Kinda OT: Anybody else have Tinnitus?

I'm 36, just found out I had it like about a year ago. It's a ringing in the ears for anybody that doesn't know, it's like after you go to a rock concert and your ears still ring? It's like that, just 24/7.

I think I've had it for a very long time, maybe forever, but I just last year realized it was a condition, not something normal.

Anyway looking back I think about those unmuffled VW engines, grinding and hammering, working in the oil field, concerts, all that stuff I didn't use ear protection for, and I'm like, what was I thinking?!?

Does anybody else have it? How do you deal? Somedays it bugs me like hell, somedays I don't even remember I have it. I just try to have a fan on for background noise or something when I sleep, and it's fairly rare to be in a quiet environment anyway.

I use the hell out of some earplugs today! I see people grinding and stuff without them and I think they're nuts, but nobody thinks it'll happen to them. I didn't even know it existed when I started working on cars.

 

Yes, occassionally. It seems to come and go. At this exact moment it is fairly distinct. I'm talking to my Dr. tommorrow because of some jaw pain and I think it is related.

 

if it comes with jaw pain, it's TMJ, alot of health insurance policies put limitations on TMJ treatment too. I hope you're both ok.

 

get a ringing in my right ear about once or twice a month. Lasts a day or two, and luckily goes away.
Here's your company.. http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/melody/73/tinnitus.html

 

Hey thanks all!
DrJ, that list is cool, I've never seen it before.
Corncobcoupe: I was just reading about some new hearing aids that are super duper invisible, and they'll only be better when you really need them. I'm in the same boat man, but at least there's hope. And Rush Limbaugh got that cochlear implant for his hearing loss. Thank god we have some options!
Benzine440 and rustbelt: yeah I've been told i have TMJ as well, and insurance doesn't cover anything it seems, bastards.

At first I thought I got mine from the dilaudid they had me on in the hospital over thanksgiving(bet you didn't know it had *that* side effect! I sure didn't! but not like I had much of a choice anyway) but the more I look back, I think I've had it since I was a kid. I sure don't want to make it any worse, so I'm way more careful now, and encourage people to use hearing protection when I'm around them.

There's just so much they don't understand about the ear. I think western medicine has done all it can(not much), and I'm gonna start going to the accupuncture guy again(he's a blind korean dude! kinda scary when you first go. Dr. Hahm) He didn't fix the ringing(not that I expect him to) but my ears didn't hurt after he treated me. I don't believe in it really but F-it, I gotta try and insurance covers it

 

Unfortunately you are in for some interesting times.

I have had this condition for about 12 years. Constant ringing, varying in intensity for 12 years. i lost the hearing in my left ear about the same time. It comes back a bit now and then, but when isolated, it is useless.

This is a possible precursor to the not so fun part. That is uncontrolable dizziness. Vertigo is the feeling of dizziness. The shit I had was walking one minute, flat out on the ground, head banged on whatever it hit going down, dizzy as a gallon of whiskey in you, puking your brains out..
its real fun when youre driving.

I went to the docs for this. I went to neurosurgeons, heart doctors, ear, nose and throat doctors...
After the last of 5 brain surgeons shook my hand and said good luck, (I didnt want them cracking my skull open to look around)
I decided to see what I could do.

What do you eat? Tinnitus and associated equilibrium disorders are directly connected to your salt intake. The average American takes in 2-3 times or more of the daily sodium recommendation.

I cut my intake of sodium to under 1000mg a day. I not only lost 30 pounds in a month, my blood pressure went from high to normal, and I threw away all the pills and BS the doctors gave me to fix my dizziness. Havent had an episode in 3 years.

So at first it sucks, but once you get yourself put together, you can eat fast food every so often, like once a week or so.
PM me if you need info as far as low sodium cooking websites or more info on anything.

 

Heavy use of opiates can cause hearing loss. That is what probably caused Limbaugh's deafness.

