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Tinnitus - advice sought

Thanks everyone for the reassurance and insight here.

I saw the specialist for an intro meeting today. Ears look clear, so having follow-up appointments and tests in the coming days. First clues sound like it might be something to live with and tune out. Trouble is, it becomes a thing when we look into it. The doctor said his tinnitus flared up today, just by talking to me about mine. Sorry if I have activated yours.

I didn't realise caffeine was a factor, that's useful to know. I did hear stress can be. That could be a factor with me. It's easy to suppress stress and think everything is fine – until you list everything going on life, and come to the realisation I need to take it a bit easier, and relax the mind a little.
 
The Flare Audio Calmer didn’t work for me but it comes with a money back guarantee so worth trying. My tinnitus is a geiger counter type noise, extremely annoying.

Yes... I have that clicking too, as well as the beep. So odd.
 
Trouble is, it becomes a thing when we look into it. The doctor said his tinnitus flared up today, just by talking to me about mine. Sorry if I have activated yours.

Indeed. Distraction seems to be the most useful treatment.
 
My tinnitus was severe from the get go. Self inflicted from years of playing bass in rock bands.
My doc advised mecto distract myself as much as possible and never be in a situation without background noise etc. This advice made things worse and I became quite distraught. I had practised mindfulness and decided that this was worth a try in my struggles with tinnitus.
So I spent 10-15 min 2-3 times a day in a quiet room focusing, with great attention to my tinnitus. Investigating it and welcoming it to my world. By becoming more acquainted with it and developing a better relationship with it, resulted in it becoming more diluted and therefore allowed for me to become more accepting of it.
The avoidance techniques did not work for me, indeed it made it worse if anything. It resulted in me wrestling with the condition, but the winner was always tinnitus. Nowadays my relationship with tinnitus is more of a dance than a wrestle.
 
Have it too, it came after some barotrauma while freediving. It is a high pitched beep. It sucks, especially as it happened in one 'go' as opposed to many years of abuse with loud music or machinery as how many get it. Makes it feel more like a stupid accident that could have been avoided. Didn't feel anything during the dive, just the next day. So no more freediving, only scuba now (less agressive descends and ascends).
On the upside, you get used to it and 'tune' it out. I'd say 95% of the time I'm not consciously aware of it.
 
Have had tinnitus since my early 30s - so nearly 40 years now ...
Picked up a viral infection swimming in a sewage polluted stretch of sea - apart from attacks of really heavy vertigo in the short term, it had a really devastating long term effect on my right ear resulting in partial frequency deafness and an unbearable constant noise.

Took years to finally get an NHS hearing aid to counter the frequency loss successfully but fortunately the noise became less and less over time. It's still there but (as many have said) the brain tends to 'tune it out' if you don't dwell on it. To be honest that is the easy part - being constantly irritated by it get's really tedious after a few years so I just gave up :D
 
I have it. But like many here am only now aware of it because you just reminded me!!! Thanks for that...:mad: ( I jest)

Mostly a high pitched whine/whistle in my left ear. First evidence of problems was when I went for a swim after work with a friend, around 1974. We were diving to the bottom of a 12 foot deep pool. On my way home from that I went into a pub for a pack of cigs and bought a half of beer. I was accused of being 'legless' and asked where I'd been drinking previously. Of course I hadn't. A few minutes later I was home and got the same treatment from Mrs Mull...also convinced I was pissed.
It turned out that I was very unsteady on my feet, and had smething wrong with the way my eyes looked.... which later transpired to be related to a disturbance to my ear caused by diving.
Add to that the fact that I worked as a cotton weaver in a 'weaving shed' with 1000 looms. I followed that with 4 years working as a furnace operator.. The roar of furnace burners is a known cause of industrial hearing damage.

A couple of years later I had an episode of Labirynthitis..a viral inner ear infection which can cause massive attacks of Vertigo. Definitely not fun as every time I rolled over in bed at night the world would start spinning violently.

I now frequently also get odd symptoms which feel a bit like the onset of Flu, but without the fever. I feel like shit and get shivery waves down my spine. All seems related to the same ear issue and is really only controlled by things like Stugeron ( horrible stuff) or benzodiazepines (far from horrible..but need caution and self discipline)

All of the above seem to have contributed to the Tinnitus. I also have the fun side effect that my left ear has very little tolerance for loud noise and just gives up at high (band in pub type) volumes when it starts to rattle and distort wildly. I'm also very sensitive to certain loud noises such as yappy dogs etc.. which can be painful.

Amazingly, through all of this.. I can still enjoy music on my system. In fact Tinnitus rarely intrudes on my listening.

Conclusion, and paraphrasing others. Try to accept it and ignore it. Find a method which works for you.
 
I'm 55 now and when I was 48 I had a bad case of the flu and I first remember having symptoms soon after. Most of the time I'm able to tune it out but after a workout at the gym or a bike ride where I push myself it gets more intense. A friend of mine told me to try taking Ginko + Manganese as it may help, I have been taking those supplements along with my regular vitamins for a few months now and sometimes I think it may help and other times I think it doesn't help at all.
 
