Electrical Head Buzzing Tinnitus — What Has Helped YOU?

Hey @Cal18, did you or anyone else here ever try the Nortriptyline? I also have central electrical hissing/buzzing tinnitus.

Just for reference, the day before my central tinnitus started I started a high dose of Fish oil. Very interesting.

 

@glynis said Nortriptyline stopped her central tinnitus.

 

Thanks @DebInAustralia,

While I am ashamed to have jumped ship so quick to the slippery slope of benzos I can attest that Grandaxin is helping both in lowering tinnitus volume and in helping my panicked state. Hopefully this isn’t placebo as I just started it today as I have absolutely hated how Clonazepam has made me feel despite lowering tinnitus as well. I want to at least confirm for someone who has centralized tinnitus that the benzos are working to lower it. I realize this is not sustainable long term but I think I have realized my first goal is to break the fight or flight syndrome I am currently still stuck in while seeking some therapy. Propranolol helped but also has made me feel somewhat intoxicated so I have abandoned that for now. I’m hoping to stick with the Grandaxin which appears to be somewhat safer and non intoxicating.

Also, I am now at the 4.5 mg daily for LDN. I realize I’ve compromised being able to report back the effect because of benzo use. Sorry! I will be remaining on it for sure though.

 

No need to feel ashamed. You are in distress. We all know what that feels like. You do need to calm your CNS down, and break the fight or flight situation as you have mentioned. I have severe generalised anxiety, OCD, panic, and depression. The sensation of panic is debilitating. So, you do need to do what you can to address it.

I myself have avoided benzos because I don't want to downregulate the receptors, or negatively affect plasticity.

I had my consult with my naturopath today. I asked him about the Bupleurum and Dragon Bone herbs. He wasn't aware of any studies on these herbs that demonstrate their effectiveness as potassium channel activators. I have seen plenty of references to these herbs being used as anticonvulsants, so I still think they might be worth considering.

My naturopath has suggested trialling an oral supplement containing Cilantro given there have been studies on it used to modulate KV channels. I did try eating large amount of the herb in 2020, but it made me very nauseated. I don't recall it doing anything for my tinnitus, so i stopped it.

But, I will give it another go...

 

Is it a roaring hissing in all over your head? Did you find any relief please?

 

Hi, so I apologize as my story will not provide much in the sense of relief, but I believe my condition is autoimmune/cervical related. My tinnitus is now a 1 but is taking a backseat to more devastating visual and cognitive symptoms I am now dealing with. It was a centralized high frequency cricket noise for 2 1/2 months.

I recommend LDN at 4.5 mg daily if anything. It helps treat neuroinflammation. Please also keep an eye out for Susan Shore’s device which I think will bring relief to the widest amount of people.

 

I've had a low-pitched buzzing/humming in my head since 1996, although it has been known to go away for periods of up to three years. I've been on the antidepressant Escitalopram (generic Lexapro) for 15 years which I stared taking for depression, anxiety, and OCD. The buzzing in my head stayed away for years, but would occasionally return from out of the blue. I assumed (hoped) that the Escitalopram was helping with this.

Last week, I had another relapse after being buzz-free for three years. Since it returned, I haven't felt like myself. The major depression has returned, and I've lost all interest in the things that I normally relish. I have no appetite, and sleeping is virtually impossible. In addition to hearing this awful noise, I can also feel it. My whole head feels as if a propeller plane is flying around causing a vibration in my ears and throat.

Shaking my head from side to side will stop the humming but only for a few seconds.

The noise is also reactive. Playing music on my stereo, talking on the telephone, or strumming my acoustic guitar will cause it to go into overdrive. Up until last week, none of these things caused any problems. The word 'tinnitus' wasn't even in my vocabulary anymore. Now it's all I think about (again).

I'm seeing my doctor this week about possible getting on a new antidepressant. After 15 years on the same one, it might be time for a change.

 

Maybe the antidepressant is causing it? Weird how it comes out of the blue.

 

Hey lovely!

