- Jul 30, 2018
- 20
- Tinnitus Since
- 20th July 2018
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Unknown. Started during intense heatwave.
I'm 41 and live in the UK.
A bit of background first: I'm keen on running/fitness. The weather in the UK the past couple of weeks has been crazy. Very hot for the time of year and fairly relentless. I don't cope well with the heat. This has inspired me to go running at crazy hours (as late as 2am), to get in some runs when the weather is cooler.
Again, because of the heat, sleeping has been difficult as I'm just soaked in sweat by 2am or 3am. I struck on the idea of using ice packs wrapped in a pillow case to help cool me down, so I've been doing that, alongside taking ice cold showers, after my long 2am runs.
This is when I first noticed my tinnitus.
I first noticed a faint, very, very, very high pitched tone (which I've identified as 11,800Hz using one of the Tinnitus tone websites) on 21st July. I didn't schedule a doctor's appointment as I assumed it was temporary. However, on 25th July, I woke up sweating, feeling dizzy, with horrible ringing in my ears (spiked up to a 6 or 7 from its usual 1 or 2), and a headache.
I started researching everything I could find online. I went to an emergency doctor's appointment who has referred me to an audiologist. They made no mention of hyperbaric chambers or Prednisolone. Personally I think that's an extremely poor show.
Prednisolone / Prednisone
Thank God for the internet, because as I've found from researching this after my doctor's appointment, it seems a highly recommended course of action for early stage T is to take prednisolone / prednisone for 5-10 days at 1mg per kg of bodyweight, up to a maximum of 60mg per day. If caught early enough, this has been known to stop T in its tracks.
Thankfully, my dad already had stockpiled prednisolone for another medical condition, so rather than wait to be prescribed by a UK doctor (which I don't trust would happen) he gave me enough of his which will allow me to take 40mg per day for 6 days. I took my first dose yesterday. It seems to have helped.
Other things which seem to have helped:
1) Ice.
It occurred to me that T gets worse at night not simply because it's easier to focus on it at night, but also because of lying down horizontally. The additional pressure / blood may exacerbate some underlying inflammation issues and thus increase the volume. So I had a small brainwave: I used one of my ice packs (cooled down slightly) - and laid it against my middle ear and auditory nerve area (the temple). Within 15 minutes, the T was definitely reduced, by my reckoning by at least 80%. I was back in near-silence and could sleep much more easily.
2) Looking past the noise
Focus is an amazing thing. If you've ever tried to stare at a small object unblinkingly for long enough, you'll soon realise that ALL you can see is that one small object. Everything else in your peripheral vision becomes invisible or cloudy. So it is with T. If you focus on the T, it seems to be all you can hear or think about.
After several days, I noticed that looking through the noise is definitely possible - like looking past our noses. How often do you notice your nose? It's at the edge of your vision the entire time and yet the brain tunes it out.
3) Realising that the T might have always been there.
Somehow it helps me to consider that the T has always been there, and I'm simply noticing it more now due to a shift in awareness. If I think back to times when I was sitting in a silent room, I *could* always hear something... I'd always assumed that this was the sound of silence - some sort of faint hiss in the far distance. Our brains / ears probably produce all kinds of sounds at various frequencies, and then something happens, some combination of events that just makes us more aware of them. Retraining the brain to ignore these frequencies once again may be difficult, but it seems logical that it can be done.
Hyperbaric chamber:
I also understand that hyperbaric chamber therapy can help with early stage T. I haven't gone this route yet, but if my T persists / does not respond to the prednisolone or other coping strategies I mentioned here, I think I'll explore it further.
A bit of background first: I'm keen on running/fitness. The weather in the UK the past couple of weeks has been crazy. Very hot for the time of year and fairly relentless. I don't cope well with the heat. This has inspired me to go running at crazy hours (as late as 2am), to get in some runs when the weather is cooler.
Again, because of the heat, sleeping has been difficult as I'm just soaked in sweat by 2am or 3am. I struck on the idea of using ice packs wrapped in a pillow case to help cool me down, so I've been doing that, alongside taking ice cold showers, after my long 2am runs.
This is when I first noticed my tinnitus.
I first noticed a faint, very, very, very high pitched tone (which I've identified as 11,800Hz using one of the Tinnitus tone websites) on 21st July. I didn't schedule a doctor's appointment as I assumed it was temporary. However, on 25th July, I woke up sweating, feeling dizzy, with horrible ringing in my ears (spiked up to a 6 or 7 from its usual 1 or 2), and a headache.
I started researching everything I could find online. I went to an emergency doctor's appointment who has referred me to an audiologist. They made no mention of hyperbaric chambers or Prednisolone. Personally I think that's an extremely poor show.
Prednisolone / Prednisone
Thank God for the internet, because as I've found from researching this after my doctor's appointment, it seems a highly recommended course of action for early stage T is to take prednisolone / prednisone for 5-10 days at 1mg per kg of bodyweight, up to a maximum of 60mg per day. If caught early enough, this has been known to stop T in its tracks.
Thankfully, my dad already had stockpiled prednisolone for another medical condition, so rather than wait to be prescribed by a UK doctor (which I don't trust would happen) he gave me enough of his which will allow me to take 40mg per day for 6 days. I took my first dose yesterday. It seems to have helped.
Other things which seem to have helped:
1) Ice.
It occurred to me that T gets worse at night not simply because it's easier to focus on it at night, but also because of lying down horizontally. The additional pressure / blood may exacerbate some underlying inflammation issues and thus increase the volume. So I had a small brainwave: I used one of my ice packs (cooled down slightly) - and laid it against my middle ear and auditory nerve area (the temple). Within 15 minutes, the T was definitely reduced, by my reckoning by at least 80%. I was back in near-silence and could sleep much more easily.
2) Looking past the noise
Focus is an amazing thing. If you've ever tried to stare at a small object unblinkingly for long enough, you'll soon realise that ALL you can see is that one small object. Everything else in your peripheral vision becomes invisible or cloudy. So it is with T. If you focus on the T, it seems to be all you can hear or think about.
After several days, I noticed that looking through the noise is definitely possible - like looking past our noses. How often do you notice your nose? It's at the edge of your vision the entire time and yet the brain tunes it out.
3) Realising that the T might have always been there.
Somehow it helps me to consider that the T has always been there, and I'm simply noticing it more now due to a shift in awareness. If I think back to times when I was sitting in a silent room, I *could* always hear something... I'd always assumed that this was the sound of silence - some sort of faint hiss in the far distance. Our brains / ears probably produce all kinds of sounds at various frequencies, and then something happens, some combination of events that just makes us more aware of them. Retraining the brain to ignore these frequencies once again may be difficult, but it seems logical that it can be done.
Hyperbaric chamber:
I also understand that hyperbaric chamber therapy can help with early stage T. I haven't gone this route yet, but if my T persists / does not respond to the prednisolone or other coping strategies I mentioned here, I think I'll explore it further.
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