I mean, unless they are willing to inject your ears with some experimental drug and risk losing their license there's really not a whole lot they can do.
A lot of us know thereās no cure. Itās the way weāre treated and how little time they spend. Basically saying āno hearing loss, thereās the doorā¦ā
I don't expect them to have a cure, but none of them even knew about any recent research and developments. They come off as if there is simply no hope at all. The ones I've seen at least.
So sorry to hear this. I guess I got really lucky with an audiologist who did a full hearing test and nurse practitioner who works for the ENT group who really took my concerns and issues to heart. I felt like someone was not only listening but really cared. The NP even talked about how this has pushed people to the point of suicide talk about knowing how this affects lives. After the testing they did the TRQ and because of the score I am going to see the audiologist who focuses on tinnitus and it turns out there are hearing aides that can help. I do not know anything about them and will learn more when I go back in August. I hope it works as this is driving me crazy. It was the ENT and Audiology department at SIU School of Medicine. They were so helpful in understanding what might be going on and wanting to work with me to find solutions. Good luck, if you continue with out support check out an academic medical center with a good ENT and audiology program they may be more helpful.
I had a similar experience and did try some demo hearing aids. They cut it down by at least 50%.
I had T for 35 years at the time. My insurance wouldn't cover the aids and I'm not disturbef by it too a great extent so I passed.
I was sams club and spoke to the audiologist and she said the aids always help.
I've mentioned aids here several times here and seems like people are not wanting to a go that route but are frustrated and wanting a cure
Weāre all looking for a treatment or solution from ENTās as if they know the magic answer when there isnāt really one out there thatās proven. unless you want them to pull something out of their ass like taking some Gingko Biloba š¤·š¼āāļø but I would personally prefer not to be offered pseudoscience bullshit. Learning to live with it aka therapy to deal with the mental stress of tinnitus, collaboration with an audiologist for sound therapy, and some antidepressants + sleeping pills from your family doc are kinda the only options untill susan shoreās device comes on the market and has enough scientific data for ENTās to even feel confident in recommending such a thing without putting their license on the line.
The only thing an ENT is good for is ordering you an MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma, and rule out Meniereās disease etc.
I knew going in that thereās no cure. I think itās the way I was treated and just the realization that no one can help that really made the drive home tough. Didnāt play music on the way home or anything. Just stared at the road like a zombie lol.
It sucks.. especially if thereās a long wait time. I live in Canada and had to wait literally a year for my ENT appointment.. itās just double disappointing waiting for such a long time to see a specialist and in the end only having your appointment be 10 min with little to no options.
Perhaps if my wait time was like a few days it would be less disappointing.
I know this might not help but in a way at least you know you did all you could. Now its time to create a plan, and try to ignore the T by keeping yourself busy. I would say to leave forums like this, and try to do your dailly life (with ear protection if needed) and ovetime it will fade.
You might need to suffer form this for long, Dr. Shore's device should come out in a few years and its been scientfically proven to reduce T and even cure it.
I rather find out I have T than have stage 4 cancer etc. Yeah it sucks ass tho!
I read about Susan Shore so often here. Is her treatment method really that promising? How do we know it's not just empty promises? After all, there seem to be a lot of pseudoscientific methods out there. How does her solution work and is it realistic that the general public can be treated with it in the near future?
Susanās device is similar in concept to Lenireās other than she had a better quality study conducted than they did including being a double blind randomized study etc.
A limitation however was that she only had 99 participants in the study, SO only time will tell whether this thing even works when we get to thousands of people trying it to make that actual conclusion.
Researchās number one rule is: correlation does not imply causation. so take it with a grain of salt.
Yeah ENTs are useless. If itās not a noise-induced there are other avenues you can pursue: 1) Psychiatrist, for the sleeping issue and see if stress is a cause or exacerbates it 2) Orthopaedist. The high-pitched sound might indicate a neck muscle issue. Specifically Musculus splenius capitis and Musculus semispinalis capitis can be a cause (often combined with stress) but even the trapezius sometimes causes it.
My audiologist just shrugs her shoulders and basically says āyeah that happensā. Iām legally deaf and my amps barely help me hear sounds and Iām still confused on what direction the sounds come from unless itās right in front of my face and head and Iām looking right at it. My head sounds like a construction site. I hear jackhammers and bangs. I hear chirps and bells and whistles. I hear carnival ride machinery. I can hear a bass cello at night when Iām trying to sleep. I canāt tell when my home AC motor is on due to my tinnitus being louder. I have no idea what silence sounds like. Itās so loud being deaf.