Are you going ok? I haven't seen you about lately?

Are your symptoms improving at all?

How's the tinnitus? I am still procrastinating with the LDN. You were taking 4.5 mg?

I hope you are better these days XXX

I was about to restart high dose fish oil last week when I read this post. Do you still attribute the fish oil to contribubuting to the development of your central head tinnitus?

 

I am so sorry to hear that your head noise has returned.

I am experiencing a relapse since October last year, with what I think may be more intrusive head noise (like a far away gas leak/hissing). At times, it sounds electrical and it really bothers me a lot. It followed a year of a LOT of stress and loss, including a head injury, an antibiotic, and hormonal fluctuations.

Like you, I was doing well for quite a while with tinnitus being a background nuisance if that.

What was the original cause of your tinnitus?

I know that serotonin receptors modulates GABAA . For this reason, I have been too nervous to take any pharmaceuticals to help my tinnitus, OCD, anxiety and depression - in spite of it being considered severe.

I have recently done urinary neurotransmitter testing, which has revealed very low GABA, serotonin and borderline low dopamine. I also have very low progesterone to high estrogen levels (not your problem I presume).

Low progesterone is associated with driving down GABA and serotonin. It also promotes the development of neuroinflammation. Thank you perimenopause.

The plan for me is to raise progesterone using Vitex and Zinc. Considering L-Theanine (but concerned about it antagonising the NMDA receptor) to drive up GABA, along with taking something like L-Tryptophan or 5-HTP to increase my serotonin (tempted just to push progesterone up, which would raise GABA and serotonin eventually).

If the above fails, I have been pondering LDN/Naltrexone for quite some time - given its modulatory effect on serotonin and dopamine, aside its ability to drive down TNF-alpha.

Like you, my sleep is crap, as is my appetite (which has disappeared), my focus and overall quality of life is rubbish since last year.

In spite of lack of appetite, I have been forcing myself to eat food that is low in histamine and glutamate, that helps rebuild GABA, serotonin and dopamine.

Shaking your head makes me wonder if you have a somatic element to your tinnitus? Could you do this prior to your relapse?

As an alternative to SSRIs for OCD, have you ever considered high dose Inositol? Just a thought...

 

Was your tinnitus all over your head like, sort of roaring, hissing white noise? Do you still take Nortriptyline? I can't understand the mechanism of it for misfiring nerves... Thank you!

 

Anybody figure out their head tinnitus? Mine started in the ears and centralized to the brain after about a month after onset.

 

All over brain, or just in the ears and a sound in the center of the brain? How does your tinnitus sound, please?

 

Please let us know which antidepressant you switch to. I would highly advise against Celexa. If you're going to take an SSRI, Sertraline has been the one better tolerated for tinnitus from what I've read. I'm on a low dose of Nortriptyline (10 mg) but that has not helped the head buzzing although it seemed to help the central tonal tinnitus a little bit.

Mine is also very reactive but on my low days (every other day or every two days) there is little to no reactivity. For this reason, I have been thinking about trying Keppra (since it's been said on here to help with reactivity and hyperacusis) but that's a pretty hard core drug.

 

Nope. Mine has been like this for a year.

 

Mine somewhat started all at once but it fluctuates from being just in the ears to the head and the ears and alternates. Check out this related post, it might be helpful.

My guess to all of this is that we all had some kind of "ear" tinnitus - noise induced or unknown and a recruitment takes place where any nearby nerves that are compressed or distressed send signals to the already overactive ear nerves. It might be a good idea to address any neck or jaw issues even if they don't seem to be causing a lot of pain - but in a gentle way like craniosacral therapy.

 

80% of the time it's in my brain. Sometimes I can still hear it in my ears. It can vary around the brain sound wise, but is mostly centralized. Plus I get headache pain from the same place. It sounds like a hiss. Like water going through a pipe.

