“What’s that annoying sound in my ears?” “How can I make that noise go away?”
If you find yourself making these kinds of statements, you may be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing condition where you hear noises or perceive a sound that others don’t hear. This is more common than you might think. Millions of people have this disorder.
Ringing, pulsing, whistling, or buzzing are the sounds that the majority of people describe.
Ringing in the ears might seem harmless, depending on its intensity. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be ignored. Tinnitus symptoms can often be a sign of something more significant taking place in your body.
Here are 6 tinnitus symptoms you should take seriously.
1. Your Quality of Life is Being Affected by The Ringing in Your Ears
26% of individuals who have tinnitus cope with symptoms constantly, according to some studies.
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and relationship troubles are all possible consequences of this ever present ringing.
Something as simple as listening to your daughter share a recipe over the phone becomes a struggle between her voice and the noise that overshadows it. You might snap at your grandchild, who simply asks a question, because the ringing makes you stressed.
Continuous ringing can cause a vicious cycle. The ringing gets louder as your stress level goes up. Loud noise makes you more anxious and so on.
If tinnitus is leading to these kinds of life challenges, it’s time to deal with it. It’s real, and it impacts your quality of life. There are treatment options that can considerably reduce or get rid of the noise in your ears.
2. After You Switched Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Whether you have persistent back pain or cancer, doctors may try numerous different medications to manage the same condition. You may ask for an alternative solution if you begin to experience severe side effects. Contact your doctor and find out what the side effects are if you started experiencing tinnitus symptoms after starting a new medication.
Some common medications might cause tinnitus. Here are a few examples:
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Antibiotics
- Loop Diuretics
- Chemo
- Over-the-counter painkillers (Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, and even aspirin) when taken several times a day for an extended period of time.
3. It Comes With Blurred Vision, Headache, or Seizures
This normally indicates that your tinnitus symptoms are being caused by high blood pressure. The blood flow in your inner ear is compromised when you have hypertension. Your general health is also in danger with high blood pressure. Age related hearing loss, over time, will get worse because of this.
4. You Always Seem to be Leaving Work, The Gym, or a Concert When You Hear it
If you only hear the tinnitus when you leave a loud place like a concert, aerobics class, factory, or bar, then the place you just left had unsafe levels of noise. If you neglect this episodic tinnitus and don’t begin to safeguard your ears, it will likely become constant over time. And it’s usually accompanied by hearing loss.
If you enjoy a noisy night out, take precautions like:
- Not standing too close to the speakers
- At least once an hour, step outside or into the restroom to give your ears a break
- Wearing earplugs
Adhere to the rules regarding earplugs and earmuffs if you work in a loud environment. Your safety gear will only effectively protect you if you use it correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
Whether you have ringing in your ears or not, you should never disregard facial paralysis. But when you have nausea, paralysis, headaches, and you also have tinnitus, it’s possible that you may have an acoustic neuroma (a slow growing benign brain tumor).
6. Fluctuating Hearing Loss is Accompanying Tinnitus
Are you experiencing hearing loss that comes and goes? Do you feel dizzy off and on? When accompanied by tinnitus, this means you need to be screened for Meniere’s disease. This causes your ears to ears get a fluid imbalance. Your risk of falling caused by lack of balance will get worse if this disorder is left untreated.
Hearing loss is frequently signaled by tinnitus. So if you are experiencing it, you need to have your hearing examined more frequently. Give us a call to set up an appointment.
