Exercise and Somatic Tinnitus

Heyo!
So personally I have a 5 year old shoulder/neck injury. My bite is slightly off due to some dentist work and that I used to wear a splint.
Basically my physical situation is all around off even while I do look very handsome, athletic (ahh don't get me started! lol)

Anyway I'd like some pointers as to how the issue should be adressed now t is an aspect to deal with.
Personally mine won't get louder after exercizing, only stretching my neck is one of the somatic t-enhancing buttons.
Do anyone know how to approach it? Should one stretch regardless of the high momentary volume increase? My neck really needs the stretching. In retrospect I think years ago that the same stretching has been t-triggerbuttons, but in the search of answers I don't know if my mind is making it up. I'm afraid of ruining something internally even more by annoying and triggering the buttons.
Also for potential tmj issues can anyone recommend some possible exersizes?

thanks

 

Exercise. It doesn't matter if it makes it worse momentarily or if your mind perceives it that way, the more you run away from regular activities the more afraid of them you will get until you develop full blown phobias for the most minor things. Trust me... Over the last 5 months I've basically become terrified of almost everything.

That being said, I don't think that exercise or stretching can permanently increase your tinnitus... In fact over time it will probably help decrease it. However, It could like you said cause a temporary spike which you should just tell yourself isn't permanent and focus on how much better your body feels because of the stretches / exercise.

Also, check this link out for some exercises that may help you:
How to Cure TMJ with Jaw Exercises: 5 Steps - wikiHow

 

I see!
that's the thing, I'm a natural worrier too (to sick degrees) and before going down that road I'm glad I asked
We're all in a stage where we hope it will go away so it concerns me whether I'll ruin something internally by stretching - but I assume risks are it will do me mostly good
Also if I wanted to go swim is there some precautions one would do concerning your ears in the water (=10% water, 10% chlorine, , 80% pee)?

Definitely checking those tmj exersizes out. Gonna make my face insanely buff!

 

I think swimming should be really fine. I also go swimming quite a lot (i try to avoid thinking what is in the water) and at least it doesn't have an effect on my tinnitus. Your only concern might be getting an ear infection. I know some swimmers use earplugs while swimming to avoid water entering the ear. That might not be so nice for the tinnitus though.

 

Just make sure you have a plan before you exercise.

I've made myself a lot worse in the past by hurting my neck, just from overdoing it, putting too much into one workout session. I recently changed to a 3 day plan and it made a lot of difference. It will help overall once you find the exercise that suits you the best and doesn't strain you too much.

 

People get ear infections most of the times on holidays. They take one look at the pool and decide everything is hunky dory. Then after a dip in the pool straight onto the sun lounger to cook all those microbes in a warm moist environment called your ears. Swimming is one of the best all round exercises there is. As long as you use isopropyl alcohol after the pool you will be fine.

 

I got my T after a neck injury and the chiro twisting and turning it. That said nothing I have done to my neck since seems to fix, make it better/worse.

So I would just go about my neck business as if I didn't have T.

 

That's true, though I got my ear drained as infant, since then 1 tiny ear infection last year I'll definitely keep the remedies in mind- thank god the local pool is insanely cold, wooohoo.
Luca that's exactly why I avoid anything that has to do with chiros, they help many on short term and ruin a lot in long term it seems.
Well many aspects that for one to weight plus going there in a longsleeved pro swimsuit with my swim-hat, goggles and pro earplugs will put quite a pressure for me to swim superly! all great

important sidefact: In one of the local pools they have underwater music! going to be very interesting ^^

 

lol. You jump in and sink to the bottom. People would be like, WTF?

But yeah, I would keep stretching, exercising, and everything. I just started to work out again. I haven't noticed any increase from working out though.

 

Avoiding Ear Infections

Here this is very handy.........

 

haha yeah Neo pretty much like that ;D dying well equipped and with such grace
Looking through it scuba ty!

