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in_the_shadows
Hi Nes! I've been reading your posts, and things have been developing very similarly for me: nine months of overprotection, earmuffs at home and double protection outside, and for the last two months I've been gradually weaning off them. I can now be at home with just earplugs and even sit in silence without any protection. While my hyperacusis and regular tinnitus have definitely improved, my reactive tinnitus has gotten much worse, it reacts with many tones to water, bedsheets, even my own breathing. The tones alternate daily. I'm dealing with the same question of whether I should take a break or push through. Just wanted to say hi and wish you a speedy recovery!
Kain
right ear is feeling more sensitive and thumping a lot more in response to noises and it's starting to agitate me
just1morething
I got the report from the CT scan I had on Tuesday. It was similar to the report I got last March. Apparently I have a hole in the bone above my left middle ear from what I understand.
hubast
I had an acoustic trauma event where I was exposed to a hammer striking metal for about 5 minutes. This put me into a medium tinnitus and hyperacusis situation for about 1 month, after that, my tinnitus was mild enough to be able to cope with. THEN, only 1 day later, I was fixing a 250 watt stereo and someone pushed a button on the remote while my ear was next to the speaker and wham! 130DB of white noise to the ear that was 2" from the speaker!
Now my tinnitus is loud and hyperacusis is really bad. So my question is this: Should I start counting my potential recovery time from the 1st event or second event? I am 2 months out from 1st event and 1 month out from the 2nd event. Thank you kindly everyone
2049v
I think your 2nd one is just a spike, or a temporary thing. I'd say you can count from the first. Hopefully you'll feel a lot better soon!
MindOverMatter
Unfortunately, the question you ask is impossible to give a certain answer to. Only time will tell. Did you get a course of prednisone after that last incident? Have you had a hearing test?
kingsfan
Count from the original index event.
delta784
Is tinnitus common?
2049v
Very mild ones yes, severe ones no
delta784
i was very mild for 7 years stable before iv prednisone and i know how shitty severe was. thats why i used prednisone to prevent worsening. after my mild sound trauma im idiot and dumb
2049v
@delta784, sorry what was the cause for your initial tinnitus incident?
UKBloke
After hundreds and hundreds of hours of research my
unwavering opinion is that tinnitus is NOT caused by hearing
damage; it's underlying cause is a neural gating deficit.

Hearing damage (amongst other things) may result in lower
upstream voltages consequently exposing the deficient gate
allowing the neural noise to cross into conscious perception
to be experienced as tinnitus. Ergo, fixing hearing damage may
also, curiously, lower tinnitus. But if you actually want to cure
tinnitus you need to address the underlying deficiency at the
neural gate.
hubast
Has anyone had any luck with adding vitamin D3, Taurine, Lipoflavonoid, or NAC to their daily regimen? If so, how long to take effect for a positive result?
S
D3 may potentially help with SAD which certainly can't hurt with these conditions and regardless, should pretty much be taken by everyone unless you spend most of the year outside in a state of undress.
I did take Taurine to help with my anxiety pre-tinnitus (continued taking it for the first few months after onset but mine was so catastrophic even if it did something I wouldn't have noticed) and it definitely did help slightly then, plus took the edge off too much coffee... not a 'take it and 3 hours later feel better' thing, just an overall minor but noticeable day-to-day improvement.
Neither's going to quiet things down but every little helps eh.
kingsfan
I take NAC whenever I leave the house. 600mg before I step out the door and another 600mg the same night before bed. If any sort of loud event happened while I was out, I'll continue taking it morning and night for several days.

I used to also take Magnesium and vitamins A, C, E, but it became too costly. The NAC alone is quite pricey.

This was only for protective measures to try and prevent further worsening.
AfroSnowman
The hard truth is that for 95% of folks with tinnitus from hearing damage there has so far not been any pill or supplement or treatment that works. That being said < a year and certainly in the first months there is a real chance for complete natural remission. I think the best thing you can do to increase the chances of being in that lucky club is try to avoid further hearing insult, get good sleep (really important), and try to sooth yourself and focus on it as little as possible. This is a brain/hearing thing, so the key is to try to calm it from both ends.
delta784
Can someone tell me the reason why am i living like a cockroach instead of being happy all the time? And what's the point of living like this if the end is already known?
View previous comments…
E
@delta784 If everyday has to be fought in survival mode, then so be it. How 'well' do you generally sleep, brother ?
Kam75
Most people I see on Tinnitus Talk are older, so at least they have a reason to live (a wife/husband, and children). I'm 34 and have been living like an hermit since 7 years because of tinnitus :( No wife, no children, and I fear I'll never meet a wife because I have to live locked in my room. I just have my parents who are saddened to see him suffering everyday. The lack of sleep is also killing me. So I feel you dela784.
T
I've only had T for 1.5 years but am 29 so yeah also young. Quite a few people on the reddit tinnitus are young too. But yea wish I had got further/more stable in life before this hit.
N
@Cmspgran Interesting. How much Pregabalin do you use? The Gabapentin certainly takes some focus off my condition and reduces stress. When did you drop the Gabapentin? Was the combo still effective over time? I advise you to make an appointment with the GP, tell them you are really struggling, what helps and be candid. You obviously have an understanding GP and honesty is the way forward.

