tinnitus

[N2UGB]

My tinnitus surfaced after being surprised by an extra loud CW signal in my headphones over 50 years ago when I was an Air Force radioman. I forget to keep the cans directly off my ears and on my temples. Since then, I've had good days and bad days with the condition. I've found the more fatigued I am, the louder the noise.

[W4HAY]

I thought mine was especially bad when I woke up this morning, but realized it's the Cicadas singing. My windows are closed and they're loud enough to be heard over the cooling fan in my computer tower.

[AF6LJ]

I thought mine was especially bad when I woke up this morning, but realized it's the Cicadas singing. My windows are closed and they're loud enough to be heard over the cooling fan in my computer tower.

Heard those in Texas, they can get really loud.

[KA9VQF]

I used to have ringing in my ears a lot. But, I used to shoot a lot too.

When I was young and knew I was indestructible I did not wear hearing protection when shooting or doing anything else. In those days no one did and hearing protection was not required at the places I worked.

Most of the places I worked had a very high noise level. Places like foundries, metal fabricating shops, body shops, steel stamping plants, and other places like that.

When I finally figured out that if I wore even simple ear plugs the ringing was not nearly as bad I bought a decent pair of ear muff noise canceling headphones and wore them most of the time.

I found that I could hear others around me talking much better than when I did not have the hearing protection on. Some days my ears would hurt from wearing the ear muffs but I did not have the headache and ringing as much.

Ibuprofen does nothing for me, I may as well eat a clod of dirt. Acetaminophen works better sometimes but usually plain old acetysalicylic acid {aspirin} works better for sore muscles and tooth aches for me than anything else.

In the last few years when I do get a bad headache I usually put a drop of clove oil in a cup of hot coffee with a shot of peppermint schnapps and it goes away in much less time than taking any pills.

I used to use a pair of military surplus Trimm headphones with my radio gear. These produce very high frequency vibrations and would cause my ears to ring pretty badly in just a few hours of use. I like the old Trimm's for the nostalgia of them but rarely use them anymore simply because my newer headphones with paper cones, and now the ones with Mylar cones don't bother me as much unless I'm using them all day.

[WD5GWY]

I have had Tinnitus for so long I don't remember not having it! I have tried a lot of
things and years ago, just tuning an FM radio to a vacant frequency, and listening to
the hash generated (white noise) would cancel it out to where I could sleep.
That no longer works. I guess driving a big rig for 40+ years might have something
to do with it as well! It's loud and in both ears.
I have just concluded that it is something I will always have with me. And just go
on about my life. If I were to dwell on it, it would drive me crazy. So, I don't.
I too wish there was a cure. But, given what I have read about the cause of Tinnitus,
(the tiny hair like things inside the bones of the ear, being bent and creating the tone,
rushing sounds people hear) I doubt that there will ever be a cure. I have read of people
even having the inner ear bones removed making them totally deaf. Some that cured it
and, unfortunately for others, it did not.
I do hope someone finds a legitimate cure someday. If not for myself, then for other sufferers
in future generations.
james
WD5GWY

[AE5TE]

It happens to a lot of us when we get old I think. My twin sister says she hears crickets in the ceiling, and I suppose that's what I hear but I never thought of it as coming from any place other than inside my ears.

It is really loud some days, not so much others. I do drink a lot of coffee and I always have. I only recently quit smoking. Maybe it'll get better who knows?

I don't know that it is interfering much with my hearing. Perhaps it is a little more difficult to hear speech through some kinds of noise, I can't be sure.