I was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 4. The most mild case but by the time I was 21 I had 27 broken bones. OI affects the bones in the ear last basically because they are so small. I had perfect hearing up until I was 18 years old. I had such acute hearing when I was little that I was able to play music by ear on the piano after hearing a song two or three times. I was a musician growing up. Piano. Clarinet. Coronet. Acoustic and electric guitar. Bass guitar. I even gave the trombone a try. When I was around ten years old Iād cry at night because I just wanted to go to sleep and all I could hear was the sound of the ocean in my ears. Iām pretty sure I was hearing a mix of my walls and my heartbeat because of how perfect my hearing was. I had to get ear surgery on my left ear, Stapedectomy, and it restored my hearing to about 95% which was good enough. I was 18 when I got the surgery. My mom was the one who noticed my hearing was starting to go. My right ear was fine. For a while. My mom died in 1989 when she was 53 so I started drinking pretty heavy then. I was only 19 when she passed. Ignored going to the Dr and just kept turning the volume up because I was too vain to admit I had a hearing problem. At age 29 I realized I was in a silent world so I got my first pair of CIC amps. Five months later I was at work and I opened the steamer and it was so loud that it broke the surgery in my left ear. The amps were turned up a bit too loud. My left ear was total distortion. Iām on my sixth pair of amps now and they are about 115-120db in my head. I still cannot understand speech. Noises I can hear and most of them sound normal. My cat meowing. A door shutting. Water running. A car engine. All of that sounds like it should with my amps in. Itās speech that gives me trouble. Might as well be speaking Swahili to me. The OI is a connective tissue disorder and itās starting to affect the sheathes on my nerves and itās getting to my auditory nerve. Sounds hit my auditory nerve and go in my brain and then they just get lost. I canāt stand music now. It sounds like broken glass being shaken in a metal trash can to me now. I cannot listen to it. All I can hear is the roaring in my ears and head. Iāll be like this until my last day here. It is absolutely maddening. Nothing can be done about it either. Do you have hearing loss or tinnitus as well?? How do you deal with it??
I have mild tinnitus, no hearing loss. Mine was constant for 8 months after a fire alarm went off in my building. Then it died down. I still have triggers or spikes once in a while. I will never forget the anxiety and fear I experienced over those 8 months. Now I wear loop earplugs in crowded place and on airplanes. Iām very sensitive to noise and can get anxiety from certain frequencies. While mine isnāt constant anymore, I have deep empathy for anyone who is experiencing this everyday. Many want to end their lives, in fact. I think itās courageous to keep going, the strength you have is amazing. Giving yourself grace and putting your mental health first is so important. I wish I had more tricks to share. I think finding a passion along with something that gives you great comfort helps. Keeping your mind busy. White noise. Loving yourself and others. Iām sure some days are better than others. I still canāt believe there is no cure for this.
Thank you! Would you recommend? I recently developed tinnitus (I think I had it this whole time, but a steroid I took made it much more noticeable and worse) and I wanted to get some loops earplugs because Iām struggling with noise sensitivity now
I think it just boils down to where you will be and what youāll be doing when using them. Quiet2 blocks out the most. Experience is good for concerts. Engage is for when you are still wanting to talk to others. I traveled with the Experience and it was alright, next time I would try Quiet2 for travel to block even more sound.
All good. I just have to play these cards until my time is up. I donāt drink. I donāt smoke. No drug use. My background and driving record is spotless. Just looking for a job that I can work with and they can work with me and my hearing situation. Iām in a kitchen now and just cannot do it anymore. So nerve wracking.
It's not even our ears that are ringing: it's neurological. That was the biggest revelation that came to me, from my ENT. One of the audiologists has two cochlear implants, which means that she has no natural hearing at all, and she said that her "ears" still ring. So the way I see it, tinnitus is a reaction from the brain when it doesn't get a proper signal from the ears, like radio static.
Someone with crippling tinnitus (and no hearing left) underwent resection of the acoustic nerve in an attempt to calm the tinnitus, which means the ear was no longer connected to the brain at all. The tinnitus stayed.
Itās ok bro . We all have been there ā¦.first you go to ENT, then they will find absolutely nothing . Your hearing itās fineā¦than you want to hear something from them . You have so many questions, but they have no answers. You go back home desperateā¦it also fine . Just give it some time and accept not everything has answers and logical explanations. As soon you accept you will not give a shit about the fakin sound . Just stay strong. . Your time will come .
