Since you started this thread I have been waking up at 3 am on the dot almost every night. WTF. I have to break the cycle. Om om om....lol
Since starting this thread I have developed a fresh case of tinnitus (ringing in ears) that probably deserves it's own thread really as there are many sufferers but I have found something neat for insomnia. In the quiet of the night, the tinnitus becomes deafening so I've been using this and I play it through a Bluetooth speaker placed on the floor under the foot of my bed. This muffles it a bit but creates a very authentic feeling there is a river below the room. Since using this for the tinnitus I'm having a Pavlovian reaction to sleep and despite increasing my exercise by 30%, I'm getting to sleep no problem. Worth a try for anyone I reckon, just make sure the volume is low and indirect/muffled a bit. For many months I lived in a house by a river and it takes me back there.
I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember in the form of an ongoing and very high-pitched sound. I'm not exactly sure what caused it, but I do recall that a kid once shot a blank gun right near my ear when I was about 10 or 11 years old. To surprise me, he said. I mostly accept and ignore it, but become more consciously aware of it when someone brings up the topic. Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak.
I have the same high pitched noise. I went to a top clinic yesterday and they did a bunch of tests. My hearing is "like a baby's" he said in frequency response (most people in Colombia are a bit deaf from turning speakers up to 11 at parties). This means I have no dead-zones for frequency other than the very narrow one from my previous 10 year tinnitus (different pitch). He said I have a problem in the auditory tube that equalizes pressure between the nasal cavity and the outside air pressure and I have two nasal sprays. He says my Tympanic membrane is slightly out of position due to inflammation. It seems earbud sports headphones I was using (for only ~3 hours in two sessions) suctioned/plunged my ears on removal, displacing and forced some bacteria past the Tympanic membrane, micro-perforation I guess. I felt no problems in my sinus so I was surprised he was certain it was that but wow, after taking the sprays last night breathing through my nose is way way better. Nasacort AQ and Openxy (see your doc). The sound is down 30%? I think today. Certainly less ragged/grating sounding. Obviously, we all know the sound is generated in the brain by auditory neurons getting no signal and talking to each other etc. I would strongly suggest to anyone who has recently developed it to see someone. Yesterday I paid 180,000 COP for the consultant +110,000 COP for sound lab tests = $90 USD total (yeah.. love it here). A lot of the stuff on the internet says it is incurable etc. It may not be in some instances. Fingers and toes crossed.
Well, I haven't seen an ENT doctor in many years. Perhaps there has been some advancement in diagnosis and treatment since then. I'll ask my doctor for a specialist referral at my next physical. Thanks.