“What’s that ringing in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
You might be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing disorder that manifests sounds in your ears that no one else can hear, if you find yourself making these types of statements. You’re not by yourself. Tinnitus is a condition that affects millions of individuals.
Most describe it as ringing in the ears, but it can also sound like a dial tone, pulsing noise, whistling, or buzzing.
Ringing in the ears might seem harmless, depending on its intensity. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be disregarded. Tinnitus symptoms can often be a sign of something more serious happening 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
Some research suggests that 26% of people with tinnitus cope with that ringing on an almost constant basis.
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and relationship troubles are all possible repercussions of this ever present ringing.
Something as easy as listening to your daughter share a recipe over the phone becomes a struggle between her voice and the noise that overpowers it. The constant ringing has stressed you out to the point where you snap at a member of the family who simply asks you a question.
A vicious cycle can be the result of this constant ringing. As your stress level goes up, the ringing gets louder. Loud noise makes you more nervous and so on.
If your tinnitus is leading to these types of life challenges, you shouldn’t neglect it. It’s real, and it affects your quality of life. There are treatment options that can considerably reduce or eliminate the noise in your ears.
2. After You Switched Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Doctors may try several different medications to manage the same condition whether you have cancer or chronic pain. You may ask for a different option if you start to experience significant side effects. If your tinnitus started or got seriously worse after you started a new drug, check that list of side effects and speak with your doctor.
Tinnitus may 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.
- Chemo
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Antibiotics
- Loop Diuretics
3. It’s Accompanied by Blurred Vision, Headache, or Seizures
This often indicates that your tinnitus symptoms are being caused by high blood pressure. The blood circulation in your inner ear is compromised 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 Only Hear it After You Leave a Concert, Gym, or Work
If you only hear the tinnitus after you leave a noisy place like a concert, aerobics class, factory, or bar, then the place you were just in had noise levels above safe levels. It becomes increasingly likely that these noises will become permanent the more frequently you ignore them and skip using ear protection. And hearing loss will probably accompany it.
If you are going to be exposed to loud sound, use the following to protect your hearing:
- Wearing earplugs
- Giving your ears a periodic break by going outside or into the restroom, if possible, at least once every hour
- Not standing too close to the speakers
Adhere to the rules regarding earmuffs and earplugs if you work in a noisy setting. They’re made to protect you, but they only work if you wear protective gear correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
We hope you wouldn’t dismiss facial paralysis regardless of whether you have ringing in your ears. But when the tinnitus symptoms are come along with paralysis, headaches, and nausea, this may be a sign of a slow-growing benign brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma.
6. Fluctuating Hearing Loss is Accompanying Tinnitus
Do you have hearing loss that seems to get worse, then get better, then worse again? Are you sometimes dizzy? When accompanied by tinnitus, this suggests you need to be tested for Meniere’s disease. This causes a fluid imbalance in your ears. Your risk of falling caused by 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 get your hearing examined more frequently. Get in touch with us to make an appointment for a hearing test.