Can Tension Headaches Cause Tinnitus?

Hello to all. Tinnitus can cause frequent headaches, but can frequent tension headaches cause tinnitus?

My story is short: I started a new job last year. All the stress and bad sleep routine resulted in everyday tension type headaches. They were pretty strong and just one day tinnitus showed up (unilateral and low pitched). I wasn't sick or took ototoxic drugs back then. Never had ear or neck pain.

Now, headaches are history, but the tinnitus is quite bothersome and I cannot sleep/stay in silent rooms without masking it. Nothing seems to help (medications, vitamins, new lifestyle, etc.). I was told my health is fine and all the tests are clear. Mystery.

Looking for answers and help. Thank you in advance.

 

Seems like anything can cause tinnitus! Have you heard of Occipital Neuralgia? It is similar to tension headaches and can put pressure on the nerve causing tinnitus. However, stress in general has been linked to tinnitus.

 

How can you be tested for occipital neuralgia?

 

Baclofen reduced the headaches but the tinnitus is still here ;( I've never been diagnosed with occipital neuralgia, but I feel like I definitely have some of the symptoms. Neurologists can't tell for sure. Unfortunately I have a new hissing sound in my good ear. Guess it's not "good" anymore. I'm afraid of these sounds being permanent or getting worse.

 

I am no doctor. I think I saw something that they can do a nerve block on the nerve that is causing the pain and if the symptoms are relieved from that, they can determine that it's occipital neuralgia.

 

Is there any mold where you live? How does your audiogram look like?

 

No, there's no mold or dust here. My hearing is fine, perfect audiograms. ENT told me I had no hearing loss or any problems such as sinusitis, eustachian tube dysfunction, allergies, tonsillitis, etc.

 

The University of California Irvine is in the midst of a clinical trial on tinnitus and migraines:

Treatment of Tinnitus With Migraine Medications

I was actually seeing Dr. Djalilian before I lost my job due to tinnitus and subsequently my apartment and had to move away to stay with family, so I couldn't continue seeing him to see if his research is helpful or not.

 

So, when I first had tinnitus:

I went to an ENT, and he suggested that stress caused my tinnitus.

I went to a dentist, and he suggested that my severely damaged molar caused my tinnitus.

I went to a neurologist, and he suggested that my history with CVT caused my tinnitus.

I went to an orthopedist, and he suggested that my poor posture and neck strain caused my tinnitus.

I went to a physician, and he suggested that my visual aura migraines caused my tinnitus.

There have been suggestions that my weight, lack of physical activity, lifestyle, food, lack of drinking water etc has caused my tinnitus. I've also been told that mold toxicity could be the reason.

Everything causes tinnitus, so, it is unavoidable. The only thing that we can control is how we react to it.

I hope you feel better.

G'day.

 

I saw Dr. Djalilian a couple of weeks ago. His instructions to me were vitamins and Nortriptyline.

 

He wanted me to have a sleep study done and follow a migraine diet as well as take Nortriptyline and Gabapentin.

If you aren't happy with him, his colleague Dr. Harrison Lin is extremely personable and also has tinnitus.

 

Did you follow the protocol and take the medications? Did Dr. Lin offer a different treatment?

Thanks.

 

Did he suggest a dosage and schedule for Nortriptyline and Gabapentin? I'm interested in what he prescribed dosage wise.

Regards,
Nick

 

Gabapentin 100 mg - 3 times a day
Nortriptyline 50 mg

 

I guess you didn't bother with the Nortriptyline? I was thinking 10 mg. Was this Hamid Djalilian and did he provide rationale for the medications? I wish I had some Gabapentin now as my tinnitus is screeching.

 

They put me on 10 mg of Nortriptyline and tons of vitamins. Dr. Djalilian's theory is my tinnitus is related to migraine, even though I haven't had a migraine in years. No mention of Gabapentin, but maybe that will be next if the Nortriptyline doesn't work. I haven't try it yet. I actually have Gabapentin 300 mg from a hip surgery three months ago, which again, I never took.

 

They'll probably add Gabapentin if the Nortriptyline alone isn't working. That's the pathway they put me on.

I took both of them. I couldn't even get up to 20mg of the Nortriptyline because the side effects were too much, but I stayed on 10 mg for about 4 months and tried increasing the dose various times before giving up. The low dose did seem to help my migraines though, but the dry mouth, increased heart rate, and increased tinnitus volume were not so nice.

 

Did your tinnitus go back down after you stopped the Nortriptyline? Did you try the Gabapentin? How often were you getting migraines?

 

What? Pressure on the nerve can cause tinnitus? /sarcasm

 

I don't even remember writing this. I was not even a month into tinnitus. What did I know? It still seems like anything can cause or worsen tinnitus.

 

Well, it seems you were right if we look at the recent discoveries of Prof. McNaughton, Dr. Shore, etc...

 

Hi @kingsfan! Sorry to nudge up an old post, but I’ve had an initial chat with Dr. Djalilian's organization, Neuromed, and I'm thinking about going through his treatment plan. However, it feels expensive at $1500 USD, so I'm just checking if this is what you were on. You said your tinnitus increased.