Complete Silence!

Yeah I have quite a bit, I lost almost all my hearing above 8kz and some below. If you have tinnitus I would imagine that you have a some hidden loss. I do not think that people can have tinnitus without hearing loss, although on the flip side its pretty obvious that you can have no tinnitus along with hearing loss.

 

I'm an example of that flip side. Spent most of my life with profound high frequency loss in both ears, and profound loss across all frequencies in my worse ear.... but no tinnitus. At least not until I had another small drop in hearing a few years ago.

 

From everything I've read, it seems tinnitus arises from an inappropriate brain reaction to hearing loss. Normally the brain just lets this loss go and stops producing a sound, but things like stress, medications, imbalances in your neurochemistry etc. may interfere with the normal brain reaction to sensory loss. This seems to be especially common if the hearing loss is sudden. It is like phantom limb pain.

The thing I still don't understand is why tinnitus is so permanent for many. I know it's true, but I just don't understand how it causes these permanent neurological changes.

 

Yeah isn't that something. One of my best friends set up audio for the band Kiss for years and his hearing is really bad. He now knows about tinnitus and is a little worried, I guess that's my fault, he's seen first hand hand how I struggle. It's funny he says he hears absolutely nothing, not even a hiss. Lucky guy I guess.

 

I think they make some extended frequency hearing aids now. For example, the Siemens Binax 7bx or the newer Signia hearing aid that replaces it (not sure what the model is) can be programmed up to 12khz. The newer Signia one has more features for tinnitus masking. There are probably others from other companies. Maybe they could help.

 

I believe mine is to do with the

Time and time again the so called specialists kept telling me it wasn't my hearing,I'd get worse after some sort of noise only to be told again it's not my hearing.I feel like a fool for not realising it sooner,that it was my hearing causing this!Its only after I discovered hidden hearing loss that it all made sense,I was led to believe it was all in my head caused by anxiety etc because they could find nothing wrong.I was a kid and trusted what they told me,how wrong was I!I can hear better than my girlfriend can but yet she doesn't have H or T.I'll stick by what I said,H and T are caused by the auditory nerve,it's basically peripharel neuropathy but docs and researchers are too stupid to realise it yet.They will never cure T and H,not that it can't be cured but because they waist too much time looking in the same place and finding nothing,only to look again and still find nothing.There is only one study I read where someone actually looked directly at the auditory nerve as the source,they sedated the auditory nerve and completely abolished T but yet nobody picks up on this and they decide to just keep deafening rats and pump them with chemicals to see what happens.

 

@bill 112 I find your thoughts about the auditory nerve fascinating and quite possible. I also have searched a lot online with search terms like "inflamed auditory nerve" hoping to see images, etc. But I come up short. There's also the idea that there may be a viral component which causes inflammation of the auditory nerve in that tight area, which can set off the tinnitus. Questions, questions.

 

Haha thanks but I know myself Path Maker that T and H are the result of auditory neuropathy,the similarities between neuropathy and T and H are ridiculously similar!If you want I'll post all my proof if you will as to why I know the answer and cause lies in the auditory nerve,it'll open your eyes!!

 

I'm definitely an example of this. What I can't figure out though, is if the medication that caused systemic inflammation and triggered mine caused additional damage, or if it just wired my brain into existing hearing loss. I personally think it may be the latter, as periodically, my hearing just returns to normal for a few minutes, sometimes a few hours and I can hear completely normally - as I did before this nightmare started.

 

Sure, @bill 112 . Whenever you have the time and inclination, post away! I would LOVE to see what information you've gathered!

 

Yeah @bill 112 post away

 

Below are known symptoms of peripharel neuropathy and other similarities and stories I've gathered,Iwill show how they compare to neuropathy of the auditory nerve.

PERIPHAREL NEUROPATHY:
-Exaggerated signals
(In our case T)

-Muscle spasm
(In our case Tonic tensor Tympani syndrome)

-Hot burning stinging or tingling pain
(Hyperacusis)

-Anxiety
(Every new T and H sufferer)

-People showing signs of neuropathy usually have intermittent symptoms,occasional pain and spasms etc and if left undiagnosed it may become chronic.
(Lots of people experience intermittent T after a concert or just in general but that push too far makes it stay and become chronic,in the same way H sufferers experience intermittent pain from sound I.e setbacks only to experience long lasting intractable chronic pain after too many setbacks)

-Peripharel nerves can heal themselves
(This is explains why some peoples T and H completely disappears if ears are protected)

-People with peripharel neuropathy experience hot burning pain through out their body as the peripharel nerves are connected to the brain and spinal cord.
(I myself experience burning pain throughout my body from sound,it's not anxiety but a genuine physical presence of pain,the pain goes down my spine which is connected to the peripharel nervous system)

-Peripharel neuropathy tends to be degenerative,which explains why people with normal hearing loss can go to clubs with no issues where as one noise can make someone's T and H worse.

