Why Do Some People’s Reactive Tinnitus Go Away After a Few Months?

[Ava Lugo]

I've had horrible reactive tinnitus for 11 months now but at the beginning it reacted to things like fans and cars going by and music but now it reacts to voices and even whispering... and it's been reacting to voices for 7 months now.

I'm at a loss.

I was born with severe to profound hearing loss in one ear and moderate to severe in the other and have been wearing a bone anchored hearing aid (BAHA) for 13 years of my life with zero problems and my tinnitus has always been mild prior to a cold virus 11 months ago.

I was never aware of my tinnitus except in quiet rooms. I could listen to music and do all kinds of things and now I can't... I don't know what that virus did to me but it did something I think... I didn't get this until my cold was going away and I had no ear pain or nothing at the time.

Hearing tests so far showed hearing has been the same since birth.

One day I heard a ringing go off and prayed it would go away like the fleeting tinnitus does, then the next day it's gone but suddenly that's when the reactive tinnitus started and it has been like that for almost a year now...

I read about how some people's reactive tinnitus goes away after a few months and for others it stays... any theories why? I read an almost deaf person had reactive tinnitus and their went away after a few months...

I don't know why mine hasn't improved. I'm so terrified as I'm only 24.

 

[FGG]

This doctor, Dr. Gacek. has treated Meniere's patients with anti-virals even a few years after hearing loss occurred and many regained hearing. Granted these were all herpes viruses, but some in that family like cytomegalovirus can seem like a cold symptom wise on first exposure.

Recovery of Hearing in Meniere's Disease after Antiviral Treatment

I'm not saying you have Meniere's but I think viral inflammation can show up in many ways and it may be worth getting viral titers +/- trying anti viral therapy if you can trace your worsening specifically to a viral infection.

 

[Ava Lugo]

Oh alright. Doctors can't always see inflammation in the ear right? Because I got looked at for fluid in there and I got my ear pressure checked and a sinus X-ray and they said it looked normal and no fluid.

 

[FGG]

Oh alright. Doctors can't always see inflammation in the ear right? Because I got looked at for fluid in there and I got my ear pressure checked and a sinus X-ray and they said it looked normal and no fluid.

They can only see middle ear inflammation with exam and x rays, not the cochlea and neuro inflammation doesn't show up as fluid build up.

 

[Ava Lugo]

They can only see middle ear inflammation with exam and x rays, not the cochlea and neuro inflammation doesn't show up as fluid build up.

To make this shorter and easier to read because my other reply was long, how do I convince doctors it's probably neuro or inner ear inflammation? There's no nausea or vertigo or fever just occasional ear pain and horrible reactive tinnitus? Since they blame my tinnitus on my hearing loss a lot and suggest I try a new hearing aid but what can I do to convince the ENT or neurologist that I need an antiviral?

I hope there's a chance that this reactive tinnitus eventually goes away or improves by 80 percent by the end of next year if I can convince a doctor to give me antivirals... I read those with sudden hearing loss end up with permanent reactive tinnitus and I don't think that's my case but I'm praying this isn't permanent... tho it's been 11 months.

Should I show them what you told me about the other doctor? Since they might say it's too late for antivirals?

 

[FGG]

To make this shorter and easier to read because my other reply was long, how do I convince doctors it's probably neuro or inner ear inflammation? There's no nausea or vertigo or fever just occasional ear pain and horrible reactive tinnitus? Since they blame my tinnitus on my hearing loss a lot and suggest I try a new hearing aid but what can I do to convince the ENT or neurologist that I need an antiviral?

I hope there's a chance that this reactive tinnitus eventually goes away or improves by 80 percent by the end of next year if I can convince a doctor to give me antivirals... I read those with sudden hearing loss end up with permanent reactive tinnitus and I don't think that's my case but I'm praying this isn't permanent... tho it's been 11 months.

Should I show them what you told me about the other doctor? Since they might say it's too late for antivirals?

There isn't a good diagnostic test for non autoimmune related inner ear inflammation, so I wouldn't frame it that way. If it were me, I would ask for viral titers and strongly re-iterate that your worsening started with a viral infection.

Show them this:

Acyclovir with Steroids to Restore Sudden Hearing Loss

And then the Gacek study i posted above to show it doesn't always have to administered right away.

Please note, I'm not definitely saying anti virals will help you or is related to your cause for sure but given your history, I would at least try to address a potentially treatable cause.

 

[Ava Lugo]

There isn't a good diagnostic test for non autoimmune related inner ear inflammation, so I wouldn't frame it that way. If it were me, I would ask for viral titers and strongly re-iterate that your worsening started with a viral infection.

Show them this:

Acyclovir with Steroids to Restore Sudden Hearing Loss

And then the Gacek study i posted above to show it doesn't always have to administered right away.

