Tinnitus at 33

[Christina mua]

I developed tinnitus about a year and a half ago in my right ear. It drives me crazy but the worst thing about it is worrying it will get worse with age since I'm only 33. I've also read it has nothing to do with your hearing (which surprised me because I keep thinking mine was caused from live music) but the receptors in your brain not working correctly. This can lead to memory loss... Alzheimer's etc. I really fear this!

Is anyone here knowledgeable about this who can help me out?

 

[GregCA]

I developed tinnitus about a year and a half ago in my right ear. It drives me crazy but the worst thing about it is worrying it will get worse with age since I'm only 33. I've also read it has nothing to do with your hearing (which surprised me because I keep thinking mine was caused from live music) but the receptors in your brain not working correctly. This can lead to memory loss... Alzheimer's etc. I really fear this!

Is anyone here knowledgeable about this who can help me out?

Yes.
First of all T doesn't always get worse with age. It's actually the opposite: it gets better for a majority of people.

Then there are many root causes for T, and a good chunk of them are related to the ear. An ear injury/insult is believed to trigger changes in the brain that is the ground for T generation. But in some cases, like pure-middle-ear otosclerosis, T is not generated in the brain.
If you can find your root cause, you can sometimes fix it.

If you are dead sure it's loud music, then there isn't much you can do about it today except protect your ears from loud sounds, and hope that it will fade away with time or you'll habituate.

Have you had a hearing test?

 

[Aaron44126]

If hearing loss is your cause, the mechanism in the brain that causes tinnitus has started to become understood only recently. This video lays it out. I don't think that it really has anything to do with memory loss or dementia.

If you don't know the cause, you should see an ENT and see if you can get it figured out. There are many causes and some of them are treatable.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

I got it at 33 also. I'm now 35 and I'm doing MUCHHH better than I was at 33. My memory sucks, but that has nothign to do with tinnitus.

 

[sanj100]

Yes.
First of all T doesn't always get worse with age. It's actually the opposite: it gets better for a majority of people.

Then there are many root causes for T, and a good chunk of them are related to the ear. An ear injury/insult is believed to trigger changes in the brain that is the ground for T generation. But in some cases, like pure-middle-ear otosclerosis, T is not generated in the brain.
If you can find your root cause, you can sometimes fix it.

If you are dead sure it's loud music, then there isn't much you can do about it today except protect your ears from loud sounds, and hope that it will fade away with time or you'll habituate.

Have you had a hearing test?

It's promising to hear that it gets better with time for the majority of people. Is there any research on this? Also, out of interest, has your tinnitus gotten better with time, stayed the same, or gotten worse?

 

[Aaron44126]

It's promising to hear that it gets better with time for the majority of people. Is there any research on this?

Studies Confirm Tinnitus Improves Over Time (unfortunately the link is dead... check an archived version)

 

[GregCA]

Also, out of interest, has your tinnitus gotten better with time, stayed the same, or gotten worse?

I think mine stayed the same. It's quite consistent.

 

[Bill Bauer]

It's promising to hear that it gets better with time for the majority of people. Is there any research on this?

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

[Red]

I think it's normal to get it this young. I am younger than you are and I have it. I know there are some members on this forum that are only teenagers and have it. A lot of it, in my opinion, is our reliance on headphones and other unnaturally loud noises. Headphones are a normal thing and while I always kept the volume as low as I could, I still ended up with T.

I feel like I could have avoided being here if I was more educated on what tinnitus was. I did not even know that it was a potentially permanent condition. Modern-day society could definitely do some more to prep us for this invisible condition.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

It's promising to hear that it gets better with time for the majority of people. Is there any research on this? Also, out of interest, has your tinnitus gotten better with time, stayed the same, or gotten worse?

Just about everyone I met with tinnitus that I don't know from this board improved over time dramatically. It took all of them VERY long. I posted the list of them in the 70% recover thread. It gives me hope and may help you as well to know that those are real people, not third and fourth hand internet legends like Hansi Cross.

I had hyperacusis and horrible ringing two years ago and I saw a band live at a wedding 3 weeks ago with plugs in and was fine. I'm going to 2-3 concerts in the next 3 months also and I expect to be fine. I've also played a gig and jammed with a drummer.

Despite this behavior, my tinnitus continues to improve. I barely hear it at all right now. After it being mostly gone for 2 weeks it acted up Monday and Tuesday of this week, and seemingly is cooling off again. I used to have many more of those days than I do now.