One random night, I lay on my bed in my silent bedroom, and I felt that the silence is uncomfortable. Why, I asked myself, that the silence felt sharp, like I prefer the noise of my annoyingly loud dehumidifier, or the muffled sound of traffic in my old apartment?
I realized that the silence was ringing, in a high pitched noise that we all associate with being hit near the ears. My inner voice told myself: “man, you have tinnitus.”
Thinking back, that wasn’t the first time I thought that I have tinnitus, but I was probably in denial for years, or it just got louder. The sad part is that I’m only 26, and somehow, I feared getting tinnitus ever since my childhood.
Even worse, I just ordered a pair of headphones with ANC, and when I don’t play anything through it, the ringing gets very clear.
Was depressed for a few days, thinking that it’s not fair that I got it even though I don’t expose myself to loud noises often, I listen to music at a couple levels lower than my preference, and I don’t turn up my music to drown out noises.
But nothing in life is fair, and to compared to the suffering of others, this is only a mild discomfort. So I’ll try to keep positive about it, and be grateful that I still enjoy a comparatively luxurious life.
I’ll visit a doctor soon though!
Any of you have a similar experience? I’ll be happy to read your stories!
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Few times I’ve had this and the doctor just cleaned my ear and it was gone. In ear headphones can cause that by pushing earwax back. I stopped using in ear headphones and haven’t had that happen in years. Just giving you a reason to stay positive, tinnitus can cause by some easily fixed things.
Not gonna hold my breath, but I’ll definitely visit a doctor, hopefully it’s not permanent.
I have had tinnitus all my life, and honestly did not know the ringing wasnt a normal thing until I watched an episode of Archer. Becoming truly aware of it was a terrible day for me.
Generally, it isn’t something that is treatable, but in my opinion it is better to have it at an earlier age, when your brain is more adaptable, as it makes it easier to adapt to the constant ringing, and learn ways to tune it out.
If you need to, get some sort of white noise/nature sound generator and keep it playing during the quiet times, and focus on those noises. I find that tinnitus is worst when you are focusing on it, and the more you think about it, the more you notice it.
One thing I have found to NEVER work is mentally playing with the volume/pitch - those sliders only go up, and stay up until I have focused on something else for awhile.
Yes, the awareness is the terrible part, it’s like noticing a smudge on an otherwise perfectly clean surface - not gonna kill you but you’ll keep looking at it 😂
And to be overly positive; at least now I will take an extra good care of my ears - limiting loud noise and all, and maybe I’ll avoid hearing loss in my old age.
Drag can make it go down.
Yes. Fighting it all my life. I first noticed when I went to the desert and it was so silent all I could hear was this high pitched squeal like a old CRT tv.
I’ve been to doctors, sometimes they’ll give you basically ear viagra, to increase blood flow. That can help.
Changing my diet significantly helped, improving blood flow to all of my extremities including my ears significantly reduced my tinnitus symptoms. If you have high blood pressure, or any other metabolic syndrome factors, improving that may also improve your tinnitus
Ear Viagra! I’ll never forget your description.
I think I have normal BP so far, and historically rather low, but I think I’ve been eating too much salt lately I’ll have to cut back on highly processed food (but their shelf life is just so conveniently long!) I’ll look out on my BP!
Salt has gotten unfairly blamed for the damage sugar has done, i wouldn’t recommend reducing your salt.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/salt-guide#controversy
On the whole, regardless of which diet you subscribe too, eating whole foods, not processed, where the ingredients is just the name of the thing - is a great way to clean up your diet.
Hey, thanks it was a good read. I’ve known that it’s largely inconclusive and the conflicting recommendation is confusing.
Nevertheless, as you said, getting whole food is the best, and if I want it salty, I’ll add the salt and msg myself 😂
My tinnitus sounds like the insects I could hear at night when I was younger in the tropics.
I don’t live there anymore and the tinnitus feels comforting because of it. It doesn’t distress me at all.
That is oddly beautiful. I can see the resemblance with cicada or cricket sounds. I used to live in the tropics as well. When I’m bummed about it I’ll think of your comment.
Ive had it since I was pretty young. I can’t hear it unless I try- for example, your post made me become conscious of it, and there it is. It comes and goes, I notice. It doesn’t bother me at all, essentially
Same, i was totally unaware of it today, I read this post, and now its loud and clear. hahaha
now i fuckin hear it again (hadn’t all day then read this reply before bed) now eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I’ve had tinnitus since I was a child. Like others in this thread I learned to live with it, and I don’t need white noise to tune it out. You might end up being able to do the same. Like the others it seems to get louder if my blood pressure goes up.
That’s pretty cool that you can tune it out. I hope I’ll be able to do it as well!
I promise you will in time! It caused me a lot of distress but now I barely notice.
taking any blood thinners? they can cause/worsen the condition as long as you’re taking them.
I’ve grown used to it. I had it since I was a child, and it became a lot worse after an accident in my 20s. I’ve seen medic but they couldn’t really help. I think it became quieter since then, but I can still hear it well. I’m in my 40s now and I couldn’t care less.
I hope it will be the same for you.
that’s very kind of you.
I’ll try my best not to be fixated on it.
Is it still going? Afaik tinnitus is getting that ringing in your ears, but forever.
Plenty of times I just randomly hear a ringing in my ears; but it generally only lasts for a moment. IIRC that is usually just caused by a muscle spasm in or around the ear.
It’s still going. Yes it could be permanent, but it seems that people can just adapt to it especially when not thinking about it. I used to have momentary ringing as a kid, but now it’s there all the time.
Take care of your ears! And teeth, eyes, and joints, and uh… health.
This was 10 or so years ago but I had it for about 3 weeks in my left ear IIRC. When it started I thought it is just some temporary ear ringing and would go away after a few seconds. It didn’t. During the day it wasn’t so bad, when you have some other noise coming through the headphones it is distracting enough that you kinda forget about it, but when it is time for bed it turns to absolute hell. I already have various sleep issues and having a constant loud tone blasting inside of your ear is absolutely maddening when you try to fall asleep. At some point I was just sobbing until I would fall asleep from exhaustion. Luckily I think after a week or so it started to slowly and gradually fade out. I did not notice it until a few days later when the change became more obvious though. By week 3 I did not hear it anymore. Not sure what the cause was, but I’d be very glad if it never happens again. If it was permanent I’d honestly just kill myself.
Sadly, tinnitus is actually a very common reason for suicide - especially in older men that worked in trades with heavy machinery.
I have been living with tinnitus non-stop for the past few years. I can understand how some might find it unlivable.
