Tinnitus anyone?

[OKbyme]

I have had tinnitus for years in my left ear with 40% hearing loss; I was diagnosed with otosclerosis, basically an overgrowth of bone in the middle ear, which often results in the tinnitus. Through the pandemic, my hearing started getting worse, and the tinnitus louder; amazing how you can be going deaf, yet the tinnitus is deafening! Now that things are opening up again, I plan on seeing my ENT again.

It is a rare condition, but was wondering if anyone here possibly has it? or knows someone who does?

 

[prairie_girl]

I have it in both ears. It’s so annoying.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Hope you feel better.

 

[Brett Wyman]

Yes in both. Louder in right ear. Never worked with heavy machinery or anything similar. Not sure where it came from. I hear fine otherwise and usually background noise is enough to hide it. But its very noticeable when it quiet.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I heard a story about how tinnitus has gotten worse recently (since the pandemic). I wish I could remember where.

 

[design_mom]

Ugh. I'm sorry. It's in both ears but much louder in the right ear. The right ear has about 40% hearing loss. Mine came on about 15 years ago after a bad ear infection. My ENT didn't offer an underlying reason. Just "Huh. That doesn't usually happen with ear infections. There's no cure. Turn on a radio if the ringing bothers you." Sigh.

It's funny that you bring it up today. I have worked from home for years (well before the pandemic began) but today is my first day actually alone in the house since March of 2020. (My husband is finally back at the office a few days a week and both kids are at their summer jobs.) It's gloriously quiet... but I'm noticing the ringing more today than I usually do.

 

[AndreaDM]

Yep, non-stop. My family gets so annoyed because I'm always asking them to speak up or turn the TV volume up. I can't hear well "normally" but I can sure hear the ringing in my ears!

I've had it for quite some time, but pretty sure it was made worse a few years ago when I was in an accident and the side airbag exploded into the side of my head.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

I have it. I mostly just ignore it because I've had it so long, but now that I'm thinking about it for this post it's all I can hear. Sounds like a high-pitched dial tone. I think it's from listening to loud music for years with headphones and earbuds. I don't turn it up quite so loud anymore, but it's too late.

 

[Disneypeach]

I have had it as long as I can remember, in both ears. I suspect it came from my repeated middle ear infections during childhood. Sometimes louder, sometimes softer.
I can tell what my heart rate is by counting the pulses of the sound.

 

[SueInBoston]

following and hoping someone will jump in with a cure

 

[LoveSpringsteen]

My Dad suffers terribly with tinnitus. In basic training in the 60's a gun was shot near him, which is what caused his tinnitus. It has gotten worse over the years. It drives him nuts. He can't believe no one else can hear (externally) what he hears. He's been to different ENTs, but he's been told there is no "cure". There's only ways to deal with it/get used to it. He's tried hearing aids. My basic understanding is that the hearing aids were programmed with a background noise which is supposed to train your brain to focus on some other noise besides the tinnitus. He only tried them for a few weeks and gave up and returned the hearing aids. I've also read that acupuncture can help, but my Dad is unwilling to try it.

Interestingly, I fainted a few months ago and did a complete face plant on the floor. I've had a very mild case of tinnitus since that time. It's so faint, that I only really hear it when it's completely quiet or pay attention to it.

 

[Tess]

I woke up with a virus of some sort back in February--flu symptoms and not Covid. I had a terrible ringing/buzzing in my ears and it continues today. Some days are better than others, but it sure is annoying.

 

[NotUrsula]

The only active "cure" for tinnitus is deliberate destruction of the nerves in your ears, which will render the patient profoundly deaf.
ENTs consider this the nuclear option treatment for severe Meniere's Disease, and they normally only do it when the loss of balance is so out of control that completely losing hearing becomes the lesser of two evils. It turns out that it also eliminates tinnitus. (It's done by deliberate injection of a large dose of gentamycin into the ear.)

So, why do I mention it? My ENT is a wry sort of guy, he likes to lay all the options on the line and let the patient take the lead, but he doesn't pull punches on the downside of these options. I was only in my 20s when he told me about this one, and it worked very well as a lesson in perspective. It was a bit like Ursula's, "It won't cost much, just your voice." Given the stark choice between hearing low-grade noise all the time and not hearing anything at all, the choice of learning to live with the whine in my ears was a simple one. For me, that is. My doctor *does* have a few patients who chose the nuclear option for tinnitus over the years, but vanishingly few of them. (He actually just retired after close to 40 years in practice.)

Did you know that sometimes, people with tinnitus have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, because they interpret the noise in their ears as words, and insist that they are hearing voices?

 

[Lee from WV]

Yep, when I went to the doctor about it and they started talking about mediation and biofeedback, and I realized: crap, I'm stuck with this, aren't I.

 

[wenrob]

Woke up from a nap mid January 2020 with ringing ears and it’s been plaguing me ever since. Both ears. Low pitch, high pitch, drum beats, whooshing, sometimes sounds like a running motor in my right ear. It’s livable half the time and nearly unbearable the other half. I also have misophonia so that’s fun.

I tried going to a doctor about it but he basically blew me off and said “you probably have hearing loss” and shrugged. Never sent me a referral for an ENT or audiologist. Then we got locked down. I’m just now getting kids all caught up on their check ups and then will try and find someone on my own. I’d like to try hearing aids.

 

[MIGrandma]

I have it, don’t even remember when it started since it was so long ago. It doesn’t really bother me, I guess I just got used to it.

 

[penn19]

Woke up from a nap mid January 2020 with ringing ears and it’s been plaguing me ever since. Both ears. Low pitch, high pitch, drum beats, whooshing, sometimes sounds like a running motor in my right ear. It’s livable half the time and nearly unbearable the other half. I also have misophonia so that’s fun.

I tried going to a doctor about it but he basically blew me off and said “you probably have hearing loss” and shrugged. Never sent me a referral for an ENT or audiologist. Then we got locked down. I’m just now getting kids all caught up on their check ups and then will try and find someone on my own. I’d like to try hearing aids.

I have misophonia also! It’s an awful thing to have. I also had tinnitus for a time. How did it go away? I had “stuff” in both ears that was apparently clogging up my ear drums. The Dr used a curette and got rid of the “stuff”. Had to do it twice but it finally went away.
I feel for all of you suffering from it. I felt like I was going crazy from it.

 

[wenrob]

I have misophonia also! It’s an awful thing to have. I also had tinnitus for a time. How did it go away? I had “stuff” in both ears that was apparently clogging up my ear drums. The Dr used a curette and got rid of the “stuff”. Had to do it twice but it finally went away.
I feel for all of you suffering from it. I felt like I was going crazy from it.

He said my ears were clear. I’m not sure I trust that because the dude never looked up from the tablet he was carrying. He was more interested in referring me for a million things that had nothing to do with why I was there. I still get upset when I think about it. Once I get the kids all squared away I’ll start looking for an ENT again.

 

[prairie_girl]

I heard a story about how tinnitus has gotten worse recently (since the pandemic). I wish I could remember where.

Probably in the ears

 

[mrodgers]

I can't remember what it's like not having ringing in my ears.

Spent my young college days +/- with a very high end sound system in the car. As I grew out of that, I started and continue today after 26 years in constant noise working in a factory. I wear ear plugs.

Every year I get not my actual hearing tested but tested against a baseline taken in the late 1990's (can't remember when we started.) My hearing has not significantly changed from working in a loud environment.