# Ringing in the ears (aka Tinnitus)



## oooh_the_brutality (May 24, 2008)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

It's basically a constant ringing/hissing noise in one or both ears, and it can be very distracting and cause distress. It's not a disease, but a symptom. The common cause of it is usually prolonged exposure to loud noise and music, but sometimes can be caused by anxiety or certain medications. Some people get it at some point in their lives, others are born with it. Even celebrities like William Shatner and Pete Townshend have it.

I recently developed Tinnitus in both ears, due to me being stupid and listening to songs at high volumes with my CD/MP3 player and on my laptop. Luckily, though, I didn't suffer any hearing loss, and have since then lowered the volume of my music. So, not only do I have to deal with social anxiety, but now I have to worry about avoiding loud places and start carrying ear plugs. Also, this ringing noise is making it difficult to sleep at night, getting only about 3-4 hours of sleep and waking up about 2 or more times!

I keep telling myself it could be worse, and try to keep a positive attitude. I think I will see my doctor sometime to refer me to an ENT to diagnose me.

Since anxiety and medications are a few of the causes of Tinnitus, I wanted to know if anyone here is going through the same thing.


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## mike8803 (Feb 21, 2010)

I think i have this, I have hissin my ears, I thought it was from smoking pot.


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## UltraShy (Nov 8, 2003)

I don't have tinnitus, though I have what I strongly believe to be patulous eustacian tube.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patulous_eustachian_tube

It started one morning when I woke up in early August 2007. My left ear felt full & plugged. A sensation similar to getting your ear filled with water from swimming or like wearing an ear plug. I assumed it to be an ear infection, though my GP ruled that out and diagnosed it as inflammation caused by allergies. His treatment: take decongestants & antihistamines. After months of doing so daily and finding zero improvement, I was pretty sure my GP was wrong as per usual.

Online research led me to patulous eustacian tube, where a common cause is significant weight loss. As so happens, the problem started when I was down to 172, a full 100# drop from 19 months prior and the lowest weight I've been at since age 14. The cure for this: gain weight. I didn't try to gain weight, but the problem is almost entirely gone now that I weigh 210.

I read the easy way to tell the difference between this and a eustacian tube inflamed by allergies is that this will go away as soon as you put your head down, which I found works. Unfortunately, it's rather hard to function with your head between your knees or laying on your side or back all day. My left ear would get plugged up if I dared to try wild things like standing or sitting upright!:mum

It produces an any annoying sensation of fullness in the ear in addition to some degree of hearing loss, since you can't hear well if your ear if plugged.

The only thing I could do while upright without my plugged ear driving me ****ing nuts was shooting. One doesn't notice an ear is naturally plugged up when they're wearing ear plugs in addition to heavy-duty muffs over them to fire a gun.

And the reason I double up on hearing protection when shooting is because I'm well aware that tinnitus is generally caused by exposure to loud noise, typically involves hearing loss as well, and has no real cure so I go for maximum hearing protection.


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## oooh_the_brutality (May 24, 2008)

UltraShy said:


> I don't have tinnitus, though I have what I strongly believe to be patulous eustacian tube.
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patulous_eustachian_tube
> 
> ...


That sounds like an awful condition. I've had instances where my ears feel plugged.

As far as noise levels and tinnitus are concerned, I think the iPod generation are going to be suffering the same thing I'm going through, and it's unfortunate that there isn't much being done to spread the word about preventing these things.

By the way, Man On The Edge is a cool song. \m/


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

i have had this since i was a kid, i would wake up in the middle of the night wandering what that ringing sound was

When i am really stressed out, my left ear blocks up completely and i cannot hear through it, i have had to have it drained a couple of times

i also get the ringing worse in the middle of the night
i do not know the cause though i guess i am used to it:afr


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## DeeperUnderstanding (May 19, 2007)

I've had tinnitus since I was 17, so about 10 years. Occasionally, I'll get a really irritating buzzing in the ears, but luckily I haven't had any hearing loss.


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## Arisa1536 (Dec 8, 2009)

i really hate it, especially when you are watching tv then all of sudden the ringing sensation appears and it can hurt sometimes.
Its a common occurrence for me (the tingling, ringing, blocked ear stuff) when i am more stressed or cannot sleep, or i am watching something like a thriller or scary film
i can often hear my heart beat if i rest on my right ear at night, so i try to sleep straight cuz my ears do not like the pillow lol


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## WineKitty (Nov 26, 2004)

Had it for years now, its maddening.


