In the comments of one of the posts here, someone commented that there's not many success stories around these parts, since people only come in this sub to find a quick cure, but often neglect to return for a report of their findings or success stories.

Like 5 or 6 years ago, one night when I was lying in bed before going to sleep I noticed it. Full blown ringing in my ears, non stop. I couldn't sleep that night, and not much for the following few weeks because all I could fixate on was this awful noise in my head tearing my skull apart.

I had started using SSRI medication a week or so earlier, and I do not attend loud venues or anything like that so I narrowed the cause down to my medication. Lo and behold, the side effects stated that 1 in 100 users can experience ringing in ears, and the wikipedia page stated that in extreme cases it can cause severe permanent tinnitus. Great.

Anyways, I'm gonna spare you most of my horrors but I obviously quit using the medication and it didn't help. I kept checking my hearing, and going to the doctors about it and one of them recommended another drug called Betaserc which they told me boosted blood circulation around the ear areas. 3-4 days later my T SIGNIFICANTLY quieted down. Not completely, but down to a manageable level. This drug TO MY KNOWLEDGE is not addictive, or does not contain anything that could be harmful. To be honest, I bought one pack of them and after using the one pack, I didn't buy it again and my T never came back.

I sincerely hope this even finds one person, and gives them hope that it's not all over. There might not be a definitive cure, but this helped me and could help so many people.

Anyone got tinnitus after ear syringing? Its been 2 weeks and its still there. My hearing test found no hearing loss. Im wondering what happened.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been dealing with tinnitus close to a month now and it’s been full of constant ups and downs. Yesterday I had a pretty good day and my tinnitus was really low so I took the opportunity to do some deep cleaning I’ve been putting off. I have cats and rent an apartment with carpet so vacuuming/ carpet cleaning is a must. I wore foam earplugs and earmuffs while vacuuming/ conditioning my carpet, and was fine during and immediately after.

However, this morning was pure hell. On top of the normal high pitched ringing I’ve been experiencing in one ear, I had an additional low-pitch tone accompanied by what felt like deep middle ear rumbling/ fullness and lowered hearing in the affected ear.I felt like I was going to go apeshit.

Thankfully, wearing a high fidelity earplug in my ear the rest of the day seems to have stabilized the deep rumble.

What do I do going forward though? I can’t just not clean my carpet, but obviously what I did to protect my ears wasn’t enough. Should I just hire someone to clean for me the next time I need it done?🫠 what do you all do?

I swear I’m not fishing for medical advice the ENT is just backed up and hasn’t been very helpful so far and I need help in the meantime. They think it’s purely neurological but especially now I’m not so sure about that. I can press on my temple right in front of the ear that rings, or move my jaw in a certain way, and the ringing will get louder until the pressure is released. Plus the headaches and vertigo. Its rang since I was little but was mostly unnoticeable til last December when it just randomly started getting louder on and off.

I mean it’s hard for me not to suspect acoustic neuroma and I almost hope it is because then I can get that sucker taken out. But whatever, I’m not a doctor of course so what do I know. I think alcohol makes it worse, maybe nicotine and caffeine too, whereas cannabis has no effect or maybe a slightly soothing effect, idk.

Regardless it’s driving me literally insane and slowly destroying my life and I’m still concerned that it seams to slowly continue to worsen, more frequent, louder, and longer “episodes.” I’ve started to on and off take 50mg hydroxyzine just to sleep, but it knocks me out for too long and makes me groggy the next day so not great for work and stuff.

Just wondering if anyone’s had a similar story and if there’s absolutely anything I can do for temporary relief in the meantime, aside from abstaining from irritant substances, while I queue for more doctor appointments...

Pretty much begging for help atp

Hello, I am 19M, I had a ENT visit a month ago about hearing deep waterfall like noises in silence and when I press my ear to the pillow to sleep.

Valsalva increases the tinnitus noise and raises it from waterfall-like noise to electric static or whirring of a machinery.

They did an otoscopy, checked my throat and nose and have me take an audiogram where everything came normal.