-The peripharel nerves are connected to the somatic sensory system which explains why people experience T increases through jaw clenches and facial movements,the auditory nerve is connected directly to the facial nerve.

Shall I keep going?Above is just a few points off the top of my head but there are many more.

 

I think it would be cool to start a thread just for ideas like this. Some of the things "science" has discovered come from people thinking at a problem in more creative and intuitive ways, and also from serendipitous things (like the discovery of penicillin, for one). I also have a few thoughts about tinnitus that don't sync with the way the medical world currently describes the condition. I do think that longstanding inflammation processes of the auditory nerve itself can be involved. Thanks for posting, bill 112.

 

What is your pain medication for your H?

 

and yet tinnitus tends, in terms of general numbers, not to be progressive -- based on a number of different large-sample-size longitudinal studies...

 

BUT one loud night or moderately loud bang can instantly worsen it which is not the case with regular hearing loss making it progressive.T doesn't go away and some times it can get better but one thing for certain is it almost certainly can be made worse very easily.Some peoples T remains unchanged and I like to look at this as some form of remission whilst others just steadily worsen or get progressively worse from non ear damaging sounds and normal hearing loss does not react like this.Its most likely connected to the nerve fibres underlying the haircells that make up the auditory nerve making this a form of acoustic neuropathy.

Me for example,extreme H and T but no hearing loss whatsoever,can hear upto 18,000hz bi-laterally and my T and H were only worsened by two things,time and noise so where's my haircell loss?Apparently there isn't any so this then points at my synapses and connecting nerve fibres as the culprit and I suspect it's the same for many here.

BUT again this is all my opinion and not a scientific fact so make of it what you will but believe me I've great reason to believe what I've said and I'm not the only one who believes in this theory either.All I can say is watch this space.

 

Solpadol 500mgX2(Paracetomol+Codeine+Caffeine)Works well for for the headaches and doesn't affect my T at all!Also seems to calm my H down a lot!

Also if you get ear hotness or stuffiness with your H Ibuprofen works wonders for this!BUT!Its considered Ototoxic like everything else nowadays so proceed with caution.My advice would be to try it and use in moderation or spread doses(one in the morning,one at night)and monitor your T for any changes and be aware of any hearing differences.If so stop immediately and you should be fine.But to play it safe I would avoid these,I don't want to recommend something that could harm you but from personal experience they worked great for me,I almost felt cured!But as I said these may be Ototoxic and my trial was only 2.5 weeks long so it's up to you whether it's worth it or not.

 

Yes a few times it has happened but mostly because I then had fullness in the ear. When that was gone the T normally came back. A few times it didnt untill hours and even days. I soo much want to know what made it come back. Hope some day I will. But when it is gone, wow, so nice. Just want to sit down in a quiet place and enjoy silence and do a lot of things that enjoys me.

 

I'm glad this works for you, be do be careful... Both codeine and Tylenol are both directly ototoxic and cause hearing loss over a long period of time.

 

Ooh, if that happened to me for just an hour. I would lay on my bed and indulge in the silence. Lol

 

So I had silence the morning of the 21st of May. I woke up super early and it was gone. I went to sleep and upon waking up again, it came back.

However, yesterday (the 23rd) I woke up and had silence ALL DAY! It came back this morning though.

 

Thanks Linearb im aware of this but from what I read basically everything that has the potential to help is ototoxic to some degree,we all have to take meds at some stage of our lives and all I can do is try and avoid the"ear killers"if you will.If I have to take a med I take the most ear friendly variant that I can like anti-biotics,I only take penicillin and nothing else etc.Its hard to rummage through all the meds and find out what's safe because from what I can see nearly everything these days is ototoxic.

 

Yes, since my onset of tinnitus on Nov 30, 2016, this has happened to me quite a few times. It's really strange, and just like you I sit there, don't move and enjoy the silence. Unfortunately it never lasts more than 10/20 mins.