Three Days of Tinnitus and Already Losing My Mind (What Could Have Even Caused This?)

Hi. My tinnitus started on Saturday and my anxiety is already out of control. (I already have anxiety/PTSD/OCD/noise sensitivity, so this is like the worst possible thing to get.)

It's a horrible high-pitched whine only in my left ear. On Friday night, my cat was being loud so I put in earplugs to sleep. Years ago, I'd sleep with earplugs often (because of the noise sensitivity), but my current home is usually quiet so this was the first time in months. When I woke up and pulled out the earplugs, my left ear was pretty sore and itchy. Later in the day, I noticed a weird noise while standing in the master bedroom and tried to figure out what it was. I live near a factory that sometimes emits odd noises, so I figured it was probably coming from that. As the day went on, I noticed I could hear it in other rooms, too. Very strange.

By Sunday, I realized it wasn't coming from outside and tried unplugging lights to see if there was some electrical thing going on. My left ear was still hurting, so I was tugging at it/massaging it a little. That was when I realized the noise was coming from that ear. I remembered that my PCP had told me at my physical last summer that I had a lot of earwax and I should use drops at home to get rid of it. I'd bought the drops but never used them. Dug them out, followed the directions and used them in both ears. Got dizzy and nauseated, the ringing continued, and I started panicking. I heard the noise at yoga, in the car, everywhere. Went into work today and it somehow "joined" with the fan noise as a higher-pitched component of it. I have been in a constant state of panic and obsession.

Is this a delayed punishment for all the concerts I used to go to? My most recent one was more than three months ago. I started wearing earplugs to all shows several years ago and was in the very back row and don't remember any symptoms afterward. Could it take three months to show up? Why wouldn't it affect my right ear at all, too? Did the earplug trigger something? My ear still feels warm and irritated and itchy. The only time the noise stops is when it "pops" by itself and feels temporarily unblocked, and then the noise comes back. Other than the concerts, my life is very quiet. I avoid movie theaters and loud parties and wear earplugs to Zumba and rarely even turn on the TV. I do listen to music, but not loudly. Recently at work I'd been listening to relaxation tracks through noise-canceling earbuds. Could that have done something? I have a thousand questions and a sense of dread that this whine is now my life. Silence is what I treasure more than anything. Help.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, I take Buspar (which I wanted to stop anyway because it's not helping) and Ibuprofen (for about five days each month for cramps and started on Saturday this month), both of which I know have been linked to tinnitus.

 

No.

You need to see an ENT. It sounds like you have an ear infection. That time when you went to bed with earplugs, did you have a shower right before that? It is easy to get an ear infection if you sleep with moist ear canals while wearing earplugs.

There is a good chance that several months after you get rid of your ear infection your tinnitus will be gone.

Yes.

Search this forum, and you will see that many people get tinnitus as a result of using noise cancelling headphones/buds. Even in that case, there is a reasonable chance that after 2-4 months your tinnitus will begin fading and eventually (1-3 years) will get to a "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

I like your name lol. Welcome and I feel your pain as a fellow anxiety ridden soul.

If you have a wax buildup and used earplugs, they may have pushed the wax further down the canal impacting it. Getting it professionally cleaned may help (avoid microsuction it has been known to make T worse).

It very well could be. Concerts, especially without protection, are just horrible to your ears. If a concert is loud enough the sound can damage thru bone conduction as well. Hearing damage is cumulitive, so it's very possible concerts helped expedite the process. It's fairly typical for tinnitus to start out of the blue.

If it was me I'd start by seeing a Dr. and have your ears cleaned to start. If you rule out any physical causes (wax, fluid etc.) you could move on to a hearing test to see if you have any hearing loss to blame. It takes a long time to see improvement and if your hearing seems otherwise normal it may die down in the coming months.

 

Thanks for the tips. Concerts brought me so much joy over the years, but now I definitely regret them, especially the ones in my teens/early 20s when I'd stand right at the front near the speakers. Hopefully this doesn't mean my right ear is suddenly going to start hurting/itching/ringing soon, too? It still seems weird that only one would be affected. I took a hearing test in some app that said I don't have any hearing loss, but... yeah, it's an app, not a doctor.

 

You've done well to make it this far without having any hearing problems. If the ear is hurting and itching you could have an ear infection brewing. It does seem odd that the tinnitus would appear so strongly all of a sudden in that ear alone. Still, avoid loud noise and try to rest the ears until you get it checked out.

 

Thanks. I did take a shower before bed but didn’t put the earplugs in until later in the night, probably like 4 am when the cat started acting up. Also just remembered that I’m pretty sure I only put one in my left ear and then turned on my side.

The earbuds weren’t new and I’ve used them intermittently at work for a while, but maybe they caused irritation this latest time (either from volume or pushing wax??) and then the earplug was the last straw?

Going to call the doctor today. I had an ear infection about 10 years ago and remember mistakenly using earwax drops before knowing what was going on. Temporarily lost all hearing in one ear and and had to go to the ER. Can’t remember if it was the same ear as now.

 

The good news is that if your tinnitus is due to an infection, there is a good chance that eventually you will be ok.

 

Your ear "popping" and also the sensitive "itching" you are experiencing leads me to think that you may not have a permanent form of Tinnitus. You state that the Tinnitus will stop for awhile when your ear "pops" and feels "unblocked". Most of us in here like me only dream of having our Tinnitus "stop" for awhile. Sounds to me like you have an "ear" problem that may be curable and lead you back to a quiet life. See a ENT doctor soon to get a complete ear exam.

 

Oh I meant it stops just very briefly (like 30 seconds), not a while, and it’s only happened a few times over the past several days. If that makes you feel better!

fingers crossed it’s curable!

 

Yea, still suspect that it is a temporary thing caused by some type of ear problem (virus, infection, congestion,..etc). See a ENT.

 

Update: Went to the doctor expecting it to be wax problems and surprise, I do have a middle ear infection! I realized the pain level was fairly low and not ear infection-like for a few days because it was masked by the ibuprofen I was on for cramps, but now I'm feeling it and it all makes more sense. She thinks the earplug thing was just a red herring and it's probably related to a cold/sinus illness I had last month. Meanwhile, the ear is still ringing like crazy.

Starting amoxicillin tonight and trying to ignore the scattered reports that it worsens tinnitus permanently!

 

Did your amoxicillin help clear up the infection and tinnitus?