“What’s that ringing in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
If you find yourself saying things like this, you may have tinnitus, a common hearing condition that causes you to hear noises or experience a sound that other people can’t hear. You’re not alone. Tinnitus is a disorder that impacts millions of individuals.
Ringing, pulsing, whistling, or buzzing are the sounds that the majority of people describe.
Depending on the severity, ringing in the ears may seem harmless. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be ignored. 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. The Ringing in Your Ears is Affecting The Quality of Your Life
Some research indicates that 26% of people with tinnitus experience that ringing on a nearly constant basis.
This frustrating, ever-present noise can lead to all kinds of relationship troubles, anxiety, insomnia, and even depression.
It can be a struggle between the tinnitus noise and something as simple as trying to hear your friend give you a recipe over the phone. The nonstop ringing has stressed you out to the point where you snap at a family member who simply asks you a question.
Continuous ringing can become a vicious cycle. As your stress level goes up, the ringing gets louder. Loud noise makes you more anxious and so on.
If your tinnitus is contributing to these types of life challenges, you shouldn’t ignore it. It’s real, and it affects your quality of life. The noise can be decreased or eliminated with obtainable treatment options.
2. The Noise in Your Ears Manifests After You Switch Medications
Whether you have chronic back pain or cancer, doctors may try numerous different medications to treat the same ailment. Some of these will have side effects so severe that you might want to ask about alternatives. If your tinnitus began or got significantly worse after you started a new drug, look at that list of side effects and speak with your doctor.
Some common medications may cause tinnitus. These include some kinds of:
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Over-the-counter painkillers (Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, and even aspirin) when taken several times a day for an extended period of time.
- Antibiotics
- Chemo
- Loop Diuretics
3. It’s Accompanied by Blurred Vision, Headache, or Seizures
This may be a sign that high blood pressure is causing your tinnitus. The blood circulation in your inner ear is compromised when you suffer from hypertension. High blood pressure that goes unmanaged is also a risk to your general health. As time passes, it may cause or worsen age-related hearing loss.
4. You Only Hear it After You Leave a Concert, Gym, or Work
If you only hear the tinnitus when you leave a loud setting like a factory, concert, aerobics class, or bar, then the place you were just in had unsafe levels of noise. If you neglect this episodic tinnitus and don’t begin to safeguard your ears, it will most likely become permanent over time. And it’s frequently accompanied by hearing loss.
If you love a loud night out, take precautions like:
- Standing a little further away from loud speakers
- At least once every hour, step outside or into the restroom to give your ears a break
- Wearing earplugs
If you work in a loud place, adhere to work rules pertaining to earplugs and earmuffs. Your safety gear will only successfully protect you if you use it correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
We hope you wouldn’t disregard facial paralysis irrespective of whether you have ringing in your ears. But when you have paralysis, nausea, 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? If these symptoms are happening along with tinnitus, you might need to get evaluated for Menier’s disease. This produces a fluid imbalance in your ears. If left untreated, it frequently gets worse and might increase your risks of serious 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 checked more frequently. Call us to make an appointment.