Let's hear it for tinnitus!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Le Sigh…

I think I have tinnitus. Constant low-level whine is now noticible. I first noticed it a couple months ago when the damned birds would start this horrible rukus at 4am and I would cover my head with a pillow. Bird rukus gone, hello “mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.”

I do not know how it finally came to be, but I’m working on two theories - one, I wear an iPod daily, and two, I got a serious ear infection TWICE this spring. I’m pretty sure its a combination of the two, but, I don’t know exactly. I have never listened to music at deafening decibals…OK, when the shuffle brings on Limp Bizkit or M. Manson I’d crank it for that one song, but then I’d lower the level back down. I’d even test my sound level by lightly snapping my fingers at my side. If I could hear the snap clearly over the music, I figured I was good to go. Plus, I only wear the thing on the way to and from work…so, 30 minutes each way?

It doesn’t seem fair, but, there you go. I need to go see an ear doc, but from what I can tell, there ain’t much they can do (if anything). Now I’m wondering about damage control…the whine is pretty noticable now, I’d hate for it to get worse.

Should I drop the bank on expensive headsets/ear buds? There are those kind of ear buds that fit INSIDE the ear that can reduce the outside noise by 20db, thus you don’t need to turn the music up very loud at all. Or noise cancelling ones from Bose? Or ???

I’m also thinking of getting some headsets for when I am at home. I need the TV turned up just a bit more than my family, and that just makes everyone uncomfortable. So, big 'ol wireless headsets that reduce the ambient noise and thus allow me to hear wtf is going on.

Dunno what to do now, but am not happy about the prospect of going the next 50 years with a buzz.

-Tcat

2

[QUOTE=Tomcat]

Should I drop the bank on expensive headsets/ear buds? There are those kind of ear buds that fit INSIDE the ear that can reduce the outside noise by 20db, thus you don’t need to turn the music up very loud at all. Or noise cancelling ones from Bose? Or ???
[/QUOTE]

Start with your doctor, IMO.

First, it might be another problem that’s not permanent, like tinnitus.

Secondly, as a sufferer since childhood, he can tell you how to not let it get worse. And believe me, you do NOT want it to get worse.

FYI, mine is made worse by aspirin products and alcohol.

Cheers,
G

3

[QUOTE=Gleena]

Secondly, as a sufferer since childhood, he can tell you how to not let it get worse.
[/QUOTE]

Me not English good yes? :rolleyes:

He..the doctor…can tell you how not to let your problem get worse.

I mean. That’s it, really.

sigh

Cheers,
G

4

I’ve got it too. It sucks.

Some suggestions:

Ditch the Ipod, ditch loud music in clubs, the house, or the car, and pay close attention to not letting ear / sinus infections get “out of control.” Listen to music at realistic levels in your house and not shoved into your ear canal.

5

Long time, very annoyed sufferer. Wear ear protection whenever you’re working with loud power tools, shooting or hunting, etc.

I understand researchers have had some success regrowing the little “hearing hairs” by injecting stem cells in embryionic mice ears. Maybe someday, 10 or 20 years from now, they’ll have something for us. Actually, I’m not sure if that’ll improve tinnitus but it is a step in the right direction, hopefully with additional tangential benefits.

6

Sorry about that - it can be very annoying. But you are far from alone - tinnitus is very common.

Here’s some good info for you:

http://www.ata.org/about_tinnitus/consumer/

Do see the doctor, and be especially careful about medications. Some meds can cause or make tinnitus worse.

7

I agree with all the suggestions about seeing an ear doctor. Go do it immediately.

Ditch the IPOD, etc. And watch out for medications containing aspirin. Aspirin will aggravate tinnitus. When I was first diagnosed with arthritis, I was eating aspirin like M&Ms and now my ears ring horribly. FWIW, they ring almost exactly in the key of A. :smiley:

8

I’ve had it for so long that I’m used to it. It’s somewhere around 15KHz and often quite LOUD. But after a few minutes of being irritated by the whine, I’ll go back to whatever I’m doing and just ignore it. Seeing this thread made me stop and listen for it - yep there it is: WHINE.

9

[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture]
I’ve had it for so long that I’m used to it. It’s somewhere around 15KHz and often quite LOUD. But after a few minutes of being irritated by the whine, I’ll go back to whatever I’m doing and just ignore it. Seeing this thread made me stop and listen for it - yep there it is: WHINE.
[/QUOTE]

I’m the same way. It was worse when I was a kid (I had surgery on my ears a couple of times for congenital problems with my eustachion tubes, not just your normal “tubes in the ear” surgery). I didn’t realise it wasn’t normal and I didn’t complain much…I just did things like keep turning the air conditioner/heater on so the noise from the vents would help with making it less noticable. My mom used to be so mad, LOL, it would be either freezing or boiling in the house! I’d just keep adjusting the thermostat until the air “kicked on”. Looking back, I’m sure I must have explained why to her, but not well enough (I was younger than seven, but in school, so older than five) to make sense, I suppose. And to be fair, Mom had bigger problems at the time, so it might not have registered - I wasn’t in pain, after all.

My hearing is also somewhat effected, so I don’t know if this makes it better or worse. I stopped seeing doctors about it years ago, there doesn’t seem to be any point. I’m not deaf or profoundly hearing impaired, just have trouble in social situations and I can work around it.

Now if I think about it, I can hear it, and I can always notice it at night, but it doesn’t drive me nuts like it did when I was little. It’s started bothering me again as I am recently on warfarin and that seems to make it worse (perhaps because its an anti-coagulant, like aspirin? no idea.) For years I’ve slept with a fan on though, that level of background noise seems to make things better.

