart from this, like many people, I used to ear a pretty loud clicking noise only in my left ear whenever I swallow - it has been the case for years. Since March this click has been much louder.
Things gradually got better over the last months, the ringings went away, and the hissing noise remained but faded away into the background, also decreasing in volume, to the point where I did not really care if I heard it (which was rare). Things were definitely going in the right direction. I even considered writing a success story here...
And then this Monday, I slipped on a wet floor and fell. My head did not hit the ground, I just fell on my left side. An hour later I lied down in bed and immediately noticed that T was much, much stronger, the ringing(s) were suddenly back - and then there is this new hissing tone, very high picth, which almost never stops. T is still only in my left ear, right one is fine. It feels like I have an electrical machine running in my left ear. I can hear and 'feel' it over everything. The volume sometimes decreases a bit, but then it goes up again. The ringings also come and go, there are moments when they are just not there, and then they come back. I saw a chiro in emergency yesterday, just in case I was missing something on this front. No change in T.
In the morning it is almost non existent - I wake up and I can almost hear silence. But then about an hour later the hissing start, mild first, and is very strong from noon onwards. I am on sleeping pills again - had stopped taking them three weeks ago as my T was so low. And I do sleep 6 hours straight, so my mood is not really dependent upon lack of sleep. I just feel desperate because of the noise, nothing else.
I have read this forum extensively over the last few months (including the positivity thread, and the negativity one). I can't focus on anything else but the sound. It ruins every single moment of my life. Every little joy I could get from my children. Back to Silence does not seem to work for me. The only thing which is true is that 'I can hear my T over everything and I feel utterly desperate that I do'. I just went through the tougher 5 months in my life with this, and really thought the end was in sight, and to see that things are now so much worse is killing me. Literally. Dying is the only way to stop the noise I can think of, and if it does, that's good enough for me.
I don't want to be told it is due to stress, or that stress does have an impact upon it - I totally agree that it may be the case for most T, but over the last months, one thing was very clear: it did not matter one single bit whether I was stressed or not. Some days I was extremely stressed but objectively noticed that the T was indeed less loud. Other days I was a bit less stressed and noticed that the T was in fact a bit louder than the day before. It fluctuates. It is not that I 'perceive' it more or less depending on my stress levels: it is objectively either louder or lower.
I am not sure what I expect to hear from you, frankly. I guess I would like to know whether what I am going through can be considered as a spike. It has been going on for 5 days now, with no real improvement. I don't know how long a spike can last. I guess I could live with the thought that it will get back to baseline (especially so since the baseline in question was so mild), but right now I don't really think it will. I would also like to ask you whether you have any idea about what caused this new onset - for me it is likely that the fall has something to do with it, but I am not sure how it could have triggered it.
The only thing I did apart from seeing a chiro is to get another ENT appointment - but I am pretty sure the doc will find my ears perfect, as usual. This is essentially to get an MRI, since I wonder whether that would show something on the left side.
Any ideas/input that could be of help?
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