Tinnitus - The ringing in my ears!!!

[MinuteMan47]

Someone else touched on this subject in another thread, but I wanted more information so I started this one.

My ear (left) has been ringing NON STOP for a little over two years, that's probably nothing compared to some people. I made some very poor choices and shot one too many times without hearing protection...now I am going to have to live with this (from what I understand) the rest of my life! This is not a soft ringing...it is a high pitched LOUD ring that I hear NON STOP! I am curious to see how many others suffer from this HORRIBLE ringing like I do, and what, if anything, you do to help control it (if you can). Any information you have will be helpful. And please...make sure you and the others you shoot with ALWAYS wear hearing protection, tinnitus is no joke and it sure as hell isn't something you want to be stuck with like me.

 

[NateIU10]

I have mild Tinnitus in both my ears. More of a softer ring, but still constant and annoying as hell ring.

 

[Joe Williams]

Right ear has been screaming at me for 20 some years now. Gives me an excuse not to hear the wife when I don't want to.

 

[redneckmedic]

My hearing protection fail (tension band broke) at an indoor range just as hand cannon was being shot to my right. Constant ringing for about 2 years now in my right ear. Gets bad at night when I'm falling asleep, and after semi-loud noises makes it get worse.

Heard about this (no pun intended), but haven't tried it.

Tinnitus - How to Quiet the Noise in Your Head in 2 Months Using This 3 Step System, Without Using Medication!

 

[alxjmrk]

Think on the bright side, at least you dont have it severe enough that other people can hear you tinnitus. i cant remember what its called and i dont know anyone that has it, but it SUCKS im sure. Im young and went to school for audio engineering, and im slightly paying already for cranking the system too loud when working a show, but how am i to hear whats going on with crap stuffed in my ears? its a lose-lose. Hope you find ways to cope my friend.

 

[TopDog]

I have really bad Tinnitus in both ears, the left worse than the right. VA hospital says nothing they can do about. I just accept is as part of spending a career as a Marine.

 

[jeremy]

6 years in the Artillery...

Can you please answer that F*cking phone...

 

[Hoosier8]

Someone set off a Klaxon about a foot from me and I lost some hearing in my left ear. I didn't think much about it in my early 30's but 20 years later as I have aged, the tinnitis is a loud high pitched ringing in that ear and I wear a hearing aid if I am with other people so I can hear them and keep the TV volume down.

Wearing the hearing aid seems to help the tinnitis somewhat but for the most part, I just don't notice it unless I am having trouble sleeping for some other reason. The quieter it is, the more it comes to my attention. There are devices that play a white noise or something to help blend it all in but I spent enough for one hearing aid that I just ain't spendin more for something I can't fix.

 

[Hoosier8]

6 years in the Artillery...

Can you please answer that F*cking phone...

Funny, I was talking to a security guard at a desk one day and I asked him if the high pitched whine from the security panel alarm bothered him. He said, "what noise".

Turns out he had been in the artillery.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Had it most of my life from playing with things that go bang long before anyone thought of hearing protection.

I can hear it unless there's a fair amount of other noise, but it doesn't bother me, probably since I've always had it. Only a problem when I am trying to figure if a high pitched noise I am hearing is real or my own.

I hate modern phone ringers, not only can I not hear them, but living in the woods they all sound too much like bird calls. I put a big old mechanical bell ringer on the phone, but can't do much about the cell. All the provided ringtones don't sound like a phone to me, and I refuse to pay just to hear my darned phone ring.

 

[clt46910]

Both ears for a number of years now. Hearing protection was not a big thing in my youth. Wish I had used it now. Mine is from firearms and jet airplanes.

 

[ATF Consumer]

Instead of learning to live with this annoying condition, several measures can be taken to reduce the severity of Tinnitus. To achieve this, one can do the following:

Avoid exposure to loud sounds and noises
Exercise daily for normal blood circulation
Have your blood pressure taken
Avoid coffee, tea, cola and tobacco (stimulants)
Decrease your intake of salt (impairs blood circulation and causes water retention)
Get adequate rest
Reduce the usage of earphones

 

[jeremy]

Instead of learning to live with this annoying condition, several measures can be taken to reduce the severity of Tinnitus. To achieve this, one can do the following:

Avoid exposure to loud sounds and noises To late... Now I do!
Exercise daily for normal blood circulation Do
Have your blood pressure taken Do regularly
Avoid coffee, tea, cola and tobacco (stimulants) Not a chance in H*ll!!!
Decrease your intake of salt (impairs blood circulation and causes water retention) Do
Get adequate rest Right I'll get right on this one...
Reduce the usage of earphones

I'll quit smoking as soon as people quit trying to kill me...
Until then it is one of the few relaxing things I am still allowed to do...