I was saying to my husband the other day though - I wonder what total, complete silence is like? It would probably frighten the crap out of me if it happened unexpectedly, as I’m in my late 30s now and I can’t remember a time when my ears didn’t ring. (Though ringing isn’t right either, its a mid-high pitched whine/hum.)

Do go to the doctor, hopefully it isn’t permanent.

Cheers,
G

10

A constant whine in my ear would drive me nuts. I’m lucky, I have pulsetile tinnitus- I always hear my heartbeat in the right ear. Yep, there it is, whoosh whoosh whoosh. I’ve had an MRI, so no problems, but still a bit annoying.

I would think the i-pod might have a lot to do with it, even if you don’t turn it up really loud. If I were you I might stop it for a couple weeks and if you’re not better, see a doctor.

11

[QUOTE=Gleena]
FYI, mine is made worse by aspirin products and alcohol.
[/QUOTE]

Lucky me, mine is made worse by my gout medicine.

It’s an easy choice though: Pain-free ambulation or [sup]eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee[/sup].

12

[QUOTE=Clothahump]
FWIW, they ring almost exactly in the key of A. :smiley:
[/QUOTE]

Bobby Schumann? Is that you? :wink:

13

As another tinnitus sufferer, I just wanted to chime in (pardon the pun). Mine tend to sound like someone rubbing cymbals together, that metallic, almost crystalline sound. Sometimes it’s not even audible and sometimes it’s all I can hear. I’ve had it for at least 10 years…it’s never been loud enough for long enough to actually see a doctor about it, though.

14

Yep, I started noticing mine several months ago, and checking with friends did not bring any commiseration, 'cause they don’t have it. One evening recently I noticed it wasn’t there! Sweet, but the next day it was back. Getting my mind on other things seems to be the ticket, for me.

15

I describe it as a billion jingle bells.

I’m pretty much always around a fan so don’t normally hear it. But out at my mom’s place it drives me nuts.

16

[QUOTE=trublmakr]
A constant whine in my ear would drive me nuts. I’m lucky, I have pulsetile tinnitus- I always hear my heartbeat in the right ear. Yep, there it is, whoosh whoosh whoosh. I’ve had an MRI, so no problems, but still a bit annoying.

[/QUOTE]

Is that what that is? I went in to the docs complaining about this years ago, he said an ear infection, I took the meds, and it didn’t clear up. Dummy 19 year old as I was at the time, I just shrugged it off (dummy 25 year old that I am now, I continue to). Sometimes it’s bad enough to keep me up nights. It’s pulsing right now, actually. Annoying! I had no idea this could be is a variant of tinnitus!

I believe I’ll make a doctor’s appointment, now that I have more information.

Thank you, trublmakr.

17

Mine seems to be unusual in that it responds to no external stimulus at all (with one exception, coming later). It has not let up for a second in something like 12 years, but neither does it get any worse from loud music, drink, aspirin, coffee, or tiredness.

The exception is if I push down on my fist with my jaw it gets louder, but drops back to normal as soon as I relax. Must be TMJ, you’d say, but several dentists and years of wearing dental splints made not the slightest difference.

I have a personal theory it’s to do with my catching genital herpes at roughly the same time, but a few desultory searches haven’t come up with any confirmation of that as a possibility.

18

I’d love to be able to say “I think I have tinnitus”. No thinking required. I’ve had it for 3 and a half years as a result of an incident in a workplace where I inadvertently set off an alarm after hours and then failed to do the sensible thing and leave the building without going over to turn it off. My tinnitus is raging out of control and getting louder all the time.

The things that aggaravate it are loud music (obviously) or loud anything for that matter, caffeine and red wine. I have consulted a specialist who said that, on addition to those things, marijuana aggravates it also. I would recommend ceasing to listen to music through headphones. For me, that is totally out of the question now. I am also resigned to the fact that I will never be at any kind of concert ffor the rest of my life at which I am not wearing earplugs. Very sad.

I am rapidly approaching the day when I am so desparate that I will pony up the reported $5K needed for this treatment.

19

[QUOTE=buns3000]
I am rapidly approaching the day when I am so desparate that I will pony up the reported $5K needed for this treatment.
[/QUOTE]

I’m in NSW, but I can’t imagine that Victoria is much different with Worker’s Compensation laws…if you need the treatment and its a legitimate workplace injury, won’t Worker’s Comp pay for it?

You should check with your Injury Management person, or case worker, if you have one.

Cheers,
G

20

I’ve had tinnitus for 2 years now since I went through a lovely time of Sudden Hearing Loss Syndrome and lost 50% of my hearing in my right ear. My friend and I have figured either I had a virus or a micro stroke. The MRI’s all came back negative, but my thought process and inability at the oddest times to complete a sentance ( like old people) leads me to believe the latter occurred and left no trace.

The hearing loss I can handle ( it is equivalent to having your finger stuck in your ear and trying to hear.) but the tinnitus, oye.

I wear the top of the line ear protection ear muffs when I mow the lawn. I don’t wear earphones in that ear and in my good ear, it is at a low level. I usually have set of foamie ear plugs in my purse just in case of loud things happening.

Things that make it worse: cold meds ( the psuedoephedrine), loud rooms
( auditory chaos). I avoid the cold meds now passionately as a friend of mine who does not have tinnitus gets ringing in her ears when she takes psuedoephedrine.)