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## haikupoet (Feb 9, 2010)

Arisa1536 said:


> i really hate it, especially when you are watching tv then all of sudden the ringing sensation appears and it can hurt sometimes.
> Its a common occurrence for me (the tingling, ringing, blocked ear stuff) when i am more stressed or cannot sleep, or i am watching something like a thriller or scary film
> i can often hear my heart beat if i rest on my right ear at night, so i try to sleep straight cuz my ears do not like the pillow lol


You may want to see a cardiologist. I take atenolol to keep my heart rate normal and stave off palpitations. The atenolol keeps the adrenaline from the heart.


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## David78 (Mar 22, 2010)

Same thing happened to me about five years ago. I had low tinnitus and some mild hearing loss. Tinnitus lasted for about three years then simply vanished from my consciousness. Its still there but it doesn't seem to bother me anymore. I also have a good deal of floaters in my right eye which really bothered me for a while but those too were zoned out of my mind, and i can only see them if i want to. I suppose the psychological mechanism is the same. Depending on how loud your tinnitus is you might get a similar effect once your brain no longer sees the noise as a threat. For the past five years i've been carrying a pair of earplugs in my pocket since i never know when i may need them. It has made my social anxiety much worst but i never had much of a social life anyway so at the end it didn't change things a whole lot. As far as earplugs are concerned, i recommend the following: http://www.amazon.com/Etymotic-Rese...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1269629845&sr=8-11 Unlike most earplugs, this ones are designed to keep frequencies balanced so you don't get any sound distortion, which can be bothersome.


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## RobertWiggins (Mar 27, 2010)

I think I have tinnitus in my left ear.

I just can't stand it when it hurts... This is rarely and passes very fast though.


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## lde22 (Oct 19, 2009)

I might have Tinnitus. Once in a while one or both of my ears will start ringing and I don't know why. It usually lasts for about a half hour or so and then passes. 

I do have whats called eustachian tube disorder or dysfunction. It constantly feels like my ears are plugged. When I was young I had tubes put in my ears to solve this problem and they said I would eventually grow out of it but I guess I never did. Now they prescribe me some type of nasal spray for hay fever but that doesn't work that well.


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## Leon Blurry (Aug 10, 2013)

I'm very sorry to hear that you have to deal with both, social anxiety and tinnitus. Whatever be the circumstances, always remember not to lose hope. There is a solution to every problem.

For your tinnitus, may be this link would help - Sportear.com protection ear

Social anxiety is not a big gun. It is a *self shame*. Take some time and figure out what are the things about you are ashamed of. If you start valuing yourself then that "self shame" won't be there.

I hope my answer would help you in some way.
Take care my friend.


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## Ramondo (Feb 16, 2011)

Leon Blurry said:


> Whatever be the circumstances, always remember not to lose hope. There is a solution to every problem.


Unless you're referring to death, I'd have to query your last sentence. It's certainly true, though, that there is someone willing to sell you a solution to every problem.


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## louiselouisa (Jul 12, 2012)

yep, only on my worse ear though since it's unused. there's a therapy for this but it won't go away completely. my hearing aid has this feature so it will play classical music when I set the mode on, but apparently, according to my audiologist. it's only to distract you from the annoying sound tinnitus makes so instead of that ugly 'bzzz bzzzz' you get some music to let you fall asleep/focus on what you're doing. it could be because you're stressed out or you're really really tired and yeah, it could be because your hearing is damaged but that's not always the case. so yeah go to your ENT and your pdoc to sort this out.

as for myself, it was not to the point it started ruining my activity so I didn't take the therapy. but I've asked about this before because I was curious, and he told me what I've said.


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## slider (Feb 9, 2013)

i play a loop of water flowing or some miku hatsune and i feel a lot better.

what helps with tinnitus:
low salt diet
cardio cardio odd right?
low stress
white sound to mask it


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## tarkz (Sep 18, 2009)

RobertWiggins said:


> I think I have tinnitus in my left ear.
> 
> I just can't stand it when it hurts... This is rarely and passes very fast though.


Trust me, you'd know if you had it. :cry

I have a constant loud high pitched squealing in both ears after taking a medication that was toxic to my ears. Hear it over everything.


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