 

Desertratrodder, that’s some nasty stuff.
I have Tinnitus, mines from tooling around in DHC4 Caribous, Iroquois, C-130 Hercules, standing around military airfields, falling out of the sky at 220Kmh (Wind can be real loud) firing rifles all the time, mortars, blowing shit up and a stint in a heavy artillery regiment.
The shit won’t go away and its such an insidious onset that you don’t know you got it until it’s there forever. I now have lost about 25% of my hearing, which is fucked at 32 years old.
I wear double hearing protection whenever I’m working in a loud environment, most of the time in the panel shop............
If anyone has any questions about Tinnitus or TMJ check these out.
http://home.earthlink.net/~dhmorgan/abouttmj.html
http://www.entnet.org/healthinfo/hearing/tinnitus.cfm

Yeah I got sick of, you only get one pair, fuckit, wish I hadda listened.
Doc.

 

I have had "static" in my ears for years. I recently asked my wife if she every experiences that and she said no. Jeez...I thought it was normal. When I don't take my "chemically balancing" meds...it gets really bad. Like some serious static. Standing under a high voltage wire sounding. Finally asked a doc what it could be and they said tinnitus(sp) and it was fairly common and nothing you could really do. At least I don't feel like a completely crazy person. Like an old school electrical appliance, if I am hearing the static and hum, I know I am alive! Its when it goes away I will get nervous.

 

Here's an exercise that helps my Wife with that Vertigo problem. http://www.merck.com/pubs/mmanual_ha/figures/fg20_1.html
And you are right about it possibly being salt related althought there are many other factors. Seems chrystals build up in some people's inner ear canals and they need to e "rearranged" to ease the dizzys.
For a long time Wife just thought it was because she was blonde...
Also, if the exercise works, not bending over or sleeping flat on your back will keep it away for a while.
Don't stand up right away after doing the exercise though, sometimes it can throw your ballance really wack for a few seconds.

 

And as I preach about salt, you Aussie guys average even more than the US guys on sodium intake.. Not sure of the number, but my research (Because the docs didnt have any idea, and I have 2 in my family that have no idea about this) kept going back to the Austrailian medical community because of the issues there.

I too was in the military, shot off alot of rounds there, shot off way more when I got out and worked in auto shops for close to 18 years.

I'm 37.

 

Thanks for the TMJ link. I've been coming to the conclusion that I've got it.

Inner ear disorders and temporary equibrium loss can also be viral in nature.
About twenty years ago there was an outbreak of some virus in SF. I experienced my first symtoms, dizzyness and double vision and nausea, during the morning rush hour as I merged from hiway 280 to hiway 101. That was tricky driving until I was able to exit the freeway.

 

I know you didn't mean it the way I read your post , but I guess all of us married guys get a RINGING in our ear once a month too!

Oh, I try to protect my ears when working with power tools as much as possible.

 

Desertratrodder, yeah I hear that a lot, I never add salt to anything. Never have, dunno why, I know guys that heap that shit on everything, ugh!

Yeah the military will do that to you, I ended up SF untill the end of my career (Parachute accident) got sick of all the bangs in a guys ears, guess thats why I got to like using a knife so much more. More personal too, looking into someones eyes while you knife them rather than 'bust a cap' at 300 meters. Lets them know they pissed off the wrong country.
Doc.

 

Got mine at 19 when I was overseas in the Army listening to tanks and field artillery blasting. That was 40 years ago this year. Sounds like crickets 24/7! I've gotten used to it. I've been told a hearing aid can diminish a lot of the sound. Maybe I'll pursue that some day. To be honest, I'd rather dump the $2500.00+ the hearing aid would cost into my next street rod. I've gotten this far with this shit; I can keep going!

 

I've had it since I was about 19 or 20, I'm 59 now. I'm a musician, and I think it came from the harmonic overtones on drummers cymbals. I've got a Bb five octaves above middle C in both ears. I just ignore it, it never bugs me too much, but my hearing is deteriorating lately. As Irish27T said, I'd rather dump the money in my car than pay for hearing aids.

 

I've got it too. Stood next to the cymbals too often when we played. It's constant, but I manage to ignore it when I don't think about it, which is most of the time. I hate how often I have to ask people what they just said to me, though...

