Driving Myself Crazy

Hi there I've just signed up but have been reading threads on this forum frantically for a week.

I am 25 years old and starting to get extremely worried.
Last week I took ibuprofen to 3ase some cramping and listened to my ear buds in bed for about 15-20mins. After that I started hearing a pulse in my ear, googled it and eventually ended up on this forum.

Before I go any further, I should mention that I'm a post grad student in the process of writing my thesis and have had a lot of muscle spasms over the past couple of months and very stiff neck accompanied with pain. I am also diagnosed with general anxiety disorder.

Following that first night and the googling, I didn't think much of the event until the next night when my left hear/base of my skull started "hissing". Although I have to admit I suppose the first night I was kind of "looking" to hear a sound, I'm guessing because of the frantic internet search.

My main anxiety trigger is health, which surely doesn't help. The hissing has been continuous since then also easily mashable by outside sounds, and bothers me a lot at night.

I have been to the GP who said he "doesn't think I have tinnitus" and that my anxiety and body tensions play a huge part in what I am feeling.

Obviously not convinced.

He also gave me naproxen to ease the inflammation but upon further research I didn't take it as it's known to aggravate tinnitus.

I'm starting to really dwell now, thinking I hear new sounds and monitoring myself constantly. I struggle to sleep the most.

I'm also a waitress and am afraid of what thus environment could mean for my hearing and tinnitus.

I'm sorry if this post sounds silly, especially considering the number of people on here suffering much more than I do.

Just looking for some advice. I've been down the anxiety spiral before, don't want to get to that point again.

Thanks for taking the time to read my babble.

Gaby

 

Hi... Welcome ...
Sorry to read your story.
I am sure that there will be more suggestions to help your tinnitus.
Two advice from me -
1) stay away from loud environment including restaurants if possible.
2) anxiety may aggravate your tinnitus. you need to relax it through meditation or medicines.

 

Hi Gaby - so sorry you have this.

I do 20 mins meditation in my bath every morning.
I can obviously hear my Tinnitus, but I still manage to relax with it, and put myself out.

Perhaps try some self hypnosis sleep suggestions.
(.....deeper....deeper....deeper.....).

Sometimes I use melatonin, low dose (2mg).

Very best wishes
Dave x
Jazzer

 

@GabyP Your tinnitus may be caused from muscle stress and spasms from forward heading and posture intensified by emotional stress. Certainly it usually gets more involved. Involvement can also include your use of ibuprofen which places the auditory cranial nerve VIII on alert. One area that should receive focus is your trapezius muscles as this is probably the smoking gun that can exacerbate ( compound) other problems.

I would get some soft gentle massages - shoulders and neck muscles.

 

That's what the GP said as well but I feel like he discarded the fact that I was wearing earphones the night of the onset.

It's the only thing I can think about right now I'm terrified this is it. I know it sounds stupid cause there's nothing I can do regardless....
I wish I could just switch off my brain.

Thanks for everybody's replies.

 

The bad news is that it sounds like you have tinnitus. The good news is that you are now at a point that many take over a year to get to (i.e., T tends to fade, and many get to that "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage after a year). Since T tends to fade, surely your T will disappear or end up being a very minor problem within a year or two.

Try to tell yourself that this is temporary, and that it is at a volume and pitch levels that it would actually be possible to habituate to (get used to T, and stop being aware of it). Try to discourage yourself from thinking about it and from trying to search for it.

Here you go
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

Is it the case that the place where you work plays loud music? At the very least you will want to get a set of good earplugs
https://www.amazon.com/3M-1100-Foam-Plugs-200-Pair/dp/B008MVYL7C/

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ata-for-3m-hearing-protection-products.30726/

Having said this, if you notice that the noise at your work seems to make your T louder, consider finding a quieter job.

 

Hi Bill thanks for replying.
The music is not particularly loud but I'm still very scared of getting a spike though. It's so overwhelming at the minute.
I saw you didn't recommend any exposure to loud sounds on other threads. Unfortunately I still need to go to work. I've ordered some musician ear plugs but I don't know when they will be here.

Thanks again for taking the time.

 

The noise reduction rating (NRR) on those plugs is less than 29-33 dB that you can get if you buy 3M foam plugs. If you chose those musician ear plugs because you are worried that you won't be able to hear your customers, I think you are wrong to worry. Unfortunately, even 33dB noise reduction is not enough to not hear human voice (even in loud environments).

