Cyclical Tinnitus

Hello everyone. I just wanted to share my story. About 10 months ago I somehow developed cyclical tinnitus during a year-long battle with post nasal drip. It started in September of 2015; I was sitting in my office when out of nowhere my left ear started to have a high pitched hiss. Later that night I said to myself “that was strange” and slept it off. A few days later it returned. Long story short, it began to come on every other day. It would go down and I would figure it is gone, only to have it return with a vengeance the next day. This on-off pattern, for the most part, has continued for the past 10 months (although it is not exact. Sometimes I will get 2 days on or off). Here is how the cycle starts: First, there is a sort of echo-like sound that presents as I’m waking up in the morning. It sounds like a deep underground cavern or something. This then turns into electrical zap-like sounds and then finally turns to the horrible high pitched hissing or ringing that last all day until I go to sleep again.

In the last few months my right ear has started to have a constant low-level ring to it, which is different from left side. The right side is the more traditional ringing you get when, for example, you leave a loud bar or something. I think the right side may be a response to the left-side tinnitus. The right side is annoying but the left side is my dominant issue. The high pitched ringing on my left side (on loud days) is disruptive to my life. It is too high-pitched and loud to ignore and can be heard over just about anything.

I have had several hearing tests which for the most part have come back normal. I have had an MRI of my brain, MRA of my neck and brain, CT scan of my sinuses, complete blood workup, and been examined by several ENTs. The tinnitus, to date, remains idiopathic.

My left-side tinnitus can be modulated by turning my head/neck hard to the right, chewing, yawing or moving my jaw forward. I have been examined by a dentist and no TMJ has been found. After the tinnitus started, I began to have facial and head tightness. At first, I thought this was sinus pressure but now believe it is muscular. Self-massage of my neck and head musculature has helped ease these symptoms. However the cyclical tinnitus remains.

Anyway, I am here to seek ideas and help others in any way I can. Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum. Like you, I have really high pitched ringing too which can be heard over the jet noise in my recent flights and above the raging rapids in the salmon rivers that I fish. It is an absolutely horrible sound to bear with initially. But worse, severe hyperacusis soon began to attack too. Both T & H combined was a pure hell. It used to turn me into a mess. But gradually I have learned some techniques or strategies to help myself get better and I wrote my success story. For brevity here is the link to the detail of my story and the strategies I used. Check it out if you have time. Take good care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/