 

My doctor switched me to Prestiq (Desvenlafaxine). It's basically a much better version of Effexor without the side effects. I've only been on it four days, and he said it will take a couple of weeks for it to kick in. He's also going to refer me to an ENT that I've seen a couple of times and is considered to be one of the best in the United States (Dr. Eric Kraus). He wants me to get my hearing checked again and let him know about my relapse. As I write this, I'm starting my third week of it without any hope in sight.

I tried Celexa many years ago, and it had no effect on me. I will occasionally take a Valium to help relax me, but that has little to no effect on my tinnitus. I'm not familiar with Keppra.

 

Thanks for the info. I know it's easy to get hopeless but if it's gone in the past, there's no reason why it can't go again. Please do check back in with us soon and let us know how it's going. Also, you probably know this already, but even a switch over to another antidepressant can sometimes make you feel slightly more depressed than you were until it kicks in. I'm hopeful things will get better for you. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Could you explain what you mean by it helping central tonal tinnitus, but not buzzing? Mine goes day of near silence, next day starts to rev up and can be static in my head but sounds like it is near my ear, by the third day it is dentist drill in my head. Then next day silence again. So at least on the bad day, by the end I can at least know I am in for a good day.

 

I also get a 3 day pattern, every now and then it changes to a 2 day pattern. This is the first time I have ever seen anyone else on Tinnitus Talk describe that. I also need to sleep for it to reset.

 

Yes, what you say make sense, but mine came from a severe dry inflammation in the middle ear lasting several weeks. So I don't think modulating the neck will help, as the other sensitive nerves (vagus, facial, trigeminal) were irritated by the middle ear. A sort of bad local neuropathy maybe. I'm also thinking could this have been a dormant virus that was activated in the nerve pathways? If yes, could antivirals help this far along?

Maybe I did previously have a sort of depression and anxiety... but it was more of a day to day thing of not having fulfilled this and that in life, but never affected my life in a way to interfere with my daily activities, to have clinical signs. I wonder if this could be a factor as well!

I was thinking to of Keppra as well as I heard it is good for reactivity.

I also wondered about Ketamine. I was afraid of these drugs but something must be done... this is just too much.

 

Yes, I feel that happening today. I've been on the new AD Pristiq for a little over a week, and I felt weirdly hopeless when I woke up this morning. A couple of days ago, I felt a little manic; the tinnitus had quieted down and I thought my worries were over (yeah, right). But the noise I heard this morning brought me back down to Earth.

I don't expect to wake up one day with an epiphany as I know ADs can take several weeks to have any effect. And I'm sure it will be a gradual change, not instantaneous.

 

Hey,

When you say buzzing, do you mean the crackling zzz sound of electricity buzzing on a power pole or something lower frequency like a vibration?

Do you happen to have an example of your buzzing sound from any online tinnitus example?

A few of us with low frequency tinnitus would call it buzzing, but it’s super low and vibrational. But after reading some descriptions in this thread I’m wondering if a bunch of people here have that and are simply describing it differently.

 

Yes, it's more of a zzz electricity sound, not really a hum. When it starts to get lower on a medium day the "electrical stream" in the center of my head becomes less solid and starts to fizzle out.

 

I also have extreme tension headaches which raise the volume of my head tinnitus. If my my headaches are low, so is the tinnitus.

 

I came off it but then had problems. Now I'm on Amitriptyline 50 mg. It has helped a bit my head tinnitus but not my ear tinnitus.

Love, Glynis

 

Hi @glynis, if you don’t mind me asking, why did you come off of Nortriptyline? Wasn’t it helping the head tinnitus?

 

I came off Nortriptyline hoping I would be ok, but the insomnia came back so my doctor appeared to put me back on it, but due to COVID-19 he did it over the phone and when I collected them from chemist it wasn't Nortriptyline he had prescribed, it was Amitriptyline, but it is helping, however not in the ears due to Meniere's disease.

Love, Glynis

 

Thanks for the help, @glynis. Did your head tinnitus have an electrical, zapping quality that caused sensations that were almost pain-like? That’s what I have—feels like electrical discharges/currents and is painful. I didn’t know if Nortriptyline might help me, too.