Tinnitus poll: Do you experience it?

I have it on and off. It's not usually too bad. It has been worse, I think. Sometimes I go completely deaf, which I am trying to prevent at the moment!

 

I voted no because my ears are mostly fine, I think. The only thing I do notice but only every now and then is the sudden sound of what I would liken to the sound the telephone makes when you lift up the handset and put it to your ear. It's that sound that the phone makes before you dial.

Pretty interesting and amusing because I often think that it sounds and feels like I am being listened into or someone is tuning into my ears. Perhaps the hearing mechanism is re-tuning itself.

 

I have to turn the volume down quite a bit while watching cab train rides on youtube because of the loudness of the train horn. I wonder what the state of hearing is like for train engineers on retirement.

 

My tinnitus occurred quite suddenly several years into my ME. It is multi-pitch in both ears. It gets worse when my ME or allergies are worse. I find that 3 doses of Gingko Biloba/day reduces the volume. The same amount split into 2 doses does not help as much. I listen to the radio a lot. Probably for the same reasons that @Webdog listens to music.

 

I have had fairly severe tinnitus in my left ear since my teen years due to a known medical condition. Fifteen years later and a few years before ME I dived into a swimming pool from a one metre board and burst my right eardrum. It is hard to remember now (27 years on) but that may have been the start of mild tinnitus in my right ear which always seemed insignificant compared with my left. But now both ears roar all the time. It has definitely gotten worse since ME. I haven't voted since I don't think my case is clear cut.

 

Tinnitus is almost constant but definitely more pronounced as soon as i exert myself. In fact this is an indicator for me to ‘thread carefully’ or to retreat back to bed.

It is one of the symptoms i never mention to my doctor or any doctor at all because i worry they will all say ‘all in your head’ or ‘I don’t care’.

 

I tend to get tinnitus about twice a year, in late spring and early fall. It usually only lasts a week or two. Sometimes, it lasts somewhat longer. Because of the pattern, I think it must be related to allergies. It "sounds" like a very high pitched sine wave (~7 kHz). It's usually only in one ear and it doesn't otherwise deafen that ear. When I've gone to ear doctors with this, they seem to assume that it's permanent, but it never is.

I also get odd, sporadic episodes of tinnitus that last 10 minutes or less. In either ear, normal sounds are sort of rapidly "pinched off" and are replaced by a high pitched sine wave. I this case I am deaf in that ear until it gradually clears up in a few minutes. This isn't triggered by loud noise. In fact, it usually occurs in relative silence. I've wondered if maybe this is commonplace. Since it resolves so quickly, I've never mentioned it to a doctor.

 

Bump, anybody else want to vote?

 

Similar to John Mac .. also only in my right ear, but also intermittent through each day, due to some sort of positional issue and/or a suspected increase in inflammation; the pressure against my skull is damned unpleasant at its worst, but does pass on laying up for longer than usual.

I was diagnosed with Mastoidiitis in 2013, likely caused by untreated otitis media ('glue ear') picked up on an MRI in 2012. I had my first grommet inserted in 2014, which thankfully reduced the number and length of episodes of tinnitus and intermittent hearing loss - prior to the op, the tinnitus would last for months at a time. Following further hearing loss issues, I had my second grommet inserted in late 2017. It was that, or use an hearing aid, and I am far too young (not!) for that route.

I recall one episode in the early hours being awoken, and was convinced that someone had entered our block of flats and was wearing heavy boots/clogs to get up the stairs to visit a neighbour .. it was not unknown for her to 'receive viistors' at odd hours, and will leave at that. So here I am 'hearing' this bloody loud noise, and wondering what the hell is taking them so long to get up the stairs, and then realised I was 'hearing' my heart beat, which was definitely a change from the low hum that I usually had .. another episode of bradycardia most likely, and not unusual for me.

To confirm my suspicions, I changed my position and away it went, reverted back and there it was again. So funny, once I'd realised what had happened .. apologised silently to my neighbour for unfairly thinking as I had, and back to sleep I went.

Wishing everyone improved health and every happiness. John

 

The worst concert hearing-damage I ever did was at (of all things) a Neil Young "Rust Never Sleeps" concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1978.

