Londonderry woman Aisling Starrs recounts how her tinnitus came back ‘with a vengeance’ after she got Covid

Aisling Starrs developed tinnitus, a condition where the patient hears noises not coming from outside, two and half years ago.

The 39-year-old said the tinnitus occurred “a split second” after giving birth to her son. She thought the ‘whooshing’ noise would pass, blaming it on her lengthy labour, but it never did.

Tinnitus can sound like ringing, buzzing, whooshing, humming, hissing, throbbing, music or singing.

The sounds can be in one or both ears, or in your head. They may come and go, or you might hear them all the time.

Pulsatile tinnitus

Aisling has pulsatile tinnitus and said she can hear the sound of her blood in her left ear, in time with her pulse.

“If I am exercising it will speed up, or if I am relaxing it will slow down.

“Pulsatile is slightly different from other tinnitus because there can be other, more sinister, reasons behind it.”

Aisling said she went through all the usual channels, including a visit to her GP, audiology, ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat), and an MRI scan, to discover a cause for her tinnitus, but none was found.

“Luckily for me, my line of work meant I already had some information on how to manage my tinnitus. That coupled with having a new-born (i.e. being too busy to think about it, and severe lack of sleep) it never affected me negatively and I eventually reached habituation.

Nonetheless, Aisling said the sound is there all the time.

“Sometimes I would get confused between it and external sounds. When I put the child to bed and I am in a quiet house in the evening, I keep thinking I’ve let something on - an appliance in the kitchen, so I’ll have to go and check, but it isn’t, it’s just my tinnitus.”

Contracted coronavirus

In September 2020 Aisling contracted Covid 19, which led to a worsening of her problems.

“The attack on my ears was the worst symptom I got,” she said.

“I had no temperature, no continuous cough, etc. I suffered severe pressure to my ears and my tinnitus came back....with a vengeance. It was louder than it had ever been. On a scale of 1-10 it went from a three to a seven.”

At first Aisling thought it was due to stress.

“I was worrying about who I had been in contact with, have I put them at risk, how it would affect my family, who would look after my son if I ended up hospitalised? But no, the tinnitus was here to stay and months later it’s still here, louder than it has ever been.”

She added: “I started Googling straight away but no answers. I didn’t know anyone who had tinnitus and had contracted Covid to ask. Was this just me?

“It wasn’t until I had taken part in the British Tinnitus Association Conference in October that finally I realised I wasn’t alone.

“This was a common side effect for those who already had tinnitus and then contracted Covid. It was a massive relief for me knowing that it wasn’t just me, I wasn’t imagining it and this wasn’t the noise of my stress.”

A recent study found that coronavirus symptoms worsened tinnitus for 40 per cent of people with the hearing condition.

Researchers from Anglia Ruskin University carried out an online survey among 3,103 people with tinnitus from 48 countries, with most of them from the UK and America. They found that Covid-19 symptoms exacerbated tinnitus in 40 per cent of respondents, made no change in 54 per cent, and improved the condition in four per cent.

Their report said that, although the study focused on people with pre-existing tinnitus, a small number of participants reported that their condition was triggered when they developed coronavirus symptoms. The researchers said this suggests that tinnitus could be a long Covid symptom in some cases.

Help available

The study also indicated that stress factors such as fear of catching Covid-19, financial concerns, loneliness and trouble sleeping made tinnitus more bothersome in 32 per cent of respondents.

Aisling said: “I am still coming across people that don’t know what tinnitus is - they don’t even know it has a name. I’d be talking to people and they’d say ‘I have that ringing in my ear’. I think a bit of education and a bit of support can go a long, long way, because I found a massive relief in just one person saying ‘that happened to me too’, when their tinnitus got worse after Covid.

“The first point of contact for anyone with tinnitus is usually a GP or medical professional who tells them there is no cure and that’s the point at which they lose hope and it is really hard to build people back up from that.”

“As a co-facilitator of a tinnitus support group, not only did I have the skill sets to manage my tinnitus and live with it, I found it of major importance to share my story with as many people as I could, so they wouldn’t feel like I did. Please remember, there is support and help out there, you are not alone.”

Relaxation techniques can help

According to the British Tinnitus Association (BTA, tinnitus.org.uk), 9.3% of people living with tinnitus have experienced thoughts of suicide or self-harm in the last two years.

The charity, who surveyed 2,600 people, also found a third admit to withdrawing from social situations and feeling like their partner and family ‘don’t understand’.

“We’ve noticed during Covid, more people telling us about their tinnitus,” says BTA’s communication manager Nic Wray, as Tinnitus Week 2022 begins.

“The stress of living through the pandemic does seem to have exacerbated lots of people’s tinnitus.”

Tinnitus and stress

Most of the time, tinnitus doesn’t have a clear cause (although it’s often associated with hearing loss and sometimes occurs due to other health conditions). However, stress and anxiety can be big factors. “And it can be difficult to unpick that: is the stress and anxiety triggering the tinnitus, or is it the tinnitus triggering the anxiety and stress?” says Wray.

Audiologist Farah Kiani, of high street clinic Hidden Hearing (hiddenhearing.co.uk), said “having a hearing aid can help reduce your awareness of tinnitus. That’s because hearing aids amplify sounds that you want to hear, and that distracts your brain from the tinnitus.”

How can you help tinnitus?

Kiani said: “There are lots of techniques you can try. For example, deep breathing exercises, meditation, and even something like visualisation exercises. Imagine yourself somewhere else and really pay attention to, for example, whether there’s a river, an ocean, the colour, how you’re feeling, all these sorts of things can help.”

Yoga and tai chi can be helpful, and mindfulness meditation is also worth a try. .

Kiani says “it’s a good idea to stick to a bedtime routine. And even things like cutting down on caffeine – some studies have shown that can help.” Quiet background noise can also be very helpful if tinnitus keeps you awake at night – whether that’s white noise, soothing sounds or music, an audio bedtime story or relaxing hypnosis track.

CBT for tinnitus

Cognitive behaviour therapy, or CBT – a form of counselling weaving in coping strategies and helping people reframe things – is a recognised treatment option. Wray says it can provide a helpful “framework for understating how you’re feeling about the tinnitus, and how tinnitus and stress are linked”, while Kiani adds “tinnitus retraining therapy can be very helpful”.

Apps and podcasts

Dr Ed Farrar, an ex-RAF and NHS doctor who developed tinnitus in his 20s, co-founded an app specifically for tinnitus, called Oto (joinoto.com). It combines all these techniques, guiding people to build daily self-help habits. The app provides instant access to science-based support and is backed by world-leading tinnitus experts.

Connect with others

Wray says “sharing experiences” can help people feel less alone, as well as opening them up to coping strategies that have really helped others. BTA has “a network of support groups across the country. We also have online support groups, and workshops and webinars people can dip in and out of,” adds Wray.

“We also have a befriending service, so people can have one-to-one support by phone or email from somebody who also has tinnitus.” For details, look under the ‘Support’ tab on BTA’s website or call their helpline (0800 018 0527).

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