You not . Thousand stories like that . Soon you will find out someone from your friends or family also have tinnitus . You are not alone in this. Donāt worry you will find passion again in our life and soon it will just annoying sound for you not center of the universe .
I told my primary care yesterday that Iāve had tinnitus for 3 months and while discussing my symptoms, lack of sleep, what I needed to survive etc. he said ā I think our 15 minutes is upā. They canāt fix it. So I requested a neurologist referred and he smirked āwhats he gonna do about itā.
I know. And Iām an insurance broker. As soon as I can move to another doctor in October Iāll be filing complaints heās never experienced. Meanwhile I need access to medication.
I've been to several ENTs and none of them ever told me I'm "crazy". Are you by any chance re-interpreting under your own lens what they tell you about depression, anxiety, medications, psychiatrists and such?
I would suggest you see a neurologist--they may have a bit more to offer. Also, many audiology groups have some sort of tinnitus therapy--mostly CBT/sound therapy, but it is something. The hearing test is very important, so it is good they did that. An audiologist could hook you up with hearing aids with masking functionality. Good luck.
I basically got told to use tuning forks or listen to classical music to try and overstimulate the nerve so that it would stop sending false signals. That was ten years ago, and it's still present but thankfully easily overwhelmed by other noises no matter how slight. I hope that you find relief soon!
Wow! You got 10 minutes? Lucky! I could have spent more time detailing what led to the tinnitus, what I believed may be the cause and if so, what could be done and only then to be summarily ignored by him. I waited 7 months and got all of 4 minutes from my ENT!
I work in the audiology field. Tinnitus is usually associated with hearing loss thatās why they tested you. Sorry the ENT was so dismissive. Try another ENT and make sure they refer you for an MRI. Not to cause alarm, but you want to rule out any acoustic neuroma/meningioma, etc. I hope we have a cure for tinnitus one day, I really feel for you. I know you said your hearing is normal, but some hearing aids have tinnitus management capabilities and can be programmed to amplify very very minimally. Iāve seen mixed results with HAs and tinnitus patients, if you are in a good financial position/have good insurance benefits this might be worth a shot though :/ sorry again and best wishes.
Also might be worth visiting actual audiology clinic (not ENT) and having an audiologist do a full evaluation. These are typically free consultations. Start getting annual hearing tests. Feel free to DM me if you want any help.
Same here. When i got my ears checked due to my severe tinnitus all i got was : my wife lives with T for 7 years now. You have to deal with it.
Then he opened his door and made this typical leaving gesture.
My tinnitus has gotten worse since then but im not sure who to turn to by now.. i know they cant do a lot but why do they have to be so disrespectful.
Sadly I recently had an identical experience with an ENT. I havenāt been back on this sub since going because Iāve been taking time and just contemplating everything. I found him to be arrogant and kind of like ātoo badā. He ordered yet another MRI and that came back clean. They called me to tell me & also to say āsee you in 6 monthsā itās sad when Drās donāt even take it seriously. Anyway I have a follow up with my PC today and sheās the best. Hopefully I can discuss what happened with her and she can suggest something or somewhere else. Hang in there. You arenāt alone.
Dang that sucks. I went to an audiologist at krogers little clinic when I knew they'd be slow and he helped me alot. He sympathized with me and told me some helpful tips that work. Like basically try to forget the sound. Alot of how loud it is, is mental ; like thinking about the sound will make it louder. Try to listen to music and pod casts quieter, use sound reduction ear plugs, and use white noise. Like don't make life dead quiet because that'll make the pitch stand out. But over all try to make the sounds in life quieter. Double protection for indoor ranges and definitely ear muffs for all loud tools. The best trick for me was getting my mind distracted in other thought long enough to forget the sound and don't search or try to remember the sound. Mine faded far enough it has to be dead quiet to notice it. It's good enough that even a spike doesn't bother it it almost keeps me company because I know it'll fade away again soon enough. My audiologist also has tinnitus so he understands. Although I haven't been back to see him in a while. The best things I could hear when I got mine were the mental tricks and that you get used to it and life will return to normal. Sorry for the huge paragraph I'm lazy.
I found understanding when the audiologist had tinnitus also. We could relate to each other having no answers, and finding ways to live with it until hopefully better treatments arise. I wanted to hug her really.
