- Jun 22, 2014
- 158
- Tinnitus Since
- 05/2014
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Noise and/or Ear Infeciton
Hey guys. I've posted the following on /r/tinnitus on reddit and thought I would paste here and get a second opinion.
So I got my tinnitus 6 1/2 weeks from today. At first I didn't really notice it, I was watching Groundhog Day and it noticed a slight ringing in my left ear. No big deal, I play drums, it'll be gone in the morning. Wrong. (I should mention here that I hadn't played drums or been to a concert in over a months time at this stage)
I've been playing drums for 7 years and I listen to headphones (podcasts mostly) very frequently and I study video and film in Unversity. I'm 19 years old. As a young teenager I would listen to music quite loudly but in recent years I've stopped as I knew about tinnitus and hearing loss and wanted to prevent it. The day before I noticed my tinnitus I listened to something I was editing for Uni too loud for about 5 minutes just to make sure audio levels were correct.
During the week I started noticing it more and more. I got cold/flu like symptoms two days later, runny nose, sore throat, etc. I also developed an itchy ear and some pain in my ear during the week (on and off). I went to the doctor on the following Thursday, she says my eardrum is a little red and I tell her about the itchyness. She prescribes antibiotics and ear drops.
Fast forward 3 weeks later. The tinnitus constantly changes, morse code type sounds in both ears, however not constant. The only constant is a high pitched ringing in my left ear that I can hear pretty much anywhere if I try hard enough. I go to the doctor (a different one in the same clinic) and he says that I have/had something called otitis externa (an infection of the outer ear) and that my tinnitus should pass in a week or two. He prescribed me ear drops. After 2 weeks there not really much change. I've googled a lot about otitis externa and it's been said that tinnitus is a symptom and it should pass within a month or so of the infection.
I started taking actifed, inhaling vicks and antihistamines for my hay fever. It really seemed/seems to be making the ringing a lot better. A lot of the lower pitched tones seemed to be fading away and I was just left with the high pitched ringing in my left ear.
On Wednesday I went back to my doctor. He said my ear infection has gone but that my eardrum is retracted.
However on Wednesday night I developed pulsatile tinnitus. It scared me because this was the first time this had happened. It's happened twice since then.
I went to an audiologist on Thursday to have my hearing tested and she said it's perfectly normal for a 19 year old, so that's something.
I'm just wondering, could this still be caused by hearing damage if there's no hearing loss? As I've previously stated, I've been played drums for years and used to listen to music quite loud. The day before the tinnitus started I listened to something too loud for 5 minutes through headphones.
Or could it just be from my ear infection and that I'm just paranoid? All my symptoms seem to be pointing to the ear infection but I suppose I'm just scared and need an external opinion. What do you guys think?
So I got my tinnitus 6 1/2 weeks from today. At first I didn't really notice it, I was watching Groundhog Day and it noticed a slight ringing in my left ear. No big deal, I play drums, it'll be gone in the morning. Wrong. (I should mention here that I hadn't played drums or been to a concert in over a months time at this stage)
I've been playing drums for 7 years and I listen to headphones (podcasts mostly) very frequently and I study video and film in Unversity. I'm 19 years old. As a young teenager I would listen to music quite loudly but in recent years I've stopped as I knew about tinnitus and hearing loss and wanted to prevent it. The day before I noticed my tinnitus I listened to something I was editing for Uni too loud for about 5 minutes just to make sure audio levels were correct.
During the week I started noticing it more and more. I got cold/flu like symptoms two days later, runny nose, sore throat, etc. I also developed an itchy ear and some pain in my ear during the week (on and off). I went to the doctor on the following Thursday, she says my eardrum is a little red and I tell her about the itchyness. She prescribes antibiotics and ear drops.
Fast forward 3 weeks later. The tinnitus constantly changes, morse code type sounds in both ears, however not constant. The only constant is a high pitched ringing in my left ear that I can hear pretty much anywhere if I try hard enough. I go to the doctor (a different one in the same clinic) and he says that I have/had something called otitis externa (an infection of the outer ear) and that my tinnitus should pass in a week or two. He prescribed me ear drops. After 2 weeks there not really much change. I've googled a lot about otitis externa and it's been said that tinnitus is a symptom and it should pass within a month or so of the infection.
I started taking actifed, inhaling vicks and antihistamines for my hay fever. It really seemed/seems to be making the ringing a lot better. A lot of the lower pitched tones seemed to be fading away and I was just left with the high pitched ringing in my left ear.
On Wednesday I went back to my doctor. He said my ear infection has gone but that my eardrum is retracted.
However on Wednesday night I developed pulsatile tinnitus. It scared me because this was the first time this had happened. It's happened twice since then.
I went to an audiologist on Thursday to have my hearing tested and she said it's perfectly normal for a 19 year old, so that's something.
I'm just wondering, could this still be caused by hearing damage if there's no hearing loss? As I've previously stated, I've been played drums for years and used to listen to music quite loud. The day before the tinnitus started I listened to something too loud for 5 minutes through headphones.
Or could it just be from my ear infection and that I'm just paranoid? All my symptoms seem to be pointing to the ear infection but I suppose I'm just scared and need an external opinion. What do you guys think?