Tinnitus anyone ?

[ton]

and if you have, how do you cope with it.

because it is doing my feckin nut in.

[techno]

and if you have, how do you cope with it.

because it is doing my feckin nut in.

Extremely Quiet spoken programs playing from my phone, radio, headphones, podcasts etc. I also listen to classical music sometimes.
That has been my technique for tuning out the noise for the last 15 years now.

[lune ranger]

Hearing aid for me.
Most tinnitus is caused by hearing loss and your brain subsequently failing to develop new and appropriate neural pathways.
F you haven’t already had your hearing tested that would be a good place to start.

[Rapideye]

I've had it for a number of years but it took a while to recognise what it was. To begin with it was only at quieter times that I'd hear a low-level but high pitched noise. I used to think it was the tv. As time has worn on, I see now for what it is. Doesn't really bother me too much, day to day. Sometimes it gets annoying though. It hasn't really changed what I do. I still listen to a lot of music through earphones but I have started using ear protectors when completing various noisy DIY jobs that have adversely affected my hearing. I've put the start of it down to noisy gigs.

[barney]

Daft question Tony but is it definitely tinnitus? I went to the doctors with what I thought was tinnitus, turns out all I needed was my ears syringed. Had it done and it made a massive difference.

Just worth checking?

[Escape Goat]

I have it. Had it for years. Too many heavy metal bands playing St me and me playing in them.

I tune out. Takes a bit of time, but I can not pay attention to it and then I can relax. Once I hear it, I just try not to focus on it and stop listening to it, like when the Mrs asks for me to put a washing load on.

[lune ranger]

Daft question Tony but is it definitely tinnitus? I went to the doctors with what I thought was tinnitus, turns out all I needed was my ears syringed. Had it done and it made a massive difference.

Just worth checking?

Tinnitus just describes abnormal ear noise , usual ringing buzzing or clicking. Tinnitus has many causes a blocked ear being one example. It could be from trauma, mine was caused by a primary blast injury and penetrating damage to the vestibulocochlear nerve. Other causes are cancer, drug toxicity, and measles. The greatest cause is age related hearing loss.
A trip to the GP would be in order (if that’s still possible) as would a hearing test.
Some causes are treatable, sometimes it just goes away.
There is loads of information online that’ll point you in the direction of treatments, symptom controls and/or coping strategies.

[middleagedmadness]

Yep , mainly at sleepy time got mine from years of air tools before ear defenders were a thing to wear, tv on low or radio on when I’m going to sleep seems to block it out , day time isn’t bad as there’s always background noise, but your right it’s annoying even more than the wife’s snoring ( obviously I don’t snore)

[Boab]

I'm totally deaf in one ear and have had tinnitus my entire life. To the point where I didn't even know it was a thing, as I just thought everyone has weird noises in their ear. You get used to it, some days can be worse than others, sometimes it's just ten to fifteen minutes of howling before it settles down again. Sometimes I can make it go away and totally ignore it, sometimes, like reading this thread, all I can do is concentrate of the whining and go, yeah it's bad at the moment. My wife likes peace and quiet, I like background noise...

[pistonbroke]

My experience is that it sort of creeps up on you. Just lately it's become more intrusive, a sort of high pitched whistle. Thinking about it, it's probably why I've always been one for having the radio on 24/7 or some other background sound, much to MrsPB's annoyance. Googled possible causes and treatment, seems to be one of the hundreds of symptoms of long covid but took that with a big pinch of salt. Seems cleaning the ears with warm olive oil helps, now where can I get some of that? Tried it this morning and no change but I'll persevere and report back, only another 25 liters of extra virgin oil left in the cupboard.

[rudedog]

I suffer from ‘floaters’ in my eyes and for the most part I manage to tune them out. I guess it’s a similar thing with tinnitus.

I do also get a persistent (but quiet) background ringing in my ears from time to time - does tinnitus come and go or does it need to be constant to be diagnosed as tinnitus ?

[Bumpy Jonas]

Had it for 30 years but in the last 10 weeks its got really bad. It never bothered me much before that. My mate who is an Orthodontist recons it increased because I took a screamer on the bike and damaged my leg but the main cause for the increase she thinks is a whiplash and me being out of sorts because of injury. I thought it was the covid jab

When it was originally diagnosed I waited 9 months to see a consultant who told me I had tinnitus and I had to live with it. It gets worse when I read threads like this or talk about it.

Cheers Peter

[Bumpy Jonas]

does tinnitus come and go or does it need to be constant to be diagnosed as tinnitus ?

Hi from what I know (but not confirmed) if it comes and goes its not Tinnitus. It may vary in frequency but is ever present.

Cheers Peter

[TheBrownDog]

Ive had a hissing noise between my ears, just a little on the left actually, since a camping trip in 2010. Ive seen half a dozen different medicos and there's no cure far as I can find. Tried hearing aids. Tried ear cleansing. Tried weird diets. I dont really notice it during the day but soon as its bedtime it really does keep me awake. I find some white noise, like a fan in summer or even a radio tuned into some static actually blocks the noise in my head. IF its the worst thing that happens to me, I will die a happy man.

[lune ranger]

does tinnitus come and go or does it need to be constant to be diagnosed as tinnitus ?

Hi from what I know (but not confirmed) if it comes and goes its not Tinnitus. It may vary in frequency but is ever present.

Cheers Peter

Tinnitus only refers to abnormal ear noise.
It isn’t a thing in itself.
It can come and go.
It can be permanent.
The noise can vary widely but buzzing, ringing and humming are commonly used descriptions. Clicking or crunching are also described in the literature

[TheBrownDog]

I can't find it now, but I hit up a website a few years ago which had dozens of examples of what people's tinnitus sounds like. When I found one like my own, it was remarkably comforting ... others like me. And I could show my kids what it was like to have this thing in my head all the time. They are both deeply emotionally intelligent, but even they had never really respected how challenging the condition is till I played it loud for 60 seconds. Mine ain't that bad compared with what others have to deal with.

