Tinnitus

BoysForSeles

BoysForSeles

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I thought there was a health and fitness forum but I can’t see one. Anyway longish story short, I got a very sore tooth 4 weeks ago, followed about a week later by what seems to be a middle ear infection. It was quite frightening as the hearing went totally in it. 3 weeks later the hearing is improving but by no means where it should be. I took antibiotics for 2 weeks and this week i’m just seeing if it can take care of itself.

Anyhow as part of this I seem to have developed a case of tinnitus which has been constant the whole time. At times it does my head in and I’m hoping it will go if and when the ear fully heals, however I’ve read some Google horror stories and I’m not sure I can listen to this forever.

Anyone here have or had tinnitus? Did it disappear, remain constant or come and go? How have you managed it?
 
Sorry to hear this. Mine started 2,5 years ago with some viral illness - not an ear infection though. The first couple of weeks were extremely depressing and I had similar thoughts - how am I going to live with this? However, it got a bit better and even though I still have it, I don't really pay attention to it that much anymore. A few months might go by and I don't even remember I have it. Sometimes the volume changes and I'm a bit annoyed by it but it doesn't last for long usually. And sometimes I get these 'attacks' where it gets really loud but I usually get over them in seconds by just stretching the ears. On my summer holiday I'm planning to go see this physical therapist who is specialized in treating tinnitus - somehow linked to the muscles of your neck and your bite. I've been planning to see him for a long time but since I haven't been that annoyed by it, I've kept on postponing it.

Two months ago, I started the Invisalign treatment for my teeth and at times it has turned up the volume of the tinnitus. I've read stories how people had to reverse the whole treatment because their tinnitus got worse with it.

By the way, there's some 'music' designed for people with tinnitus that help you escape it. I found this track helpful:

 
I know exactly when I got Tinnitus. I went to the Indie night in O2 Islington and for some reason we chose to dance right next to the speaker.

I only notice mine when it's silent and I've been super careful since that night to not make it any worse. But it has never fully went away.
 
wildchild said:
Sorry to hear this. Mine started 2,5 years ago with some viral illness - not an ear infection though. The first couple of weeks were extremely depressing and I had similar thoughts - how am I going to live with this? However, it got a bit better and even though I still have it, I don't really pay attention to it that much anymore. A few months might go by and I don't even remember I have it. Sometimes the volume changes and I'm a bit annoyed by it but it doesn't last for long usually. And sometimes I get these 'attacks' where it gets really loud but I usually get over them in seconds by just stretching the ears. On my summer holiday I'm planning to go see this physical therapist who is specialized in treating tinnitus - somehow linked to the muscles of your neck and your bite. I've been planning to see him for a long time but since I haven't been that annoyed by it, I've kept on postponing it.

Two months ago, I started the Invisalign treatment for my teeth and at times it has turned up the volume of the tinnitus. I've read stories how people had to reverse the whole treatment because their tinnitus got worse with it.

By the way, there's some 'music' designed for people with tinnitus that help you escape it. I found this track helpful:

Click to expand...

Yeah I had a viral thing in February and shortly after tooth and ear issue. It’s very frustrating but I’m hopeful it’ll disappear when hearing is 100%. I probably didn’t help it with having volume pretty loud on headphones every day.
 
ZenGiraffe said:
I know exactly when I got Tinnitus. I went to the Indie night in O2 Islington and for some reason we chose to dance right next to the speaker.

I only notice mine when it's silent and I've been super careful since that night to not make it any worse. But it has never fully went away.
Click to expand...
Is it constant?
 
BoysForSeles said:
I thought there was a health and fitness forum but I can’t see one. Anyway longish story short, I got a very sore tooth 4 weeks ago, followed about a week later by what seems to be a middle ear infection. It was quite frightening as the hearing went totally in it. 3 weeks later the hearing is improving but by no means where it should be. I took antibiotics for 2 weeks and this week i’m just seeing if it can take care of itself.

Anyhow as part of this I seem to have developed a case of tinnitus which has been constant the whole time. At times it does my head in and I’m hoping it will go if and when the ear fully heals, however I’ve read some Google horror stories and I’m not sure I can listen to this forever.

Anyone here have or had tinnitus? Did it disappear, remain constant or come and go? How have you managed it?
Click to expand...
I've had tinnitus since childhood. I thought it was something everyone had at first, just a weird quirk we have to put up with. Mine's a continuous whistle like a TV on standby, and it can be deafening when I'm trying to go to sleep (Tiredness seems to make it louder).

Hopefully yours should start to settle down soon - as far as I know it's temporary in a lot of people where there's been some damage to the inner ear.
 
Sorry for the reminder @ZenGiraffe! What’s a bit mad is that I can’t remember if I heard some of these sounds before the ear infection or not and if this has just focussed me on it. It’s certainly louder and more varied but not altogether unfamiliar though it was never this consistent either if so.
 
I worked for the British Tinnitus Association (www.tinnitus.org.uk) for 3 years and have quite an in-depth knowledge, I’ve also had close contact with the world leading experts in tinnitus and I’d strongly recommend avoiding reading ANYTHING on the internet (apart from their website).

What most people don’t realise is that tinnitus is a symptom of something rather than a standalone condition. Whatever is causing it, if treated and resolved, can oftentimes take it away.

@BoysForSeles it’s very likely that your tinnitus will lessen as the ear infection resolves. Whether it entirely goes away can be pretty much determined by your response to it. The more you are impacted by it (distressed, anxious, upset and focussed on it) the harder it will be to habituate and the longer it will persist.

