Anyone Get Tinnitus from Head Trauma / Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)?

Hello all, good morning. I first registered here over a year ago.

My tinnitus is the result of being struck by an SUV as a pedestrian the night of Valentine's Day 2019. The driver fled the scene but was caught, he is still in jail. He left me laying there close to a busy intersection with a fractured skull which put me in a coma for a month. When I awoke from the coma in the trauma unit of a hospital I found tinnitus to be my constant companion.

I have not visited this site much at all since registering because after reading around here a bit I found that I seemed to be unique compared to others here. I was hoping to find accounts from others I could relate to, tinnitus from a skull fracture and traumatic brain injury. I gave up and moved on.

In all of this I have been left feeling isolated (the ongoing Coronapocalypse hasn't helped) and without answers as to my condition. I have not seen my audiologist since last March and will not again until the second week of December. When last there I asked her how many other patients she had with tinnitus due to TBI from a skull fracture, massive brain bleed and brain swelling and being comatose for a month. She replied "none, you are the only one". She hasn't been big on answers but she could sell me a pair of hearing aids for $6K. At that point, a year ago, I was very open to trying anything that might help so I agreed to the hearing aids. After a year they have not helped.

Realizing that she was doing nothing for me, it occurred to me that the staff at the VA hospital may be more on top of things. After almost 20 years of wars since 9/11 they have dealt with hundreds, if not thousands, of TBIs. I met two vets myself who were both through multiple IEDs while riding in vehicles. One 17 times, the other 3. SEVENTEEN times! When you are riding in a vehicle and roll over a bomb buried in the roadway bad things happen. In a Hummer, basically an unarmored pickup truck, few survive. In an MRAP, a much larger and heavily armored vehicle, you get slammed into the ceiling often resulting in head and neck injuries.

So knowing this I have been to the VA to see my primary physician there whom I have not seen since before my injuries. He concurs that VA staff are more experienced with TBI and has set me up to meet with their audiologists soon, this week.

Whew! Long rant, sorry.

My question is this ~ Who here has their tinnitus as a result of TBI/skull fracture? These are the folks I would like to connect with.

If this is you, splendid!

If not then no offense, really, and I hope for the best for you but I would like responses to this thread to be from those with tinnitus resulting from injuries like mine.

Thanks! Daniel

 

Auditory Quality-of-Life Measures in Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury and Normal Pure Tone Audiometry

Auditory complaints are commonly reported following traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, few studies have examined patient-reported auditory symptomatology and quality-of-life metrics in individuals with TBI. We hypothesize that following TBI, individuals can experience auditory symptoms even with hearing thresholds in the normal range. Adult patients with normal auditory thresholds and a history of TBI were evaluated for subjective hearing loss, tinnitus, aural fullness, hyperacusis, and autophony. Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults, Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, and Hyperacusis Questionnaire were administered. Thirty-one patients were prospectively recruited. Twenty-eight TBI participants (90%) reported ≥1 auditory symptoms at the time of survey intake. Mild to severe handicap in the Hearing Handicap Inventory for Adults and Tinnitus Handicap Inventory was reported in 71.4% and 40% of the participants with hearing loss and tinnitus, respectively. Hyperacusis handicap was considered significant in 41.1% of the participants who complained of hyperacusis and completed the survey. Despite normal hearing thresholds, individuals with TBI experience decrements in auditory quality-of-life metrics. Level of evidence: 3.

Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0194599820933886

 

Thank you Frederic. Almost two years into this now since I was hit by the SUV in February '19. No definite answers from any of these doctors yet. Hopefully ongoing assesment at the VA will yield some perspectives in this. Thank you for your reply, much to read up on.

 

@Tinhorn, hi, according to your original post, I don't know if you have been tested to see whether your blood network has reformed well. I just found this, maybe it will help you.

A case of traumatic anterior cerebral artery-cavernous sinus fistula

Direct anterior cerebral artery-cavernous sinus fistula is an extremely rare complication of head trauma. We describe a male patient (age 49 years) with a history of head trauma 15 years ago who was hospitalised for a bulging red eye and tinnitus. Digital subtraction angiography showed a direct anterior cerebral artery (fork junction A1 - prior passage)-cavernous sinus fistula. The patient was treated with arterial endovascular intervention, complete sealing of the fistula orifice using coils. He was discharged 5 days later with no symptoms of a bulging red eye, ringing in the ears, or nerve paralysis. Re-examination after 3 months of stable clinical features did not show recurrent fistula. In conclusion, anterior cerebral artery-cavernous sinus fistula is an extremely rare lesion, and arterial endovascular intervention using coils is a safe and effective method for treatment of such lesion.

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1930043320305884