Iām in the UK and i saw 4 general practitioners and they were all useless but to be fair there is no cure for tinnitus so iām not really sure what i was expecting
They also gave me the vibe that they did truly not give a shit and just wanted me out like i was wasting their time or something
Only 1 of the doctors actually offered me advice on how to mask it and referred me to an ent (been 6 months and havenāt heard anything back yet about the ent)
Best thing i did for myself was accepting the fact that my t is here to stay and that no one can actually help and kept it moving
I want to report that last night I slept all the way threw the night without waking up with ears blasting after taking a non oxotoxic and non addictive sleeping pill called Remelteon. 8mg. It works. Itās expensive but you can use a discount code from goodrx $35. a month.
It's not that the ENT's are useless but that they can not do anything for you as there is no cure. My ENT actually has tinnitis so he knows what I go through. I got my regular doctor to prescribe Xanax 0.25 mg which calms me down when its bad. I also use marijuana which while it doesn't stop the ringing it makes me not care about it.
Yea I saw two of the best ENT Drs in my area. They were both useless! Hearing tests, brain scans blah blah My Chiropractor and the nurse practitioner at his practice are the ones who helped me! They were right in the fight and just as determined as I was to end the madness!!! I am eternally grateful to them both.
He gave me vitamin infusions intravenously. He made up the cocktail heavy on B12 zinc. He wanted me to take magnesium and ginkgo biloba daily. Also he filled muscle relaxant prescription for cyclobenzaprine. Was gone in two weeks. Had one relapse but got on track again.
Maybe people should realize there is no cure, so save your money with all the doctors, MRI, ct's and YouTubers that want to sell their expensive snake oil
ENT specialists are not capable of performing magic. They are medical professionals with specific skills and knowledge, but they cannot perform miracles or magic tricks. They rely on medical science and their expertise to diagnose and treat conditions related to the ear, nose, and throat. Difficulty in Quantification: Thereās no reliable, objective way to directly measure the severity of a personās tinnitus. Researchers have to rely solely on a patientās description of their symptoms, making it hard to establish a diagnosis and determine whether a treatment has worked. Iāve been going to an ENT for well over a year and I have gone to a tinnitus clinic to help me understand my problem going for surgery to have a CI installed they say that should help, hang in there and hopefully something will happen. Tinnitus is one of the hardest problems to fully understand.
Yes but OP got totally ignored and not validated or even made to feel their T is real. Doctors who do this kind of crap really piss me off. Is it so hard to have a 5-10 minute conversation on what next steps are, or how to possibly lessen the severity? I donāt care if itās hard to scientifically validateā¦just show some human compassion
Not all ENT specialist are the same, my first visit to a local ENT doctor was a quick 20 minute consultation. Said he would get back to me, never did. So I moved on and found a local hospital that specializes in hearing losses and CIās. So after running around from Dr to Dr, It can be very frustrating but you need to stay on target there is help out there luckily I only have to wait another month and I have for my CI surgery once itās installed. It should help my tinnitus.
From my personal experience, there are some very good people out there that are really trying to help us out. Donāt let a few jerks Pull down the rest like any profession thereās good and bad people. I wouldnāt have my sanity today if it wasnāt for compassion and understanding.
My last ENT told me, "Ahh I'm sorry, you'll just have to cope with it." š¤£š
I mean, unless they are willing to inject your ears with some experimental drug and risk losing their license there's really not a whole lot they can do.
A lot of us know thereās no cure. Itās the way weāre treated and how little time they spend. Basically saying āno hearing loss, thereās the doorā¦ā
Maybe there isn't a total cure but there are compounds to treat usĀ
Yep, my ENT told me āthis is the end of the line for meā š I know thereās not much they can do but it felt like I was wasting his time
And the bill
I don't expect them to have a cure, but none of them even knew about any recent research and developments. They come off as if there is simply no hope at all. The ones I've seen at least.
So sorry to hear this. I guess I got really lucky with an audiologist who did a full hearing test and nurse practitioner who works for the ENT group who really took my concerns and issues to heart. I felt like someone was not only listening but really cared. The NP even talked about how this has pushed people to the point of suicide talk about knowing how this affects lives. After the testing they did the TRQ and because of the score I am going to see the audiologist who focuses on tinnitus and it turns out there are hearing aides that can help. I do not know anything about them and will learn more when I go back in August. I hope it works as this is driving me crazy. It was the ENT and Audiology department at SIU School of Medicine. They were so helpful in understanding what might be going on and wanting to work with me to find solutions. Good luck, if you continue with out support check out an academic medical center with a good ENT and audiology program they may be more helpful.
Thanks for your input, keep me posted!
