“Why am I hearing a ringing noise in my ears?” “How can I make that noise go away?”
You could 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 kinds of remarks. You’re not alone. Millions of individuals have this disorder.
Ringing, pulsing, whistling, or buzzing are the noises that most people describe.
Ringing in the ears may seem harmless, depending on its intensity. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be ignored. 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
26% of individuals who suffer from tinnitus cope with symptoms continuously, based on some studies.
This irritating, ever-present noise can result in all kinds of relationship troubles, anxiety, insomnia, and even depression.
It can be a struggle between the tinnitus noise and something as simple as attempting to hear your friend give you a recipe over the phone. 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 outcome of this continuous ringing. The ringing gets louder as your stress level goes up. And you get more stressed the louder the noise is and on and on.
If your tinnitus is leading to these kinds of life struggles, you shouldn’t ignore it. It’s real, and it affects your quality of life. There are treatment options that can significantly reduce or get rid of the noise in your ears.
2. After You Changed Medications, Your Ears Began to Ring
Whether you have chronic back pain or cancer, doctors may try several different medications to manage the same ailment. Some of these will have side effects so significant that you might want to ask about alternate options. 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. 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.
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Chemo
- Loop Diuretics
- Antibiotics
3. Headache, Seizures, And Blurred Vision Come With Tinnitus Noises
This might be a sign that high blood pressure is causing your tinnitus. When you have hypertension, the blood circulation to your inner ear is compromised. Your overall health is also in danger with high blood pressure. Over time, it could 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 such as a bar, concert, factory, or fitness class, and you begin to hear tinnitus noises, you were probably exposed to unsafe noise levels and that’s more than likely the cause of these noises. If you disregard this episodic tinnitus and don’t start to safeguard your ears, it will most likely become permanent over time. And hearing loss will usually accompany it.
If you enjoy a noisy night out, take precautions like:
- 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
If you work in a loud place, follow work rules pertaining to earmuffs and earplugs. They’re made to protect you, but they only work if you use protective gear correctly.
5. You Also Have Facial Paralysis
Whether you have ringing in your ears or not, you should never dismiss facial paralysis. 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. Fluctuating Hearing Loss is Accompanying Tinnitus
Are you experiencing hearing loss that comes and goes? Are you sometimes dizzy? When accompanied by tinnitus, this means you need to be screened for Meniere’s disease. This causes a fluid imbalance in your ears. If left without treatment, it often gets worse and might increase your risks of serious falls caused by lack of balance.
Hearing loss is frequently signaled by tinnitus. So you should have your hearing examined if you’re experiencing it. Contact us to set up an appointment.
