This subject is really interesting to me and I thank you for your response’s in advance.
My T started with a nasty cold / flu virus.
This was 7 to 8 years ago now, long before the current pandemic.
My head was completely blocked like cotton wool stuffed everywhere and all I could smell and taste initially was of a burnt nature.
After about three weeks of it and a chest infection and time off work, I woke one morning with the noise screaming away in my head. Honestly thought there was a jet engine somewhere close by for a few days as I could not pin point the sound.
Back in those days I didn’t know the T word.
Whatever the cold/flu/bacteria/virus was that I think gave me T it also took my sense of smell and taste away at the same time.
I virtually have no ability to smell or taste anything. To the point of, if I’m cooking and the gas ‘fire’ goes out, I cannot smell the gas as I stand over the cooker.
This seems similar to covid these days with the reported loss of smell and taste.
Has anyone else had a ‘virus caused’ T start up with a loss of smell and taste at the same time please?
Just for a complete picture my T is constantly screaming like a jet engine in my head, very loud, 24x7x365 day and night. Incredible intrusive and disruptive to understand the impact.
Many thanks - best to all
Keep well
Graham
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Graham-E
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I've had T for nearly three years now, it came following what I thought was some sort of sinus infection whilst on holiday, I just thought my ears were blocked as that was the feeling I had, my doctor gave me some anti biotics but these didn't help, the T started not long after, it was a strange sensation to start with predominantly in the back of my neck, it slowly progressed to my ears, after an MRI there was no sign of any thing wrong, so my doctor told me I'd have to live with it!I've learnt more on the internet and do have an understanding of what this is, I now try to manage it as best I can although stress does aggrevate it!
There's good days and bad days and I'm resigned to having this awful affliction! I try not to think about it which is easier said than done, night time is the worst but masking techniques work to some degree, I'd like to think I've somewhat habituated to it now, maybe one day someone will come up with a magic solution to this but until then stay strong and don't let it beat you!!
Many thanks for that, I know so few people who have it and even less starting this way.I also had MRI and CT scans and was also told I would have this forever.
Like yourself nighttime masking and learning on the internet seems the way to go.
Fully agree that stress is the big problem and that is hard to deal with.
My T has been so terrible it’s taken me down the depression route and I really want to find a non drug way out if that for sure.
The short answer, Graham, is no. But, I’ve had T since my mid-teens, 60 years, and lost most of my sense of smell quite suddenly thirty years ago. I can hear my T over the sound of a car driving at sixty so it’s loud but I’m rarely bothered.
T is very common but people learn to habituate
The best source of info is the British tinnitus association and their website gives lots of tips.
Many thanks and as hard as I’ve tried I seem unable to habituate. I wished there was a secret formula for that process. I agree I can hear my T over everything else but just seem not to understand or figure out how to habituate.Thanks so much very best Graham
PS I’m pleased you can live and not be so troubled by it because that gives me a heap of hope.
If you trawl the web asking for tinnitus cures you’ll soon find some “secrets”. Trouble is, they are just there to get your money and don’t actually work!The British tinnitus Association finances research but no cures as yet.
Back in spring 2001 I suddenly developed the worst flu-like symptoms I had ever had. A few days later, whilst lying in bed feeling terrible T suddenly started in my left ear, then a few days later my right ear joined in. The right ear T stopped a few weeks later but the left has been ringing ever since. My energy levels also started decreasing around then and I'm led to believe that my T and CFS/ME are the results of a viral infection.
While mine started from noise exposure as a child, over the years different things affected it. In particular, in 1997 a terrible sinus infection created issues that have been hard to shake. They come and go and I just deal with it. I remember reading that certain viruses affect the cilia in the ear.
Hi Graham-E, sorry to hear you are struggling. I see you say 'My T has been so terrible it’s taken me down the depression route and I really want to find a non drug way out if that for sure'. When you have significant T it does take a toll on our mental health and it can de difficult to get out of this mood cycle when we are trying to deal with T.
When I first got T it resulted in me becoming severely depressed. Through a lot of hard work I have come out of the other end and now no longer have depression and am also living very well with my T.
For me I put in place two plans to address my depression and T, some of the actions in the plans were not mutually exclusive from each other. At a macro level I did these activities (based on my conditions and personality type), these are not linear.
- Educated myself on T (through Take on Tinnitus, BTA website, from others in BTA support groups, etc.)
- Excluded nothing sinister by having thorough Audiologists and ENT (MRI, hearing tests, etc.). I had a great GP who helped me find the correct care paths for both my T and depression
- Put in plan distraction techniques to initially help me cope with the constant noise in my head plus this allowed me to enjoy things again (sound therapy, gaming, walking, etc.)
- Put in place behavioral techniques (based on CBT, mindfulness, avoiding avoidance,, desensitizating my emotional reaction to my T, active listening, etc.) which helped me reframe the perceived threat of my T and slowly move to towards acceptance (as no cure) that I could live well with my T
- Attended BTA support groups to not only learn about the condition, distraction/behavioral techniques but to benefit from shared experience and fellowship (understanding I am not alone0
- Try to unshrink my life (I stopped doing a lot of things when I first got the condition)
Thanks so much for your detailed reply.That’s a very interesting list and I need to maybe print this out go over it carefully.
