tinnitus after scuba diving

[alypaly]

i didnt know if should put this under general health or mental health as the noise has recently caused me to have a breakdown.

i went diving in thailand to 18metres and had a bit of ear pain.
then it cleared and i carried on the dive. i came home with a blocked ear for approx 2 weeks and then this horrendous tinnitus started. it sounds like a high pitched dog whistle 24/7 and it has pushed me over the edge. I cant concentrate, feel as if i have had a stroke as my brain feels scambled with the noise. I have just been signed off work as i feel incapable of doing my job safely. I was also sent to the crisis centre at the local hospital as i feeled so depressed.Please can someone help or talk to me. i feel so low and desperate.

I'm really sorry your dealing with this & its affecting you so badly

Have you seen an ENT specialist yet ?? if not INSIST on a referral, its quite likely theres something thats causing this that can be fixed & ENT are where they'll find it.

Otherwise has anyone suggested CBT to help you cope ?? - again your GP can refer you - or perhaps hypnotism ??

I get tinnitus too, had it all my life, so I do know that if you are focusing on it, that it takes over & can be very hard to bare, the trick is to learn not to focus on it & it sort of tunes it out - which I'm sure right now sounds like twaddle & I can imagine having never had it before & then suddenly you do, the contrast makes it louder IYSWM - but lots of people live with it & do cope fine, its just a case of learning to tune it out so its not at the forefront of your mind & therefore causing you so much distress - CBT, or hypnotism can help with that

good luck & if you've not seen specialists, make sure you do

hi rockinhippy, thanks for replying.
I saw an ENT specialist 4 days after i returned from thailand and he said the normal" give it time, it may be months". Others have said once you have it and especially as its been caused by trauma i have got it for good. I contacted a specialist diving doctor in London and he couldnt give me much hope either. I am at my wits end. How do you tune out.
I was rushed by my GP to CBT on thursday as it was making me so depressed i felt like jumping off a bridge.

How loud is your tinnitus and what pitch is it. I feel like i am going mad and my memory is going. Did it affect your memory at any stage and how did you "TUNE OUT".......and yes that seems impossible right now. AM I going mad cos it really feels like it ??
if you dont mind me asking, how old are you, when you say you have had it all your life.

What caused yours?

Hi Aly

I'm glad you've been thoroughly checked out, it at least rules out any nasties

Do you have any sinus problems at all - I ask as I did my Scuba training in open water & got into big trouble with my balance when I went down - everything just lost the plot & I couldn't tell what was up or down & felt I was being spun around - I didn't know then, but was later diagnosed with a deformity in my Sinuses that needed surgery & according to the ENT I shouldn't dive - my Tinnitus definitely got worse for a while after that, but eased down over time.

I don't ever remember NOT having Tinnitus & just thought it was normal, I had no idea until I read an article on it, probably in my 20s, that not everyone has it - thats how normal it was for me - but it did get worse after a minor neck injury at 19, that also kicked off migraine, hence why I was looking into it all & there does seem to be a link with the 2 for me - I've also read & been told, that its also linked to Fibromyalgia, which I was diagnosed with 9 yr ago, but believe I've had since I was small.

Mine fluctuates, both in sound & intensity, & can range from what you describe, to a high pitched whine that you would get with a test card back in the old days, to whooshing as if listening to a sea shell, or the tinkling of loads of tiny bells.

I've no idea if what you experience is worse or not, but I do know if I concentrate on it - which I did after reading your post, it gets MUCH bigger & can take over me & drive me nuts - IYSWIM, so I really do think learning to tune it out is the key - if you are not naturally that way inclined, then I understand CBT or Hypnosis may be of help - our minds are pretty powerful things & really can be the best tool for dealing with any of these things :)

I have a friend whose partner is an NHS CBT therapist & having spoken with him about it, it really is just what I call "mind over matter" & I'm lucky to be that way inclined naturally - but talking to him & others who've had CBT, its techniques to retrain your mind to be that way - it works for "tuning out" pain too.

The other thing that I've found can help & might be worth looking into is Chiropractic - thats if theres any possibility yours could be linked to neck pain/problems - my migraine & tinnitus definitely get worse if my neck is tight, sore - massage can help with this too.

The other thing that springs to mind is that you sound very anxious - this won't help you cope at all - lots of people are deficient in minerals, modern diet & less in the soil than they used to be means even healthy eaters can suffer, & some drugs leach some minerals from your body - I had a BP drug leach the Potassium from mine & I ended up in A&E as a result - turned out to be a panic attack cause by low Potassium.

