Spontaneous Tinnitus — Not Sure What to Do

[Justin Wall]

Hey guys my name is Justin and I've recently gotten tinnitus.

I'm not able to see a doctor for two weeks and I'm not sure of the cause of my tinnitus. I don't listen to music abnormally loud or attend concerts or anything of the sort and I'm 19 years old. The last two years, I've gotten headaches that were very sensitive to noise which would cause temporary hyperacusis.

Anyways, I'm not sure what I should do in this time before I can see the doctor. I could go to the emergency room and get attended immediately but I'm not sure if that's necessary. Should I try to keep a quiet environment or have background noise? I've also started taking some vitamin supplements, namely b12, magnesium, and D-3. Do you think I should go the emergency room? Is there anything I should do to try and prevent damage?

Thanks a lot for any advice,

Justin

 

[Bill Bauer]

Do you think I should go the emergency room?

You could try to get prednisone at the emergency, but it is most effective during the first 48 hours. It is used for sudden hearing loss during the first two weeks after onset. It is possible that your T is as a result of some minor sudden hearing loss...

Otherwise you would want to protect your ears from even moderate noises like that of a vacuum cleaner.

Try taking NAC and ALCAR supplements (search this forum for more information).

There is a good chance that your T will fade. However, it might take many months for it to get significantly better.

 

[Justin Wall]

Thanks for the response, I'll look into those supplements.

Do you think I should be in silence or is some noise/music better? Not to deal with the symptoms but for recovery. I'll definitely avoid anything as loud as a vacuum, but I'm wondering if silence would give my ears a chance to rest or if noise will be better.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm wondering if silence would give my ears a chance to rest or if noise will be better.

Personally, I tried to keep my ears in silence as much as possible, and it did work for me. Having said this, some people say their hyperacusis got worse after they tried that "silence" approach. So there might be some risk in terms of H when one tries to use silence to treat T. I guess you can take this risk. In that case, if you notice that your ears find regular sounds to be unpleasant, you would want to do things like listening to videos at low volume, and every day gradually increasing the volume.

To summarize, my guess (based on my own experiences and on what I learned after reading posts on this forum for the past 9 months) is that silence would be an effective (and possibly the only) treatment for T. Unfortunately, it has the potential to cause and worsen H, so be vigilant and change what you do if you notice any changes in H.

 

[Justin Wall]

Do you think waiting these 2 weeks could cause more damage or lose opportunity to treat it? Sorry for all the questions, I just don't want to find out that I could've done something once I finally see my doctor.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Like I wrote in my first post in this thread, the only thing a doctor can do is prescribe prednisone. (I can't remember reading any post where someone said that they visited an ENT and that it ended up being helpful.) If your T is a result of sudden hearing loss, then it might not be too late to take prednisone, as in those cases prednisone is effective in the first two weeks. (Note that the kind of hearing loss that is common among people with T is when one can't make out individual voices in a noisy environment, it is often not picked up by current hearing tests; also note that it is very difficult to get a doctor to prescribe prednisone.)

You can try doing HBOT treatments. Search this forum for more information. Those treatments are also most effective when administered early.