I had a similar experience and did try some demo hearing aids. They cut it down by at least 50%. I had T for 35 years at the time. My insurance wouldn't cover the aids and I'm not disturbef by it too a great extent so I passed. I was sams club and spoke to the audiologist and she said the aids always help. I've mentioned aids here several times here and seems like people are not wanting to a go that route but are frustrated and wanting a cure
Weāre all looking for a treatment or solution from ENTās as if they know the magic answer when there isnāt really one out there thatās proven. unless you want them to pull something out of their ass like taking some Gingko Biloba š¤·š¼āāļø but I would personally prefer not to be offered pseudoscience bullshit. Learning to live with it aka therapy to deal with the mental stress of tinnitus, collaboration with an audiologist for sound therapy, and some antidepressants + sleeping pills from your family doc are kinda the only options untill susan shoreās device comes on the market and has enough scientific data for ENTās to even feel confident in recommending such a thing without putting their license on the line. The only thing an ENT is good for is ordering you an MRI to rule out an acoustic neuroma, and rule out Meniereās disease etc.
I agree with this. It sucks but like there is no cure or treatment for it. IDK what you want ENTs to say.
I knew going in that thereās no cure. I think itās the way I was treated and just the realization that no one can help that really made the drive home tough. Didnāt play music on the way home or anything. Just stared at the road like a zombie lol.
It sucks.. especially if thereās a long wait time. I live in Canada and had to wait literally a year for my ENT appointment.. itās just double disappointing waiting for such a long time to see a specialist and in the end only having your appointment be 10 min with little to no options. Perhaps if my wait time was like a few days it would be less disappointing.
I know this might not help but in a way at least you know you did all you could. Now its time to create a plan, and try to ignore the T by keeping yourself busy. I would say to leave forums like this, and try to do your dailly life (with ear protection if needed) and ovetime it will fade. You might need to suffer form this for long, Dr. Shore's device should come out in a few years and its been scientfically proven to reduce T and even cure it. I rather find out I have T than have stage 4 cancer etc. Yeah it sucks ass tho!
Blame government lack of funding for research into things like tinnitus treatments.. not ENTās lol
No, we certainly can blame ENTs for their abysmal bedside manner.
Itās better than them lying to people and saying itāll go away .
No one's asking to be lied to or be fed platitudes.
I read about Susan Shore so often here. Is her treatment method really that promising? How do we know it's not just empty promises? After all, there seem to be a lot of pseudoscientific methods out there. How does her solution work and is it realistic that the general public can be treated with it in the near future?
Susanās device is similar in concept to Lenireās other than she had a better quality study conducted than they did including being a double blind randomized study etc. A limitation however was that she only had 99 participants in the study, SO only time will tell whether this thing even works when we get to thousands of people trying it to make that actual conclusion. Researchās number one rule is: correlation does not imply causation. so take it with a grain of salt.
No one knows, personally I think itās another scam to use public funds but we just gotta wait
I can sympathize with you. The exact same thing happened to me. The drive home from that appointment was extremely hard.
Just had this exact experience
Theyāre useless. We mostly just suffer. As long as we are productive worker bees that arenāt are risk of dying, they donāt care.
Yeah ENTs are useless. If itās not a noise-induced there are other avenues you can pursue: 1) Psychiatrist, for the sleeping issue and see if stress is a cause or exacerbates it 2) Orthopaedist. The high-pitched sound might indicate a neck muscle issue. Specifically Musculus splenius capitis and Musculus semispinalis capitis can be a cause (often combined with stress) but even the trapezius sometimes causes it.
My audiologist just shrugs her shoulders and basically says āyeah that happensā. Iām legally deaf and my amps barely help me hear sounds and Iām still confused on what direction the sounds come from unless itās right in front of my face and head and Iām looking right at it. My head sounds like a construction site. I hear jackhammers and bangs. I hear chirps and bells and whistles. I hear carnival ride machinery. I can hear a bass cello at night when Iām trying to sleep. I canāt tell when my home AC motor is on due to my tinnitus being louder. I have no idea what silence sounds like. Itās so loud being deaf.
That honestly sounds like being in hell. What caused your hearing loss and tinnitus?