 

Yup' I've had it for about 20 years now. I think i'ts from using a nail gun and skill saw for the last 32 years. Wish I had used ear plugs.

 

For 35 years I have had a ringing/hissing/static like a radio that is not on any station sound in my right ear.

Some dumb ass through a firecracker at me when I was about 13 and I didn't see it. It landed right on the ear and blew the eardrum to pieces.

I had a skingraph to repair the ear drum that was very sucsessfull as far as restoring the hearing, got about 80% but the constant rining has been there ever since.

Your not alone brother

 

I've got it. Being around race cars most of my adult life did it to me. Now I won't even sit in the stands without ear protection. For me it's like a constant electronic tone. I can ignore it for the most part but sometimes I have a hard time shutting it out at night when trying to fall asleep.

 

I have it as well. Probably from spending 35 years hanging around in car dealerships shops & body shops. Worked in them for 20 then sold body hardware the rest of the time.
Has not seemed to affect my hearing --yet -- just a constant hissing --static sound -- like some one else said some days you hardly hear it or don't notice it . A few time i have realized its all gone --but not for long!

 

Sounds like crickets or cicadas in my right ear with a 60 Minutes clicking clock in my left, I'm 55 and I think I noticed this about 3 years ago. Body shop and carpentry work are to blame I guess. I first noticed it and somehow thought it was related to the hum from the computer tower.

 

Got it. I remember the day it started. Summer of 1986, I bought a new pistol, first shot was without hearing protection, felt like an ice pick was stuck into my ears, been ringing ever since. High blood pressure will make it worse.

 

Got it too, and it has worsened over the years . So now if I drive a loud car I always use ear protections (small rubber pieces). Same if I ride in a convertible car for a long distance (the noise of the wind is bad for the hearing). I'm very careful with power tool too, especially if I'm drilling or grinding metal!

 

I hae had it all my life due to an ear operation when I was a baby. It sounds like crickets chirping 24/7. I sleep with a radio in my ear to drown out the sound.
If a person could find a cure they would be a billionaire.

Just something you get use to.

 

I've had it since I was 8 or 9. My cousin was carrying me on his shoulders, he lost his grip, and I landed on the back of my head on the concrete. Instant ringing in both ears, has never gone away. My parents didn't believe me, and never took me to a doctor. Now 30+ years later, there's not much I can do about it. I sleep with a fan on, whenever I go buy a new fan I have to plug them in until I find the one with the right pitch to cancel it out. Stress seems to make it worse too. I guess that's along the same lines as the high blood pressure. Another thing that doesn't help is riding in the car with the window down. Wind blowing in/across my ear at 60mph makes it worse. I've gotten in the habit of putting my left arm up on the door, and using my hand to cover my ear.

I guess I'm lucky in that it has never gotten worse over the years. For the longest time I thought it was normal, and everyone heard the same sounds. I used to concentrate on the sound, which made it worse, and I thought I was going to go crazy! Now I make sure to use ear protection whenever I use power tools, or am going to be pounding on metal.

 

Started having it several years ago after my interest in drag racing rekindled itself. I blamed my trackside photography gig until my wife pointed out that I started having allergy problems about the same time. Last year I started taking prescription allergy meds and I recently noticed that the tinnitus had diminished substantially. It was allergies, not the drag racing. Still, I'm just fanatic about wearing ear protection any more. And I agree with sleeping with a fan on. It helped tremendously.

 

I got it too.

I went shooting without ear protection. A couple hundred rounds through an AK and now my ears ring.

 

My cousin is a motorcycle racer and he has something I thought was called Minears (Spelling?) disease. It was the ringing in the ear and the massive dizziness. He tried all kinds of things for years and was literally considering offing himself because he couldn't get any relief and felt like he was going crazy. Two years ago they diagnosed him with severe allergies and the medicine has made a world of difference. He was a smoker from 18-34 and when he quit at 34, this started. The doctors said that the smoking actually helped his allergies somehow and they intensified when he quit. He's back on the bikes now and has relief. I had no idea allergies could do that to you.