Tinnitus who suffers from it

Soldato
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As a 9 year sufferer of tinnitus I can say with confidence that tinnitus is without a doubt potentially caused by many different things but there are certainly several common issues that exacerbate tinnitus, such as stress, dietary problems, lack of sleep, muscle tension in the neck, jaw and face, vitamin and mineral deficiency and other types of toxicity in the body. I check my hearing regularly through online hearing test, so far i don't need any hearing aids

You missed the number one issue!!

Marriage!
 
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Associate
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Amount of times I’ve read articles about breakthroughs over the years..

Iva had chronic tinnitus for about 17 years now, completely ruined my life for the first two years and eventually had to change career paths (worked as a producer/audio engineer before I got it). It’s comfortably the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

Being honest I still struggle with it daily, not experiencing silence for 17 years takes its tole mentally.
 
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Soldato
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I have a type of Tinnitus called MES or musical ear syndrome, (Google it)with this type your brain plays music faintly in your ear, with me it's always in one ear or the other and swaps over without me noticing now. I've had MRI scans but nothing came up that that was worrying. I have had to learn to live with it and indeed I have. I do wear hearing aids in both ears. Anyone else here have this type of Tinnitus?
Our local hospital Audiology department clearly need retraining as most of them have not even heard of it and one, clearly near to retirement, even laughed when I mentioned it :eek: presumably thinking I was having a laugh. I was even sent to have Tinnitus counseling by a woman who had no knowledge of MES :rolleyes:
 
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I have a type of Tinnitus called MES or musical ear syndrome, (Google it)with this type your brain plays music faintly in your ear, with me it's always in one ear or the other and swaps over without me noticing now. I've had MRI scans but nothing came up that that was worrying. I have had to learn to live with it and indeed I have. I do wear hearing aids in both ears. Anyone else here have this type of Tinnitus?
Our local hospital Audiology department clearly need retraining as most of them have not even heard of it and one, clearly near to retirement, even laughed when I mentioned it :eek: presumably thinking I was having a laugh. I was even sent to have Tinnitus counseling by a woman who had no knowledge of MES :rolleyes:

What kind of music do you hear ? Any bangers ?
 
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Soldato
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6,315
I have a type of Tinnitus called MES or musical ear syndrome, (Google it)with this type your brain plays music faintly in your ear, with me it's always in one ear or the other and swaps over without me noticing now. I've had MRI scans but nothing came up that that was worrying. I have had to learn to live with it and indeed I have. I do wear hearing aids in both ears. Anyone else here have this type of Tinnitus?
Our local hospital Audiology department clearly need retraining as most of them have not even heard of it and one, clearly near to retirement, even laughed when I mentioned it :eek: presumably thinking I was having a laugh. I was even sent to have Tinnitus counseling by a woman who had no knowledge of MES :rolleyes:
I've heard of this type of tinnitus before, but thankfully never experienced it.

What-does-tinnitus-sound-like-hh19.png

Source: https://www.healthyhearing.com/help/tinnitus/symptoms

My own tinnitus sounds mostly like maybe what some old fluorescent lights used to sound like. Sometimes I hear the running engine sound too, where I would swear there was a car outside the house with it's engine on - almost a subwoofer type of sound.
 
Soldato
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What kind of music do you hear ? Any bangers ?
Music from when I was younger mostly, I am retired so it's mostly music from the 1960/70's, also sometimes a tune on a TV advert will start going in my head for hours which is then really annoying, I suppose some people would call that an earworm but it's not in my head as I can actually hear it :(
 
Soldato
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Think I mentioned I have both vertigo and tinnitus, around 5 years now.
Originally I was given Serc16 which made zero difference and I went for years with bouts of vertigo lasting hours to a couple of days of varying intensities.
This past month, I was given Cinnarizine 15mg 2 x 3 times a day and where the vertigo still seems to almost build to an amount that would affect my balance, it now peaks below that and strangely as by product is my tinnitus also has varying intensities including one very short period of it being right down to almost gone, that didn't last long but does seem to make me think whatever I've got maybe isn't caused by something irreparably damaged in there.
In the 3 weeks or so since starting these tablets it's been better, not back to normality but certainly better.
 
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Soldato
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it now peaks below that and strangely as by product is my tinnitus also has varying intensities including one very short period of it being right down to almost gone, that didn't last long but does seem to make me think whatever I've got maybe isn't caused by something irreparably damaged in there.

Have you been diagnosed with something? How’s your hearing?

I have Ménière’s and also took betahistine (serc) for years without much joy. But I’ve also got vestibular migraines chronic, everyday, so the crossover between the two conditions leaves a horrid situation. Pretty much migraine and vertigo daily for about 7 years now.

Just wanted to say that my tinnitus also fluctuates heavily, but it’s usually a warning sign that I’m in for a rough ride when it does.
 
Soldato
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Amount of times I’ve read articles about breakthroughs over the years..

Iva had chronic tinnitus for about 17 years now, completely ruined my life for the first two years and eventually had to change career paths (worked as a producer/audio engineer before I got it). It’s comfortably the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.