 

I'd be very surprised if a little ibuprofen and ear buds caused your T. I'd definitely look at your Jaw. If you are young, it's very possible that you have just recently displaced a disc in your TMJ. This causes the condoyle to compress the ligament that normal doesn't touch the Fossa. This ligament shares nerves with your hearing and it can cause high pitched Tinnitus. If that has just recently happened it can be put back in place. I'd go to a TMJ specialist, not a dentist. Look at a mirror and open your jaw as wide as you can. If it deviates to one side there is your answer.

 

Hi @kelpiemsp and thanks for your reply.
No deviation of my jaw. No pain either although sometimes I get aches at the junction between my ear and jaw.
Also sour right behind the top of my ear.

 

@Greg Sacramento all I know is that my GP said my neck was extremely tense. I don't know though it seems far fetched.

 

Great that it doesn't deviate! The soreness could be indicative of clenching or forward head posture. There is some controversy regarding Tinnitus related to hearing loss and ear damage vs Tinnitus that is somatic in nature. Try biting down hard on your back teeth or a pencil, or moving your jaw around. Opening wide etc. Does that change the sound of your Tinnitus at all?

You may want to take extra or different precautions if you have somatic (it can be changed by physical movement) Tinnitus vs Non somatic.

 

@kelpiemsp opening wide or biting really hard do make a difference.
Is it not normal pressure though?

 

Ps: @kelpiemsp Can you define forward head posture please ? My GP might have mentioned it

 

Regardless of the cause, you now that stress and muscle tension will undeniably make it worse. Spend more time relaxing, doing yoga etc. As I go deeper into the rabbit hole of learning about TMJ the more convinced I am that it causes more Tinnitus than people give it credit for. What pressure?

Forward head posture is when your ears don't align directly with your shoulder. It is caused by lots of things, alot of things. But it can have a HUGE affect on your body.

For example: Poor airway problems such as obstructive sleep apnea or even breathing through your mouth at night (do you ever wake up with dried lips) can lead TMJ and airway problems. To compensate your head begins to move forward to help your airway, causing tension on your cervical spine, your TMJ, etc. This can have a cascading effect on sleep quality and stress, on nighttime bruxism etc.

 

@kelpiemsp not sure what pressure I'm not a doctor haha that's the only way I can describe it. When I open my mouth it gets extremely loud.

 

@kelpiemsp Sorry I seem to be getting only half of you messages.
I open my mouth when I go to sleep and definitely it is dry on the morning.
I'm a post grad so when I'm not at a desk I'm looking down (figuratively, obviously) at customers' tables all day. I have had A LOT of back and hip pain and spasms recently.
Again thanks for taking the time.

 

I'd ice your tmj joints. Make sure you have a good cervical pillow. Try to always breathe through your nose. If your sleeping on your back, switching to your side can help. Also, it's post grad! Don't look down to much or it will pass you by! Back and hip pain plus everything else really points to muscle tension or TMJ.

 

Can you hear a click if you open your mouth wide?

May I ask you to elaborate please? What kind of precautions?!

 

@kelpiemsp I'm just trying not to be to optimistic about this.

@Bill Bauer I don't, no. Already know that you're going to say it's not TMJ though

 

You know @Bill Bauer I have been thinking about story recently (as surprising as that sounds lol) And I started to wonder if you displaced a disc. You had your mouth open and were brushing it could have caused a startle response that dislocated the cartilage in your tmj.

Those precautions would be not eating hard food for a while, maintain good posture, don't bite clench. We know then TMJ ligaments share nerves with the same as the ear. Your aural fullness could totally be explained by this. I actually had fluid build up from popping my joint capsule.

 

I am not sure what you thought I was going to say. If your jaw doesn't click, my uneducated guess is that it is not TMJ (I don't know much about it, as I don't think mine is TMJ).

 

Don't take it the wrong way I really appreciate any kind of input. But I've looked into it myself and I don't know.... I just don't want to give myself false hopes.

 

My mouth was closed. A sonic toothbrush came into direct contact with my ear canal and then got turned on, and stayed in contact with my body for a fraction of a second. Why this had happened is a long story. LOL I have been asking that question myself for over a year now...

In any case, I got ear fullness right away. As a result, I attempted Valsalva maneuver several times, and had a hearing test done. My T turned on (and stayed at that 8-9 level for a while) 10 days later, in the evening of the day when I had that hearing test done. My aural fullness lasted about 6-9 months, but eventually was gone.

Thank you.

 

Actually a fully displaced disc never clicks

 

Thanks to you both. Still not quite up to taking naproxen though.

 

Split the difference and ice! Let us know how it goes.

 

Split the difference ? Sorry not a native speaker.
I shall. Thanks again, really.

 

Ah sorry, for the idiom. I mean you can use a safer strategy to still reduce inflammation!