 

@Tenna,

I just recently had a Skype session with a Swedish T center that focused only on the somatic aspect of the condition, before the first therapy session and assessment I had to fill out a quite vast form were the aim was to define my T condition as somatic T or anything else. Cause what is somatic T really? You'll find different views on this all over the place I guess. However, after I had filled in the form quests and returned it back to them they came back to me with a session data on Skype. We discussed many aspects of T of course and in context of my own somatic T she wanted me to preform some tasks until the next session in January, one of the tasks was to write myself an honest letter about my life and what it contains. My challenges, toughs about the future etc. The T therapy was more about ME trying to explore deep stuff from the past and try to manage them. Well, my next somatic T therapy sessions by Skype is going to be mid January 2014, so I guess I will know more about that then.

I've been to to different hearings labs and my hearings is good, no severe hearing loss at all, I do however have a bad case of H that Im trying to battle as we speak. The white-noise generator that I picked up last Thursday lasted for ONE day before it broke down, so no I'm forced to wait for another series of months to receive a new calibrated set. I was actually learning to like it.

Well, when it comes to "somatic T" we are moving into a landscape where no ENT or GP would follow us, so I guess were quite alone as patients in that case, however there are some bright minds working strategically to develop treatment concept for those of us who think we have somatic T. I'm for one refuse to accept that T is T, thats been categories as bull a long time ago now so we must find a treatment method that caters for each and individually T type and character. If mental stress or trauma is the cause of the T then it must be treated differently than with acoustics shock T. It's amazing medical people don't get this and are treating this thing as ONE condition with no variation in T character and types.

If stress and constant mental pressure has created severe T&H then it should be a fair chance of it going away as well! Meaning, taking the same route out as it came in. Some mean it's all about somatic re-training and mental relaxation strategies. I had a chat with a very informative former T sufferer in London about this and he had severe somatic T for 4 years and changing T for an additional amount of years, I think it was 9 in all. He managed trough knowledge and training to take control over his T and now hes totally free from it. ALL ENTs said he would have it for life. Well, sod off to them. What worries me is that some people on the forum have been stating they have somatic T but for ages! Like 23 years. That scares me. Are they over stressed and struck by severe mental trauma year in and year out without the ability to get well?

One things for sure tough, theres no difference in T volume with somatic T versus acoustic shock T. I got mine acute and loud the 17th of June 2013 and it hasn't stopped or mellowed down for a single second! I'm supposed to be in the middle of the habituating period now but nothings happening, the T is raving mad loud all the time. If taking 100 Valium and 200 Xanax will shock my limbic system back to normal status I'm willing to give it a go. If its a matter of hyperactive electrical activity in the audio cortex, some chemist should cook a medication that could slow that wild nerve activity down once and for all! When I press my cheek out, open my mouth, bite, and do different facial expressions with the facial muscles the T changes volume and pitch. So theres is obviously something going on in context of nerves, tension and muscle activity. Some people that leans towards somatic T as a plausible cause of T&H say that the high pitched T is the sound of tensions in the face, neck, back, head etc.

 

@Per did you get the white noise generator that looks like a radio? why not just use an iphone or smartphone`?

 

No, it looks just like a small wearable hearing device. The signal is calibrated to meat my frequency and threshold test that I did earlier on. I already have numerous white noise files on my mp3 player, but being mp3 their not lossless, also they don't cater exactly to my H. I gotta wear those all day long so I got kinda mad when one of them just stopped working the day after I received it. I'm really eager to give this a go and now the project will be delayed. Time is crucial cause I have to wear them for a long time, perhaps all day and night for 9 months, so when it broke down after one day I couldn't believe my bad luck. After all I had been waiting to pick them up for a long time.

 

I see

 

Refresh my memory Markku, do you have a hearing loss? If changing facial movements affects T in most cases, then what differentiates somatic T from T caused by hearing loss? Im pursuing the somatic lead myself right now but for no other reason that my two hearing tests scored within normal range, and because I can alter the pitch and character by moving my jaw etc. Those who deal with somatic T treatment (not many) say that T caused by stress and mental trauma is a separate condition. When you state that the majority of T sufferers have somatic T, do you actually mean T alterable by movement? As in "can be altered by muscle movements." The majority?