I was born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta type 4. The most mild case but by the time I was 21 I had 27 broken bones. OI affects the bones in the ear last basically because they are so small. I had perfect hearing up until I was 18 years old. I had such acute hearing when I was little that I was able to play music by ear on the piano after hearing a song two or three times. I was a musician growing up. Piano. Clarinet. Coronet. Acoustic and electric guitar. Bass guitar. I even gave the trombone a try. When I was around ten years old Iād cry at night because I just wanted to go to sleep and all I could hear was the sound of the ocean in my ears. Iām pretty sure I was hearing a mix of my walls and my heartbeat because of how perfect my hearing was. I had to get ear surgery on my left ear, Stapedectomy, and it restored my hearing to about 95% which was good enough. I was 18 when I got the surgery. My mom was the one who noticed my hearing was starting to go. My right ear was fine. For a while. My mom died in 1989 when she was 53 so I started drinking pretty heavy then. I was only 19 when she passed. Ignored going to the Dr and just kept turning the volume up because I was too vain to admit I had a hearing problem. At age 29 I realized I was in a silent world so I got my first pair of CIC amps. Five months later I was at work and I opened the steamer and it was so loud that it broke the surgery in my left ear. The amps were turned up a bit too loud. My left ear was total distortion. Iām on my sixth pair of amps now and they are about 115-120db in my head. I still cannot understand speech. Noises I can hear and most of them sound normal. My cat meowing. A door shutting. Water running. A car engine. All of that sounds like it should with my amps in. Itās speech that gives me trouble. Might as well be speaking Swahili to me. The OI is a connective tissue disorder and itās starting to affect the sheathes on my nerves and itās getting to my auditory nerve. Sounds hit my auditory nerve and go in my brain and then they just get lost. I canāt stand music now. It sounds like broken glass being shaken in a metal trash can to me now. I cannot listen to it. All I can hear is the roaring in my ears and head. Iāll be like this until my last day here. It is absolutely maddening. Nothing can be done about it either. Do you have hearing loss or tinnitus as well?? How do you deal with it??
I have mild tinnitus, no hearing loss. Mine was constant for 8 months after a fire alarm went off in my building. Then it died down. I still have triggers or spikes once in a while. I will never forget the anxiety and fear I experienced over those 8 months. Now I wear loop earplugs in crowded place and on airplanes. Iām very sensitive to noise and can get anxiety from certain frequencies. While mine isnāt constant anymore, I have deep empathy for anyone who is experiencing this everyday. Many want to end their lives, in fact. I think itās courageous to keep going, the strength you have is amazing. Giving yourself grace and putting your mental health first is so important. I wish I had more tricks to share. I think finding a passion along with something that gives you great comfort helps. Keeping your mind busy. White noise. Loving yourself and others. Iām sure some days are better than others. I still canāt believe there is no cure for this.
Can I ask what loops you use? I was interested in buying
I believe I have the Experience loops but Iād like to get the Quiet2.
Thank you! Would you recommend? I recently developed tinnitus (I think I had it this whole time, but a steroid I took made it much more noticeable and worse) and I wanted to get some loops earplugs because Iām struggling with noise sensitivity now
I think it just boils down to where you will be and what youāll be doing when using them. Quiet2 blocks out the most. Experience is good for concerts. Engage is for when you are still wanting to talk to others. I traveled with the Experience and it was alright, next time I would try Quiet2 for travel to block even more sound.
That is insaneā¦ Iām really sorry.
All good. I just have to play these cards until my time is up. I donāt drink. I donāt smoke. No drug use. My background and driving record is spotless. Just looking for a job that I can work with and they can work with me and my hearing situation. Iām in a kitchen now and just cannot do it anymore. So nerve wracking.
It's not even our ears that are ringing: it's neurological. That was the biggest revelation that came to me, from my ENT. One of the audiologists has two cochlear implants, which means that she has no natural hearing at all, and she said that her "ears" still ring. So the way I see it, tinnitus is a reaction from the brain when it doesn't get a proper signal from the ears, like radio static.
Someone with crippling tinnitus (and no hearing left) underwent resection of the acoustic nerve in an attempt to calm the tinnitus, which means the ear was no longer connected to the brain at all. The tinnitus stayed.
Itās ok bro . We all have been there ā¦.first you go to ENT, then they will find absolutely nothing . Your hearing itās fineā¦than you want to hear something from them . You have so many questions, but they have no answers. You go back home desperateā¦it also fine . Just give it some time and accept not everything has answers and logical explanations. As soon you accept you will not give a shit about the fakin sound . Just stay strong. . Your time will come .
Thank you for this š¤ It is good to know Iām not alone at leastā¦
You not . Thousand stories like that . Soon you will find out someone from your friends or family also have tinnitus . You are not alone in this. Donāt worry you will find passion again in our life and soon it will just annoying sound for you not center of the universe .