I’m not sure I know about the BTA support groups only this forum. So maybe I’m missing something important.
Without asking or you replying when your GP helped you was that with some medication? Sorry to ask but talking to my GP for 10 seconds and they want to write me out an ‘anti’ something tablet.
I just don’t know if I would still be me on medication and maybe that’s a good thing. Sometimes think it’s no picnic for the people living with me.
I struggle with things like meditation as the thought of the quiet makes me aggravated before I start.
I certainly haven’t found acceptance in any of it or even coming to terms with it.
I feel I fight to get the better so it has not won and I know this is not helpful.
You can find out about virtual and face to face support groups here (although a lot of the f2f are still not meeting due to covid) tinnitus.org.uk/find-a-supp...
When I first had my inner ear event which caused T, Hearing loss and Vertigo I saw three different GPs, who wanted to prescribe either anti-depressants, tranquilizers or beta blockers. I wanted to get a diagnosis before I went down the med route. However, with hindsight I can now see these GPs could see I was displaying stress and anxiety behaviors and they probably thought these would help my mood to allow me to cope better. Medication is a totally personal choice and as with most meds they have positive and negatives, for me it was all about weighing up the cost benefit of taking meds.
Acceptance takes time, an eminent audiologists I know often says some will never find acceptance but they can still live well with T.
In regards to your comment 'I feel I fight to get the better', I know I felt like this and for me at least when I thought 'I have T, there is no cure, it probably won't go away BUT thats OK' it allowed me to desnesitze the T and reduce the stress reaction. The only way I could get to this point was to have a good plan and plenty in my tool kit which I knew from others with the condition had worked, if I ever got stressed and/or I focused on my T I would say to myself 'Nope you are not my focus, I am focusing on my plan and I will continue to work it as I know it will allow me to manage my T rather than it managing me'
Hi, For several years I had very mild very intermittent tinnitus which was no concern. However after my second Astra Zeneca jab it became slightly more frequent and slightly worse but after my booster jab (Pfizer) it is now far worse and persistent 24/7 other than when asleep. My ears were checked for wax or infection etc etc and the Doctor said it ‘could e tinnitus, almost dismissive. I am concerned that it is generally accepted that this simply something that has to be lived with, regardless of its impact.
Definitely a virus is possible .A year ago my wife and I both became deaf in our right ears two weeks apart .We were both treated with steroids and got most of our hearing back .I ended up with chronic T and my wife mid T
I am right with you here....I had a mixture of an extreme head cold and some intrusive dental work and who knows which caused my T but I have had it since 2013.My sounds are just like yours 24 x 7 x 365. very intrusive and unable to sift and read or concentrate for any decent time at all.
it has been life changing and personality changing....but I manage much better now that I fit...by keeping myself calm through yoga, acupuncture, reiki and hypnotherapy.
It doesn't go away...but I manage better.
if Im away for more than 3 weeks then I really notice the difference and by week 3 Im back to the screeching.
Thanks for your reply and very helpful to know that you have found some type of ‘relief’ if I can put it that way.Maybe this is something else to try, the fitness wellness routine.
Many thanks.
Do you do sound at night time like my rain pillow?
Still wondering about the drug route but have a problem in case I’m caught up and unable to stop dependence on them.
I have tried so many sounds, pillows, Apps, music, none of them worked for me for all sorts of reasons......some made me more alert, water made me want to go for a wee and music engaged me too much.
So I have found that monotony works for me.
We have voice only radio on in the background. overnight ...for me its radio 4....but not so that I can really hear what they are talking about otherwise I would get engaged again.
It needs experimentation to find what works for you.
That’s very interesting.My rain pillow seems to work because as a child I found being inside listening to rain was comforting. The other reason is for me my T makes me very tired and by the end of the day exhaustion takes over and I fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I tend to use the rain function if I wake in the night. My GP told me that living with this incredibly loud noise and trying to work and listen to people over the top of it was similar to spending your entire day in say a noisy football crowd match when you are having a conversation and trying to work at the same time. Your brain, he told me, is having to process over the top of the noise of the T. He said that was why I would be so exhausted by the end of the day and I never was before this happened.
Hi there. Am interested in what you ask as I’ve wondered wether a virus could cause or affect tinnitus. Apparently I’ve had mod/severe hearing loss prob from birth and tinnitus as far as can remember like a swarm of bees. In mid teens had glandular fever 2 years on run and second bout lasted at least2 month and completely lost my voice and was completely deaf for a few weeks. Tinnitus was really loud and I also developed a hight pitch siren noise as well. Some hearing gradually came back but was definitely affected by this virus. Tinnitus lessened a bit as I got some hearing back but for sure it’s much louder than before. The high pitch noise eventually kinda lessened quite a bit but it regularly get really loud then gradually lessens. Am no doctor but am sure glandular fever impacted things but at the time I never questioned it mainly through embarrassment. Taste and smell was affected at the time but as far as I know are pretty much normal now. I didn’t know about tinnitus when younger and thought everyone had this noise so I guess am sort of used to it as the norm but now I know it does irritate sometimes especially when it’s like an alarm going off constantly but over time have got used to it. Hope things get easier for you. If it’s bothering me at night I get involved in a book and usually wake with the pages stuck to my face. Good luck with all and hope things get better, Julia
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