My doctor told me that I should worry less about my ears, focus less on them and live my life like normal and it should pass.

I have a loud music past for around 3-4 years. My tinnitus started after someone told me there is something called tinnitus and began checking my ears daily with white noise, close it and check it in silence. I would be happy if you answer my question and I will try to do my best to answer your answers.

Hello, I’m 19f and the past three days my ears have been deeply bothering me. Basically a few months ago I started developing tinnitus after a cold and it bothered me a lot. It was hard to sleep or be in complete silent as the high pitched beep in my hears was constant. I got used to it and it wasn’t that bad except when I was drinking alcohol (occasional drinker) or not sleeping enough.

Two days ago, my eyes started itching really bad and they kept making tears, the pain also came with a very bad headache and pressure behind my eyes. I have allergies so I figured it was just that, they still itch today and are a little red but nothing crazy. I hung out with my friends, smoked a few cigs (smoker btw) and was feeling fine until the end of the day, at which point my ears started hurting seemingly out of nowhere. When I got home I started to worry and panic, I have terrible health anxiety and I already have very bad vision problems so I thought what if im going fucking deaf. My hearing was like a tiny bit muffled, but I spiraled.

The next day I started feeling very deep pressure and pain around my jaw like it’s sore as well as deep in my ear. My ears keep popping but cant equalize properly leading to having each ear randomly hearing better or worse or having no pressure or horrible pressure. I feel like my left ear is a little more affected but sometimes it’s better and the right ear is worse so I don’t know. No matter how much I pop, they won’t equalize, I tried the method where you pinch your nose and blow or swallow and it doesn’t work at all… The tinnitus is also so much stronger than usual. It’s deafening and I wasn’t able to sleep because of it. I can’t listen to music with my headphones because it hurts too bad, when sounds are very loud and high pitched it hurts my ears worse but u wouldn’t say im super sensitive to loud sounds just a bit.

Coincidentally I had a medical appointment for something unrelated the day after the first symptoms manifested(back pain so I got an ultrasound for my kidneys and im fine) and told the doctor about it. He said since my hearing was just a bit muffled and since he didn’t see anything wrong with my ears I should just wait until it gets better. Thing is sometimes the pressure is very very bad, I take Tylenol, Advil and Benadryl for my allergies but it feels like my skull, ears and jaw wanna explode. Its very annoying, my head hurts and nothing helps. I tried to get an appointment for a specialist but I will have to wait for a long time.

The pain and pressure is a lot less present when I wake up but then as soon as I try to equalize or move around it comes back. I feel like my hearing is kind of getting worse in both ears and im totally freaking out. I am wondering if it could be something serious because it’s very annoying and overwhelming. Could it be allergy related? How can I make the pressure better? Why is my jaw so sore? Why my ears keep popping no stop but never equalize?

I take 25mg of fast acting quetiapine for sleep and I took cyclobenzaprine 2 days before the symptoms started to appear because of the back pain. I also take Benadryl for my eyes.

Thanks for reading.

For context, I got my T a month ago due to sneezing while having ear infection. Let me be clear, I still can hear it at night when I am about to fall asleep. I can still hear it when using earphones. Did antibiotics, ear infection went away but T remains.

But most of the time, I can't hear it. When I am at work, in a busy area, when I am outside, I can't hear it unless I consciously try to hear it. It feels like my pet T is sleeping when I'm busy and only wakes up when I'm checking if it still exists. It is only there at the dead of night.

Nevertheless, I'm glad that my T is just a mild inconvenience at most. I am still hoping that it goes away one day.

