Sorry, not sure if there’s a more fitting community for discussions, but 196 doesn’t have specific required content ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So, last Sunday I suddenly got high-pitched tinnitus, mostly in my left ear. I thought it would be gone when I wake up next day, but it was still there. Then on Tuesday and Wednesday I had some pain and pressure in both ears. Unfortunately, I’d need to get referred to ENT by my GP, and she was on vacation. The substitute was there for “acute cases only”.
So far this was just… quite annoying. I tested for possible changes I haven’t noticed with frequency generator on my phone. With medium volume, both ears went to 19.5kHz just fine.
Thursday it improved. Or so I thought. The tinnitus got quieter. Later during the day I went to check again. I started with 16kHz at lowest volume. Suddenly, I could only hear it on my right ear, so I started panicking.
Left ear fell from 19.5kHz to 15.5kHz in just 1 day. This was a fairly sudden change, and I am not exactly emotionally strong. I panicked and was crying and hyperventilating for about an hour.
So I decided I’ll go to the substitute doctor next day to get referred to ENT. I set up alarm for the morning, but I didn’t need it. I was too anxious too sleep much anyway.
So I got to the ENT right that day.
She visually inspected my ears and throat finding no signs of inflammation. Tympanometry OK. Audiogram just confirmed my feeling of right ear being muffled with slight low frequency hearing loss, but nothing for my left ear, primary source of my concern.
I explained the loss occurred in higher frequencies than I heard during the test. I asked what frequency they tested up to as it sounded fairly low. “6kHz.” Apparently, even 8kHz (worldwide standard) is considered “experimental” in my country… I hoped for possibility of EHF audiometry (9 - 20kHz).
Back to talking with ENT, I said that I could hear up to 19.5kHz on both ears ereyesterday, yet yesterday I couldn’t even hear 16kHz on my left ear. She re-assured me that we normally loose ability to hear these frequencies with age (I am 18).
I further explained that my concern is rather the sudden unilateral loss as opposed to gradual bilateral loss over longer timespan as it could continue worsening further.
She replied with “Hearing above 6kHz is not important to humans.” I wanted to tell her to resample all her music to 12kHz, then tell me how useless it was, but I didn’t want to be rude.
At last, I asked “What about the tinnitus?” with response being “Nothing.”
So, she just prescribed me vitamins B1, B12 and some Ginko extract pills for increasing blood flow to ears for 1 month which I still had to pay €30 for even with insurance.
Welp, I just apologized for bothering them (non-sarcastically) as they had more patients and left no less concerned.
I am pretty worried about this. I’ve been careful with my ears. I don’t listen to music loudly, I don’t go to concerts, hell, I didn’t even have to go to theatre with school the last time as my current class teacher noticed I wasn’t exactly OK with being in a room with lots of people, especially with loud noise.
I can only suspect some issue with inner ear, perhaps inflammation. That wouldn’t even be noticeable with just visual examination. However, I suppose that would also be accompanied by dizziness and vertigo.
So I have no idea what’s going on.
At least I distracted myself while typing this.
I wish you the best of luck with your tinnitus. Medicine is unfortunately imperfect, and sometimes it takes a while and a few doctors to find the cause of an ailment.
Your concern does remind me of a younger version of myself. What have you done to help treat your anxiety?
Well, nothing.
What did help though was me having to travel to both the GP and ENT as I had to take a bus. However childish it sounds, I love bus and train rides. Sometimes I take them without any need to travel anywhere. And I still even enjoy the route I’ve been taking twice every work day for the past 3 years as much as I did the second time (1st time is always stressful).
But nothing permanent-ish.
I have anxiety as well. I’m not saying that your problem is the same as kine, but I’m going to tell you what happens to me so that maybe it’ll make you worry a little less. I generally have a very slight ringing in my ears. Most people probably wouldn’t notice it but I’m autistic so I do. If I have to increase my dose of antihistamines for my allergies, I will have a noticeable increase and qualitative change in the ringing. If I am overly stressed and my anxiety level is higher than usual, I’ll have more ringing. If I get less sleep than I need I will have an increased ringing. It’s not always the same in both ears either.
I’m not telling you it’s nothing but stress. That would be irresponsible. I am telling you I get the same symptoms and it’s nothing but stress and usually resolves in a few days once I get myself under control.
On another note, I would really recommend doing something about your anxiety. Brief high intensity exercise works well, if you can handle it. Guided meditation works well too, even if you hate the whole idea of it (like I do). The best overall remedy is probably to get adequate, good quality sleep, but I know how hard that can be. The easiest immediate relief is blood pressure medicine, if that is an option for you. For instance, if you lay down to rest you should not be able to hear your heart beat. If you can, your blood pressure is too high and you should get it dealt with, because it will absolutely make your anxiety substantially more manageable. Whether or not the anxiety is the problem with your hearing, dealing with it will improve your life, and from one person with anxiety to another: friend, it’s obvious from your post you need some help with this.
For the time being, if you need a short relief from the ringing, I’ve found that certain types of computer generated noise played through headphones will stop my ringing, at least for a few minutes. You might want to try that, just be careful not to play it too loud.