My name is Jeff, I'm 17 and I've decided to let the world know how I'm dealing with my Tinnitus.
As a formention I would like to say that I have a history of loud music and playing video games 24/7 with a headset on. For 6 years in a row every day I would sit at my computer until the early morning listening to music and playing games on full blast with complete disregard for the health of my ears. I'm not 100% sure that this hasn't contributed to my T. I've switched to speakers and to all of my Skype contacts displeasure I have not experienced any worsening in my condition and I'm quite happy using speakers now.
Onto the real story.
Last year at the end of December I had started noticing a slight ringing in both of my ears that, throughout the week had grown in volume. After a few days I had to tell my mom and she said we would schedule an appointment at the Clinic when we returned from our vacation in the Colorado mountains (which is beautiful) a few days from then. On the third day in Copper Mountain (after trying home remedies like liquid solutions and smoke and making sure there were wasn't ear wax causing the problem) I had to go to the ER because I hadn't sleep in two days and I was crying constantly any time I was alone. When my sister walked in on me crying she had told my parents and we drove to the nearest hospital.
The doctor on call had diagnosed me having an infection of the inner ear as well as both of my ear drums being perforated, which is odd because I had no pain or hearing loss and I'll address this later in the next paragraph, and prescribed me an antibiotic that I can't be 100% sure on what it was but I'm fairly certain it was Amoxicillin. So with the prescription given to me the fluid in my ears started to drain and everything started feeling better, no more pressure and no more dizziness. But I could still hear the ringing. The ringing never went away, it never faltered, it never got louder, and its never changed in pitch.
A week after we returned I had gone to a ENT clinic where the primary doctor there had done a check up seeing that my infection was gone and that my ear drums were in fact completely intact but some scarring. He wanted me to have a hearing test done and I passed completely just proving that I have no hearing loss, so that's good.
I've had an MRI done to check for tumors and that turned up clean and I've been back to the same ENT three times with my fourth appointment coming up in a month or two with no changes. When I asked my doctor why this happened he said to me "Well sometimes it just happens." in a very casual way and then walked away. I've never been so pissed in my life at someone who's supposed to be a professional at his job. I'm an emotionally unstable person and when he told me that I went home and cried. I've cried a lot because my situation has not improved and it doesn't look like it will either.
What I've done to cope with the situation is continue on with my life and to always have music playing but recently I've noticed myself drowning out the noise on my own without music or some sort of audio playing in the background of my life. Sleeping is still hard to do without music but recently I've started turning it lower than I used to and its been easier to sleep. I tend to bottle my emotions up and when I feel like I can't contain them anymore sometimes I will break down and cry once a month or two to release stress. Exercising has helped me maintain my life and to stay strong and keep moving forward. I've recently learned how to drive and that currently takes up a lot of my time driving my parents around their errands.
I've also met a fantastic girl who understands my situation and helps me out when I get frustrated and tolerates my need for a lack of silence.
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to help anyone if they need it and maybe I can even learn a few coping techniques?
Thanks and good luck,
Jeff
As a formention I would like to say that I have a history of loud music and playing video games 24/7 with a headset on. For 6 years in a row every day I would sit at my computer until the early morning listening to music and playing games on full blast with complete disregard for the health of my ears. I'm not 100% sure that this hasn't contributed to my T. I've switched to speakers and to all of my Skype contacts displeasure I have not experienced any worsening in my condition and I'm quite happy using speakers now.
Onto the real story.
Last year at the end of December I had started noticing a slight ringing in both of my ears that, throughout the week had grown in volume. After a few days I had to tell my mom and she said we would schedule an appointment at the Clinic when we returned from our vacation in the Colorado mountains (which is beautiful) a few days from then. On the third day in Copper Mountain (after trying home remedies like liquid solutions and smoke and making sure there were wasn't ear wax causing the problem) I had to go to the ER because I hadn't sleep in two days and I was crying constantly any time I was alone. When my sister walked in on me crying she had told my parents and we drove to the nearest hospital.
The doctor on call had diagnosed me having an infection of the inner ear as well as both of my ear drums being perforated, which is odd because I had no pain or hearing loss and I'll address this later in the next paragraph, and prescribed me an antibiotic that I can't be 100% sure on what it was but I'm fairly certain it was Amoxicillin. So with the prescription given to me the fluid in my ears started to drain and everything started feeling better, no more pressure and no more dizziness. But I could still hear the ringing. The ringing never went away, it never faltered, it never got louder, and its never changed in pitch.
A week after we returned I had gone to a ENT clinic where the primary doctor there had done a check up seeing that my infection was gone and that my ear drums were in fact completely intact but some scarring. He wanted me to have a hearing test done and I passed completely just proving that I have no hearing loss, so that's good.
I've had an MRI done to check for tumors and that turned up clean and I've been back to the same ENT three times with my fourth appointment coming up in a month or two with no changes. When I asked my doctor why this happened he said to me "Well sometimes it just happens." in a very casual way and then walked away. I've never been so pissed in my life at someone who's supposed to be a professional at his job. I'm an emotionally unstable person and when he told me that I went home and cried. I've cried a lot because my situation has not improved and it doesn't look like it will either.
What I've done to cope with the situation is continue on with my life and to always have music playing but recently I've noticed myself drowning out the noise on my own without music or some sort of audio playing in the background of my life. Sleeping is still hard to do without music but recently I've started turning it lower than I used to and its been easier to sleep. I tend to bottle my emotions up and when I feel like I can't contain them anymore sometimes I will break down and cry once a month or two to release stress. Exercising has helped me maintain my life and to stay strong and keep moving forward. I've recently learned how to drive and that currently takes up a lot of my time driving my parents around their errands.
I've also met a fantastic girl who understands my situation and helps me out when I get frustrated and tolerates my need for a lack of silence.
Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to help anyone if they need it and maybe I can even learn a few coping techniques?
Thanks and good luck,
Jeff
Member