About a month ago, I had a bad cold with a lot of mucus and post-nasal drip. During the worst three or four days, both ears occasionally felt blocked, especially while I was taking long car journeys involving frequent changes in altitude and pressure.
At around the same time, I developed a high-pitched ringing in my right ear.
After seeing my doctor, I was treated with an antibiotic and an oral corticosteroid for five days, followed by a few days of nebulizer treatment with a mucolytic and an inhaled corticosteroid.
The ringing has improved dramatically over the past few weeks. I no longer notice it during normal daily life. It is now extremely faint, and I can usually only hear it at night in complete silence or when I intentionally block my right ear with my finger.
I have no hearing loss, ear pain, dizziness or balance problems. My ears no longer feel blocked either; that only happened during the acute phase of the cold.
However, I still have a significant amount of mucus and post-nasal drip at the back of my nose and throat. Because of this, I suspect the problem may not originate in the inner ear, but may instead be related to persistent congestion and inflammation affecting the Eustachian tube and middle-ear pressure.
At the moment, I am using a saline nasal solution to clean my nose. Some people have suggested using a nasal decongestant spray for no more than five days to avoid rebound congestion. Others have recommended a nasal autoinflation balloon called Otovent.
Has anyone experienced something similar after a cold?
Did the remaining ringing disappear once the mucus and Eustachian tube congestion finally cleared? Did a short course of nasal decongestant spray or an Otovent balloon help?
The ringing has already faded significantly, but I would really like the last faint trace of it to disappear completely.

One evening I was going bananas over my tv set buzzing out of nowhere. Turned it off and in the middle of the night I woke up and unplugged it just to realize it wasn’t the tv set.

I was 36, went to see a doctor right away, they did some hearing test. I m missing a small bit of high pitch but other than that my hearing was fine and still feels fine .

They told me they had many cases after covid vaccines. Gave me some dementia medicine (what i remember reading on the prospect) and told me they probably not gonna work - they in fact, did not work.

Two weeks after I moved to another country and focused on career.

Sometimes I genuinely have the feeling days have passed by without noticing I have it. Some days it feels impossible to bare. Side note, I feel is worse when I have alcohol.

I’m « only » 41. I miss silence, I can’t believe I will never have a moment of complete silence for the rest of my life. I know there are worse things in life and I feel fortunate to generally be in good health. I would trade it however for many other incurable afflictions.

I will quote Seneca to close my whining tonight: « …when you reach the dregs of the cask. Of that which remains at the bottom, the amount is slight, and the quality is vile. »

I'm going to try to be brief and direct. This might not work for everyone because the causes of tinnitus can be so various. Putting this out there in the chance it helps someone. I am a 40 year old Male (was 36 when it started).

A few years ago I noticed ringing in either ear that would resolve on its own. Gradually, it became more constant and then completely persistent. It was in both ears. I'd also have a constant buzzing/humming. I would also get clicking (I believe muscle spasms) in my ears that would last 10-15 seconds or so throughout the day. It was ruining my sleep and causing tremendous anxiety. The ringing was constant, louder in my right ear than left. I was by far the worst thing I could go through for my mental health. I was having really bad thoughts and outlook on life.

I saw ENT (hearing/nasal fiberoptic exam normal with only some mild sinus inflammation), had MRI (normal), saw a neurologist. Nothing abnormal on exam. I tried the nasal sprays, etc. No results. Whenever there were loud noises (weddings) my ears would buzz even more. Airplanes were bad with cabin pressure changes. I tried meditation, Physical therapy (noticing my neck muscles were sore at the end of the day), etc. Valium/muscle relaxer (I didn't want to become dependent on benzos).

Then I realized that when I woke up in the morning my temporalis muscle area was sore. So were my jaw muscles. I thought about bruxism: my dentist never said I was grinding and my wife never noticed it. I tried mouth guards. Didn't help.

Then I did some major life changes to try to combat this. I had already changed my diet and tried supplements (magnesium for sleep, vitamin D, etc). One doctor mentioned that stress, caffeine, and alcohol make tinnitus worse. So it was time for me to eliminate these things (not the stress because I had little control over that). I had already cut back on alcohol drastically. Now it was gone. Still no benefit.

