Hi all,

I've been a musician all my life and after many years of gigging, had a low level tinnitus in both ears that was negligible and never bothered me at all. Then, 10 years ago, I played two nights in a particularly loud situation and that was it: I developed fullness in both ears and then devastating off the charts tinnitus. So here's the good news first: I cured myself once already! How? mostly I think it was time. My positive message is, if it;s cochlear damage from noise exposure, it may resolve itself over time.

Over a period of 8 months or so, the tinnitus diminished until, somewhere along the line, maybe two years or so, it was for all intents and purposes, gone! As I said, that was 10 years ago. I got out of live playing and started producing and teaching and everything was fine, that is, until about six weeks ago when I made a fatal stupid mistake in the studio. While searching for a ground loop, I accidentally created the perfect storm for the ultimate feedback loop from hell. That was it, I now have the worst tinnitus I have ever experienced-in both ears- a screaming high frequency melange of infernal sound 24/7.(well, except when I'm asleep!)

Strangely, this came along with a feeling of inflammation in the ears, something that had not occurred on the last go round. I asked my doctor and he seemed to think the two were unrelated. I am not so sure. Does anyone know if a sudden loud noise like the one I experienced could damge the tissues to the point where inflammation occurs?

Unfortunately, I had to leave for a month on a very stressful trip to China right after this happened. This has to be the noisiest place in the world.,as they are building everywhere you go night and day. A quiet moment consisted of three power drills, 2 electric saws, six busses and a guy practicing erhu all at once. Usually it was way worse. I wore earplugs because I seemed to have developed hyperaccusis as well as the tinnitus. I have since been told that wearing earplugs with hyper accusis may not be such a good idea.

As far as hearing loss goes, well that's a given. Apparently, even a little high frequency loss can cause this kind of tinnitus. I always had above average hearing, which according to my own theory, left me more vulnerable to noise induced cochlear damage. But everybody's different...I;m trying really hard not to think I'm permanently screwed.

So I am clinging to the hope that, as before, this too shall pass, although from I experience I know it could take a long, long time.

Last thing. Does anyone know if T-Gone works at all? I know it looks like a scam, but after speaking with the owner, I am convinced that at least in her case, she found a cure and that she honestly believes in the product. Whether it works for the majority of people who take it is anyones's guess. I searched and there's only one guy who actually tried it who dissed it. But he said it looked like a bag of sugar, and as anyone familiar with homeopathic remedies knows, it IS mostly in a inert base of some sort, in this case a base of lactose and sugar. The active ingredients are supposedly potentized by some sort of arcane dilution process. I wouldn't even try it except that once, when I was suffering from extreme allergies I visited a classical homeopathist (one remedy, taken only once!) who gave me a three hour video interview, studied it intensely and came up with a remedy which I took just once and bam! My allergies were gone forever! So maybe there's something to homeopathy. On the other hand, I tried it with other problems with no results.

At any rate, I am looking for support right now. My girlfriend doesn't understand what Im going through and neither does my family.
So, any words of compassion and support would be appreciated.

cheers,

Brian