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.

top 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] SendMePhotos 20 points 4 months ago

I'm sorry that you're going through this. Quick changes can be terrifying, especially when one goes out of their way to ensure proper care.

I have nothing of substance to add other than support as my specialty lies elsewhere. I just wanted you to know that people are reading your post and that I feel for you.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago

Sounds pretty typical for ear infection, maybe more in the tubes that are between ear and nose. I had one earlier this year that was very similar to yours. I did get antibiotics for it after about a week and it still took nearly two weeks to clear up completely.

[–] NewWorldOverHere 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

I also have ringing in my ears and took care of them same as you.

I have perfect hearing according to the typical “can you hear this beep” test - which is infuriating when dealing with my tinnitus. The ENTs said the same as yours did (nothing is wrong)- it took going to a specialist who fits people for hearing aids before they did an extended range hearing test and helped narrow down the range that my tinnitus is affecting.

With the new doctor, we figured out that my tinnitus is caused by the other medications that I’m on. They did research on it and found certain classes of meds increase tinnitus more than others.

Working with my other doctors, we changed some of the medications to try and see if that would help my tinnitus. I also noticed that if I don’t take my allergy meds (Zyrtec) then I have less tinnitus that day. If I do need to take it, then I get elevated tinnitus, more pain in my ears, almost can’t hear, etc. for the next 2-3 days.

As an aside, wearing hearing aids helps for two reasons.

A) if you get the right ones, they have a setting that equates to “white noise” so your brain focuses on that and helps drown out the ringing. There are a couple options for what your white noise could be - actual white noise, beach waves, rain falling.

B) this has been proven to re-teach your brain that it doesn’t need to create the ringing in your ears. Ringing in the ears is ultimately the brain trying to compensate for something - and this is teaching the brain to stop doing that. Meaning, the tinnitus gets better over time.

Note - the fancier hearing aids are blue tooth compatible, so you can use them to listen to music from your phone

Hopefully some of this helps!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

That could either be earwax buildup or eustachian tube dysfunction. Assuming the doctors checked for any buildup that may have been impacting the eardrum, you might try the Valsalva or Toynbee maneuver.

[–] nifty 7 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Have you started new meds, or injured your head/neck, or maybe have TMJ (it’s a jaw thing)?

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tinnitus/symptoms-causes/syc-20350156

[–] chellomere 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Wow, I have TMJ but didn't know it's called that. Basically, the jaw joint clicks when eating certain foods. And I have bruxism and occasional tinnitus. Didn't know the connection, thanks for clearing it up!

[–] nifty 2 points 4 months ago

No problem, sometimes people just don’t know!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Neither of those, but thanks for asking.

[–] nifty 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Well, I hope you feel better! Doctors can be pretty useless at solving uncommon things

Edit used a wrong word. I think specialists may help more, like maybe someone who is a tinnitus expert in particular

[–] bahbah23 6 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I can't help much, just gonna say that it's so annoying when they dont take you seriously and they essentially gaslight you into thinking whatever they believe is true, without bothering to do proper (lab) tests..

(I had to go to ~5 different doctors for someone to kinda take me seriously and prescribe lab tests. As surprizing as it may seem, lab tests ~diagnose external and internal infections better than an eye with a magnifying glass...) If possible, check reviews on google maps or wherever try another doctor and before you go make sure they're gonna do whatever test you want (insist if needed).

I ~suppose your doctor checked if there's any earwax and tried to clean it, right? (I had to go twice for that, it blocked a lot of sound.)

Hope your ears eventually recover🥲

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I ~suppose your doctor checked if there’s any earwax and tried to clean it, right?

She didn't say anything about it, but she did look into my ear, so I guess that's fine.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Oke oke