Running and ear dousing seems to help a constant hum in my right ear but...

[simjon]

Hi Everyone,

First forum I’ve ever used and I hope everyone is staying safe during the virus.

In the meantime, I’ve had a ringing in my ear for almost 3 weeks now; it’s driving me a bit insane and waking me up most nights. I wanted to explain my symptoms and how they came on to see if anyone can offer any words of wisdom…

So it began about 18 months ago and lasted a few hours here or there and never longer than a morning or an afternoon. It was annoying but relatively minimal. I’d moved house around the same time and until recently thought it was some weird noise to do with the property. As soon as I opened the front door, it would disappear but I could never pinpoint it. I tried turning electricity, gas, water etc off at the mains etc but none of these made any difference. I’m a light sleeper and it woke me up a few times at night, too.

One evening not so long ago, I noticed the hum at my girlfriend’s too. She hadn’t heard it in the house and couldn’t hear it in her flat. This was when I realised it couldn’t have been anything to do with where I lived.

Soon after, the sound started again in earnest and almost 20 days later it still hasn’t gone. Up until this point, the sound was stereo but it has gone mono and is only affecting my right ear. It’s hard to describe but is a hum of variable pitched frequency and more often than not with a subtle reverberation. The closest thing I can think of is it’s similar to the sound made when trailing a finger around a glass with different amounts of water in it. It doesn’t sound like any of the few youtube videos I’ve listened to which recreate tinnitus sounds and the noise level is variant and usually loudest upon waking up.

I went to my local GP and he gave me a prescription for earspray which didn’t work. Because of Coronavirus, I wanted to get a different opinion quickly so went to an ENT specialist in central London who did various tests and said my hearing was pretty solid and I wasn’t going deaf which I hadn’t entertained the possibility of but was happy to hear anyway. He suspected I have early fluctuant inner ear endolymphatic hydrops and prescribed me with Serc 16 (histamine) which I’ve been taking now for 9 days without any change. He said it might take up to 2 weeks and if nothing happened by then, double the dose for the third week. I’ll continue to do this, of course, but somehow don’t feel it’s going to make any difference.

I don’t have any pain in my ear and never have had.

There have been two things which have helped immensely and made the hum disappear. First is jogging. I’m currently trying to jog 4 times a week, about 4-5 km. And each time I do this, the hum has gone by the time I get back home. It returns anything from about 30 minutes to 3 hours or so later. The second thing is squirting my ear with water via a small balloon syringe. I did this for the first time two days ago and a few small things fell out - very small black solids of about a millimetre in size and a couple slightly larger of brown - presumably all different types of earwax. But having done this, the humming disappeared for the rest of the day and I slept well for the first time in a while. Unfortunately, when I woke up, it had returned. I did exactly the same thing that morning and the humming disappeared again almost entirely for about 6 hours but slowly crept back by later evening. This morning I tried putting my right ear under the stream of a shower and even that helped for 15 minutes or so.

If I put a finger in my right ear, the noise almost always vanishes and if I close the tragus/external meatus on the exterior ear, the hum also almost always vanishes.

I currently work at home as a writer so seek out silence when writing but have found a 30 second loop on Spotify of a home air ventilator which I play through Sonos and effectively cancels the hum out. I’ve even used the air ventilator sample whilst sleeping a few times which is just about OK if I’m by myself but not so much when with girlfriend. Similarly, if I listen to music or tv etc, this usually cuts out the hum.

I think that’s about the entirely of everything in a nutshell. Thanks for reading and thanks for any thoughts about what this might be, if it will ever stop and if there are any more holistic alternatives to the NHS etc.