My my ears are relatively young, at 41. I think my hearing is fine.
41 is not exactly young anymore . I presume most audiophiles will have some form of tinnitus at some point of their lives. It's just a matter of severity, some mild whilst some more severe.

On a quiet night, do you hear a slight constant high pitch ringing, whistling or buzzing sound from one or both ears? A faint sound or a moderate loud sound which will depend on the severity of the symptom. There's a constant high pitch sound in my ears but it's not very loud, bearable. I suppose the sound was there at an early stage, probably when I'm in my twenties. As we get older, the sound gradually gets louder. I started to notice this sound when I'm in my mid or late thirties.

I don't think there's any cure for tinnitus as mentioned in earlier tinnitus threads created last year. We can prevent it from getting worse by practicing good listening habits.
 
Thanks everyone for the reassurance and insight here.

I saw the specialist for an intro meeting today. Ears look clear, so having follow-up appointments and tests in the coming days. First clues sound like it might be something to live with and tune out. Trouble is, it becomes a thing when we look into it. The doctor said his tinnitus flared up today, just by talking to me about mine. Sorry if I have activated yours.

I didn't realise caffeine was a factor, that's useful to know. I did hear stress can be. That could be a factor with me. It's easy to suppress stress and think everything is fine – until you list everything going on life, and come to the realisation I need to take it a bit easier, and relax the mind a little.
Just saw this response before I made post above. Similarly I did all the tests at the ENT which are the standard thing they'll do.

Apart from caffeine, the reduction of stress at work and getting enough sleep may help alleviate the symptoms.
 
I did hear stress can be. That could be a factor with me. It's easy to suppress stress and think everything is fine – until you list everything going on life, and come to the realisation I need to take it a bit easier, and relax the mind a little.

I think we generally tend to underplay the physical effects of stress.
 
I’ve had it since I was six, possibly before that. Mostly I can just tune it out but it overlays everything. I can still hear it even when listening to loud, live music, or it’s there in the background in a quiet room. So I’m not sure there’s a dB level I can ascribe to it as it’s just ‘present’. I learned early on just to let go of it so it rarely bugs me. Happily it doesn’t seem to interfere with my enjoyment of music, or appreciation of hifi.
 
Would it also sound like a typewriter? If so, google "typewriter tinnitus". It may be treatable with carbamazepine.
I suppose it could be thought of that way, yes, but if so, bloody superb typist, must be averaging 300wpm!!! Will look into that suggestion, thanks.
 
I think I've mentioned this before, but there's very promising trials being conducted by several companies pertaining to hearing restoration. This is using novel therapies with stem cell like treatments. Frequency Therapeutics is one such company, though I haven't kept an eye on things of late. For many, tinnitus corresponds with damage to cilia, though for some it may be purely neurological or have a varied pathology.

Am a fellow sufferer and sympathise. Worth noting however, that the thrust of these threads is always initial devastation, coping, adjustment, and often times then forgetting for all intents and purposes.

I'm not trying to be glib, I always check in on these type threads here and on Hoffman and elsewhere and find the same calibre of responses. It's testament to the brains capacity to readjust. And here's hoping some scientific ingenuity might be added to the mix in the not too distant future.
 
Tinnitus here too. It's not always the same and sometimes I can tune it out. Generally, during music listening it doesn't bother me.
 
High pitched whine for me around top C.

Same in both ears. My mother's virtually deaf and elder brother has tinnitus and sometimes uses hearing aids in spite of never being exposed to loud music.

I guess it's genetic for some of us but less stress and avoiding high blood pressure helps.

If hasn't got much worse recently as i'm very careful to avoid loud noises and wear ear protection if in doubt.

It'll be interesting to see any benefit from doctors, we must get something to help eventually.

Went to a conference before lockdown and i was at the back; amazing how many had hearing aids, 50% +
 
Yes I suffer. Just ignore it. Divert your attention elsewhere, don't give it space, don't elevate it, don't worry about it.
I haven't noticed it all day, but now I've read this thread it's there, singing away. I will now ignore it, and it will be in the background again.
Your brain will learn to tune it out if you give it space.
That's the only advice I've been given by doctors - 'ignore it'. I have eventually got used to it (mostly)
 
41 is not exactly young anymore . I presume most audiophiles will have some form of tinnitus at some point of their lives. It's just a matter of severity, some mild whilst some more severe.

On a quiet night, do you hear a slight constant high pitch ringing, whistling or buzzing sound from one or both ears? A faint sound or a moderate loud sound which will depend on the severity of the symptom. There's a constant high pitch sound in my ears but it's not very loud, bearable. I suppose the sound was there at an early stage, probably when I'm in my twenties. As we get older, the sound gradually gets louder. I started to notice this sound when I'm in my mid or late thirties.

I don't think there's any cure for tinnitus as mentioned in earlier tinnitus threads created last year. We can prevent it from getting worse by practicing good listening habits.

Yes, I guess I'm not so young anymore!

I am getting it in both ears, but more on the right side I believe. It's a very high-pitched sound, like a beep but higher. The Geiger counter clicking is an occasional interference I get.
 


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