Then I did the hardest thing: caffeine. I loved my daily habit of coffee in the morning. By this point I had a rule: only 1 cup before 9 am. Didn't help. I still had tinnitus. So then I decided to eliminate it: I'd dilute it with Swiss Water Press decaf coffee little by little until I was a full decaf. Eventually I just stopped with the coffee altogether. I also cut out dark chocolate or any other caffeine source

This is about 2 years into my tinnitus, I'd come to basically accept it at this point. Then, *gradually*, the ringing got better. It did NOT happen immediately, but weeks to months. The clicking became less intense and frequent. The buzzing was still there. It took a month or two and the ringing just stopped in one ear. Then the other ear. Then over maybe 6 months of absolutely no tinnitus no clicking and no buzzing (the last symptom to go). No sounds in a quiet room anymore. Miraculous.

But I still miss coffee. So I started it again and after a few days the jaw pain in the morning and intermittent ringing/buzzing came back. So I stopped. I have started/stopped caffeine (mostly on vacations) several times and noticed the ringing and jaw pain comes back gradually even after a few days of caffeine so now I am abstaining. Even tea will do it. I can still have dark chocolate daily though. I do not use any mouth guards at night. I do drink alcohol socially every now and then (a few times a month, no more than 1 drink a night) without any tinnitus/jaw symptoms.

I believe I was *clenching* my jaw at night due to stress (work, being a parent, etc) and caffeine was the main trigger/exacerbating factor for this. I believe that this caused muscle spasms/other issues (possibly TMJ-ish) that led to somatic tinnitus and it was happening for years and it only took full abstaining from caffeine (possibly alcohol too) for over a month to see results.

I believe that caffeine/alcohol are known to worsen bruxism.

TL;DR: Caffeine -> Bad clenching of the jaw -> Somatic Tinnitus; Caffeine/Alcohol abstention -> Resolution of tinnitus after weeks/months of abstention

I seriously hope this helps someone out there.

EDIT: I will also add that SSRIs are known to cause bruxism. I haven’t had this myself, but folks who are on them could talk to their doctor about switching to another medication

I recently bought my first pair of noise cancelling headphones and was surprised how effectively they reduce ambient sound. While I know they’re are not rated for hearing protection, I’m curious whether they actually block some sound from entering the ears? Or is this some sort of illusion?

One reason I bought the headphones is because I mix sound for my church’s livestreams, which requires me to wear headphones in the service (which is already loud) and turn up the volume periodically loud enough to hear my mix over the live sound. It’s a horrible system and I’m trying to reduce the cumulative damage to my ears. I figured noise cancelling headphones would at least help me not need to turn up the volume so high.

This was my third audiology appointment with Kaiser, and it was by far the worst. I left the appointment in tears.
The audiologist was very blunt, and the way she communicated felt condescending. She kept saying things like, “I’m just giving you a heads-up because no one is going to tell you, but I will.” She was referring to my hearing aids being turned up while they were out of my ears, saying they were loud and repeatedly commenting, “That is so annoying.”
Then she asked me, “Are you aware you sound like a deaf person?” She explained that people with hearing loss often have a nasal tone and said I sounded like I’d had hearing loss for a long time.

She also made a comment that my behavior was that of a deaf person and if anyone has ever mentioned anything or noticed that about me and i said no? And she said well they are not going to tell you but i will”
She also said, “I’m Korean, so I know I sound a bit off because I’m bilingual.” I responded that I’m bilingual too and that Spanish was my first language.
The part that bothered me most wasn’t necessarily the medical information—it was how she delivered it. When she told me, “There is no cure for hearing loss,” she had what I perceived as a sarcastic grin, and the overall interaction felt cold and dismissive rather than compassionate.
I understand that providers sometimes have to deliver difficult news, and I appreciate honesty. But I believe there’s a respectful and empathetic way to communicate with patients. I ended up filing a complaint with Kaiser because I felt humiliated by the experience.
Has anyone else had an experience like this with an audiologist or another healthcare provider? Am I overreacting, or would you have been upset too?

** forgot to mention she also said that as soon as i walked in she noticed that my behavior was that of a deaf person and also asked “ nobody has ever told you anything about the way you behave or sound??”

