I've had tinnitus in both ears since I was a small child. I've had it as long as I can remember. The worst it's been, was when I had mononucleosis and my tonsils had swollen so big that I was in danger of having breathing difficulties.

The tonsils (which are naturally the size of golf balls. My doctor freaks whenever I get a sore throat and visit him for meds) had swollen up so badly and were really infected. The infection made it's way into my ears so I couldnt hear for about 3 weeks to a month. I couldnt talk because of all the swelling in my throat, and my nose was so plugged up it was (eww!) constantly dripping some sort of brown foul nastiness, which was fairly constant the entire time I was sick.

The only thing I could hear was this loud roaring noise, like sitting next to a giant concert speaker that was transmitting static, or it kind of sounded like the ocean, only really really loud. Drowned out everything.

Ironically, I'd dropped out of my ASL (American Sign Language) class because of the mono. My parents didnt know sign, so I had to use a notebook to communicate with them for part of the time. My mom kept ticking me off because I couldnt hear her very well, and I certainly couldnt respond back to her vocally...she'd constantly ask me questions that I couldnt answer back because I couldnt talk. Drove me bananas.

Since the mono, every once in awhile, my ears will feel like they're popping, and I'll have muffled hearing for anywhere from a few minutes to an hour after my ears "pop" or whatever it is that they're doing when that happens.