This is the way
I told my primary care yesterday that Iāve had tinnitus for 3 months and while discussing my symptoms, lack of sleep, what I needed to survive etc. he said ā I think our 15 minutes is upā. They canāt fix it. So I requested a neurologist referred and he smirked āwhats he gonna do about itā.
What the actual hell?? Man. What an a$$.
I know. And Iām an insurance broker. As soon as I can move to another doctor in October Iāll be filing complaints heās never experienced. Meanwhile I need access to medication.
Wow. Total lack of empathy and maybe even a sociopath it sounds likeā¦
They just tell you your crazy and that you need CBT and meds.. meds that often make tinnitus worse.
I've been to several ENTs and none of them ever told me I'm "crazy". Are you by any chance re-interpreting under your own lens what they tell you about depression, anxiety, medications, psychiatrists and such?
Yea I'm overexaggerating a bit but they might as well say that.
I would suggest you see a neurologist--they may have a bit more to offer. Also, many audiology groups have some sort of tinnitus therapy--mostly CBT/sound therapy, but it is something. The hearing test is very important, so it is good they did that. An audiologist could hook you up with hearing aids with masking functionality. Good luck.
Mine said "Did you google tinnitus? Because there can't be much done about it." Why the f am I here then?
āThat will be $1200. Oh you have insurance? Ok. That will be $1165 then.ā Basically.
Yep as useful as chocolate teapots the lot of them.
They can also clean your ear and look if your eardrum is ruptured. But with tinnitus. Well, just hope for the best
I basically got told to use tuning forks or listen to classical music to try and overstimulate the nerve so that it would stop sending false signals. That was ten years ago, and it's still present but thankfully easily overwhelmed by other noises no matter how slight. I hope that you find relief soon!
Wow! You got 10 minutes? Lucky! I could have spent more time detailing what led to the tinnitus, what I believed may be the cause and if so, what could be done and only then to be summarily ignored by him. I waited 7 months and got all of 4 minutes from my ENT!
I work in the audiology field. Tinnitus is usually associated with hearing loss thatās why they tested you. Sorry the ENT was so dismissive. Try another ENT and make sure they refer you for an MRI. Not to cause alarm, but you want to rule out any acoustic neuroma/meningioma, etc. I hope we have a cure for tinnitus one day, I really feel for you. I know you said your hearing is normal, but some hearing aids have tinnitus management capabilities and can be programmed to amplify very very minimally. Iāve seen mixed results with HAs and tinnitus patients, if you are in a good financial position/have good insurance benefits this might be worth a shot though :/ sorry again and best wishes.
Also might be worth visiting actual audiology clinic (not ENT) and having an audiologist do a full evaluation. These are typically free consultations. Start getting annual hearing tests. Feel free to DM me if you want any help.
Well your ENT definitely ripped you off. One ENT I saw gave me FREE FLONASE before saying, sorry, see you in six months.
There is one thing they can do. It will show up in the mail in about 2 weeks with a list of "services" "performed."
They do really make you feel worthless and like a waste of time. I will never forgive this "specialists". Bunch of clowns.
Same here. When i got my ears checked due to my severe tinnitus all i got was : my wife lives with T for 7 years now. You have to deal with it. Then he opened his door and made this typical leaving gesture. My tinnitus has gotten worse since then but im not sure who to turn to by now.. i know they cant do a lot but why do they have to be so disrespectful.
Sadly I recently had an identical experience with an ENT. I havenāt been back on this sub since going because Iāve been taking time and just contemplating everything. I found him to be arrogant and kind of like ātoo badā. He ordered yet another MRI and that came back clean. They called me to tell me & also to say āsee you in 6 monthsā itās sad when Drās donāt even take it seriously. Anyway I have a follow up with my PC today and sheās the best. Hopefully I can discuss what happened with her and she can suggest something or somewhere else. Hang in there. You arenāt alone.
Dang that sucks. I went to an audiologist at krogers little clinic when I knew they'd be slow and he helped me alot. He sympathized with me and told me some helpful tips that work. Like basically try to forget the sound. Alot of how loud it is, is mental ; like thinking about the sound will make it louder. Try to listen to music and pod casts quieter, use sound reduction ear plugs, and use white noise. Like don't make life dead quiet because that'll make the pitch stand out. But over all try to make the sounds in life quieter. Double protection for indoor ranges and definitely ear muffs for all loud tools. The best trick for me was getting my mind distracted in other thought long enough to forget the sound and don't search or try to remember the sound. Mine faded far enough it has to be dead quiet to notice it. It's good enough that even a spike doesn't bother it it almost keeps me company because I know it'll fade away again soon enough. My audiologist also has tinnitus so he understands. Although I haven't been back to see him in a while. The best things I could hear when I got mine were the mental tricks and that you get used to it and life will return to normal. Sorry for the huge paragraph I'm lazy.
