Anyone Have Ringing Only When Lying Down?

Hello everyone,

New to the boards. Here's my full story if you guys want more details: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/so-many-possible-causes-i-dont-know.8364/.

A few nights ago, I woke up to a ringing in my left ear. It has since become louder, but weirdly enough, it only happens when I'm laying down. If I stand up it goes away after a few minutes (I will literally be in the same room for several minutes with no ringing, if I'm standing, but almost immediately when I lay down on my back I hear it—weird).

I have had popping in my ears, that coincidentally happened a few days after my initial acoustic trauma about two months ago (which may or may not have left me with a slight hissing that I did not notice until the ringing began). And my left ear (now the ringing ear) would get full. I could unclog it by blowing my nose. At the time, since there was no ringing, I was not worried or aware of bacterial infections. I just assumed it was allergies.

I don't know if it's related in my case but I've read many posts that the popping and ringing can be due to Eustachian Tube Dysfunction and inner ear infections. I also, for the first time in my life, started clenching and grinding my teeth while I slept, which I noticed late last year prior to any acoustic trauma, tinnitus, etc. But, since I don't have any jaw pain, I'm ruling out TMD/J.

I have an appointment for the ENT today so I'll give you an update on what they say if you guys are interested.

Anyhow I appreciate any feedback you guys may have if you've had similar stories, ETD, inner ear infections, etc.

I haven't been an active member of a forum in a few years. But it looks like I'll be here for the meantime. Hopefully not a lifelong member.

 

MrT
T ringing louder when laying down is very typical -- I have no answer as to why the prone position causes this; however, it might be related to neck posture/strain.

The grinding of the teeth (bruxism) is a sign of anxiety and stress (even if you don't feel anxious or stressed); both of these are key ingredients to the cause (I believe) and the increase of T. High, fast, hard living (even though lots of fun and appears to be stress free) can really take its toll on you and make you overly anxious and high-strung. Managing those two beasts will go a long way in avoiding increased T.

If you have stored up tension in your body (for whatever reason) it is very common for it to concentrate in your neck and upper back; there are a lot of nerves and blood vessels running through there that can affect the auditory system.

Ask me the actual cause of your T and my T -- I'm not knowing. I just know that anxiety and stress are critical in the system that is T and bruxism is a key indicator of anxiety and stress.

Mark

 

My T seems louder the moment I lay down.

I consulted my ENT and he reasoned because when we standing we are hearing things 360 degree whereas when we lie down our back is actually blocked and only hearing 180 degree front.

Do you guys think this is correct or wrong reasoning?

 

Thanks for your reply Mark. I didn't consider that. I have admittedly been under a great deal of stress over the past few months. It resulted primarily in stressful nightmares (the dream where you realize you didn't graduate from school and you have to go back and finish a test you didn't study for etc. and clinching my teeth while I slept. [not trying to derail my own thread here]). For months prior to the T and after I had/have a sharp pain in my left trapezius muscle, but emotionally throughout the day I never really felt too much stress until the audible T.

I'll definitely give massages, acupuncture, meditation, chiropractors, and the other stress relieving methods a go and let you know how it goes in lowering the T. Ironically, right before the onset of T, I felt as good as I'd felt in a very long time. I ruptured a disc in my lower back while deadlifting about six months prior and it was my first week back in the gym. I started feeling some pain in the left side of my lower back so I took a day or two off which is when I began hearing the ringing.

I don't really hear it much if at all during 90% of my day, although I have been very sensitive to high frequency noise the kind emitted by printer/server rooms in the office. But as soon as I lay down the ringing becomes very loud in my left ear.

Seeing as how it's difficult for me to pinpoint the cause of the ringing, as well as having such mixed symptoms, I guess my only solution is to try them one by one and see if anything works.

 

Does the lower back affect T? Thought only cervical nerve affect the T?

 

I have no idea. But the trapezius is related to the neck so it's possible that it could be that.

 

Trapezius as in the shoulder?

 

MrT
You are spot-on; and I can totally relate. I've found that (in my case) I've normalized a high stress so much that I don't 'feel' stressed at all -- but if I start looking at the signs (pain in the neck/back) it is irrefutable -- I'm stressed.

So, a big part of my journey with T has been as much about identifying and dealing with stress/anxiety as it has been about dealing with T. The hard part (for me) was to break out of this endless 'square-dance' started by T (anxiety goes up, T goes up, therefore anxiety goes up, and then T goes up again -- around and around it goes). So, learning to deal with stress (all stress) has been key (for me). In the end, T is just another stressor, just like everything else; some days I win, some days the stressors win -- but I keep getting better at it. T is a great 'stressometer' for guys like me that seem to be 'tone-deaf' to all the stress in my life.

Glad you are the right track! It will make a huge difference dealing with T.

Mark

 

Thongly
Funny you mention that; I've had lower back issues since my late thirties. Recently (since my ankle surgery) my lower back has been giving me grief and my T has responded in kind (much worse). I'm thinking the lower back can/does have an affect.

