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Does anybody else have Tinnitus?

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spugzbunny
spugzbunny Posts: 1,235 Forumite
edited 25 January 2010 at 5:44PM in Health & beauty MoneySaving
Hi!

I have tinnitus :(. I've had it for a bout 3.5 months now. I'm off to the hospital for a tinnitus clinic on Wednesday and I was wondering if anyone had any advise on what to ask or what to expect?

I'm not holding out much hope to be honest as the letter they sent me prior to the appointment mainly refered to coping techniques. I was hoping they'd help me get rid of it so I'd really like to make sure I get the most out of this appointment as I can and it isn't just brushed under the NHS carpet!

If it helps anyone, I have tinnitus in one ear most likely due to a blocked eustachain (SP?) tube rather than noise induced. I am also moderately deaf in that ear at the higher range (tested at GP). Oh and I'm 27 :(:(

Thanks in advance! :beer:
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£17,700 / £20,000
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Comments

  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,349 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Sorry, but whoever invents a cure for tinnitus could make a fortune! However there are coping strategies and hopefully you'll find some which help.

    Have you looked at the RNID's site? Do a search for tinnitus and see what that comes up with.
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  • spugzbunny
    spugzbunny Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    Thanks for your reply Sue. Yes I have looked at RNID and the tinnitus society websites. It's just so frustrating that something that is blocked cannot be unblocked!

    I'm surprised nobody else here has it! I was hoping for someone's first hand experience with a local NHS tinnitus clinic so that I have an idea what to expect! I guess I'll let you know tomorrow!
    House saving Targets:
    £17,700 / £20,000
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,349 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Well, I sometimes have it but don't notice it when I do. DH has it permanently but has never been to a clinic about it and manages to just get on with it (which I realise not everyone can!) I know my mum has it, and I suspect my 3 siblings who use hearing aids have it.

    I know there are others on the forum with it, and no doubt they'll be along in time ... But I don't remember anyone talking about a tinnitus clinic.
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  • Adaline
    Adaline Posts: 269 Forumite
    Hi OP, Lots of sympathies, I've had it for a while, but it's got worse over the past month, so I'm also off to hospital soon to have a consultation at the ENT clinic. My doctor thinks it's linked to sinus problems, but they probably can't do much about it. I need to keep the radio on all night now in order to sleep, otherwise the ringing is too loud!
  • spugzbunny
    spugzbunny Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    Adaline wrote: »
    Hi OP, Lots of sympathies, I've had it for a while, but it's got worse over the past month, so I'm also off to hospital soon to have a consultation at the ENT clinic. My doctor thinks it's linked to sinus problems, but they probably can't do much about it. I need to keep the radio on all night now in order to sleep, otherwise the ringing is too loud!


    yes yes yes that's it! I'm exactly the same. I can cope with the noise somedays and I find the sound of traffic covers it for some reason but otherwise I can hear it over everything. It's as loud as a shout but it's a ringing sound. It also changes pitch and volume pretty frequently and that makes it more obvious for a period time afterwards. My local hospital has a tinitus specialist within the ENT clinic so my GP referred me.

    I heard someone say that they think of it as the sound of silence but it upsets me to think I'll never 'hear' silence again. I'm also freaked out that my hearing loss will increase so I hope the specialist will put my mind at rest.

    I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow so that you know what to expect when you see the ENT. Have you had a hearing test yet?
    House saving Targets:
    £17,700 / £20,000
  • Hiya, I'm sorry to hear the problems you are dealing with. If ENT is less than helpful (they do tend to be most interested in the people who can be 'fixed'), many hospitals have a hearing centre as well as a tinnitus clinic, and you may have to press for a referral to them for assistance. They can also refer you to outside organisations who can help with different gadgets to try and make life easier.

    I've got quite a few people in my life with hearing problems of one kind or another.

    The Bloke has a degree of hearing loss and tinnitus. Judging by the way he has lost top range (the sibilant sounds - sss fff th) and the bass notes, I reckoned it has something to do with noise related damage from power tools & gigs. The people at the hospital confirmed this was the cause of the vast majority of his difficulties. They said that there is no reason he should lose any more of his hearing if he keeps to the usual rules about protecting himself.

    There is also an element of processing difficulties, originating from severe and prolonged glue ear as a boy, but he is about to start a short course of listening exercises at the hospital to try and mitigate the effects of this.

    An example of a musically based listening exercise would be to listen to a favourite piece of music and try and follow the bass for a few bars, then hear the drums, then the rhythm guitar, etc, etc, just practising directing your attention to what 'matters' at each point. A home one is to turn the TV down to the minimum audible, then closing your eyes and 'reaching' for the clock ticking, or the fridge humming/boiler kicking in. At first you hear nothing, but as time goes on, you can become more aware of sounds other than the obvious ones. It doesn't cure anything, but it makes what you do have more useful to you.

