Tinnitus for 2 Weeks Now

[Henry95]

Hi everyone,

Two weeks ago today, I was lying in bed on a Thursday evening and suddenly wondered what the hell was making this incessant old TV noise (high pitched frequency around the 120khz mark). I went through the normal procedure of getting out of bed, looking around the house and came to the horrible conclusion that it was coming from inside my own head..

What is most irritating is that there appears to be no apparent cause for this T. I do use in ear headphones quite a lot, but never at excessive volumes. I haven't been exposed to loud noises recently and I haven't even been that stressed out (although I am coming to the end of my final year of university so there may be some underlying stress).

I visited a GP and he had a brief look in my ears and said they looked normal come back in 3 weeks if it's still a problem.. pretty useless advice really, but it seems this is a common theme among those with T who go to their GP.

So here I am, two weeks later still pretty stressed out and constantly being distracted and checking to see if it's still there.. Has anyone else had completely random onset that hasn't seemed to have been caused by anything in particular? Will this noise ever stop plaguing me or is it something I'm just going to have to deal with?

Oh, and I'm 21 years old.

 

[Lorac]

Welcome Henry!
You are right about General Practitioners. You may want to see an audiologist or ENT instead. At least a specialist can properly test your hearing. You said you find yourself checking for your tinnitus so I imagine that it is not extremely loud. Is that correct?

 

[Elinor]

Welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear this. This is kind of what happened to me. I was too in bed and just noticed that I had T one day, back in 2006. I probably had it for a while before that but was completely unaware of it.

I started playing piano at an early age, and we had neighbours so I played on an electric piano with headphones for years. I also listened to music all the time during the MP3 player-era. I believe this was the cause. Sometimes sounds that don't seem too loud still cause damage after prolonged time, so how long you listen matters too. If you listen to music with headphones take brakes and avoid listening for hours.

In your case it's only been two weeks, so the possibility that it will go away is definitely still there. Temporary tinnitus happens. The best advice I can give you is to not obsess about it, distract yourself from the sound whenever you can. It'll either go away by itself, or you'll forget about it eventually if you keep distracting yourself from it. I'll also advise you to avoid checking for it excessively.

As for the future, protect your ears. Always wear earplugs to concerts and other loud events.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I do use in ear headphones quite a lot, but never at excessive volumes.

Exposure to loud noise and particularly headphone use, is one of the most common causes of tinnitus. Since you wear them a lot, it is likely they caused your tinnitus. I believe once a person develops tinnitus caused my loud sounds or headphone use they shouldn't listen to music through them again, even at low volume. Some people with tinnitus are not adversely affected by headphone use but I think there's always a risk of making the condtion worse but it's your choice. I have written an article on tinnitus that you might find helpful. You can access it by clicking on the link below.

Hope things improve for you soon.
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

[Henry95]

Cheers for the replies guys, is much appreciated.

Lorac, yes it's not overly loud, it can be covered by noises such as the shower and general traffic noise - is most noticeable when I'm in bed. Am going to sort out an audiologist appointment, but doubt they'll be able to tell me much - still worth a shot though.

Elinor, yes I also did listen to ASMR a lot when I was in bed and often slept with headphones in so again this may have contributed to the onset of the T. Thanks for your advice, it is reassuring to hear these things. I am trying my best not to obsess over it. Today is the first day I've really felt a bit more calm about it all and not been checking it every 10 minutes. Have even managed to forget about it at times - but then when I realise it's there it gives me a sort of sinking feeling. I'm sure time will heal this.

Michael, hello to a fellow Brightonian! I hadn't really considered that the headphones could be the underlying cause but thinking about it, it seems fairly likely that they are. I have not been using headphones for the last week or so - bit of a pain as it's nice to mask the sounds in bed but will just need to do that using my phone from now on I suppose.

Cheers for all of your advice and concerns, we will get through this together!

 

[Michael Leigh]

Michael, hello to a fellow Brightonian! I hadn't really considered that the headphones could be the underlying cause but thinking about it, it seems fairly likely that they are. I have not been using headphones for the last week or so - bit of a pain as it's nice to mask the sounds in bed but will just need to do that using my phone from now on I suppose.

Hi @Henry95
It's nice to meet a fellow Brightonian. I believe I'm a fully fledged one now, having left London just over 2.5 years ago and like living by the sea a lot. One slight drawback though. The seagulls seem to be taking quite a liking to my car and not for the right reasons, meaning I'm frequently washing it..lol. I didn't know that before I moved here!

I am 99.999 sure it's headphone use that has caused your tinnitus as it did mine 20 years ago. If you want to save yourself a lot of heartache and misery, I strongly advise you to never use them again. If you read my article in full and not skim through it, I believe you'll find it helpful.

I haven't been on the Britishaways i360 tower yet but hoping to someday.
All the best
Michael

 

[Rasmus]

If you need to check for you T, i would say it not that bad and you only have mild T