Hi everyone,
So I have had tinnitus in the left ear now for 3.5 months, started out of the blue when I went out for a cigarette at the start of January.
Recently went for another audiogram which showed my left ear is actually better than my right ear (left was pretty much a flat line in normal hearing range which has the tinnitus and the right which showed a dip at 8k but still within normal range with no tinnitus) Ive also done a tome test online (yes I know this isnt reliable but I could hear upto 17000khz) Also had a DPOAE done and that passed so the audiologist was confident that the cochlea is okay. Also had a speech in noise test which I passed.
The tinnitus started as a simple pure tone noise for around a month and a half before morphing now into now an aggressive ringing/screeching. I use a sleep band at night with nature sounds which does help but the tinnitus fights against it just slightly. Ive got pregabalin which seems to help with it.
My tinnitus has a somatic component by which I get a high pitched noise followed by silence for a second when stretching my neck and putting pressure on my forehead and the back of my skull. I also experience crackling noises when swallowing in my ears and when doing tbe valsalva, my left ear makes 5 popping sounds.
Im assuming because Pregabalin helps although I feel a bit spaced out when taking this is got to be neuro related in some way or some ETD or both maybe? I dont know anymore 🤦🏻♂️
My ENT seemed confident that it will take a good amount of time but it should fade away.
I dont hear it in the shower and when getting out I hear silence for around 15 seconds (residual inhibition at its finest) I don't hear it in the car with thr radio on low volume, I dont hear it or barely hear it while out in nature or in a supermarket.
I know im still early days into tinnitus and with it being unilateral, it could point to issues with my neck or cervical area. Already seen a TMJ surgeon who did botox but that did absolutely nothing.
I'm currently taking varenicline before quitting smoking which I started 5 days ago (my quit date will be in 2 days once in my system for a week) Also have Campral coming as that can calm Glutamate and increase GABA and LDN (Low Dose Natroxlone) as I suffer from psoriasis on my scalp so suspect theres an immune issue for neuro inflammation. Could all of this help with my tinnitus? Do you think I can recover?
Many thanks for reading and any advice is welcome!