Mark

 

Hello, I have *almost* the same problem. How it begun(excuse my english):
I had a slight sound trauma from a near coast disco at the sea resort.
My left ear felt stuck (no noise) and I started taking milgama-N+cavinton. The doctor said I should take anti-alergic + tailol-hot since I had slight inflamation in the left Eustachian tube. I undergone audiometic test which showed some damage but (according to the doctor) it was too light. I don't have any allergies, so I didn't took the anti-elrgic medicine. And the ear left stuck which I could un-stuck when I swallow for a short period. I felt like something is touching my ear-channel when I walk - when I step harder. After 1 month waiting it to heal, but it didn't, I went to another doctor, who said that the touch-feelig came from liquid in my left Eustachian tube. He prescribed me aerius - anti-allergic again, but told me why - to artificially suppress the inflamation to allow ventilation of the Eustachian tube. On the 2nd day of taking aerius(no such side effect), the noise came - at 09.09.2015. On the 3rd day it became so strong that next 72 hours I didn't sleep. It went the second ear also, so became "stereo". Later another doctor said that she never heard bacteria to come from one inner ear to the other inner ear without causing Meningitis... My naive feelig is like I have caught some kind of life-form (bacteria, virus, mushroom, sea-plant) which invaded my middle ear, than moved to the inner-ears where it settled and is sitting, causing nerves to react with noise... When I'm in the bed probably a kind of infected liqid is damaging the inner-ears. When I stand up, it takes 6-8 hours to become lighter and lighter until almost disappers.
It needs just 30 minutes lying pose to come back.
Later the symptoms became really strange: When my head is with left ear at the down side - the noise came in the right ear (which is at the upper side) and vice versa.
The last doctor I saw (6th) believed me (after 3 weeks noise) and became therapy against unknown cause and gave me antibiotic - tercef "2.0", dexametazone, aciclovir. The therapy had some effect - the noise went lighter. After I chew something, the noise becomes lighter and stays this way (not a masking effect). The last-resort medicine he gave me (for epilepsy) had strong effect - it suppressed the noise completely but not for long. The effect was on the second day (I took it at the prev. evening) - at the morning there was no noise and it lasted during whole day. But today the noise came back strong despite the medicine I took..... So I continue to think that it's kind of form of life in my head. I feel like I will die. Now I'm trying to treat it like it's vampire: I eat garlic, drink silver water, chew lot of apples... I'm desperate, because the doctors say: go to psychologist and I know it's not coming from the stress or the brain.

 

Has your ENT suggested sleeping with your head slightly elevated? This might tell you if it's a fluid movement or pressure effect.

Sometimes doctors have patients sleep with an elevated head for a month or two to help with healing the inner ear. Those tissues are mighty sensitive and subject to fluid leakage or pressure from reclining, which they say can cause those intermittent sounds.

Or it could be a constant sound "waiting to happen" upon further sound exposure. Be careful.

 

@Blujay Thank you for the information. No, all of my ENTs keep ignoring these oddities, actually 6 of them suggested me to go to psychologist to: help me accept the noise, give me a stronger medicine to help me fall asleep, to get me calmed down, because the noise could be because I'm nervous (which drives me really crazy). They behave like i keep telling them "I saw the devil!" and react like this:
- "Oh, the devil - yes, lots of people see it, unfortunately I don't know how to hide it, but all of them seem to be nervous - like you, so go to a psychologist".
The 7th (6th in order, found later, by the end of the 3rd week with terrible noise) heard me and tried to cure me with various things (antibiotic, anti-virus medicine, anti-mycotic, dexametazone) but even he didn't know what is the real problem. I think his treatment with antibiotic helped, but either the concentration(doze) was not enough or the antibiotic was partially effective to fully stop the actual problem which lead to the noise. Anyway, his treatment reduced the noise about 10 times to a manageable level. But I'm worried, because the reason for the noise is not removed and it can worsen at any time.
@MrT: The lower back is connected to the brain; Actually, they share the brain liquid - when the doctors want to get a sample from it, the laboratories don't drill the scull, but take it from the back, because it's easier and less dangerous (but still dangerous) procedure. I saw an article about a danish scientist who found that sometimes the people with herniated discs have a kind of a bacteria there which causes increased pain. And she found a medicine to kill these. I don't remember the exact number, but a good percent of the people (say 40%) had improvements when took her medicine during the tests.
Do you have improvements after you eat 2 apples and some nuts say almonds ? My noise drops then and it's not just masking - it stays there for some time. So I develop a theory that chewing leads to movement of blood or other liquids in the head thus temporary reducing the concentration of the harmful bacteria around the inner ear.

 

I have been sleeping sitting up for the past week and Tbis better. I did break my collarbone @ 15 years ago. I have had chronic shoulder and neck pain which I have managed for years with chiropractic nod massage. I am going to a dr who does dry needling to break up chronic knots in neck nod shoulders. Hope this helps. When I have a massage or physical therapy T lessens exponentially. Wish me luck.

 

Angel G - I Joined this forum just to talk to you. I haven't been in contact with anyone else sharing my symptoms before. I have second hand information about two others, but I have yet to talk to them. My ringing is also louder after lying down, but itt can start at any time or under any circumstance. It's bothered four years, but I sometimes have weeks with no symptoms. Stress, hunger or loud noises seem to worsen it, but that goes for my 'regular' T as well, so that could be due to general weakening of the natural coping mechanisms.
Sometimes, and increasingly often, when a period of noise and fullness, relief comes with a full force meniere's vertigo attack, complete with instant and total loss of hearing in the effected ear. Other times relief is preceded by a day of extra loud hissing, in the frequency of my everyday tinnitus. So I'm thinking meniere's could be the culprit.
I'm only at my first ENT yet, so I probably have a long journey ahead of me . Have you had any luck finding a cause yet?