A Pattern Has Emerged for My Tinnitus

[Nick M]

I've been monitoring my tinnitus for some time now and I have noticed a clear pattern with the level of my tinnitus. The pattern I have is a clear sawtooth pattern if you were to graph is. I get a spike in my tinnitus in a very short period of time like minutes or seconds. I feel this strong vibration sensation go across my brain and the tinnitus spikes within literally seconds. The tinnitus then tapers down in the next few days until it's at a stead level of 1, 2 or 3 and sometime I can barely notice it.

This lasts for a few days or maybe a week and then the pattern repeats again. Anyone else experience the same with their tinnitus?

If I were to try to explain this using an analogy, it would be like how a water heater works where there's always a pilot light on (tinnitus) and something causes the main burner to ignite and once it has run it's course, it goes back to the pilot only being on.

Something triggers this spike for me and I have not been able to tie it to anything yet. Tinnitus is such a strange beast.

 

[Bill Bauer]

If I were to try to explain this using an analogy, it would be like how a water heater works where there's always a pilot light on (tinnitus) and something causes the main burner to ignite and once it has run it's course, it goes back to the pilot only being on.

How many days does the cycle last? Or is the duration completely random? Could it be that the duration (time between the spikes) keeps getting longer?

 

[Nick M]

How many days does the cycle last? Or is the duration completely random? Could it be that the duration (time between the spikes) keeps getting longer?

The cycle seems to repeat on a weekly basis. Sometimes the silent days are short lived and sometimes they last for 3 or 4 days before I get the spike. When I get the spike, it never tapers down in a short period. It lasts for several days and sometimes a week before things settle again. The trigger point is very frightening. It physically jolts, it's as if an electrical current goes through my head followed by fleeting T and a vibration type of sensation in my head (I feel like this is different from the regular tinnitus that is just sound based). This vibration comes with a high pitch whistle type fluctuating sound in the upper frequencies like 14-16 Khz. This totally overtakes the constant T that's always there. It's a crazy sound feedback loop.

The only thing that temporarily helps when it spikes like this is either ACRN which I think breaks the synchronous brain activity or I use the Whist app on my phone and play 5 second on 5 second off frequency in the 3500 Khz range and strangely, after each 5 second ON cycle is over, the OFF cycle is almost completely silent with no T, again I think this breaks the feedback loop temporarily.

The one thing I've learned is to never takes the good days for granted. I enjoy those days greatly and what gives me hope after the spikes are the silent days that will hopefully soon follow.

 

[Bill Bauer]

The trigger point is very frightening. It physically jolts

I've never seen anyone on this forum describing anything similar...

 

[billie48]

I feel this strong vibration sensation go across my brain

Welcome to the forum. I have heard others describe this as head tinnitus which seems to have vibration in the head. Check this thread in the introduction section. Apparently a member with head tinnitus has found the sound mix created by the OP of the thread to help eliminate his head tinnitus. Give it a good read from the start. As far as the cyclical nature of tinnitus, it is quite common actually. Members have mentioned about this, some with almost exact pattern of repetition. You may want to search out the forum for 'tinnitus in cycle' or 'cyclical tinnitus' to see some prior discussions on this.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ked-out-my-tinnitus.33001/page-25#post-414024