6 Months Update (Spike) — Some Thoughts

Hello all,

I think it's time for an update. Be prepared for a long post(!)

First, let me in advance apologize for the lack of a perfect english grammar. English is not my main spoken language.

In January this year I wrote a post in here. I initially got Tinnitus in 2006 after I got assaulted and my eardrum got perforated. I remember how it frightened me in the beginning. There was 2 tones. 1 constant hum and 1 noise-like hiss. The humming sound was something that I could only hear if I plugged my ears or were in a very silent room. The other hissing tone was more pronounced and harder to forget.

Back then I was referred to a Hospital for TRT treatment. I didn't get an appointment untill almost a year after I got the T. I got my in-ear maskers and a bedside masker, but as soon as I came home, I threw them in the drawer. I was already very close to habituation and thus the hospital treatment wasn't necessary. I think I with high confidence can say that I really habituated extremely well on my own.

Up till this January, I've had minimal problems with my T. I could go for months - even half a year without thinking about the T. Today I know that it was very mild. I would say it was a 2/10. And the good thing about my T was that it was extremely stationary. It almost never spiked and pretty much stayed the same for 10 years. Lucky me!

So then 2017 came along. The past years have been kinda rough. Not with the T, that was, as explained earlier, very stationary. But i've been struggling with a lot of other things. For many many years i've been fighting with severe anxiety and have been under psychiatric treatment for my whole adult life. Both with therapy but also medication. In 2013 I saw a new psychiatrist which offered me an intensive CBT course that turned out to change my life completely - to the better! I learned to cope with the anxiety and gained a whole new quality of life. It was hard work indeed, but it paid off.

Along with the new life also came some stress factors. In 2015 I got a DNA genetic test for hereditary colon cancer because several of my family members had shown to have this genetic disorder and also been having different kinds of cancers. My test showed up positive, and therefore I was offered to undergo normal control course for the rest of my life. At the first control, very unexpected (I was 33 years old at that time) they found a polyp with suspiscious cells. So I underwent sugery and got half of my colon removed which turned out to be a good choice. The polyp was cancerous. Everything was removed and I was declared healthy again. No need for chemotherapy and such.

Alongside with the cancer experience, I started to get various strange health issues that noone could explain. I could suddenly break out in rashes, breathing could be troubled, I out of the blue got sensitivity to perfume and harsh chemical odours, I got muscle spasms in my feet that slowly progressed to the rest of the body, then it started to spread to my face, muscles spasms behind my ear and beneath my eye, I also got burning mouth syndrome and eye floaters, I got so exhausted visiting doctor after doctor.

I was also undergoing dental implant treatment and I urged the dentists to examine if I had allergy to the implants. I got heavily examined and every one of the tests came out negative.

Noone could explain all this. MRIs were all normal and I also got a second checkup on the cancer part, but that also checked out OK. The only thing they could see was, that my blood results for the past 1 ½ year has showed a little increase in my blood lymphocytes. But the increase is so small that they didn't see it as a problem.

So, back to 2017. January came along.

At the 19th of january I had to go to the dentist for my imprints for the final crowns for my implants. I remember being very scared of this imprint and I'm pretty sure I was very tense. After the imprint was done, I was to go pick up my girlfriend at her work. When driving in my car I suddenly notice my Tinnitus. At first I tried to set it aside, but it somehow seemed different and much louder than usual. But I managed to pick up my girlfriend and we drove home. I didn't think all that much of it the rest of the day. Well, at least not before I had to go to bed. I laid down and prepared myself for a nights sleep. And then it all went nuts! The tinnitus came up to the surface with 200 miles per hour. What the hell? What is happening, I thought to myself. Eventually I had to get up and go into the living room on the couch. I could really hear the T and it was much more intrusive than I've ever experienced. And then of course, came the anxiety.

The next day the "new" T was still the same. I literally freaked out. I started to get severe tension in my jaw and neck and my jaw would start clicking and popping. It got so bad that I almost couldn't open my mouth.

Then a week later I got a pretty heavy flu (that didn't do any good!) which made the whole thing much, much worse. I was sick with fever and flu for 14 long days.

Eventually I got well again, but the T stayed at the new level. So this was my spike. Damn spike. A spike with new tones and suddenly the onset of T in the other earvaswell.

I went to the ENT. He said everything was fine. "just forget it, he said". Yeah right, i thought. This spike wasn't about to go unnoticed. It was way to severe for just ignoring it. But what the hell was causing all this? I was just one big question mark. I already had so many weird health issues that remain unexplained. Please, not more of this.

I did however give it time. Hoping it would go away. It didn't, though. I had to start from scratch and try to examine different possibilites. I began to read up on a lot of stuff about T. Including this forum. Began to take magnesium and zinc. I also started exercise frequently and managed to reduce my resting heart rate from 80 something to around 66-70. Nothing really had a big impact on the T though, but exercise can sometimes create a lower T for a while which I always enjoy to the fullest. Relaxed muscles also seems to sometimes help.

The one thing that kept staying beside the new T was the new problem with my jaw, the clicking and popping. So naturally I began to get suspicious about this connection. My GP referred med to physichal therapy since he had a thought that this whole spike thing was caused by stress. Also because of my explanation of how the T was easy to manipulate by movement of the neck and jaw. That seemed reasonable to me to get that referral.

I had a few physical therapy sessions. The physichal therapist at first thought it was all in my head (because i mentioned my history of anxiety) but when she first got a good grip on me, she concluded that I had massive tensions in the neck and also bad forward head posture that has given me a Dowager's Hump. After a few sessions she told me that my case was too complicated for her knowledge and she recommended an osteopath.

Fast forward to today, 6 months later.

I've been seeing the osteopath 4 times. 2 of my cervical spine disc was out of place and thus has been manipulated to their right position. I've been recieving manipulation of the jaw which we discovered was a trigger point for the Tinnitus. In fact, all movement of the jaw can itensify my T. He says my whole left side (which has the baddest T) is extremely tensed and even my ear is not very elastic. It's both my jaw, neck, sternocleidomastoideus, masseter and pterygoid muscles. Everything is tense.

So has anything helped? Well, after the first treatment of my jaw, I had the best week I've ever had for the whole time with my new spike. Unfortunately it didn't last, but I was very glad that it was possible to manipulate it somehow. Last week I had the second manipulation of the jaw and intraoral massage. It didn't give me the same relief this time. He did however tell me, that there will be good days and bad days and for the next 3 weeks my body is supposed to heal up before we do more treatment. I guess that is wise since I got a bit uncomfortable after the last treatment.

I think there can be several causes to my T. And it probably is combined. Perhaps some of it is caused by the jaw? What about an overactive nervous system given the past history of weird symptoms of muscle spasms and such? Maybe prolonged period of stress? Bad forward head posture? One thing is for sure, ever since the spike started, I haven't had just one day without tension in my jaw. And the clicking in my ear just won't fade away.

So what do I want to achieve with this post...

Well, I'm not sure. I guess I've had the urge to post an update. Also, perhaps some of you recognize something here and have a few thoughts on it. Maybe some experience with some of the same symptoms?

Perhaps even some positive thoughts?

This post got way to long...sorry...

Thanks!

 

Hi @bellafjelle ,
Maybe a mouth guard to wear at night might help you and help your clicking jaw.
I had a day and night guard all through my teenage years and a night guard as a adult.
It might help you so have a chat with your dentist.
Love glynis