All the best

Simon

[AVIVA12]

Hi Simon, I am sorry to hear of your tinnitus.I have had similar for over 22 years and it has only gotten worse. I have been to a list of specialist a mile long during that period. I also have good hearing in both ears which is not typical of tinnitus symptoms. But somehow, the medical profession do not have any answers. It is isolating to say the least and has changed my personality as well as my general well being I am sure- as your nervous system becomes overloaded continuously with 'fight or flight' and causes many biochemical responses to that. Keep as healthy as you can. Alcohol - even a glass of wine- amplifies mine by 300% + any stresses or imflamation- such as sinuses or cold. Mindfulness is good training to live with it- but sometimes the threshold of tolerance is surpassed and you just want a solution. I wish I had one to give, but it is good that you have expressed yourself to others who can understand the problem and frustration experienced. Try not to get into the pain or blocker drug circuit. Don't think there will be a lot of sympathy from MDs. Know you are not alone! Keep safe.Sasha

[simjon in reply to AVIVA12]

Thanks Sasha and sorry to hear you've had it for so long! Like many things you don't for yourself, I was pretty unaware of tinnitus and its effects until having it myself. Couldn't believe how debilitating it was. I just sent this to someone else. Don't know if it helps or not but in terms of unblocking whatever is the reason for all this, it's easy and seems to make sense.

youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3u4Ux...(Not working as expected?)

Good advice on the pain/blocker drugs - def not keen to go down that route if I can avoid it.

All the best

Simon

[AVIVA12 in reply to simjon]

Thank you Simon. I have listened to him before and find him very good.

[emily62]

Hello Simon

Sorry to hear you have Tinnitus.

Have you thought that you may have eustachian tube dysfunction. The reason I say that is because the tinnitus is almost always loud first thing in the morning.

You can Google this to see if it's helpful to you..

Emily

All the best

[simjon in reply to emily62]

Interesting, thanks Emily...I did find that as I was researching it all online but found so much that I didn't investigate it much further...Will do now you've pointed it out.

Thanks again

Simon

[Lilly200 in reply to simjon]

Hi Simon, I'm sorry to hear about your tinnitus, Emily mentioned ETD.....I have this and have suffered for the past 16 months. It all started on Nov 15th last year. I was sat in my craft room and upon turning my iPad off could hear a noise like wind blowing through a pipe....I thought it was maybe the dishwasher but upon checking realised it wasn't! I obviously panicked and it took my partner ages before he could calm me...I went to bed and the noise went off...it was there when I woke as loud as ever but I also noticed not only could I hear it, I could feel it too, almost like a vibration. I went to my GP who prescribed ear spray and said i may have an infection but she couldn't be sure as my eardrum was blocked with wax.....a week later it was still there. I saw another doctor who just basically said..you have tinnitus and sent me away with antidepressants! To cut a long story short i finally saw a brilliant GP and was told to use olive oil drops in my ear for 2 weeks then come for irrigation as he thought the noise was due to the blocked wax. I ended up using the oil for 6 weeks and in January after having 2 attempts to remove the wax it finally came away....still the noise didn't go...i was gutted! Over the next 5 weeks I noticed that after I had eaten my lunch the noise would stop for a few hours, the same after my tea, then gradually the noise became quieter then it just stopped one day and didn't come back....but my ears still felt strange....they felt full, like they had something sticky in them...i had a horrible clicking noise when I swallowed, my hearing kept going muffled and I felt disoriented, like I wasn't really there....i also had high pitched ringing but it would only last for a few seconds at a time....it was horrible! But I was grateful as for full 12 months the noise stayed away. I saw an ENT specialist who microsuctioned my right ear and said my ears were fine....they were far from it. I was given some steroid nasal drops and spray and sent away.

February this year my noise came back....exactly the same ear...the same feeling and sound.

I was horrified, although I didn't panic as I did when I first heard it. I went back to my GP who said my ears were fine,I had a chest infection and an awful cough and the Dr told me it was my chest infection which was causing the noise in my ear...when I had it last year I realised I had had a really bad bout of sinusitis at the same time. I was told the noise would go when my infection cleared again.

I still have the ETD and all the symptoms, i have to manually pop my ears several times a day and like you if I put my finger in my ear the noise stops....it also stops if I talk or someone talks near my ear....its strange

Thankfully my chest infection has just about cleared but I have had sinusitis again so still have the noise....most of the time it's on a low level and I don't have it every day now so I'm hoping it will stop soon.