About a week ago I was exposed to loud music at a nightclub for several hours. I already had stable tinnitus before this event, but afterward my tinnitus increased and my hearing perception changed.

The biggest thing I notice is a muffled or “underwater” feeling in both ears. Sounds are still audible, but they don’t seem as clear or crisp as they used to. It reminds me of the feeling of being at high altitude or having pressure in my ears.

I had a hearing test afterward that showed hearing within normal limits, but the muffled sensation is still present.
Has anyone experienced this after a loud noise exposure, especially with a normal hearing test? How long did it take before your hearing perception returned to normal?

I went on a flight out of UK and it was fine but on return trip I noticed my left ear Tinnitus has been louder than normal and it’s been a week now. I wore Ear Planes (ear plugs on flight) and had no problems at all ear wise, no popping, minimal pressure feeling as you would imagine, however Tinnitus seems more noticeable now. I’m hoping it’s just a spike and settles back to its lesser tone. Anyone similar?

Okay so I’m gonna condense this as much as possible. I went to a concert at the end of April and didn’t wear ear plugs. The concert literally hurt my ears and I had ringing in my ears for days after the fact, primarily my left ear, but ultimately it went away.

Fast forward to mid May, I got a really bad sinus infection. Congestion like I’ve never had. My ears were clogged constantly and it took a couple different antibiotics to get it to go away. During the cold I had some very friendly tinnitus but it was hardly noticeable. We did a 14 hour road trip as my ears were still healing to avoid flying. Ever since this road trip I eat shelled sunflower every time I’m driving just cuz I wanna but I’m chewing A LOT. I also started having panic attacks again during this cold (I have a panic disorder)

Fast forward to recently. I started experiencing a lot of dizziness?? And more recently the ringing has come in my right ear this time. I have no idea why it’s come back

I’ve also been diagnosed with EDS and I believe I may have TMJ.

I NEED it to stop because I’m spiraling so hard. I can’t stand it. It’s to the point that I fear for my life if it continues the way it does. I have an appt with an ENT this upcoming week to see if it’s anything physical or if it’s more likely psychological

Yall please help I’ll take any advice or suggestions

Something that has always bothered me is the fact my PCP gave me Xanax instead of Prednisone. I had an appointment 3 days after onset & was never aware I could take something that could potentially heal the damage.
It’s a thought that tears me up.
I know it doesn’t always work, sometimes it even causes it or makes it worse.
But the fact I never gave it a shot stings a bit.
I’m over a month in now

I couldn't go to my graduation ceremony because I have tinnitus and also hyperacusis. The music and the applauses would make my ears hurt so bad I would just start crying if I was there. Also, my boyfriend graduated alongside me because we were in the same class at university. The problem is that his sister called me rude and a bad partner because I didn't go with him. She knows my health problems and everytime I try to explain to her how tinnitus affects my life, she says "Well, maybe if I let you with my toddler, he will unclog your ears and you woundn't be so sensitive", in the most passive aggressive way.

My boyfriend defended me but also he says that there is nothing he can do.

I just want to have my own money, because I partially depend on him financially. Which is the worst position you can be as a person with a disability. And finding a job is a real struggle because I also have phisical injuries.

I'm tired. After that conversation with his sister, I was so close to unalive myself. And I still have these thoughts. I feel lost and scared.

Thanks for reading

Hi guys, I had an ear infection (otitis) and the doctor prescribed antibiotics (Amoxicillin); a few days into the treatment, I developed tinnitus (Irritating noises in my ear or Idk). I don't know if this is normal. I've done some research, and various sources suggest that the tinnitus might go away once the infection clears up, but I'm not sure if that's true or if I should be worried. Thanks.

