The noise in my left ear has become constant. I've given up hope of determining a cause. Many visits to GPs and to ENT clnics have turned up nothing. Oh, there've been some spectacular misdiagnoses along the way! Last month, after I developed a really nasty infection in my left ear, an emergency GP told me that I had a major wax build-up. She prescribed antibiotic drops for one week, to clear the infection, whilst I had to use olive oil for two weeks, to soften the wax. Thereafter, she said, I had to have my ear syringed, to clear the rest of the wax......
So, accordingly, I made appointment and presented myself for syringing. But the nurse couldn't SEE any wax in my ear at all! She undertook some gentle syringing, anyway - but no wax came out......
Weeks later, I STILL have constant tinnitus. It's driving me nuts! It's a never-ending whine in my left ear. There's virtually no hearing left on that side. In bed, I can't hear my radio, if my left ear is on my pillow. It's as though all sound is being filtered through some kind of thick cloth. While the whining sound continues, driving me near-mad!
At times it seems as though the whine is emphasised by my pulse beat. Can't really explain, save to say that it seems that the noise in my ear keeps time with my pulse. Every beat of my pulse produces a pulsatingly-correspondant throb of noise in my left ear. And not one doctor, out of the several I've been referred to, can find an explanation for this phenomenon......All I know, in REAL terms, is that it's driving me MAD!
PS: apologies for typos......
I thought I had it bad but reading your post and others, I really shouldn't complain. There seems to be no answer to the problem. You'd think that
with all the capabilities and knowledge that scientists and doctors have, someone would be able to help .
Maybe request a brain scan, just to rule everything out. And research the best audiologist at an institute where they are doing research, you need an expert. And in the meantime some calming medication, you need to be looked after.
Hi, I feel your pain. I started having constant tinnitus over a month ago and I don't know how I'm going to go on living with this condition. I have since found out that the high dose of Atorvastatin I was on is probably the cause. I had my hearing tested and have some hearing loss in both ears. It's very very upsetting.
The way I feel is if they're going to give us drugs that cause health problems, then they should at least have something to help us with those problems that the damn drug companies cause. Check all of the meds that you are on. There may be some that are ototoxic. The damage may already be done but at least you can get off it to prevent further damage.
I'm not sure, but if it's caused by drugs then doesn't it eventually stop, it's just a temporary thing? A friend of mine in the US got it from taking aspirin and it did eventually go.
It's not listed in the side effects, so hopefully it might just go eventually?
That's what I thought too, but there have been cases of permanent hearing loss with Atorvastatin. Once the ototoxic process takes place, the damage is done - it may or may not reverse or get better with time, depending on the extent of the damage. I'm hoping for some improvement over time, but at this point I just don't know and it's very scary. Doing a lot of praying about it. Actually these side effects are a real risk with this drug but they are rare: tinnitus - 1/1000; hearing loss - 1/10,000, but when you consider the millions of people taking these drugs, that's potentially a lot of people! The public needs to know this.