[fatbikephil]

https://www.tinnitus.org.uk/
Very useful info.
Defo go and see the GP who should refer you to the ENT clinic, take it from there. Mine were extremely helpful. Had it for years thanks to riding motorbikes without earplugs but at a fairly low level so not really a problem. Then one night in December '18 I woke up and it was like I'd been to a loud gig the night before - continuous high pitched and loud ringing noise. No variation and no let up, no known cause, hence me going to the GP....

Now got a pair of noise generating hearing aids (off the NHS as mine was pronounced both chronic and acute) but there are various tinnitus apps available. Avoid the ones that claim to tune the tinnitus out, they don't work (and cost money) just get a free one (Starkey Relax was what I used before I got the noise generators). I would set it running beside my bed with either white noise or (obviously) rain noise and it helped me sleep no end.

If you are into reading stuff about it "I cured my Tinnitus" by Peter Studenik is worth a look.

[ton]

thanks for the replies.

mine is a high pitched constant buzzing. wont stop at all, but is far worse on a evening when trying to relax.
when i go to bed i have been using some relaxation music through on ear headphones to try and dull it out. i play the music low volume, it seems to work a bit.

i spent 10 years working as a shotblaster in the late 80's early 90's. we used those silly little yellow earplugs under our breathing helmets. inside 100 tonne railway tankers, the sound of 2 men shot blasting and the air flow in the helmet made quite a noise.
to be honest i am glad i am not stone deaf. or just lucky.

[rudedog]

The day after my first AZ vaccine I developed fairly constant tinnitus (this was 8 weeks ago) and Ive had it every day since :(

I usually listen to podcasts at night so it hasn't affected my sleep thankfully

[Pirahna]

I've had it for years, most of the time I'm able to ignore it. I now have hearing aids for both ears, it helps the tinnitus during the day but also they come with their own set of challenges.

[Scud]

Thankfully not a sufferer myself, although having started life lobbing artillery at people we didn't like, a number of friends do, my grandad had it from years working on road gangs and i read the medical reports all day long from people involved in road traffic accidents now.

You can actually seek to get "tinnitus retraining", where with assistance, the brain can be re-educated to seek to "block" or ignore the sound. It may also be worth looking at headphones that produce white noise as they can assist, especially as yours does seem at a level where a Doctor should refer you to an ENT expert

[BigdummySteve]

and if you have, how do you cope with it.

because it is doing my feckin nut in.

My initial reaction was PARDON? but i realised this would be both insensitive and immature so i resisted, only just though

[pistonbroke]

Update on my attempts to deal with it.
Cleaning ears with warm olive oil didn't make any difference. Phoned the doctor who booked me into the practice nurse for a proper syringing. Very disappointed that she didn't find any lost Japanese soldiers down there, in fact they were reasonably clean. No change in the situation apart from learning the Spanish word for whistling. Then got a referral to the hospital for a hearing test. Had a surreal half hour sitting in a booth with headphones on whilst different frequencies were played, I had to indicate what I could hear and not, all whilst the whistling was drowning out the sound. The nurse would also look up expectantly every time the sound was played so it turned into a pavlovian pantomine of me straining to hear above the background noise and indicating when I heard anything different. The follow up meeting with the consultant showed I had significant hearing loss at certain frequencies and she explained that the tinnitus was the brain filling in the gap with noise. She said it was age related and couldn't be reversed only stabilised, she prescribed a food supplement called Acuok which is made up of magnesium, ginger, ginko and melatonin. I take 1 each night for 2 months and then have 2 months off. At €20 for 30 tablets, I hope it's not snake oil.
Some days the whistling is really intrusive, it's rather getting me down.

[UnderTheRadars]

Had it for years, noticeably got worse after covid jabs (reported via the yellow card thingy) and sad to say @Ton that booze makes it temporarily worse too

[fatbikephil]

Update on my attempts to deal with it.
Cleaning ears with warm olive oil didn't make any difference. Phoned the doctor who booked me into the practice nurse for a proper syringing. Very disappointed that she didn't find any lost Japanese soldiers down there, in fact they were reasonably clean. No change in the situation apart from learning the Spanish word for whistling. Then got a referral to the hospital for a hearing test. Had a surreal half hour sitting in a booth with headphones on whilst different frequencies were played, I had to indicate what I could hear and not, all whilst the whistling was drowning out the sound. The nurse would also look up expectantly every time the sound was played so it turned into a pavlovian pantomine of me straining to hear above the background noise and indicating when I heard anything different. The follow up meeting with the consultant showed I had significant hearing loss at certain frequencies and she explained that the tinnitus was the brain filling in the gap with noise. She said it was age related and couldn't be reversed only stabilised, she prescribed a food supplement called Acuok which is made up of magnesium, ginger, ginko and melatonin. I take 1 each night for 2 months and then have 2 months off. At €20 for 30 tablets, I hope it's not snake oil.
Some days the whistling is really intrusive, it's rather getting me down.

Pretty much what happened to me although they didn't syringe as they had already scoped out my ears were clean. The NHS wouldn't spring for a food supplement but I did get the hearing aid / noise generators. 19 months on the tinitus has receded somewhat but its beyond the brain retraining stage unfortunately.

sad to say @Ton that booze makes it temporarily worse too

But when I'm drunk I sleep better..... fortunately haven't gone too far down that spiral staircase.