    As his brother is a musician with a quite successful band, Bloke was worried he wouldn't be able to go and see him when they started their tour. The nice lady at the hospital hearing centre ordered him a set of earplugs designed to protect him from amplification damage whilst still being able to hear him perform (although the way his brother plays his 6 string detuned bass, I think you feel it more than hear it anyway :D)

    I read recently that a technique is being developed where the particular frequencies of the noise are detected and are digitally removed from the person's favourite music. After a period of time listening to the music, the brain uses the tinnitus sounds to fill in the gaps in the tracks and a significant number of people report the nuisance factor of the tinnitus decreasing over the following weeks.

    So I secretly adjusted the equaliser settings on his mp3 player - and set a volume limiter [sigh] - I'm not saying it cured him - obviously - but he hasn't moaned about it quite so much recently.


    My brother is profoundly deaf in one ear due to acoustic neuromae and his problems are completely different to my mother, who has had tinnitus from about 1986 and now has two hearing aids for age related hearing loss (or a karmic backlash for all the times she would yell in my face and whack me around the side of the head, depending on which way you look at it). My grandfather was very deaf (although that may have been due to continued bombardment in WWI) and would always watch my mother and, as soon as her eyebrows lifted to have a go at him for something, he would pretend to scratch the back of his ear. I was about 6 and can clearly remember watching from behind, shocked as I realised he was actually flicking the switch on his hearing aid to 'OFF' for the duration :D I never told her he was doing it; in a strange way, I was probably a bit jealous that he could 'switch her off' :rotfl:

    Strangely enough though, I have ears like a bat. Those mosquito devices drive me insane, a malfunctioning security door had me phoning the council on their emergency number, begging them to fix it before I took a sledgehammer to it, and not only can I hear things like a DD2 sneakily switching on her DSi at night, I have to go around turning every electrical appliance off at night as I can hear them on standby.

    Silence is never silence - there's the low frequency rumble of traffic a mile away, the trains 5 miles away, aeroplanes at 25,000 ft, a breeze through every tree, birds, people, dogs, foxes, bats fluttering past in the dark after moths, bugs, people breathing, your own stomach noises, the sound of the blood through your ears, neighbours talking, televisions, etc. People learn to not pay attention to those things because they are not useful to our everyday lives.

    I hope you find a satisfactory answer to your worries, as you can see, everyone is different, but the upshot is that there is help out there for you!
    I could dream to wide extremes, I could do or die: I could yawn and be withdrawn and watch the world go by.
    colinw wrote: »
    Yup you are officially Rock n Roll :D
  • Adaline
    Adaline Posts: 269 Forumite
    spugzbunny wrote: »
    I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow so that you know what to expect when you see the ENT. Have you had a hearing test yet?

    I'm going to the hospital for the hearing test and ENT in a week and half. My hearing has become more muffled, I find it harder to focus on an indivdual voice in the pub, for instance, if there's a lot of noise around. Hope everything goes well for you at the ENT clinic, and I'll appreciate hearing (doh!) about it afterwards.
    A.
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,349 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Ah well, if it's deafness we're talking about, there's a whole gaggle over on the disability board in this thread.

    JoJo, although I have a mild hearing loss in one ear, it's only me who hears some of the most annoying noises in the house. If I accidentally switch my hearing aid on when I'm not wearing it, no-one but me hears it whistling! :rotfl: However I'm atypical, in that I've lost the low not the high frequencies - so far!
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  • spugzbunny
    spugzbunny Posts: 1,235 Forumite
    Jojo the Tightfisted - Thank you for your post. It was all very interesting and also entertaining. Thank you for taking the time to write that! I will re-read that following my appointment today and definately have a go at some of those exercises!

    Adaline - Oddly enough I noticed my hearing was going when I was in the pub as well. I find it very hard to pick out individual voices when a lot of people are talking and often I just can't hear people. That prompted me to go back to the doctors. So far I've been on a steroid nasal spray for a couple of months now (which is horrid!) which was suppossed to help reduce the production of mucous and give my eustachian tubes a chance to unblock.

    I had a follow up appointment at the GP after a few weeks and I had a hearing test done and I was referred to the 'Hearing Therapy and Tinnitus Clinic' at my hospital. The results of the hearing test show that I have 'moderate' hearing loss in the high ranges which is the range that my tinnitus usually sings away at! The levels of loss were mild, moderate and severe. To be honest, it's the 'muffled' hearing' that bothers me the most because I'm constantly saying pardon, what, sorry!

    From reading the RNID website it would seem I am pretty lucky to have a specialist tinnitus clinic close by so fingers crossed I'll gain some relief and hopefully some answers today!
    House saving Targets:
    £17,700 / £20,000
  • Savvy_Sue
    Savvy_Sue Posts: 47,349 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Is it the same as when children need grommets? If so I think there's a balloon therapy which is supposed to help them. May be worth asking about ...

    Here you go - AND the British Tinnitus Association too!
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