 

[Joe Williams]

Instead of learning to live with this annoying condition, several measures can be taken to reduce the severity of Tinnitus. To achieve this, one can do the following:

Avoid exposure to loud sounds and noises
Exercise daily for normal blood circulation
Have your blood pressure taken
Avoid coffee, tea, cola and tobacco (stimulants)
Decrease your intake of salt (impairs blood circulation and causes water retention)
Get adequate rest
Reduce the usage of earphones

But it doesn't always work

Do exercise daily.. Helping to lose weight, feel better, weight loss is doing wonders for my diabetes.
Just took my blood pressure. 110/71, pulse 61
Cannot touch caffeine
Almost never use salt. Very occasional use of garlic salt or sea salt in nuts. Occasional tater chips, but again diet controlled diabetes means not many of those!
Don't use earphones.
Would be nice to get rest. I do notice it's sometimes louder when I'm tired.

I'd love to get rid of it. But kind of wonder what it would be like without it now. Might get lonely or something.

 

[Dr Falken]

Had it most of my life from playing with things that go bang long before anyone thought of hearing protection.

I can hear it unless there's a fair amount of other noise, but it doesn't bother me, probably since I've always had it. Only a problem when I am trying to figure if a high pitched noise I am hearing is real or my own.

I hate modern phone ringers, not only can I not hear them, but living in the woods they all sound too much like bird calls. I put a big old mechanical bell ringer on the phone, but can't do much about the cell. All the provided ringtones don't sound like a phone to me, and I refuse to pay just to hear my darned phone ring.

Well thanks to you I always wear hearing protection when I do anything loud...be it guns or lawnmowers, or pounding fence posts..."hearing damage is cumalative" really stuck with me...unfortunately when I was younger my parents let me mow without hearing protection, and after that too much rock and roll. I hear a ringing when it's quite, but not that much really. My father, on the other hand after years of grinding and pounding and loud machines, well his tinitus drives him crazy.

 

[jeremy]

I use a fan when I am trying to sleep...
It helps...
Drives the wife nuts though...

 

[Ashkelon]

The ringing in the ears helps quiet the voices....

 

[MinuteMan47]

I use a fan when I am trying to sleep...
It helps...
Drives the wife nuts though...

Same method I use...and if it's really bad then Tylenol PM helps

 

[Soundslikejosh]

Home Page | American Tinnitus Association

A fan, a quiet radio, TV on at a low level. Also there are some "noise generators" available. The basic idea is still the same, create some background noise so that the tinnitus isn't so noticeable. Clinical treatments for tinnitus generally recommend that your masking noise (TV, fan, etc) not be louder than the ringing. You don't want it to cover up the ringing, just make it seem less loud.

If you think you have hearing loss in addition to hearing loss, you should pursue a hearing test. Many hearing aid wearers find relief from their tinnitus just by wearing the aids. If this is an option for you, I would consider it. In the VA clinic where I work, we won't initiate a tinnitus treatment plan until the person tries hearing aids, because they are a great first line of defense.

If you are a veteran, find your local VA Audiology department and ask for their help.

Regardless of where you go, be skeptical if you hear "there's nothing we can do for you."

If you find your tinnitus very bothersome, research "Neuromonics". Its not easy nor cheap, but they are reporting success in some people.

Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, or post in this thread.

 

[littletommy]

I've had it for 20+ years, I also use a fan for sleeping. Most of the time I have to think about the ringing to actually notice it much. I am a real stickler about hearing protection now, but didn't think much about it when I was younger. A few years ago we had a cordless phone that had a ringtone in a frequency I could NOT hear, period. it was very strange, and when we first got it, I got some funny looks from the wife and kids.