“Why am I hearing a ringing noise in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
You could be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing disorder that manifests sounds in your ears that nobody else can hear, if you find yourself making these kinds of remarks. You’re not alone. Tinnitus is a condition that affects millions of individuals.
Ringing, pulsing, whistling, or buzzing are the noises that the majority of people describe.
Depending on the severity, ringing in the ears may seem harmless. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be disregarded. Something more serious may be the root cause of these sounds.
You should take the following 6 symptoms seriously.
1. Your Quality of Life is Being Affected by The Ringing in Your Ears
Some studies indicate that 26% of people with tinnitus cope with that ringing on a nearly continuous basis.
This annoying, ever-present noise can result in all kinds of relationship troubles, insomnia, anxiety, and even depression.
Something as basic as listening to your daughter share a recipe on the phone becomes a battle between her voice and the noise that overshadows it. You might snap at your grandchild, who asks a simple question, because the ringing makes you stressed.
A vicious cycle can be the result of this continuous ringing. As your stress level goes up, the ringing gets louder. Loud noise makes you more nervous and so on.
If tinnitus is leading to these types of life challenges, it’s time to deal with it. It’s there, and your life is being affected. There are treatment options that can significantly reduce or get rid of the noise in your ears.
2. After You Switched Medications, Your Ears Began to Ring
Doctors might try numerous different medications to treat the same ailment whether you have chronic pain or cancer. You might ask for an alternative if you start to experience severe side effects. Talk with your doctor and learn what the side effects are if you began experiencing tinnitus symptoms after starting a new medication.
Tinnitus might be caused by some common medications. Here are a few examples:
- Antibiotics
- 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
- Loop Diuretics
3. It Comes With Blurred Vision, Headache, or Seizures
This might be a sign that high blood pressure is creating your tinnitus. When you have hypertension, the blood flow to your inner ear is restricted. High blood pressure that goes unmanaged is also dangerous for your overall health. As time passes, it may cause or worsen age-related hearing loss.
4. You Always Seem to be Leaving Work, The Gym, or a Concert When You Hear it
If you leave a noisy place like a bar, concert, factory, or fitness class, and you begin to hear tinnitus noises, you were probably exposed to unsafe levels of noise and that’s most likely the cause of these noises. 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 usually accompany it.
If you love a loud night out, take precautions such as:
- Wearing earplugs
- Standing a bit further away from loud speakers
- At least once an hour, step outside or into the restroom to give your ears a break
If you work in a noisy place, adhere to work rules regarding earplugs and earmuffs. 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 ignore facial paralysis. 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. Fluctuating Hearing Loss is Accompanying Tinnitus
Do you experience hearing loss that seems to worsen, then get better, then worse again? Do you feel dizzy off and on? If these symptoms are occurring along with tinnitus, you might need to get screened for Menier’s disease. This makes your ears get a fluid imbalance. If left without treatment, it often gets worse and might increase your risks of serious falls due to lack of balance.
Hearing loss is often signaled by tinnitus. So if you are experiencing it, you need to have your hearing checked more frequently. Call us to set up an appointment.