Being honest I still struggle with it daily, not experiencing silence for 17 years takes its tole mentally.
What does yours sound like?
 
Associate
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Had it since I was a teenager. I’m 72 now . Basically mine is a High pitched hiss that’s more noticeable in a quite room or funnily enough talking or thinking about it like now. No cure as far as I know but it does become part of you in time you And it can hide itself if your mind is elsewhere.
 
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Soldato
Joined
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3,071
Have you been diagnosed with something? How’s your hearing?

I have Ménière’s and also took betahistine (serc) for years without much joy. But I’ve also got vestibular migraines chronic, everyday, so the crossover between the two conditions leaves a horrid situation. Pretty much migraine and vertigo daily for about 7 years now.

Just wanted to say that my tinnitus also fluctuates heavily, but it’s usually a warning sign that I’m in for a rough ride when it does.
Damn that is bad, are you able to work?
I'm 2 years down on waiting list for ENT specialist, other than GP no diagnosis yet. Hoping at worst it's menieres tbh as I've read about acoustic neuromas etc and that would be the lesser of the alternatives.
My hearing fluctuates, my right ear is pretty good. My left ear is the opposite, I first noticed it when holding a phone/mobile to my left ear (I'm a lefty) and found that all but the clearest calls were getting harder and harder to decipher.
Having done some testing myself it seems to be bass and just up into the mid tones that I struggle with the most, if I plug my left ear while listening to music then switch to plugging the right and vice versa, I'm definitely missing the bass and clarity.
When I swallow the tinnitus tone in my left ear changes for that moment then back, when I press my left ear the tone goes higher and when I tap each ear, the left is much more like an electronic (Dr who theme/theremin sliding electronic noise) noise compared to the normal noise my right makes... All very odd.
At worst I have awful pitchy noises and debilitating vertigo, at best I have a mid whine in my left ear, with the new tablets, it seems to be nearer the latter more currently which I am grateful for.
I also bought an ear camera last year and have been taking pics regularly, to my untrained eye, it doesn't seem to be anything visually wrong on the outside of the eardrum at least.
 
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Soldato
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Sussex
Damn that is bad, are you able to work?

Not anymore unfortunately, over the last seven years I’ve got quite unwell, first developed Ménière’s, chronic vestibular migraines, pushed very hard to keep working and functioning despite having 10+ hour vertigo attacks 3-5 times a week for two years. Eventually started finding myself very weak even standing, by 2020 I completely crashed and spent 6 months in bed thinking I was dying. I was eventually diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and more recently fibromyalgia. As time has gone on I’ve got more unwell and gained more and more debilitating symptoms. I really loved my job as well, but I can barely function, let alone work. It’s quite frustrating as I’m only 37 and the combination of the above has absolutely ruined the life I had before. Now I’m pretty much just existing and my full time job feels like managing the endless symptoms. That’s my sob story over with anyway :D

If it is Ménière’s that you’ve got then everytime you have a vertigo attack it damages the inner ear and erodes away the hearing. Some people have fluctuating hearing but typically my understanding is that once the hearing is damaged you can’t get it back. I’m partially deaf in my effected ear now.

Ironically though I’ve lost a great deal of the hearing I’ve also become extremely noise sensitive. Even people talking loudly can be enough to trigger vertigo/migraine hell for hours. Very debilitating.

They suggest for Ménière’s to have a low salt diet, might be worth trying to see if it helps. Betahistine never really did anything for me and I ended up taking 96mg a day for two years. I’ve stopped taking it now.
 
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Soldato
Joined
2 Dec 2004
Posts
14,017
Location
Under The Desk, Wales
Not anymore unfortunately, over the last seven years I’ve got quite unwell, first developed Ménière’s, chronic vestibular migraines, pushed very hard to keep working and functioning despite having 10+ hour vertigo attacks 3-5 times a week for two years. Eventually started finding myself very weak even standing, by 2020 I completely crashed and spent 6 months in bed thinking I was dying. I was eventually diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome and more recently fibromyalgia. As time has gone on I’ve got more unwell and gained more and more debilitating symptoms. I really loved my job as well, but I can barely function, let alone work. It’s quite frustrating as I’m only 37 and the combination of the above has absolutely ruined the life I had before. Now I’m pretty much just existing and my full time job feels like managing the endless symptoms. That’s my sob story over with anyway :D

If it is Ménière’s that you’ve got then everytime you have a vertigo attack it damages the inner ear and erodes away the hearing. Some people have fluctuating hearing but typically my understanding is that once the hearing is damaged you can’t get it back. I’m partially deaf in my effected ear now.

Ironically though I’ve lost a great deal of the hearing I’ve also become extremely noise sensitive. Even people talking loudly can be enough to trigger vertigo/migraine hell for hours. Very debilitating.

They suggest for Ménière’s to have a low salt diet, might be worth trying to see if it helps. Betahistine never really did anything for me and I ended up taking 96mg a day for two years. I’ve stopped taking it now.

Blimey, you are suffering my friend!

I hope you can find relief at some point. Wishing you peace etc...
 
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