Tinnitus

One-Off

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Jul 28, 2005
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Who here has had tinnitus? My wife is driving me crazy, because the tinnitus is driving her crazy. She tried to get an appointment with her primary care physician and it was over one month out. So she went to urgent care where she was visited by a physicians assistant (hence the thread I started about physicians assistants and nurse practitioners that got no replies). The urgent care was of no help except to say there was no infection and if it continued to see an ear specialist. So she called back her PCP. She cannot see a specialist until the PCP sees her…in a month. So she pressed them and got an appointment with a different MD…in ten days. In the meantime she was thinking of cutting back her blood pressure meds because she read that it can cause tinnitus. Sounds risky. But she’s going crazy.

Anybody had any success treated it?
 

Sharky

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Feb 25, 2006
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I've had it for close to 20 years. Nothing helps. It kind of ebbs and flows but never really goes away. But I abused myself fairly thoroughly. Blew my eardrum via inside pressure from spinal fluid leaking out courtesy of a skull fracture. Surfers ear surgeries. Then close to 20 years of milling surfboards with no ear protection. Loud music. Mostly I only notice it if I get away from town and it's actually quiet. White noise. Music on low. TV on low. Mask it.
 
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One-Off

Duke status
Jul 28, 2005
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I've had it for close to 20 years. Nothing helps. It kind of ebbs and flows but never really goes away. But I abused myself fairly thoroughly. Blew my eardrum via inside pressure from spinal fluid leaking out courtesy of a skull fracture. Surfers ear surgeries. Then close to 20 years of milling surfboards with no ear protection. Loud music. Mostly I only notice it if I get away from town and it's actually quiet. White noise. Music on low. TV on low. Mask it.
That's kind of what I've read. We all have a little, right? The roaring silence. Whatever my wife is hearing is really bugging her though. Do you sleep with background noise?
 

Sharky

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Feb 25, 2006
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That's kind of what I've read. We all have a little, right? The roaring silence. Whatever my wife is hearing is really bugging her though. Do you sleep with background noise?
Yes. There are various noise generators on YouTube. Some of them with a black screen. Others that gradually fade to black as you hopefully fall sleep. Most of my life I lived within ear shot of the surf. You can find videos for that. Rain. Whatever you can imagine. It's out there.

The more you think about it, the worse it gets. You got to let it go. Move on. Fohget about it...
 

Woke AF

Tom Curren status
Jul 29, 2009
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Got it from a very high fever in South Africa in '83.

At one point, it seemed so loud it was making me crazy. Learned to ignore it, not fight it and it doesn't bother me at all. I use brown/white noise to mask fireworks for my dog and find that far more annoying.

I have seen many ENT's, specialist ear surgeons, The House Institute specialists for other ear issues and there are no cures.
 
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Autoprax

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Got it from a very high fever in South Africa in '83.

At one point, it seemed so loud it was making me crazy. Learned to ignore it, not fight it and it doesn't bother me at all. I use brown/white noise to mask fireworks for my dog and find that far more annoying.

I have seen many ENT's, specialist ear surgeons, The House Institute specialists for other ear issues and there are no cures.
Is it a high eeeeee sound or a hiss?

Mine is a hiss

Like after a loud conference
 

Woke AF

Tom Curren status
Jul 29, 2009
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Is it a high eeeeee sound or a hiss?

Mine is a hiss

Like after a loud conference
Mine is a hissy running toilet. Used to be in my right ear now it seems centralized. I prefer the balanced location.

SOMEBODY JIGGLE THAT TOILET LEVER!!!!!!

A priest once told me that I am hearing the sound of the universe.
cool, so helpful that, but just as helpful as what any doctors advice.
 

Autoprax

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Mine is a hissy running toilet. Used to be in my right ear now it seems centralized. I prefer the balanced location.

SOMEBODY JIGGLE THAT TOILET LEVER!!!!!!

A priest once told me that I am hearing the sound of the universe.
cool, so helpful that, but just as helpful as what any doctors advice.
Paul Simon said that note is B-flat.

I wouldn't if you listen to a B, if the sound would try to harmonize with it.

Like when girls get the same period

Mine is his but it doesn't seem tonal
 

estreet

Phil Edwards status
Feb 19, 2021
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I've had it for about 20 years. It bugged me a lot at first but I eventually got habituated to it. No cure, but I find that it can be reduced with diet to be almost gone, or completely gone with a very strict diet. I guess it's not bad enough to completely give up caffeine, sugar, and alcohol.

I have a friend who went on statins for high blood pressure recently and he got tinnitus bad, drove him crazy.
 

ElOgro

Duke status
Dec 3, 2010
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Both ears. Long time. Excessive noise. Both eardrums violated. Explosives, 4” concrete vibrator, 2 stroke motors. Background hum, always there. Mixed with ocean sound, also always there.
 

Mike_Jones

Tom Curren status
Mar 5, 2009
11,753
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Who here has had tinnitus? My wife is driving me crazy, because the tinnitus is driving her crazy. She tried to get an appointment with her primary care physician and it was over one month out. So she went to urgent care where she was visited by a physicians assistant (hence the thread I started about physicians assistants and nurse practitioners that got no replies). The urgent care was of no help except to say there was no infection and if it continued to see an ear specialist. So she called back her PCP. She cannot see a specialist until the PCP sees her…in a month. So she pressed them and got an appointment with a different MD…in ten days. In the meantime she was thinking of cutting back her blood pressure meds because she read that it can cause tinnitus. Sounds risky. But she’s going crazy.

Anybody had any success treated it?

We've been going through this too.

Your wife needs to be tested by an audiologist and an ENT. I suspect that she has hearing loss, and needs hearing aids .....Jabra, Philips or Rexton. Hearing aids reduce tinnitus. It would not surprise me to find out that her balance is suffering too.

My theory is that our brains inject biasing frequencies into hearing nerves to make them start moving .....alternating currents. That's how tape recorders work. Our brains place arbitrary hearing perception thresholds just above the biasing volume. When our attempts to hear sounds are forced down into the biasing current then the biasing frequency fills our hearing. Hearing aids help because they coerce our brains to raise our perception threshold to a level well above the biasing current.
 

Autoprax

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I'm surprised how many old people can't hear for sh!t.

It's just another system in the body breaking down over time.
 

npsp

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Dec 30, 2003
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Both ears 24/7 since my late teens early 20s. Surfing, M80s, concerts, walkman cranking heavy metal and punk while skating to class, working in a furniture factory running planers and belt sanders for hours on end.... Finally wised up and invested in ear muffs but it was too late, train had left the station. Louder in the left ear but I'm used to it now. Not sure anything can be done to correct it at this stage....
Foo Fighters show last night had both ears ringing pretty good this morning but the show was more than worth it.
 
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