I would go see you GP and mention about ETD if you have any of the other symptoms I have described. I hope you find some peace very soon x

[simjon in reply to Lilly200]

thanks for your detailed report Lilly and good to hear the noise went away for such a long period but sorry to hear it came back too! I need to return to my GP for further test but at the moment, it's difficult for obvious reasons...Is the clicking you hear something to do with your jaw being slightly out of sync? Or something else? I have that but have only noticed it recently...I've been taking Serc 16 for last two weeks and the noise has dimmed a lot and sometimes disappeared but it does keep coming back like a nasty cold...I still have more pills to take so am hoping they are actually working though if they are, they're slow...Good luck with everything and it seems like the struggle to get rid of it will be ongoing for most of us...

[Lilly200 in reply to simjon]

I'm glad your noise has dimmed alot...sounds positive!

The clicking noise I have is due to my blocked eustachian tubes, i have had my jaw checked by both my GP and my dentist.

50% of the time my right ear doesn't feel too bad , it's mostly my left...sometmes it feels like there is something stuck in it and other days the only way I can describe it is they feel bunged....like when you have a blocked nose but in my ears! When I get muffled hearing it's like having air bubbles in your ears and i have to try and pop them which isn't always possible, but they usually pop eventually.

If you have any of other symptoms I have apart from the clicking, this could well be what you are suffering from.

I hope you manage to get to see your GP, I know it's a very difficult time right now.

Let us know how you get on. Take care x

[simjon in reply to Lilly200]

Got it...My ear felt a bit like that in the last couple of days, like it needed 'popping' but that was the first time...I'll keep monitoring it to see how it progresses...Someone else suggested blocked Eustachian tube so it's def on my list now and will mention when I do get to GP!

Thanks again

Simon

[fitch000]

Hi Simon,

Sorry to hear that you have tinnitus. Your experience is very similar to mine. My tinnitus started about three years ago and is a buzzing sound in my left ear. I could only hear it when I was in my flat, so I thought it was an electrical thing somewhere. It was driving me mad and waking me from my sleep. It wasn't until I heard the same buzzing at my parents house, that I realized that it was tinnitus. I found that drinking alcohol stops it for some time, which is why I think I never heard it at my friends and my families houses for so long, as these were often social situations were alcohol was involved. I'm now currently avoiding alcohol to see if abstaining from it long term will help, as I don't want to be reliant on alcohol to stop the buzzing. Have you noticed any effect of alcohol on your tinnitus? Also, I was wondering if you have suffered from any joint pain? I have suffered from joint pain for years and about a year after my tinnitus started I began getting joint pain and clicking in my jaw on the left hand side near my ear, which is the same side as the buzzing. I'm now fairly convinced that the two things are related.

All the best.

[simjon in reply to fitch000]

Thanks for this and sorry to hear! At the time it came on three weeks ago, I hadn't drank for about seven weeks but when I go back to drinking I'll do a couple of tests although as you say, best not to get too reliant on alcohol as complete medication! Re: joint pain, no, but I also recently have discovered a lock jaw thing like what you mention which I'd never noticed really until my dentist pointed it out (and made it a lot worse when pulling out three teeth). I too wondered if it was related. That seems to have calmed down now as does the ringing too although it's still just about there. I started doing this too: youtube.com/watch?v=Lf3u4Ux...(Not working as expected?). But yep, I'm a believer that it's all symptomatic of something...Have you tried any exercise to make it go away? Or even ear syringe? I was heartened that both these offered some relief...

All the best

Simon

[fitch000 in reply to simjon]

I have had my ears syringed, but that didn't help. Unfortunately I'm not able to do much exercise at the moment due to joint pain. The video you posted didn't work for me for some reason.

[simjon in reply to fitch000]

Yeah, actually I tried it for a couple of days but it seemed to exacerbate it...Will go back to it at some point if I can...He does say it takes 3-4 weeks to make a difference...

[Hidden]

Good luck in finding your cure Simon

However, I trust you realise that syringing the ears has actually 'caused' T in very many people?

If interested, please see my post for my way of dealing and finally eliminating my T!

Alps

[simjon in reply to Hidden]

Thanks and where do I find your post on eliminating your tinnitus?

[Hidden in reply to simjon]

Hi simjon

Thanks for your interest

Just click on my username and my profile and all my posts come up

Good luck!

Alps

[simjon]

Thanks!