Linda, keep it simple, the problem your having is causing your Tinnitus to get louder.

The Antibiotics will also do the same.

During this period take some klonopin to calm you down, until you get past your sickness, then taper off the klonopin, and you will be back to normal.

Daniel

I find that tinnitus distress compounds with sickness. Misery loves company. Anyway I hope you get better soon. I wouldn't be surprised if your doc gives you a steroid rather than a antibiotic. There are certain antibiotics you should avoid but I think most the bad ones are only used in emergency situations.

Hang in there. I am new to this place (mine just started a month ago)and getting sick was one of my concerns. Knock on wood I haven't been sick thus far, but I can't imagine what you are going through. I hope you have family/friends who can keep you company (even though you aren't feeling well). I know that is helping me a lot. When I am alone in the house, it just drives me crazy. Maybe you can call your ENT doctor who can tell you which antibiotics you can take.

From what I found...

Antibiotics, including chloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin, vancomycin and bleomycin

It could be viral so you may not need ATB.

Catch 22
What if the amplified sounds youre hearing are bec of the head cold and the antibiotics that are supposedly bad for Tinn can make it go away? Fight the problem you HAVE NOW, not the fear for of the possible future ones.
IF I WERE YOU, I'd advise my doc that I have a case of suppressed Tinn and would like to keep it suppressed but would like to neutralize the head cold usng an antibiotic thats not known to cause or exacerbate (scrabble tripple score word!) the Tinn
Then he/she (doc) will be more caucious about which AB to prescribe.

Thanks everyone!

I read all of your replies and appreciate your input and support and will take all said into consideration.

I held off seeing the doctor yesterday since it slightly appeared after I was up and about for a bit I felt better. I even went out for dinner with my husband, (our 31st wedding anniv.) We went to a small tourist pub., on the Erie Canal in our town. I could not hear nor taste but things could always be worse I suppose. (chuckle)

Unfortunately I was up again all last night, with the bronchitis/cough, now so exhausted I am missing work again today.

I am a substitute secretary in our school district, so able to take off, but with no pay.

Now again, the loud humming in my ears is causing me to feel very off and my main reason I feel I can't function.

I bet even a person with "normal" ears probably suffers humming ears when sick with the flu or a bad cold.

With that said, I feel foolish to say the least, that a humming in my ears from a bad cold causes me such distress.

So, my anxiety appears to be one main culprit to my distress.

I do have zoloft to take as needed. As one person here suggested a sedative might be help to me at this time so maybe I should take one and rest.

Enjoy your week end!

Patty Lynn

Patty--- happy anniversary. Glad you were able to celebrate your special day. How's your bronchitis/cough? Hope you are feeling better! I think besides the dreaded eeeee and other noises, the worst part is the anxiety and everything else that comes from it-- for me at least. Hang in there. Trying to control my anxiety without meds but if I can't I have no problem asking my doc for a script. :) thank you and others for sharing. Hope everyone has a great day.

Happy anniversary!!

It's not odd that the increased humming increased your stress. I think we all on here get more stressed when a spike comes, esp. when we are sick on top of it. Bob is right--if they do put you on antibiotics, stay away from the "mycins"!

Can you mask more during this time of louder T? I find that masking or partially masking keeps me calmer when the T is bad.

My T gets bothers me more when I have a cold. I think it's just feeling miserable, then having to deal with the noise adds to the misery, making the T seem even worse. You'll likely go back to the "normal" T when the cold is better. Colds are caused from a virus and viruses can't be treated with antibiotics. I'd stay away from the antibiotics and start hitting the water. Take care of yourself and let the cold run its course. That's my two cents' worth, for what it's worth. :)

My tinnitus always is worse when I have a head cold. I think that having one's head all stopped up probably intensifies the sound. It may only SOUND louder but really be unchanged. (does that make sense?). Whenever I have a cold it goes into my ears, they block up, especially my left one, and stay that way for days. Even my allergies can cause my ear to plug up and that makes the T sound worse. The last time this happened I had to take steroid pills, which did work, but I don't want to repeat that very often.

I realize that someone else already had this avatar so one of these days I will use a different one. Did not mean to steal someone's identity!

Keep in mind that antidepressants (I believe you mentioned Zoloft) cause tinnitus to become louder.

Linda, with your doctor's advice try this. My doctor gave me Mirtaz 7.5, smallest doze of anti-depressant, which has been giving me sound sleep since 2004 and I lead a happy life. I have not found any side effect. The tinnitus level has also come down due to sound sleep. In the morning I feel very fresh. Regular non-brisk walk of about 3 to 5 km every day is good for health. Physical or mental stress is bad for tinnitus. Avoid coffee & smoking completely. I was head of finance. I left my job and become a consultant, which reduced my stress levels considerably. Avoid antibiotics & try for anti allergic drug for cold. In India we have zedex syrup for that.

Hello again, and thanks again for further posts.

Excuse my error in posting zoloft, what I meant to write was xanax as needed.

I never heard of the antidepressant Mirtaz, but its nice to hear that it has relieved some of your symptoms and also helped you sleep.

I do not sleep well, but not due to my T. I often wake up through the night, for reasons unknown.

I agree with you also that a healthy life style can help some folks feel better all around. I have changed my diet to salt free and sugar free as much as possible, since my T started after eating salty corn beef a year and half ago.

I also try very hard to cook and eat healthy. In addition I walk each day when possible and am active as can be. I do drink coffee, a couple cups a day, but giving up coffee would not be something I think I could do presently anyway. My day to day T., is now bearable, but if it were to get worse and I was told giving up coffee would help, that would be a different story.

I do not think I am depressed, but I know I am VERY anxious a great deal of the time. I am one to become anxious when "odd" disorders, aches, and pains interfere with my daily living.

At any rate, I agree that this ongoing cold is plugging my ears, causing the noises I hear to be magnified, ugg I don't like that! And the humming ears is a reminder that I am sick!

I did not go to the doctor as yet and I did work yesterday. I was going to go to the doctor yesterday after work, but our weather declined.

Today things in our city have come to a halt due to hurricane Sandy. I live in WNY on the finger lakes and things are closed down for the time being due to lots of flooding, trees down, and rain.

Patty Lynn

We all have hurricane Sandy in our ear. LOL

Best way to tackle Tinnitus is to remain cheerful. This is a sure way perhaps to cope with it, as even advanced medicine does not have a remedy till date.

Even if you disable your ear, you would go deaf but tinnitus would remain, as it is the sound created by the system. This was told to me by my brother in law, who is ENT surgeon.

One more precaution is necessary. You have to avoid listening to music through ear phone. You need to completely avoid loud music. This really aggravates tinnitus.