I knew I was in trouble when Neil Young came out playing solo acoustic guitar on Sugar Mountain and it was the loudest sound amplification I'd ever heard (and I'd heard plenty). Then Crazy Horse joined him for an electric set that was utter madness. At least it wasn't distorted despite the unbelievable volume levels.

I can also dö an umlaut on my American-style Mac keyboard, even if the usage is entirely inappropriate

As to tinnitus. It happens rarely and briefly. I've always believed (although it may be baloney) that it was an acoustic nerve dying out and a symptom of a small bit of permanent hearing loss. Not sure if that is true, or not.

Bill

 

You couldn't count how many times I listened to Rust Never Sleeps on my mono cassette player when I was supposed to be doing my homework.

My favourite quote about loud music is from Pete Townsend, who was asked why he played so loud.

His reply was, "Because there are so many people who just don't want to LISTEN."

 

Great Album. I also have the Live Rust album that (in the main) comes from the show I attended. I always wonder--despite having a pretty impressive sound system--why:

a) Live Rust never sounds as loud as the concert. I can satisfy myself on this question on technical limits

b) Why this album sounds no louder than any other album? I can "intellectualize" the answer, but in my soul I know it was a lot (orders of magnitude) lounder than that

Protect your ears to avoid Tinnitus*

*content added in a semi-futile attempt to remain on topic.

Bill

 

I find that certain pitches or tones can kick of bouts of tinnitus in one or both ears fortunately for me it never lasts.

 

I feel my Titaanus is in my brain if that is even Posible.
With my POTs when I am presyncope I hear more like all my internal things. Is not fun or pretty we are very loud organs inside, I can feel flutter in ears, blood pumping, moving, heartbeats..... and then I have my constant high pitch thingy and gets worst when I lay down. On good days the Titanus gets almost gone. I meassure my cFs status on how loud the pitch is. Ussually good indicator.

 

Severe for me. Multiple high pitched tones in both ears, not the same ones though. Worse with a migraine or a cold.

I’ve also had several episodes of a persistent rhythmic low volume clicking sound that I was actually able to record, not sure what that was.

 

Constant since ME became severe 13 years ago combined with constant sensation of blocked ears that began first year of ME 20 years ago. Saw ENT doc for latter, found nothing.

 

I feel like my spine is a cello string and my skull is the soundboard

 

It came on a few days into the EBV that started the M.E. 25 yrs ago. I have to sleep with a fan on.

 

I had tinnitus intermittently for a long time, possibly forever. It became constant at some point and has been pretty annoying since the vancomycin (an antibiotic for C. diff.), but as that saved my life, I won’t complain too much. As I had tinnitus previously to the antibiotic, I still voted yes.

I used to get various sounds but now it’s mostly the same sound, a whining electrical type noise. It gets better and worse and is somewhat correlated to M.E. and hydration status.

I also feel flutters in my ears sometimes. I don’t mention this at the doctor.

Also my ears leak fluid sometimes (CSF?).

I also feel an area of, not even sure how to describe it, but it’s like I am aware of the space between my two ears in the middle of my head, joined maybe through the brainstem. As if there were an infected tunnel there. (Ventricles?) That one I don’t tell doctors.

I have hyperacusis (self-diagnosed). So can’t typically use music to mask the tinnitus. According to my research, it’s vestibular hyperacusis (as I lose my balance from sounds) so unlikely to respond to noise training. Which is why I haven’t sought diagnosis.

My tinnitus isn’t diagnosed, either. I usually have bigger fish to fry when I manage to get to the doctor.

 

I just recently learned, by googling, "heartbeat sound in ear," that there is a specific type of tinnitus called pulsatile tinnitus, which sounds like what you have described.

It seems that the cause should be investigated to rule out serious problems, like tumors and vascular conditions. Of course, you have to find a doctor who will take your concerns seriously first though.

Like this guy, who was told repeatedly to just learn to live with it;

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070602919.html?noredirect=on

I experience this as well as ordinary tinnitus, but not all the time, thankfully.

Do you hear your heartbeat in your ear regularly @JohnM?

I saw @Seven mentioned heartbeat sounds too. Does anyone else experience pulsatile tinnitus?