question about tinnitus

My tinnitus is driving me crazy. After living with this damn disease for 17 years, I now have 3 sounds going on in the same ear, and this is my "good" ear! Not only do I have the normal humming, but now I hear a drum and a telephone's busy signal. Plus the humming in the "bad" ear. Does anyone know of ANY way to either get rid of or quiet the noise? It really is driving me nuts!

Thank you for ANY advice you can give me. I really appreciate it.

Patti

 

Wish I had an answer - in fact I will be waiting to see what answers you get. I now have the constant roaring, a buzz saw and the sound you hear on the Food Network of knives brushing going in my "bad" ear. Driving me crazy as well.

 

Me too. It's maddening, isn't it?

I recently started taking 100mg of niacin daily. So far, no improvement. I'd read some anecdotal reports on niacin, used in the treatment of tinnitus.

 

I don't think there's any real treatment option available. I think there are some who take Xanax or Valium, I can't remember which. Hollymm does, she might be able to answer your questions. Mine has been worse lately too, and has even started waking me up at night. I hope you find relief.

 

I have tried several so called remedies without any success. I decided I just had to learn to live with it. I have three and sometimes four distinct sounds in both ears. To help me cope with it when all is quiet at bed time, I read to fall asleep.

My Dr. prescribed amitriptyline, a mild anti-depressant, to help me sleep and return to sleep if I wake up in the night. That helps the most of anything else I have used. I also have recruitment which seems to feed the tinnitus making it seem louder once I am in a quieter place. I think that there are many of us in this very same boat. ???

 

24/7 constant companion in both ears, sometimes I can ignore it but not for long.

 

I just cannot pass up a tinnitus thread

I have it. Have had it bad for many years, many tones. I take xanax. Yes it also helps with anxiety and a variety of other issues. It 'calms' the tinnitus. Some get the same relief from valium. It might or might not get rid of all of it for you. If it's as bad as it sounds (no pun ), it probably won't get rid of all of it for you. It does not get rid of the tinnitus for me it just calms the nerve in the ear and makes me calmer in the face of it.

I also have hyperacusis which makes life a little more difficult to deal with. The xanax helps with that only in that is calms me, not any nerve.

I always, always have background noise going on. It is usually the TV because it's not one single sound (like a fan) and so doesn't tune my tinnitus into an additional pitch. A lot of people use a fan and it works well for them so I'm not downing it. I just happen to use the TV for variation. And just so you know, I have three ceiling fans in my home and they are on 24/7 so I do like 'em

 

Hmm, Holly, I knew about "white noise" but never thought about using the television to help. I notice that I am a lot calmer when I keep music on in the house, I wonder if that's the reason.

 

Could be. There are times when I hear a singular noise that 'becomes' part of the tinnitus - even once the sound goes away. Espeically loud noises - that's where the hyperacusis comes into play - that shit hurts!

 

if you ever find yourself in need of earplugs - don't insert both earplugs into ear canal - only insert the plug that is in your worse ear (for noise control) and let the other earplug be gently pushed into your ear - otherwise your tinnitus and autophony will drive you insane

 

Thanks everyone. I knew I wasn't alone! I do have a fan on at night but it's only good for the breeze! I don't wear my HA at night, so I can hear absolutely nothing! (my DH loves it because he snores loud enough to wake the dead!). Oh well maybe someday someone will invent something.

Have a great night,
Patti

p.s. I do take valium, but only when I have a vertigo attack. Never thought of it for tinnitus. Maybe I'll try it tonight and see what happens. The worst will be I fall asleep!

 

My wife bought a recording of ocean waves--they put me to sleep like a baby

 

I take generic Celexa and use to take amitriptyline but dropped it several months ago. Dr would like for me to get off the Celexa as well, but I don't think I would sleep at all if I did. I am actually thinking of resuming the amitriptyline because I lay away a couple of times a night/early am for an hour or two...I actually think the T wakes me up. I always take a generic sleep aid at night...sometimes two if the T is bad and I really need to escape. So many family issues going on right now that I really am having to "tie a knot in the end of my rope!"

 

When my tinnitus gets a little louder usually it is mild and sound like a sea shell.

I stay away from salty foods and that seems to bring the noise level back to sea shell.

Joan

 

I think we are stuck with the '"t" as it originates in the brain, not the ears!

I only notice it during stressful situations.

 

Nothing helps my T either. Low dose valium is great for the dizzies/nausea but does nothing for the sound of music/noise. ugh.

 

A homeopathic Dr. I went to see speak at a symposium said the right sided tinitus can be an indicator of low or deficient magnesium and left sided tinitus can be an indicator of low Manganese.

Never tried any but his presentation was interesting.

 

The way I understand it, T isn't actually from the ear, it's from the brain. It's the brain's way to compensate for lack of sound in that ear. I believe this to be true as I only have T in my ear when I turn my Cochlear Implant off (thus completelhy deaf in that ear, so the ear technically can not transmit sound).

Do you wear hearing aids? If so, leaving them in and on may help. It did me.

 

My hearing loss is on the right, but my tinnitus is bilat. Much louder tonight - hormones, a flight, sinuses feel stuffed maybe from going from lovely moist coast back to dry Calgary. Trying nasal spray and sinus rinse, Japanese mint oil to open my eustachian tubes, and clonazepam to calm me and my ear nerves.

Interesting that some of you find a fan helpful - I feel like it makes my ears louder after a night with the fan on.

Best way for me to ignore T is to do stuff that engages me... But there is only so much energy and brain power. Stick with now. I try hard not to worry about the next vertigo or further hearing loss.

 

Anne - I don't use a fan because it does tend to set up an additional noise in my ear. I use a TV as the sonds are varible and don't generally stay at a tone that will induce additional tinnits. You might try something that has different sounds. I read here by crud that he uses the ocean as background noise. It provides a differing noise that, I believe, keeps his tinnitus from catching a single sound and the brain fixating on that sound. Also Shartsoe said she feels calmest when she uses music as a background noise during the day or should I say feels calmest when the music is on.

Try different things, you never know what might work. Right now you know that fans don't