Magnesium & Potassium are both important minerals for regulating your bodies response to stress, pain etc etc - Taking Spirulina & either a magnesium supplement or regular soaks in baths with 2 cups of bath grade Epsom Salts - foot bath will work if you've only a shower - keeping up your intake of these can help a lot

I hope you manage to find something that helps you cope soon

good luck

gosh thanks for your reply. i am so sorry to hear you have had it all your life and know no dofferent. i am still struggling with the newness of this and "yes" at the moment it is overwhelming. i cant think straight or do anything practical without feeling over loaded in fatc i have been signed off with a breakdown. At the moment i cant see the light at the end of the tunnel and almost feel that i will never get back to work at the same level i was. I had a nervous breakdown through other issues 23 years ago and i feel worse this time. finding it difficult to even think straight. but thankyou so much for your reply, you are admirably so positive. i hope some rubs off.

i have suffered from fybromyalgia over the years and sometimes have a small dose of steroids to get me through the bad times.

i got parvo virus from my son and then all my problems started with a vengeance.

still in a horrible place and it is driving me literally insane. it has slowed all my thought processes down to the point where i feel ;like i have had a stroke.

oh alypaly :( bumping in case anyone else is around.

Alypaly, I really wanted to answer this as I was where you were a year ago. The weekend of the royal wedding I realised that I had tinnitus and quite honestly I didn't think I would ever get past it. I literally could hear it all the time. Mine is like a high pitched morse code! I was so depressed, anxious and gutted and thought I would never be able to enjoy anything ever again. I avoided googling it as I didn't want to hear anything about it that might send me over the edge. I probably did everyone's head in around me as I kept hearing every noise, saying can u hear that...thinking I had acquired a new sound. It took over every thought of mine, but do you know what, I still have it a year later and literally until I read this just now I haven't thought about it in days. I have just tuned in to it and yes it is still there and loud too if I actively listen in to it. Just going to press send as don't want to lose this, but I will tell u what changed...

I ended up.googling it and read so many people's own experiences and one of the best things I read was, stop thinking of it as this awful thing that is out to harm u in some way. I know I would obsess about it so much and would even go into a quiet room to listen to it, I couldnt read or relax! I started to realise however that I could only properly hear it when there was very little noise, or silence. I could "hear" it in general day to day life during the time it was all I could think about, but actually if my mind was occupied I didn't hear it at all. I started to realise that it wasn't actually doing me any harm and I decided to train my brain to be really chilled out about the noise, not negative at all. At night I would listen to it and rather than get agitated I would use the monotony of it to get me off to sleep. eventually I guess my brain got bored of it all and it tuned it out. I know that won't seem possible for you right now, but I promise it is! millions of people suffer from it as u know but I genuinely believe if u stop seeing it as this huge enemy then it will fade out even if it is still there. there are so many sounds that we all filter out on a daily basis...so in summary acknowledge the noise initially, yes, but don't dwell on it. I really feel for u, I really do, but you WILL get past this x

DH has tinnitus, not sure what it was triggered by, but he has just been to see an ENT doctor and was referred to audiology clinic, he is going to have two small sound generator devices to wear (one on each ear) to generate a noise to blank out the tinnitus sound

he only has it in one ear which is quite unusual

he plays white noise at a particular frequency on his iPod to block out the sound at home, and at night, you need to use the sound at night to help retrain the brain to ignore the sound

there is help, you must get an ENT appt asap

i think bimbledorf's advice is sound. there are two issues - a sound in your ears/head and your response to it. the first, in itself, doesn't have to be awful depending on the latter.

i used to be a scuba instructor and some time after i stopped working i went for a hearing test and ear check because i was hearing noises - somewhat like the whooshing of a seashell that someone above mentioned and also a sort of pouring noise as if water was leaking from one area to another. my hearing was great and they couldn't see any issues with my ears physically.

like others have said i've done the same thing of suddenly actively hearing it again and realising it is still there and currently is high pitched tinkling bells (thank you so much for the poster who described theirs as it gave me language for what it is i hear and it really is like tinkly little bells!).

i rarely notice it now unless i tune in or sometimes when i am lying awake at night unable to sleep i notice it.

i'd add to bimbledorf's advice with the suggestion that you learn to meditate - i know that sounds impossible given the noise but the focussing on your breath and being non attached (re not tuned in or running away from) the tinnutis may really help. using mantras might be for you as it will tune you to another sound.

there are loads of sites on the web with free meditation courses.

hope you're feeling a bit calmer today.