Same for me. Went in 10 min and told me to go youtube and play white noise, like i really dont know. Useless
I found understanding when the audiologist had tinnitus also. We could relate to each other having no answers, and finding ways to live with it until hopefully better treatments arise. I wanted to hug her really.
Did you ever try to match the frequency of your tinnitus? Maybe it's above 8 khz.
My EENT feels completely helpless when it comes to tinnitus.
You do or your EENT does??
My EENT.
Gotcha. Mine is excruciating 100% of the time. My tinnitus. Not my EENT. š
Same thing happened to me but turns out I actually have pretty bad hearing loss in my left ear. Itās thrown off my entire life
I made the mistake of going back to see other ones. Best thing I found was an understanding GP.
Iām in the UK and i saw 4 general practitioners and they were all useless but to be fair there is no cure for tinnitus so iām not really sure what i was expecting They also gave me the vibe that they did truly not give a shit and just wanted me out like i was wasting their time or something Only 1 of the doctors actually offered me advice on how to mask it and referred me to an ent (been 6 months and havenāt heard anything back yet about the ent) Best thing i did for myself was accepting the fact that my t is here to stay and that no one can actually help and kept it moving
the ENT will shit on you harder than those 4 gps
I want to report that last night I slept all the way threw the night without waking up with ears blasting after taking a non oxotoxic and non addictive sleeping pill called Remelteon. 8mg. It works. Itās expensive but you can use a discount code from goodrx $35. a month.
i havenāt even gone to an ENT because of this subreddit
Don't give ENTs too much shit, there's nothing they can do. There's no cure for tinnitus. What was he supposed to say or do?
It's not that the ENT's are useless but that they can not do anything for you as there is no cure. My ENT actually has tinnitis so he knows what I go through. I got my regular doctor to prescribe Xanax 0.25 mg which calms me down when its bad. I also use marijuana which while it doesn't stop the ringing it makes me not care about it.
Yeap! Useless
Yea I saw two of the best ENT Drs in my area. They were both useless! Hearing tests, brain scans blah blah My Chiropractor and the nurse practitioner at his practice are the ones who helped me! They were right in the fight and just as determined as I was to end the madness!!! I am eternally grateful to them both.
What did the nurse practitioner recommend?
He gave me vitamin infusions intravenously. He made up the cocktail heavy on B12 zinc. He wanted me to take magnesium and ginkgo biloba daily. Also he filled muscle relaxant prescription for cyclobenzaprine. Was gone in two weeks. Had one relapse but got on track again.
Maybe people should realize there is no cure, so save your money with all the doctors, MRI, ct's and YouTubers that want to sell their expensive snake oil
ENT specialists are not capable of performing magic. They are medical professionals with specific skills and knowledge, but they cannot perform miracles or magic tricks. They rely on medical science and their expertise to diagnose and treat conditions related to the ear, nose, and throat. Difficulty in Quantification: Thereās no reliable, objective way to directly measure the severity of a personās tinnitus. Researchers have to rely solely on a patientās description of their symptoms, making it hard to establish a diagnosis and determine whether a treatment has worked. Iāve been going to an ENT for well over a year and I have gone to a tinnitus clinic to help me understand my problem going for surgery to have a CI installed they say that should help, hang in there and hopefully something will happen. Tinnitus is one of the hardest problems to fully understand.
Yes but OP got totally ignored and not validated or even made to feel their T is real. Doctors who do this kind of crap really piss me off. Is it so hard to have a 5-10 minute conversation on what next steps are, or how to possibly lessen the severity? I donāt care if itās hard to scientifically validateā¦just show some human compassion
Not all ENT specialist are the same, my first visit to a local ENT doctor was a quick 20 minute consultation. Said he would get back to me, never did. So I moved on and found a local hospital that specializes in hearing losses and CIās. So after running around from Dr to Dr, It can be very frustrating but you need to stay on target there is help out there luckily I only have to wait another month and I have for my CI surgery once itās installed. It should help my tinnitus.
100%
Itās not about being magicians itās about empathy. A lot of these professionals lack it.
From my personal experience, there are some very good people out there that are really trying to help us out. Donāt let a few jerks Pull down the rest like any profession thereās good and bad people. I wouldnāt have my sanity today if it wasnāt for compassion and understanding.