The first time I used Gabapentin, i bought it online. I am not advising you to do this of course.
Cmspgran
I take either 100mg or 150mg a night, that and an average dose of 0.5mg of clonazepam are what keeps me functional and in work. Far from ideal, but at this point have very little choice, I need to pay a mortgage and actually still try to enjoy life a bit. I'll cross the bridge of coming off them when it comes to it.
N
I completely understand your predicament. I'm wearing 'the patch' right now btw. Seems to help stabalise things over night by a small amount. I suppose I am in a more fortunate position that I've paid mine off. The hyperacusis element, when it becomes severe is my nemesis
hubast
Hello! Im about 7 weeks in from the onset of Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. Yesterday was a "good" day for me and I was able to distract with "ocean sounds" on my earbuds at a level of 12 on the volume. Today is much louder tinnitus and not a good day at all and have to turn my ocean sounds to a volume of 30 to even compete with the ratio of tinnitus to ocean sounds yesterday. How could it be that yesterday my tinnitus was "acceptable" and today much louder? I was happy that it was a sign of my tinnitus subsiding, but today I am wondering? Im not sure what to do some days its very loud, leaving me confused, scatterbrained, sad, and my nerves shot. Any advice on how to combat this tinnitus thing? Any advice is much appreciated - thank you all so much!
Yosemite
Tinnitus is unpredictable.

It's not recommended to use earbuds if you have tinnitus. Try other masking methods instead.
kingsfan
Masking always spikes mine. I don't bother with it. Be careful with the volume on those earbuds. It's dangerous territory.

You can put something on in background—on a good quality speaker and not headphones/earbuds—at a low volume, not to mask it, but to just give you something else to focus on. I only really do this at night. I'll turn on the TV at a low volume and just listen to it to help me fall asleep.

If you can get your tinnitus stable and not vary in volume day-to-day, you'll most likely get used to it, and it won't be as much of an issue.
hubast
beefling
I'm no stranger to this condition worsening. I suspect some of the long haulers here are in the same boat. Like clockwork, new/worse symptoms every 2-3 months for me. But I can deal. This recent worsening though. Brutal. Metal wine glass humming on top of *everything*. No rhyme or reason. Just started out of nowhere.

Anyway how ya'll doin. I hate it here.
kingsfan
I'm definitely in the same boat. At least every 6 months, but it's often every 2-3, something gets worse. Sometimes it calms a bit, but never back to how it was previously—two steps forward, one step back, so to speak.

Over the summer I started getting those noxacusis aching and burning sensations.
beefling
@kingsfan Man you said it. New symptoms might settle down a bit over time but they almost never go away completely. You think you've got a handle on your present situation and boom, you're back to square one. Any kind of reactivity takes this condition to a whole other level of torture.

Been keeping up with your status updates over the years and yeah man, I just can't believe it's 2025 and we don't have *anything* for tinnitus yet, let alone the cavalcade of other auditory ailments that are tinnitus adjacent (hyperacusis, dysacusis, reactive T etc.) We should be looking at treating those by now in tandem with expanding tinnitus treatment options, but we're still stuck in the pit of "we just don't know, oops!!" Blows my mind.
cjbhab
I can definitely understand what you are saying and it sucks and i'm sorry. It seems like whenever I get used to my current T levels and symptoms and am coping well, something new gets thrown at me and i'm back to square one. I always read about how T gets better over time. Not my case - When it started, it was very mild and could only be heard in a quiet room. Now it is everywhere and crazy reactive. I do everything to protect my ears. Meanwhile, I know people who have mild T and they still go to concerts and sports games with no ear plugs and it never gets worse.
Tryn2BHopeful
Low humming has been getting worse as of late... no idea why. T seems louder in general most days. I keep praying it will get better again... but this time around everything is different for better or worse.
delta784
I went to mall for dinner with my girlfriend and her sisters which was around marina it was atleast a good day this saturday (thanks to 0.5 clonazepam of course) almost 0 pain i wasn't aware of my tinnitus most of the day since i was outside.
Kam75
I'm very happy for you man that you had a great day. At least you have a girlfriend you can go outside with. Feel lucky about this.
delta784
T
how often are you taking clonazepam? thinking to start it myself but worred about dependancy etc.
delta784
how old are you
R3vtune
25 However I'm aware of this fourm since I was 16 years old so I haven't joined until severe hearing loss which was recent since Tinnitus doesn't bother me at all anymore.
just1morething
Waking up at 2:00 am with blaring hissing in my left ear is getting old. I will be getting another CT scan of my temporal bone next Tuesday.
R3vtune
I can adapt to tinnitus, but with severe hearing loss is I didn't expect to get, will the second shot save me or no effect? Despite 3-week onset, will there be improvement despite my odds is 1/3? What if I live like this forever? What if it really does work? If it really does work, I hope I can enjoy hobbies again like normal. No way I'm give up my hearing that easily.
E
Hey Gabbie. Just saw your post from earlier.

I believe as long as your Dentist is fully aware of the situation and you have good ear protection then all should be fine.
G
I'm worried that the vibrations from the drilling will be damaging, as the tooth requiring the root canal is near the back of the mouth, very close to the ears.
I have stopped using an electric toothbrush as it was triggering my tinnitus, so I guess continual drilling would be likely to have a similar and even worse effect.
Vincent R
You should not use hearing protection during the drilling, since the occlusion effect will amplify the noise. I suggest that you discuss with your dientist and ask him to take a pause every fifth second. Also, take a heafty dosage of NAC and magnesium beforehand.
S
And after a horrible few days I come to my once a month easily manageable morning buzz day (natural hormone fluctuations I guess) where I sleep like the before times and my pain and pressure settles for a few hours... I could easily live a normal happy life and feel very much like my old self, until the crushing realisation if I did I'd just end up without these brief reprieves.
I bizarrely find my self having to keep them secret too because everyone's positivity bias creeps in and they assume it's getting better.
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