Tinnitus for 3.5 Months — What I've Tried and What I'm Doing

[audioprog]

Hello all,

I've been using this forum for a few months on and off and thought I'd share my experience so far. I'll try to keep it condensed:

My tinnitus started in January 2022. I'd had mild COVID-19 in December, recovered, but developed a weird full sensation in my right ear. I just had a persistent sense that something wasn't quite right with my ear. Had a few nights of pulsatile tinnitus in that ear, which stressed me out. I started searching online for answers. I started getting occasional temporary ringing, and one Wednesday morning in mid January I woke up with a clear tone which I've had since - 2,223Hz, about C#. As a couple of days went by and this didn't go away, I was focusing on it very intently. I should say that, at the same time, I had a period of stress in work, so my stress levels overall were pretty high. By the Friday of that week, I started hearing incredibly piercing high pitched ringing way above the original tone. I began feeling off-balance and had a swaying sensation when walking, almost as if I was drunk. This eventually settled into what is basically the original tone in my right ear, and a hissing/buzzing over the top of it. This is basically what I have now, in April. I sometimes hear sounds in my left ear too. I also developed hyperacusis - I couldn't listen to the radio or any music at all, which was devastating for me as I work with sound. However, this seems to have improved over time, and I can now listen to music again.

So here's what I tried:

• Several trips to the doctor and different prescriptions. I tried Betahistine, which did nothing, and antibiotics in case it was an ear infection.
• Eventual referral to ENT in March. They did a hearing test and found no issues - Told me I have the 'hearing of a bat'. However, I have checked this myself and I do have a substantial dip around 10 kHz in my right ear - The hearing test only goes up to 8 kHz. ENT basically said 'long COVID-19', but I'm a bit skeptical about this as it could be used as a general diagnosis for almost any issue.
• Went to the dentist as I already have TMJ disorder on right side and have noticed pain and inflammation there from time to time. Fitted with a mouthguard, which I don't think has helped, and currently awaiting a referral to TMJ specialist.
• Several visits to physio. They did a massage to release tension in my jaw and neck which helped a bit, especially with the higher pitched hissing, but only temporarily. They gave me exercises to do.
• About 6 or 7 visits to an acupuncturist. They tried all sorts of different things but I'm not sure any of them made a massive difference other than some short term lifting.
• Supplements; Ginkgo biloba, Zinc, Magnesium, vitamins C D B-complex, Omega 3
• I tried doing yoga every day. I've since stopped doing this as I struggled to fit in all these different things - I'm sure many of the people on this forum will have ended up trying all kinds of different exercises and routines, and in the end it becomes like a full time job, especially if you don't know what's working and what isn't.
• Also cutting out caffeine etc. I'm now just on 1 coffee a day but I cut it out for about 2 months.

What I'm now doing is this online CBT programme - I'm in the early stages of this so I've not had dramatic results, but it does seem really good and it's what I'm sticking with now.

I think stress is a major factor in tinnitus for me. It definitely gets worse when I'm stressed and it may have been brought on by stress in the first place. What I hear now is a ringing at 2,223Hz and a general static, almost like the hiss from speakers when the gain has been ramped up too loud. I have a sort of fluctuating higher pitched hiss in my right ear which I can hear over everything. I do breathing exercises and try my best not to focus on it. Although it bothers me, I remind myself that when it was at its worst in January, I was losing my balance and was pretty incapacitated by it at times. I'm hoping that eventually it will resolve and I'll be able to post a success story.

 

[CC_16]

How did you get rid of the dizziness/lightheadedness?

Or did it go away by itself?

 

[Tom_Tom]

Thanks for sharing your story.

Interesting that your hyperacusis improved over time. I'm suffering with some noise sensitivity now and reactive tinnitus.

Out of curiosity, have you been protecting your ears since January at all or have you just been going about daily life with no earplugs?

Fingers crossed you get your success story soon!

 

[billie48]

Thanks for sharing your story.

Interesting that your hyperacusis improved over time. I'm suffering with some noise sensitivity now and reactive tinnitus.

Out of curiosity, have you been protecting your ears since January at all or have you just been going about daily life with no earplugs?

Fingers crossed you get your success story soon!

Hyperacusis tends to improve over time for most sufferers, of course with some exceptions.

I had hyperacusis twice, first time over a decade ago when my high pitched tinnitus first hit. I couldn't stand the piercingly hurtful sensation from even ordinary sounds. So I wore ear plugs everyday everywhere. But some experienced forum members advised me to not to over protect to prevent developing sound sensitivity issue. So I only wore plugs in loud venues. Well that hyperacusis went away in a year. The second hyperacusis was from my SSHL about 17 months ago. It lasted about 8 months. But this time I just used earplugs sparingly, mostly for very loud places and used my fingers if needing protection quickly, such as neighbors turning on their mowers or car horns close by. I didn't panic much this time, knowing it will go away giving time.

Hope yours will go away too. God bless.

 

[Tom_Tom]

Hyperacusis tends to improve over time for most sufferers, of course with some exceptions.

I had hyperacusis twice, first time over a decade ago when my high pitched tinnitus first hit. I couldn't stand the piercingly hurtful sensation from even ordinary sounds. So I wore ear plugs everyday everywhere. But some experienced forum members advised me to not to over protect to prevent developing sound sensitivity issue. So I only wore plugs in loud venues. Well that hyperacusis went away in a year. The second hyperacusis was from my SSHL about 17 months ago. It lasted about 8 months. But this time I just used earplugs sparingly, mostly for very loud places and used my fingers if needing protection quickly, such as neighbors turning on their mowers or car horns close by. I didn't panic much this time, knowing it will go away giving time.

Hope yours will go away too. God bless.

Thanks for this information - it's really reassuring to hear that for most it resolves over time, especially given that most don't do anything in particular in terms of treatment.

 

[audioprog]

How did you get rid of the dizziness/lightheadedness?

Or did it go away by itself?

It seemed to just go away gradually by itself.

 

[audioprog]

Thanks for sharing your story.

Interesting that your hyperacusis improved over time. I'm suffering with some noise sensitivity now and reactive tinnitus.

Out of curiosity, have you been protecting your ears since January at all or have you just been going about daily life with no earplugs?

Fingers crossed you get your success story soon!

Thanks, much appreciated.

I wore earplugs quite a lot but gradually felt like my tinnitus became less reactive and I needed them less.

 

[Marshall]

@audioprog, we have the exact same story.

 

[Tom_Tom]

I wore earplugs quite a lot but gradually felt like my tinnitus became less reactive and I needed them less.

Good to know - thanks for the response.

I was wearing earplugs pretty much every time I drove my car or went out in public but have been tapering off doing that too now that I'm a couple of months in and seemed to be making my noise sensitivity worse.