Woke up with Tinnitus

[JohnHanks5]

One morning in mid-April, I woke up with a loud, sharp ringing and a feeling of fullness in my left ear. My immediate reaction was "oh no, another ear infection" because I had had a very nasty one about 18 months ago. I quickly made an appointment with my general practitioner, but when I saw him, he told me that there was nothing in my ear and no sign of infection… I had tinnitus ( hearingsolutions.ca/tinnitu... ).

I knew enough about tinnitus to start worrying immediately, and as I began to skyrocket with anxiety, it got worse. The tinnitus started to change which ear he was in, a few days to the left, a few days to the right and a few days at a time. It would also change its tone and volume, from ringing to buzzing and from quiet enough to drown with my car engine to loud enough to be silenced by nothing. I felt helpless and immensely sad, as if my life was over, that I would never be happy again with the constant noise in my head.

Any way to get rid of this?

Thanks!

[GRboyRiches]

Hi John sorry to hear what has come apon you, and so suddenly, you mentioned a couple things...You had previously had a ear infection, you knew about tinnitus to a degree, and you had a feeling of fullness in your ear, one at at a time, your ear infections were they the discharge, smelly yellow fluid type or just a wet ear with pain, the smelly one would be a bacterial infection, wet ear with pain feeling the ear is full, like you said prior to going to doctors, more than likely is a viral infection, which could have the tendency to leave you with tinnitus, I have the feeling that your previous infections were viral and you had short duration tinnitus, because of the fullness in your ear, you also mentioned Anxiety, well we have enough of that at the moment, and that can cause tinnitus. With the fullness in the ear with a viral infection that fullness is caused by an excess of Endolymph fluid in the inner ear, this can cause dizziness as well, but you have not mentioned that, my gut feeling as your doctor said your ear is clear is that you have a viral infection, getting to the doctors at this moment is like wanting to meet the Pope, my first mission I would go to the Chemist...if you want to queue...get some Sturgeon Travel Sickness Tabs they will help to reduce that fluid I spoke about, and possible reduce the tinnitus, BUT tinnitus is a sod/bugger and can be a symptom of Hearing Loss as well, so best get that checked, when you can, it will be at least 2/3 weeks before you can get a test, but try the tabs, if they help you can get stronger ones but only on prescription....hope this helps

[JohnHanks5 in reply to GRboyRiches]

Thanks a lot buddy for your suggestion. I will be doing the tests once it's safe to go outside!

[jane7777777]

It does get easier John, promise. You learn to live with it and you will get to the stage where you longer hear it. It’s called habituation. Takes time, but it will happen.

Ask your doctor to refer you for tinnitus training. It will help a lot.

All the best,

Jane

[JohnHanks5 in reply to jane7777777]

Thank you Jane!

[alpacagirl]

Jane is right - you do learn to live with it as you become habituated to the sounds in your head. I really only hear my tinnitus when it’s quiet and I’m not concentrating on something else - I seem to have added a new sound to the others though - sounds like helicopters and I keep looking up to see if there really is one!!😂😂Worth getting your hearing checked though - although I suspect it’s only urgent appointments at the mo!

[jayfer]

Hi, sorry for delay in replying to post, I've been in hibernation! I was given a 'sound box' by my audiology dept. It was more for night time and had different sounds (white noise, sea waves etc) so i would listen to that and take away the tinnitus. It did help a little but now I seem to be able to ignore it for most of the time. My mum s profoundly deaf and has tinnitus. She says she would rather have rid of tinnitus than her hearing back. I hope by now you have some relief