Use low level background sounds (the video Wildchild posted is fine but not necessarily what I’d recommend) to help mask the tinnitus and try to distract yourself from listening to it.

Just remember, the body makes sounds all the time, clicks, gurgles, pops. This is just another sound, only difference is no one else hears it.
 
Mine started after a VERY LOUD MutyaKeishaSiobhan concert, which the nurse found hysterical :evil:

It has got better over the years - or maybe I just don’t notice it as much - but it’s still there.
 
Over 7 million people have tinnitus in the UK, 1 in 8.

the vast majority (about 85%) are completely unbothered by it - and of the remaining % of those that are affected only a small percentage say it impacts on their day to day life... that tiny percentage are the ones you’ll find wallowing in their negativity online posting horror stories. Avoid!
 
My mum has it. Funnily enough she was at the doctor’s surgery for it, but the announcements to call people in were done electronically with a beeping tone. She was sitting with her back to the screen and her appointment was called, but the sound was the exact same tone as her tinnitus, so she missed her appointment:D
 
I also have tinnitus which I got after being attacked one night in Birmingham and punched on my ear. My eardrum burst and it wouldn't close on it's own so I had to have a myringoplasty, which was an operation where they took cartilage from my ear and used it to cover the eardrum. The tinnitus came right after the original injury and hasn't gone away, and that's been almost 6 years now. Most of the time I don't notice it but if I am really tired or stressed it can become more noticeable but it usually settles down. I guess I am used to it now. I sometimes struggle to hear things in a very noisy environment, they did a hearing test and I might have lost about 10% of my hearing, but it could have been much worse. At first I really struggled to accept it and while I wouldn't say that I am happy about it now, you learn to tolerate it.
 
That's really interesting stuff @Beryl.

I've never sought help for mine or really done much googling - I know what happened (too many years of listening to and performing loud music - especially practice sessions of the latter in enclosed spaces) and can live with it. To be honest I only heard it again after it was brought up here, I'm that used to ignoring it.

Years of careful management has helped too. I won't go to any gigs without ear protection. Proper noise reducing earplugs can really take the sting out of the music without changing enjoyment.
 
Yes I really wish hearing protection was more widely acknowledged, you’re absolutely right, filtering earplugs really don’t alter the experience much at all
 
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Indie said:
. I won't go to any gigs without ear protection. Proper noise reducing earplugs can really take the sting out of the music without changing enjoyment.
Click to expand...

Oh really? I wondered about how much that would affect enjoying a show. I guess I imagined a more muffled, faint sound instinctively. Even if this clears I’m going to start wearing those to gigs as this has been a big jolt.
 
BoysForSeles said:
Oh really? I wondered about how much that would affect enjoying a show. I guess I imagined a more muffled, faint sound instinctively. Even if this clears I’m going to start wearing those to gigs as this has been a big jolt.
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Proper ones designed for music don't muffle the sound at all - they do cut out extraneous pitches and extreme noise but the music still sounds as good. Not everyone might agree, though, because it is still different!
 
I’ll have a look on amazon, via Moopy link of course, and see what the recommended brands are.
 
Custom moulds are the best possible things you can get but they’re pretty pricey.
You can pick up filtering earplugs for as little as a fiver. Alpine are a good brand for about £20.

download a decibel reader too if you don’t have one on your phone, anything over 85db will be damaging your hearing depending on length of exposure time

sound-meter.png

Don’t agree with everything in the above but it’s the only graphic I can find with dB levels and exposure times side by side
 
I find that my ears are more sensitive to weird noises like people clapping - that seems to hurt my ears now whereas it never bothered me before OMG
 
Whatevar said:
I find that my ears are more sensitive to weird noises like people clapping - that seems to hurt my ears now whereas it never bothered me before OMG
Click to expand...
Look up misophonia and hyperacusis, sound sensitivity is also very common
 
Indie said:
Alpine are the brand i have. MusicSafePro, or something.
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This probably sounds like a stupid question but do you wear yours with headphones on or just lower the volume? I’m not ready to start wearing headphones again yet.
 
In all seriousness, I am concerned about my ears as I listen to music very loudly in earphones for hours at a time, but nothing has cropped up yet. I really can't imagine how I could live with it for 50 years if it did arrive tomorrow.
 
I don’t remember a time before I had tinnitus, it must have started when I was 3 at most. I don’t mind it at all, I’ve never known anything different and when it’s loud I know why. Listening to music using earphones has never affected me one way or the other. If I’ve been to a gig it can be like a dial tone going off in my ears for the rest of the night, but it settles down again by morning.
 
BoysForSeles said:
This probably sounds like a stupid question but do you wear yours with headphones on or just lower the volume? I’m not ready to start wearing headphones again yet.
Click to expand...

I'll be honest, i'm no saint with my hearing - I still listen to music fairly loudly with headphones. But gigs are much louder than just listening to music personally, I find. (but that might be the type of gig i'm attending :) )
 
Did you just go with it @ButterTart or did you ever get it looked into at all? It’s easy to become obsessive with it especially in these working from home, isolating days.
 
Mine never went away after posting this thread but I have become pretty accustomed to it, can occasionally get on my nerves but nothing I can’t manage.
 
Jark said:
In all seriousness, I am concerned about my ears as I listen to music very loudly in earphones for hours at a time, but nothing has cropped up yet. I really can't imagine how I could live with it for 50 years if it did arrive tomorrow.
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it didn't arrive tomorrow. :disco:
 
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