“What’s that ringing in my ears?” “Why won’t that noise stop?”
You may be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing condition that manifests noises in your ears that nobody else can hear, if you find yourself making these types of statements. You’re not alone. Tinnitus is a disorder that impacts millions of individuals.
Most describe it as ringing in the ears, but it can also sound like a pulsing noise, a dial tone, buzzing, or whistling.
Depending on the intensity, ringing in the ears might seem harmless. But there are absolutely times when you shouldn’t disregard it. Tinnitus symptoms can frequently be a sign of something more serious happening in your body.
You need to take the following 6 symptoms seriously.
1. Your Quality of Life is Being Affected by The Ringing in Your Ears
Some research suggests that 26% of tinnitus sufferers cope with that ringing on a nearly constant basis.
This annoying, ever-present noise can lead to all kinds of relationship troubles, anxiety, insomnia, and even depression.
Something as easy as listening to your daughter share a recipe over the phone becomes a battle between her voice and the noise that overshadows it. The nonstop ringing has stressed you out to the point where you snap at a member of the family who asks you a question.
Continuous ringing can become a vicious cycle. As your stress level rises, the ringing gets louder. And you get more anxious the louder the noise is and on and on.
If tinnitus is leading to these types of life challenges, it’s time to address it. It’s real, and it impacts your quality of life. The noise can be reduced or eliminated with obtainable treatment options.
2. After You Changed Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Whether you have persistent back pain or cancer, doctors may try numerous different medications to treat the same condition. Some of these will have side effects so significant that you may want to ask about alternate options. Contact your doctor and determine what the side effects are if you started experiencing tinnitus symptoms after starting a new medication.
Tinnitus might be caused by some common medications. These include some forms of:
- Over-the-counter painkillers (Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, and even aspirin) when taken several times a day for an extended period of time.
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Loop Diuretics
- Chemo
- Antibiotics
3. It’s Accompanied by Headache, Blurred Vision, or Seizures
This may be a sign that high blood pressure is creating your tinnitus. The blood circulation in your inner ear is restricted when you suffer from hypertension. Your general health is also at risk with high blood pressure. Age related hearing loss, as time passes, will worsen 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 noisy setting like a concert, aerobics class, factory, or bar, then the place you were just in had unsafe levels of noise. If you disregard this episodic tinnitus and don’t start to protect your ears, it will most likely become constant over time. And it’s commonly accompanied by hearing loss.
If you enjoy a loud night out, take precautions such as:
- Not standing too close to the speakers
- At least once every hour, go 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 noisy environment. They’re made to protect you, but they only work if you wear protective gear correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
Whether you have ringing in your ears or not, you should never dismiss facial paralysis. But when you have nausea, paralysis, headaches, and you also have tinnitus, it’s possible that you might have an acoustic neuroma (a slow growing benign brain tumor).
6. You Experience Fluctuating Hearing Loss With it
Do you experience hearing loss that seems to worsen, then get better, then worse again? Do you feel dizzy off and on? If these symptoms are taking place along with tinnitus, you might need to get tested for Menier’s disease. This causes a fluid imbalance in your ears. If left untreated, it often gets worse and may increase your risks of significant falls due to lack of balance.
Tinnitus is often a sign of hearing loss. So if you’re experiencing it, you should have your hearing examined more frequently. Contact us to make an appointment.