“What’s that annoying sound in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
You could be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing condition that manifests sounds in your ears that no one else can hear, if you find yourself making these types of remarks. You’re not by yourself. Tinnitus is a condition that impacts millions of people.
Ringing, buzzing, pulsing, or whistling are the noises that the majority of people describe.
Ringing in the ears may seem harmless, depending on its severity. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be neglected. Tinnitus symptoms can often be a sign of something more serious taking place in your body.
Here are 6 tinnitus symptoms you need to take seriously.
1. The Ringing in Your Ears is Affecting The Quality of Your Life
Some research indicates that 26% of tinnitus sufferers experience that ringing on an almost continuous basis.
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and relationship issues are all possible repercussions of this ever present ringing.
It can be a struggle between the tinnitus noise and something as basic as trying to hear your friend tell you a recipe over the phone. You may snap at your grandchild, who simply asks a question, because the ringing stresses you out.
A vicious cycle can be the outcome of this constant ringing. As your stress level rises, the ringing gets louder. Loud noise makes you more nervous and so on.
If your tinnitus is contributing to these types of life struggles, you shouldn’t ignore it. It’s there, and your life is being affected. The noise can be reduced or eliminated with obtainable treatment options.
2. After You Changed Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Whether you have chronic back pain or cancer, doctors might try numerous different medications to treat the same condition. You may ask for an alternative if you begin to experience severe side effects. If your tinnitus started or got seriously worse after you started a new medication, look at that list of side effects and talk to your doctor.
Some common medications may cause tinnitus. 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.
- Antibiotics
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Chemo
- Loop Diuretics
3. It Comes With Blurred Vision, Headache, or Seizures
This may be a sign that high blood pressure is contributing to your tinnitus. When you have hypertension, the blood circulation to your inner ear is compromised. Unregulated high blood pressure is also a risk to your overall health. Over time, it could cause or worsen age-related hearing loss.
4. You Only Hear it After You Leave a Gym, Concert, or Work
If you leave a noisy place like a factory, bar, concert, or fitness class, and you start to hear tinnitus noises, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of noise and that’s more than likely the cause of these noises. If you ignore this episodic tinnitus and don’t start to safeguard your ears, it will most likely become permanent over time. And hearing loss will usually accompany it.
If you’re going to be exposed to loud noise, use the following to protect your hearing:
- Wearing earplugs
- At least once every hour, step outside or into the restroom to give your ears a break
- Standing a bit further away from loud speakers
If you work in a noisy place, follow work rules pertaining to earplugs and earmuffs. They’re made to protect you, but they only work if you use protective gear correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
We hope you wouldn’t dismiss 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. You Experience Fluctuating Hearing Loss With it
Do you experience hearing loss that seems to get worse, then get better, then worse again? Are you sometimes dizzy? If these symptoms are occurring along with tinnitus, you may need to get screened for Menier’s disease. This makes your ears get a fluid imbalance. Your risk of falling due to lack of balance will worsen if this disorder is left untreated.
Hearing loss is frequently signaled by tinnitus. So if you’re experiencing it, you should have your hearing checked more frequently. Reach out to us to make an appointment for a hearing test.