I think I may have tinnitus? Pretty much for as long as I can remember, I've always had this constant ringing noise in my ears that never seems to stop- it is very high pitched. Luckily it's not that loud and during the day I don't notice it much before the sounds all around me help muffle it out- it's mostly noticeable when it's really quiet, especially when I go to bed at night. It doesn't bother me much as I've had it for so long and gotten used to it. I've had this since I was a kid and I never really thought about it as I thought that it was normal and that everyone had this 'ringing noise' in the ears. The only thing is that there isn't any apparent cause I can think of for this. It's not age as I'm only 14 and it defenitely isn't cause by hearing loss because of loud music or something because I almost NEVER listen to very loud music (my friends are always complaining because I listen to it so low ). Do you think this could be tinnitus? Should I do anything about it?
You could book an appointment with your GP as there are certain treatments to lessen the impact of tinnitus, but if it doesn't bother you or you have no adverse effects (i.e distress), you don't have to. It's not a serious condition, usually. It's possibly caused by ear wax build up. Most people experience it at some point - I hear it if I've been listening to music for a while.
I've had some hearing loss since I was a kid and would get ringing on a regular basis but it usually would only last for a few minutes. A couple years ago I was ill with a fever and my head started ringing. It was really bad, like broken glass scraping together. After I got better the ringing remained constant. It was very distracting at first. I knew it was unlikely that anything could be done for it so I never went to the doctor. This past spring a colleague encouraged me to go to a doctor so I went and he confirmed what I thought. Unless there were some other symptoms the chance of finding something treatable was unlikely. Tinnitus is often untreatable. It may be worth it just to see your GP in case you do have something fixable and to get it into your medical records.
