“Why do I hear a ringing noise in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
If you find yourself making these kinds of statements, you might be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing problem where you hear noises or experience a sound that others can’t hear. This is more common than you may think. Tinnitus is a disorder that affects 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.
Ringing in the ears might seem harmless, depending on its intensity. But there are absolutely times when you shouldn’t disregard it. Something more serious might be the underlying cause of these sounds.
Here are 6 tinnitus symptoms you really should take seriously.
1. Your Quality of Life is Being Affected by The Ringing in Your Ears
Some research indicates that 26% of tinnitus sufferers cope with that ringing on a nearly continuous basis.
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and relationship troubles are all possible repercussions of this ever present ringing.
Something as basic as listening to your daughter share a recipe on the phone becomes a struggle 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 simply asks you a question.
A vicious cycle can be the outcome of this continuous ringing. The ringing gets louder as your stress level rises. Loud noise makes you more nervous and so on.
If your tinnitus is contributing to these kinds of life struggles, you shouldn’t neglect it. It’s real, and it affects your quality of life. There are treatment options that can significantly reduce or eliminate the noise in your ears.
2. The Noise in Your Ears Manifests After You Change Medications
Whether you have persistent back pain or cancer, doctors may try numerous different medications to manage the same ailment. You may ask for a different option if you start to experience significant side effects. If your tinnitus began or got significantly worse after you started a new drug, check that list of side effects and talk to your doctor.
Tinnitus might be caused by some common medications. Here are a few examples:
- Loop Diuretics
- 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.
- Chemo
- Antibiotics
3. It’s Accompanied by Headache, Blurred Vision, or Seizures
This normally means that your tinnitus symptoms are being caused by high blood pressure. The blood circulation in your inner ear is restricted when you have hypertension. Your overall health is also at risk with high blood pressure. 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 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 noise levels and that’s more than likely the cause of these noises. It becomes increasingly likely that these noises will become permanent the more often you ignore them and neglect using ear protection. And it’s frequently accompanied by hearing loss.
If you are going to be exposed to loud sound, use the following to safeguard your hearing:
- Wearing earplugs
- At least once every hour, go 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, adhere to work rules regarding earplugs and earmuffs. They’re designed to protect you, but they only work if you wear protective gear 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 nausea, paralysis, 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
Are you experiencing hearing loss that comes and goes? Are you sometimes dizzy? If these symptoms are taking place along with tinnitus, you might need to get screened for Menier’s disease. This produces a fluid imbalance in your ears. If left without treatment, it often gets worse and may increase your risks of serious falls caused by lack of balance.
Tinnitus is often a sign of hearing loss. So you should have your hearing tested if you’re experiencing it. Get in touch with us to make an appointment for a hearing test.