Tinnitus for a week (so far)

TX85 said:

I talk a lot, so thanks in advance for anyone who reads the whole thing.

Hi all, been a few months since I've posted here (and no offense to you lovely people, but I wish it could have been longer -- you know?).

I have been working with a therapist for my health anxiety and have made substantial progress. But unfortunately, things can still get the better of me and I find myself suffering again. This is one of those times.

It's now the wee hours of Saturday morning. Exactly one week ago, at 5 AM, I was minding my own business and suddenly had a weird awful feeling in my left ear. That kind of vacuum feeling where the sound goes out and is then replaced by tinnitus which lasts 30-60 seconds. I imagine a lot of us have experienced that at some point or another (for reference, it's apparently called an SBUTT!). It's uncomfortable and perhaps even a bit terrifying, but at least it goes away. Only this time, it didn't. Something changed.

For the past week, my left ear has had pretty near-constant tinnitus of the high-pitched tone variety. It's maddening. My sleep schedule has been utterly destroyed, I'm a nervous wreck... I even snapped at a coworker! It was so unprofessional and I was utterly embarrassed. But that's how debilitating even just one week of this has turned out to be. I've never had it just... not go away.

I'm able to mitigate the effects with distractions and certain kinds of pink or rain noise. My ear does feel funny/full inside, so I've tried CAREFULLY poking around with some metal ear-cleaning tools I have, but I didn't find anything. I've also tried Debrox twice now, but I think my ear canal is clean as a whistle. And as far as I can tell, I can hear just fine. Honestly I wish it were just some kind of nasty wax buildup because at least you can fix that with some irrigation and stuff, and get instant relief...

I'm currently left with some pretty grim thoughts, because hey, I have health anxiety and that's what we do, right? I am, as always, worried there's a tumor, perhaps of the type caused by too much mobile phone use... or, for the less extreme potential cause, perhaps it's good old-fashioned hearing damage from a loud concert I went to as a kid or something (I really didn't do this very often, and started using earplugs after my first one or so!). I've had little bouts of tinnitus in the past and I usually will have it if I'm in a completely silent room, but it's never been like this. I also suffer from vertigo, though not too terribly often, and I'm usually able to fix that with the half-somersault technique. I keep trying to tell myself this is just because of all the rainy weather in Texas over the past week or so, but I've lived here all my life (I'm 36) and haven't ever gone through something like this.

I'm seeing my doctor on Monday. I'll update based on what we do (or do not) ascertain. But in the meantime... does anyone else have any experience with tinnitus, especially any similar to what I'm experiencing? Any words of wisdom or comfort? I could really use either...

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TX85 said:

Hi @Fraser, thank you for your wisdom.. also, sorry you've had tinnitus for years. I have had it too, but it's been so minor that I've been able to habituate to it. What happened last week was new and horrible.

It started to subside after I began practicing the Valsalva Maneuver. I got so frustrated with the whole situation and feeling helpless that I decided to give something a try. It didn't fix it 100% but it did help me mostly get back down to my normal (which isn't a full normal silence).

I should also note, for anyone reading this for potential answers, that I went to my doctor and he found some horrible hardened wax in my left ear (which had tinnitus worse than the right). It was a wonder I could hear anything at all. We had to remove it manually and, um, well it hurt and there was blood. Eek. He also said my eustachian tubes were indeed completely full of liquid, so we need to try to get that handled. I'm going to be giving a couple of nasal sprays a shot to see if they get the job done. I'm just so acclimated to the way I hear now, so it's hard to imagine it could be different/better if I can get the fluid out. Finally, he also confirmed that the Valsalva Maneuver is great to help with this, but to be careful so you don't blow out your ear drums.

As for why it flared up for a week... anyone's guess, but it was probably the weather.

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