“What’s that ringing in my ears?” “How can I make that sound go away?”
You might be dealing with tinnitus, a common hearing affliction that manifests noises in your ears that nobody else can hear, if you find yourself making these kinds of remarks. You’re not by yourself. Millions of people have this condition.
Ringing, pulsing, whistling, or buzzing are the noises that most people describe.
Depending on the severity, ringing in the ears might seem harmless. But tinnitus shouldn’t always be neglected. Tinnitus symptoms can frequently be a sign of something more serious taking place 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
Some research indicates that 26% of people with tinnitus experience that ringing on an almost continuous basis.
This frustrating, ever-present noise can bring about all kinds of relationship troubles, anxiety, insomnia, and even depression.
It can be a struggle between the tinnitus noise and something as basic as trying to hear your friend give you a recipe over the phone. You might snap at your grandson, who simply asks a question, because the ringing makes you stressed.
Continuous ringing can cause a vicious cycle. The ringing gets louder as your stress level rises. Loud noise makes you more anxious and so on.
If your tinnitus is contributing to these kinds of life challenges, you shouldn’t neglect it. It’s real, and it impacts your quality of life. There are treatment choices that can considerably reduce or get rid of the noise in your ears.
2. After You Switched Medications, Your Ears Started to Ring
Doctors might try several different medications to treat the same ailment whether you have chronic pain or cancer. You might ask for an alternative solution 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.
Some common medications might cause tinnitus. Here are a few examples:
- Opioids (Pain Killers)
- Loop Diuretics
- Chemo
- Antibiotics
- Over-the-counter painkillers (Tylenol, Aleve, Advil, and even aspirin) when taken several times a day for an extended period of time.
3. Blurred Vision, Seizures, And Headache Come With Tinnitus Noises
This often indicates that your tinnitus symptoms are being caused by high blood pressure. The blood flow in your inner ear is restricted when you suffer from hypertension. Unregulated high blood pressure is also a risk to your general health. Age related hearing loss, as time passes, will get worse because of this.
4. You Always Seem to be Leaving Work, The Gym, or a Concert When You Hear it
If you only hear the tinnitus after you leave a noisy place such as a concert, aerobics class, factory, or bar, then the place you were just in had unsafe levels of noise. It becomes increasingly likely that these noises will become irreversible the more frequently you disregard them and skip 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
- Not standing too close to the speakers
Adhere to the rules regarding earplugs and earmuffs if you work in a loud environment. Your safety gear will only effectively 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 the tinnitus symptoms are come along with paralysis, headaches, and nausea, this might be a sign of a slow-growing benign brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma.
6. Fluctuating Hearing Loss is Accompanying Tinnitus
Are you experiencing hearing loss that comes and goes? Do you feel dizzy off and on? When accompanied by tinnitus, this suggests you need to be screened for Meniere’s disease. This causes your ears to ears get a fluid imbalance. If left untreated, it frequently gets worse and might increase your risks of significant falls caused by lack of balance.
Hearing loss is often signaled by tinnitus. So if you are experiencing it, you should get your hearing checked more frequently. Get in touch with us to make an appointment for a hearing test.