The new Tinnitus Thread! This is My Story and I Welcome Yours.

In My Humble Opinion
41

I’ve had the white-noise hiss for as long as I can remember. I had several bad ear infections as a child, some of which ended with a ruptured eardrum, and I took buckets of amoxicillin for them. I also had a bad fall against a support post in the basement that almost took my ear off, and my hearing has never been the same on that side. They ran a hearing test on me a month or so after the incident and I passed, but I do not hear right and I don’t know why the test didn’t indicate it. I hear okay out of that right ear, but it’s like everything’s shifted downwards in pitch.

Maybe it’s all connected, but either way there’s nothing I can do about it. the hiss is worse when I’m congested, but some days are louder than others for no reason I can see. And it’s usually worse at night, so I sleep with the covers piled over my head, which helps somehow. I’m glad I have a hiss and not a screech, like some of you describe. I can at least pretend my sound is actually just a TV left on somewhere.

42

I’ve got very odd tinnitus in my right ear–it sounds like a baseball game and in fact when it started about 10 years ago at first I was convinced someone had left a TV on in the house. It gets more intense towards the end of the day. It does provide a bit of entertainment; I can actually hear the announcer yelling and the crowd going crazy when the batter hits one out of the park.

In the left ear I’ve just got the eeeeeeeeee, not unlike distant cicadas. This is a result of a head injury and most of the time I just tune it out.

43

In my case, it’s somewhat similar to the tone that you can hear if you have a largish tube TV turned on. that constant ‘wheeeeeeeee’.

44

I’ve finally found my near exact pitch in the most unlikely of places, Legally Blonde the Musical:)

Go to 10:04, the sound she makes is the closest tone I’ve found for my T. Makes a pretty good masker.

45

Is there any medicinal substitute for ibuprofen that won’t make my ears ring? I guess ibuprofen reduces post-operative swelling and I’m having dental surgery. The dentist prescribed ibuprofen I guess because he doesn’t know of any alternatives.

46

I don’t know how it affects tinnitus since I generally don’t notice mine, but you could try ketoprophen (Orudic-KT if you can find it anywhere)

47

Have you had a problem with ear ringing and ibuprofen before? It doesn’t hit everyone like that, so if you don’t have a history of it, I wouldn’t worry about it.

But if you do have experience with it and it’s a problem for you, then…yeah, that’s a problem. It’s usually dose dependent, meaning that there may be a smaller dose that will give you the effect the dentist is looking for but will not cause the ringing in your ears. So if he’s suggesting, say, 600mg every 4 hours, ask him if you can try 400 instead. That may still be enough to reduce the inflammation, and if you’re lucky, not cause the ringing.

If he’s suggesting it to control pain, as well, ask him what he thinks of adding an extra strength Tylenol to the regimen. Ibuprofen and Tylenol work to prevent pain in slightly different ways, and particularly with dental pain, many patients find more relief using the two together than either one alone.

The annoying thing is that Tylenol should be taken every 6 hours, and Ibuprofen every 4 hours. They will coincide twice a day, but other than that, you can’t take them at the same time on the clock. It’s not safe to take Tylenol more often, and it won’t control most people’s pain well enough to take the ibuprofen less often. It’s a dilemma. I suggest just setting a couple of timers in your cell phone to go off every 4 and 6 hours and label them “Ibuprofen” and “Tylenol” respectively so you’ll know what to take when. Otherwise you’ll probably lose track. I know I do, if I try to wing it, and I give out medicine for a living! :smiley:

If you can’t find a dose of ibuprofen low enough to control the inflammation and not cause ringing, then he needs to decide how medically necessary reducing that inflammation is. If it’s a pain thing, there are other pain medications he can prescribe, like Norco or Vicodin. If it’s truly an inflammation thing, he may need to consider a short course of steroids instead of NSAIDS. All NSAIDS, as far as I can tell from my drug books, are culprits for ear ringing, internal ear damage and hearing loss in susceptible people.

48

Wow, I have it but not to the point of debilitation. I only really notice it when there’s little background noise. I’m certain I got it from attending dozens if not hundreds of very loud concerts and shows between the ages of 16 and 30, without ear protection. A couple days after the first few shows it would go away but one time in 1992 it just didn’t, and hasn’t. I’ve never talked to a doctor about it since it never seriously bothered me.

Has anyone else noticed that it’s worse (louder) the morning after a bender, that is, when you’re hungover?

49

I’ve got mild tinnitus due to exposure to excessively loud music and lots of gunfire when younger (I’m in my early 40’s). I really only notice it when there’s little/no background noise.

50

He’s prescribing it along with Vicodin so it’s for inflammation. He knows about my tinnitus from ibuprofen problem, but figures a lower dose will be okay. I don’t think so, judging by the past. My ears ring all the time now after taking ibuprofen for an earlier surgery, and my right ear has taken over as the bad ear.