Tinnitus in one ear last 5 weeks

[Neame2024]

Hi, just wondering if anyone has any ideas!

I've had faintish tinnitus the last 5 weeks, never experienced it before. I'm wondering what is the most likely cause, and if temporary or not.

Timeline is this:

Just after new year, daughter was poorly with cold symptoms. Didn't think too much of it. (This post is about me not her, just putting that in for context)

4th Jan had a dental appointment where the dentist used loud cleaning tools.

Friday 5th Jan noticed sound at night. Kind of like hearing a radiator noise in another room, combined with the old Internet dial up. Can only hear it when things are quiet.

9th Jan I test positive for Covid (felt fine day before etc).

Saturday 21st doctor finds lots of wax in affected ear, other ear fine.

6th Feb wax syringed out.

12th Feb sound still there, pretty much the same for the last 5 weeks.

Implication from doctor was that it was the wax, and maybe I need to wait longer for it to go, but have read lots of conflicting things about this.

Am 43, male, good health, hearing itself is fine and have taken up running last few months.

Any bits of info or advice greatly appreciated.

[Happyrosie]

hello Neame and welcome.

Many people, specialist doctors included, feel that stress causes tinnitus. It could be that your daughters problems were the cause.

Certainly a blocked ear can cause tinnitus, and your doctor could well be right that the tinnitus will fade away.

My personal view is that sometimes nothing causes T: it just happens. That was the case with me.

You may well find that, as you get used to the noise, your brain won’t notice it any more. Lots of information, guidance and help on the Tinnitus UK website

[Cat-Mother]

Hi Neame2024

There isn’t always a cause for Tinnitus and as yet no cure. Stress can be a factor as is ear wax and consistent attendance at night clubs (where you can’t here yourself scream never mind talk) or long term use of tools/machinery, possibly even Covid may have helped!

Hopefully yours will fade away and never return. But if not, there is lots of info to be found on Tinnitus UK, other posts on this forum and from an app called Relief, I use this one so can vouch for it (others are probably available).

Remember this app if your noise gets worse, and yes it worse at night because there are no other noises around like in the day. The app plays different sounds, or combination of sounds, that can help mask T at night to enable you to get to sleep.

All the best on your T journey and I hope it’s a short one!

[Tal-r789T]

I find T can temporarily elevate during exercise, but calms down. Depends what exercise I'm doing. The one thing is that headphones during exercise can be too loud without realising it, and just ensure the volumes not too high (from a personal perspective, easy to do). Exercise is good and releases endorphins, I find this helps me so by all means I'm not telling you to give that up!!

I also hear mine in high pitch but also sometimes like a hard disk clicking/internet modem. It varies a lot for individuals. Not sure why.

I was diagnosed with hearing loss after my second case of COVID - related? I'm not sure.

Hope it goes away for you -you may want to look at general other things like stress - work definitely can be a trigger for me. Maybe try CBT? There are online sessions.

[Fridays_Child_62]

Your tinnitus may or may not disappear, but if it stays you will get used to it and won't notice it most of the time, especially if it's low-level. I went through a phase of hearing a low-frequency noise in one ear, like a car engine outside or a washing machine in the next room. I found that if I cupped my hand over my ear, I could hear it louder and it then sounded like a vibration in the ear (not like my other tinnitus). It disappeared after a few weeks/months. You may just have to wait for your ears to settle down again.