Tinnitus Is Ruining My Life — Other Symptoms: Various Aches, Vision Issues, and More

So my experience with tinnitus actually began 5 months prior to first noticing it. I became sick with another standard cold the week of Valentine's day... or so I thought. After the cold ran its course (tested for COVID-19 and came out negative) I went back to life as usual.

Roughly one week later I was suddenly unable to keep things like text (via phone, computer, etc) in focus. I could only read for small amounts at a time. Wait an hour and my vision would return. A few days later and I had a serious bout of vertigo/dizziness. I never became nauseous but I would need to stop doing what I was doing and hold on to something. Sometimes I would need to lie down. The headaches become more frequent (daily).

After a couple of weeks of struggling with episodes of blurry vision, dizziness, and headaches I went into Urgent Care (I made an appointment with my GP but the earliest was 3 months out). The Urgent Care doctor gave me a CT scan and saw nothing. Ended up telling me "you seem to have tight trap muscles"... The very next day after my Urgent Care visit I got HSV-1 to show up in my mouth. I had cold sores one other time in my life and it wasn't a big deal. Dentist gave me Valacyclovir and within a few days my cold sores went away and I had a few days of no symptoms. I thought my worries were behind me.

To speed things up; I have had 1 CT scan, 2 MRIs (brain and heart), Nerve Test (no fun), Eye Exam (now have glasses with very small prescription to help with the blurry vision flare ups), and multiple blood work tests. Slowly more and more symptoms started showing up. The dizziness isn't debilitating, thank goodness, like it did at the beginning but it's till present to this day. More of a light headed feeling similar to when you have a cold.

But to list just in case someone out there has a similar story: headache, occasional posterior neck aches, occasional jaw aches, dizziness, ear fullness, blurry vision, eye strain, and most recently... tinnitus.

Tinnitus has become the worst of all my problems. I read about people ignoring it but I can not wrap my head around ignoring this sound. Nothing makes it 'fade out'. White noise, music, or masking sounds just seem to make my tinnitus get louder. Just recently I've learned a bit about reactive tinnitus so I guess that's what I have. Sleeping with earplugs is my preferred method of making it be as quiet as possible. I know using earplugs isn't the best for your ears (impacted earwax), but I do have an ear cleaning kit at home that I gently use every other week with warm water to make sure I'm not causing damage. I also have been seeing doctors every month or so and nobody has indicated impacted earwax. My tinnitus also quickly raises in intensity with jaw movement, head turns, eye turns (when its flared up), and the worst of them all... just the gravity on my body when I walk. I can't even walk without hearing it raise in volume... nightmare.

Just the other day I took a hearing test from an audiologist. I went into it thinking this was going to show me I had normal hearing. I have never really struggled to hear people talk so I thought this was kind of a waste of time. But I've been willing to take every test known to man to make all these symptoms go away. Turns out I have 60 dB hearing loss at the higher end range of sound. Surprised to say the least. She mentioned getting hearing aids... in my 30s... nice. I'll give it a go I suppose. Again, anything to make this better.

This year has been the worst of my life. It's ruining my relationships, social life (little one to begin with), and just overall enjoyment.

THI score: 60-70 for the past 2 months.

 

So sorry. I am not a doctor, but you don't mention Meniere's disease (vertigo).

Anyway, I have no real advice. I went from zero hearing problems to severe tinnitus after acoustic trauma while recovering from some cold/sinus infection. I was diagnosed with high frequency hearing loss, similar to yours. 50-50-60 dB at 8 kHz. 40-40 dB at 6 kHz. Normal up to 4 kHz (10-20 dB). I don't notice a huge difference in my hearing ability vs. before. What I notice is severe tinnitus and loudness hypercusis. The former overall got much worse over time, the latter somewhat improved.

Just one word of warning. I only recently tried hearing aids, more like TRT. 1 hour of quiet playing of a cricket sound hugely set me back, I feel permanently. So be careful, and if you try them, introduce them super slow. 10 minutes one day. 15 minutes next, etc, etc.

Some people with hearing loss in lower frequencies (4 kHz) may benefit from hearing aids in reducing the tinnitus. People with high frequency not so.

Good luck to you. It's been over 10 months of hell for me that impacted everything. Prior to this I led a happy life with zero history of depression or other mental problems. I'm in my late 40s.

 

Stay in quiet as much as possible and protect your ears. Do not do sound therapy! You do not need hearing aids. Pumping more sound into an already damaged system is a horrible idea. Doctors have no clue about ear damage. Reactive tinnitus... pumping more sound into your system is like walking on a broken leg. Let your ears rest for years!

There is no such thing as over protection. Stay off all medications. Reactive tinnitus has no limit to how loud it can get. Do not do anything loud to cause further damage. Everyday sounds can cause damage.

Again, don't take any medications! I mean any medications. All medications can make tinnitus worse. Even OTC ones. Clean your system out with a dry fast for 3 or 4 days once a month & eat an antihistamine diet. Tinnitus is a sign your body is overwhelmed. Do your best to do yoga everyday and combat any posture issues and work on TMD. Maybe try a bite guard.

Sorry for any scaring I've done. I was once at your liveable level and got the worst advice from other sufferers and from doctors and now I am at my end. Move to quiet area & sit in peace as much as possible. Meditation and grounding everyday.

All meat diet or anything natural is better to try than any meds. Tinnitus, hyperacusis, noxacusis has no limit. It can make you homebound and all sounds can become damaging! Please don't take any meds! Benzodiazepines are the worst!

Much love and healing to you!

 

I’m so sorry you are experiencing these symptoms. I have been reading Tinnitus Talk for a while since I recently exposed myself to a noise trauma about 1.5 month ago, causing tinnitus. However, when I read your post, I remembered another very difficult period in my life back in 2012 (not having to do with noise trauma) when I experienced somewhat similar symptoms to what you describe in your post.

My symptoms were constant 24/7 and lasted more than a year. So maybe I can point you in a direction worth investigating and seeking medical advice.

I experienced neurological symptoms resembling those you describe. I have a history of migraine, and during 2012 I was going through a stressful period. Quite suddenly I was experiencing these symptoms amongst many: tinnitus, a light headed feeling similar to when having a cold, fatigue, and also visual problems. For me the visual problems were the worst symptom.

Back then I googled these symptoms and one of the sources I found was a forum for MAV (migraine associated vertigo), and even though my symptoms didn’t include dizziness or vertigo, I came to the conclusion that my symptoms were caused by a combination of stress and an underlying migraine disorder. I learned that migraine can manifest itself in many ways (not only headache) and be persistent (24/7).

Here is a link to a page on mvertigo where some common symptoms are described.

If you have a history of migraines, and if you feel that the list includes your symptoms, perhaps this is a possible route to investigate. I also want to add that I have no medical training.

P.S. English is not my first language, so I apologize for any grammar mistakes.