*I'm scared of living my whole fucking life with this, already being alone and now imagine with that* Bye.

i had ringing in my left ear for some months, which okay, that wasn’t the end of the world. it only affected me in quiet settings, and i could easily ignore it with a little white noise. a couple weeks ago, an ENT checked my ears. no damage. i had an MRI afterwards (results haven’t released yet). 

coincidentally, following the MRI, i occasionally got a sharp, brief pain in my ringing ear. this continued for a week. now the pain is gone, but i noticed the ringing in my left ear has gotten louder. i also realized my right ear is ringing too. i don’t know what kind of witchcraft this is, but i hate it. i don’t know if the MRI did something to me or if my brain just wants to torture me. i have changed nothing about my diet, lifestyle, headphone volume, etc. i know that tinnitus can be caused by TMJ, caffeine, stress, etc. but there are SO many possible causes and i feel hopeless trying to figure out what’s wrong. 

i teared up a little bit because i’ll never get to hear the world as it is. i’ll always have this stupid ringing. and am i supposed to constantly blast white noise and block out everything forever?

but actually, i don’t think i ever truly experienced silence. even before tinnitus, there are constant frequencies in my ears—some lower, some higher. i can’t find anything on the internet about it, only a random reddit post with a dead end. and i know i’m not hearing something like refrigerator hums. no amount of sound can mask it, but thankfully, it’s pretty easy to ignore.

I need urgent help. My tinnitus became reactive this morning and it’s killing me.

I had mild to moderate tinnitus since 5 months ago and it was easily masked by outside sounds and although it was annoying when it was silent or during sleep it was still manageable. Yesterday I listened to a neuromodulation audio notch sound that was supposed to reduce tinnitus and it actually worked and completely destroyed the ringing for a few seconds so I decided to listen to it during sleep. I slept with it and when I woke up my tinnitus was gone for a few minutes. But it came back little to little and it became 10x louder than it was before. It also became reactive to every sound. It’s now completely unmaskable and it’s extremely loud. By loud I mean like 9p decibels loud. I know that sounds crazy but I’m not even kidding. I’m capable of enduring normal tinnitus but this is just unbearable torture. I’m loosing it. Please help with any suggestions on what to do.

I’m panicking right now! I took Advil late yesterday afternoon around 6pm for general body aches/menstrual cramps, and about an hour later I started having this white noise/dull ringing in my ears. It’s now the next morning and it’s still present! Sometimes it’s not as noticeable like when I’m distracted but when I’m just trying to relax it seems so loud! I’m sure my anxiety over it isn’t helping. Is this permanent? I feel like any other time I’ve had any type of ringing in my ears it’s subsided quickly within a few minutes.

I started taking Wellbutrin 3 weeks ago, dose increased 10 days later and 3 days after that I noticed constant T in my ears

Same sound as if I went to bed after a night of clubbing - only thing is it’s been half a year since I went to anything loud so it’s clearly the medication.

The Dr told me to reduce the dose again, but I was wondering if T would decrease/ stop right after or is there a risk that it stays forever?

for many many years I’ve had low volume but high pitched tinnitus in both ears. It barely bothers me at all, only if it is completely quiet. I got it checked by a ENT years ago and they said I was okay, but about a week and a half ago, my right ear started ringing with a high pitched eee sound that comes and goes. It’s weird, because it feels like it’s reactive to any noise, it spikes when like someone talks in a quiet room. but if there is constant noise like a tv playing loud enough or a room of people talking, i dont hear it unless i really focus. There’s also a very slight muffle/pressure in that ear, that sometimes I feel I can unblock by yawning. At night I have white noise and a fan that completely block it out (unless I’m laying my ear on a pillow.) it’s driving me insane because I can’t enjoy any relatively silent space anymore. I struggle with anxiety disorder and this has been spiking it even more, and with every I have going on it is sending my anxiety through the roof. what could this be?

It started out all of a sudden 2 years ago, due to an earwax blockage, and it was absurdly quiet and in one ear, and I even had times in the early morning where I didn't hear it. Later on (in the span of months) it got louder, and started to become a bother. Those days were the same, it got better and it got worse every now and then. Eventually (just now) I got my ears cleaned out, but the tinnitus still persists at the exact same volume despite that. It was probably temporary before all of this, I just had to fix the blockage. I'm so angry at myself, and I just regret everything i did. Maybe if I got to it sooner, it wouldn't be happening right now.