In the movies, invisibility is a potent power. The characters can frequently do the impossible if they have the power of invisibility, whether it’s a spaceship with cloaking ability or a wizard with an invisibility cloak.
Invisible health disorders, unfortunately, are equally as potent and a lot less enjoyable. Tinnitus, for example, is a very common condition that affects the ears. But there are no external symptoms, it doesn’t matter how thoroughly you look.
But just because it’s invisible doesn’t mean tinnitus doesn’t have a considerable affect on people who experience symptoms.
What is tinnitus?
So we know one thing: you can’t see tinnitus. In fact, tinnitus is a condition of the ears, which means symptoms are auditory in nature. You know when you are sitting in a very quiet room, or when you get back from a loud concert and you hear a ringing in your ears? That’s tinnitus. Now, tinnitus is pretty common (somewhere around 25 million individuals experience tinnitus yearly).
While ringing is the most common presentation of tinnitus, it’s not the only one. Noises like humming, whirring, crackling, clicking, and a number of others can manifest. The common denominator is that anyone who has tinnitus is hearing noises that are not really there.
In most cases, tinnitus will go away over a short period. But tinnitus is a persistent and debilitating condition for between 2-5 million individuals. Sure, it can be a bit irritating to hear that ringing for a few minutes now and then. But what if that sound doesn’t go away? it’s not hard to imagine how that might begin to substantially affect your quality of life.
What causes tinnitus?
Have you ever tried to determine the cause of a headache? Are you catching a cold, is it stress, or is it an allergic reaction? The difficulty is that quite a few issues can trigger headaches! The same goes for tinnitus, though the symptoms may be common, the causes are extensive.
Sometimes, it might be really clear what’s causing your tinnitus symptoms. But you may never really know in other cases. Here are several general things that can trigger tinnitus:
- Colds or allergies: Swelling can happen when lots of mucus accumulates in your ears. This inflammation can trigger tinnitus.
- Head or neck injuries: Your head is quite sensitive! So head injuries, particularly traumatic brain injuries (including concussions)–can end up triggering tinnitus symptoms.
- Noise damage: Tinnitus symptoms can be caused by exposure to excessively loud noise over time. This is so common that loud noises are one of the primary causes of tinnitus! Using hearing protection if extremely loud settings can’t be avoided is the best way to counter this kind of tinnitus.
- Hearing loss: Hearing loss and tinnitus are frequently closely associated. Sensorineural hearing loss and tinnitus can both be brought about by noise damage and that’s a large part of the situation here. Both of them have the same cause, in other words. But the ringing in your ears can sound louder with hearing loss because the external world is quieter.
- High blood pressure: High blood pressure can trigger tinnitus symptoms for some individuals. Getting your blood pressure under control with the help of your doctor is the best way to address this.
- Ear infections or other blockages: Similar to a cold or seasonal allergies, ear infections, and other obstructions can cause swelling in the ear canal. This sometimes causes ringing in your ears.
- Certain medications: Some over-the-counter or prescription medications can cause you to have ringing in your ears. Typically, that ringing disappears once you quit taking the medication in question.
- Meniere’s Disease: Quite a few symptoms can be caused by this disorder of the inner ear. Amongst the first symptoms, however, are typically tinnitus and dizziness. With time, Meniere’s disease can result in irreversible hearing loss.
Treatment will obviously be easier if you can pinpoint the source of your tinnitus symptoms. For example, if an earwax obstruction is triggering ringing in your ears, cleaning out that earwax can relieve your symptoms. Some individuals, however, may never identify what’s causing their tinnitus symptoms.
Diagnosing Tinnitus
Tinnitus that only persists a few minutes isn’t something that you really need to have diagnosed. That said, it’s never a bad strategy to check in with us to schedule a hearing evaluation.
But you should absolutely schedule an appointment with us if your tinnitus won’t go away or if it keeps coming back. We will execute a hearing test, talk to you about your symptoms and how they’re impacting your life, and maybe even talk about your medical history. All of that information will be used to diagnose your symptoms.
Treating tinnitus
There’s no cure for tinnitus. But it can be treated and it can be controlled.
If you’re taking a particular medication or have an underlying medical condition, your symptoms will improve when you deal with the base cause. However, if you have chronic tinnitus, there will be no root condition that can be easily addressed.
So managing symptoms so they have a limited affect on your life is the objective if you have chronic tinnitus. We can help in a variety of ways. amongst the most common are the following:
- A hearing aid: When you have hearing loss, outside sounds become quieter and your tinnitus symptoms become more apparent. In these situations, a hearing aid can help turn the volume up on the rest of the world, and overpower the buzzing or ringing you may be hearing from your tinnitus.
- Cognitive behavioral therapy: In terms of cognitive behavioral therapy, we may end up referring you to a different provider. This strategy uses therapy to help you learn to ignore the tinnitus sounds.
- A masking device: This is a hearing aid-like device that masks sounds instead of boosting them. These devices can be adjusted to your distinctive tinnitus symptoms, generating just enough sound to make that ringing or buzzing significantly less noticeable.
We will develop a personalized and unique treatment plan for you and your tinnitus. Helping you get back to enjoying your life by controlling your symptoms is the objective here.
What should you do if you have tinnitus?
Even though tinnitus is invisible, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. Odds are, those symptoms will only grow worse. It’s better to get ahead of your symptoms because you might be able to stop them from growing worse. You should at least be sure to have your ear protection handy whenever you’re going to be around loud sound.
If you’re struggling with tinnitus, call us, we can help.