Please note, I'm not definitely saying anti virals will help you or is related to your cause for sure but given your history, I would at least try to address a potentially treatable cause.

Alright, thank you for giving me a possible glimpse of hope that there could be a way to fix this. I'm glad I found this community. More than anything sometime next year, I would love to be able to sit outside and listen to music on a nice summer night or spring night sipping a delicious ice tea while gazing up at the moon listening to some tropical beach music and not hear any head noise or distortions interfering with my fun and that goes for tv too. I'm hoping to be able to get my life back in the next year or so. I understand things can take a long time to heal. I'm willing to try anything it takes to make this reactivity either improve by like 85 percent or more to where it's almost gone or it goes completely after I treat the cause. It's impossible to habituate when everything sounds like tinnitus. If my tinnitus can be non reactive then that would be great.

 

[FGG]

Alright, thank you for giving me a possible glimpse of hope that there could be a way to fix this. I'm glad I found this community. More than anything sometime next year, I would love to be able to sit outside and listen to music on a nice summer night or spring night sipping a delicious ice tea while gazing up at the moon listening to some tropical beach music and not hear any head noise or distortions interfering with my fun and that goes for tv too. I'm hoping to be able to get my life back in the next year or so. I understand things can take a long time to heal. I'm willing to try anything it takes to make this reactivity either improve by like 85 percent or more to where it's almost gone or it goes completely after I treat the cause. It's impossible to habituate when everything sounds like tinnitus. If my tinnitus can be non reactive then that would be great.

I can't see the night sky anymore (visual snow) and can't listen to any music either for different hearing reasons. I truly feel like I lost any light in life. I very much hope yours gets better, though.

 

[Ava Lugo]

I can't see the night sky anymore (visual snow) and can't listen to any music either for different hearing reasons. I truly feel like I lost any light in life. I very much hope yours gets better, though.

Well what kind of hobbies or things do you do to get through the day?

 

[FGG]

Well what kind of hobbies or things do you do to get through the day?

I had to quit my career but I have an online resell business. It's about 8 hours a day of work. Other than that, I'm mostly on my own so I just try to sleep and not exist.

I used to write a lot (have written hundreds of short stories), had a career as a vet, and was passionate about music and travel. I wish I had advice on how to find enjoyment.

 

[Ava Lugo]

I had to quit my career but I have an online resell business. It's about 8 hours a day of work. Other than that, I'm mostly on my own so I just try to sleep and not exist.

I used to write a lot (have written hundreds of short stories), had a career as a vet, and was passionate about music and travel. I wish I had advice on how to find enjoyment.

Music was my passion too. I really hope you are right that it's probably cochlear inflammation. It did happen a few days after I was recovering from that cold and that's when the ringing went off, then reactive tinnitus started the next day so I hope that's what it is. I know that with that cold, I couldn't taste that well for about a month even when my nose cleared up, then after a month I got my taste back. I heard clicking when swallowing around that time all with the reactive tinnitus around. I thought it was eustachian tube dysfunction but since my sinuses are clear doctors don't think it's that, so yea I mean, I didn't get like face paralysis or like a stroke on one side like some get from a virus where they lose their taste buds too, it was just a cold, some sinus pressure around my nose bridge area, clicking when swallowing and lack of taste buds for a month. Eventually the clicking stopped. I got a couple colds a few months later but this time my taste came back right after the cold went away.

Sorry I'm trying to make sense of all this.

 

[GBB]

Music was my passion too. I really hope you are right that it's probably cochlear inflammation. It did happen a few days after I was recovering from that cold and that's when the ringing went off, then reactive tinnitus started the next day so I hope that's what it is. I know that with that cold, I couldn't taste that well for about a month even when my nose cleared up, then after a month I got my taste back. I heard clicking when swallowing around that time all with the reactive tinnitus around. I thought it was eustachian tube dysfunction but since my sinuses are clear doctors don't think it's that, so yea I mean, I didn't get like face paralysis or like a stroke on one side like some get from a virus where they lose their taste buds too, it was just a cold, some sinus pressure around my nose bridge area, clicking when swallowing and lack of taste buds for a month. Eventually the clicking stopped. I got a couple colds a few months later but this time my taste came back right after the cold went away.

Sorry I'm trying to make sense of all this.

Did you end up trying antivirals at any point? Asking because I am considering this as well.

 

[Nick47]

was recovering from that cold and that's when the ringing went off, then reactive tinnitus started the next day so

Hey @Ava Lugo, this is how mine got worse in January. I had a sore throat and exactly 5 days AFTER recovering I was hit by louder bilateral tinnitus. Mine became reactive 10 days later after a loud gym class and all hell broke loose.

I wonder if you had COVID-19?

How are you now my friend?