“Why do I hear a ringing noise in my ears?” “How can I make that noise go away?”
You might be suffering from tinnitus, a common hearing condition that manifests sounds in your ears that no one else can hear, if you find yourself making these kinds of statements. This is more common than you might think. Millions of individuals have this condition.
Ringing, buzzing, pulsing, or whistling are the noises that the majority of people describe.
Ringing in the ears might seem harmless, depending on its intensity. But there are definitely times when you shouldn’t neglect it. Something more significant may be the underlying cause of these noises.
Here are 6 tinnitus symptoms you need to take seriously.
1. Your Quality of Life is Being Affected by The Ringing in Your Ears
Some research suggests that 26% of tinnitus sufferers experience that ringing on an almost constant basis.
Depression, anxiety, insomnia, and relationship troubles are all possible repercussions of this ever present ringing.
It can be a battle between the tinnitus sound and something as simple as attempting to hear your friend give you a recipe over the phone. You may snap at your grandson, 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. And you get more anxious the louder the noise is and on and on.
If tinnitus is causing these kinds of life challenges, it’s time to deal with 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. After You Changed Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Whether you have chronic back pain or cancer, doctors may try several different medications to treat the same condition. You may ask for a different option if you start to experience severe side effects. Talk with your doctor and determine what the side effects are if you began experiencing tinnitus symptoms after starting a new medication.
Some common medications might cause tinnitus. Here are a few examples:
- Loop Diuretics
- Antibiotics
- Chemo
- Over-the-counter painkillers (Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, and even aspirin) when taken several times a day for an extended period of time.
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
3. Headache, Seizures, And Blurred Vision Come With Tinnitus Noises
This often means that your tinnitus symptoms are being caused by high blood pressure. When you have hypertension, the blood flow to your inner ear is compromised. Your overall health is also at risk with high blood pressure. Age related hearing loss, over time, will get worse because of this.
4. You Only Hear it When Leaving 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. It becomes increasingly likely that these noises will become irreversible the more often you disregard them and neglect using ear protection. And it’s usually accompanied by hearing loss.
If you’re going to be exposed to loud noise, use the following to protect your hearing:
- At least once every hour, go outside or into the restroom to give your ears a break
- Using earplugs
- Not standing too close to the speakers
Follow the rules pertaining to earmuffs and earplugs if you work in a loud setting. Your safety gear will only successfully protect you if you use it correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
Whether you have ringing in your ears or not, you should never disregard facial paralysis. But when you have paralysis, nausea, headaches, and you also have tinnitus, it’s possible that you might have an acoustic neuroma (a slow growing benign brain tumor).
6. You Experience Fluctuating Hearing Loss With it
Do you have hearing loss that seems to get worse, then get better, then worse again? Do you feel dizzy off and on? If these symptoms are occurring along with tinnitus, you may need to get evaluated for Menier’s disease. This leads to a fluid imbalance in your ears. Your risk of falling caused by lack of balance will get worse if this condition is left untreated.
Hearing loss is often signaled by tinnitus. So if you’re experiencing it, you need to get your hearing checked more frequently. Give us a call to set up an appointment.