Talking about somatic T with audiologists and ENTs is like trying to get a kid to admit they stole candy. "Hm, nah, can't really say, don't think that's true... hmm, don't really know, who knows, I cant tell" etc

 

TMJ and somatic T is not the same. TMJ is as you are pointing out a temporomandibular joint dysfunction but somatic T is caused by mental trauma and/or stress related things. Are you suggesting you have both? My perception is that TMJ is extremely rare but God knows how to interpret medical information, for what I know they could be swimming in bad statistics. After all it wouldn't be the first nonsense we've heard from medical officials. How did you get that somatic "diagnose" Tenna?

 

Per you're right. If stress and constant mental pressure has created severe T&H then it should be possible to reverse it. If a negative spiral of thoughts can affect you physically to that extent, the opposite should logically be possible.
I'm personally not sure as to my cause of t; all possible causes happened at the same time.

How do you know?:O I have one extra tone on my left ear (the one I used for djing with headset-most likely a result of that) which remains the same vol when its present. The somatic t on the other had I can make far louder than that firm one.

Surely if you pinpoint the right symptoms on the different online doctor websites you'll find out you have both aids, ebola, pest ;P
Nope tmj and t isn't the same. T is classified as a symptom (which is bs, it should be acknowledged properly) of something else being wrong. Keeping that in mind, everything is connected to everything, as the tmj is in the exact same area of the t, things nearby such as defected bite, my jaw once popped out of joint; thankfully I managed to get it back by forcing it, meaning I got it back in place while awfully loud noises of something breaking in my jaw/chin happened, popping/clicking, my open bite pops to the left and then back into joint, etc - is very likely to affect it.
TMJ doesn't seem that rare I think, the slighest thing can be a dysfunction tbh, and the slightest thing can lead to several other dysfunctions ;\

Through what I've so far found to be the definition of somatic tinnitus I'm pretty good at filling the criterias as a member. The loudness and pitch of my t can be modulated in vast amounts of ways (neck, jaw; especially forcing it slightly out of joint, stretching my tongue, pressing different places on my head).
Haven't found anyone in my city yet specialized in it so no diagnose for me just yet

 

Worries me too- Some you can't tell whether have habituated or not (still having somatic t but not an issue with it). Not always is info given of whether they have actually been struck by other trauma than the t itself, so we have yet to expand the term of somatic t as firmly being caused by only stress or trauma. If it is, one would assume it's possible to fix it, ofc it will differ from individual to another

 

@Markku,

Thanks for the informative reply. There seems to be a slight variation to the definition of somatic T. Perhaps depended on what environment you ask. Some clinics that have a somatic treatment approach to T states that people with somatic T have a severe physical stress reaction of the limbic system, thus creating phantom noises. The theory is that the mental state is on full alert (the all so familiar fight or flight mode) making the brain hyperactive and over sensitive. They differ between people having T directly caused by acoustic shock and/or hearing loss and those who have a mental trauma/stress related type of condition. I guess in many ways the limbic aspect is involved in any case, but in the case of what's defined as somatic T the main cause is stress, not hearing loss. Same thing goes with H.

In any case, the definition of somatic T is not as important as finding the real trigger, if having T caused by stress alone there's no point in pursuing solutions that has to do with the mechanical aspects of the inner ear or similar. Yes, I guess many people could have both but at least it's possible to clinically prove or exclude hearing loss, at least within the normal range of 250-8000hz.

By the way, do you know of any report that actually proves that high frequency hearing loss is of any importance in regards to T? The theory is that human beings are not able to hear frequencies at high ranges like 8000hz+ so the audiologist don't even bother to buy high-end test equipment that includes frequency ranges from 250-22.000hz. I know that some equipment allows for such high freq. tests, but the three audiologist I have asked say it's not of any real interest. I managed to actually find one audiologist in my country that test up to 16.000hz, so obviously there seems to be at least one of them that find higher frequencies logical.

 

My tinnitus definitely comes from my neck. I work in Retail Management and been changing walls with Hardware and new Merchandise a lot overusing my right arm all the time like reaching up high etc. It is just in my right ear.. I had my ears checked even had an Head Mri for my Inner ears to rule out a tumor the Mri came back negative. I have the constant tinnitus since beginning of the year. Sometimes I had some short ringing in my right ear when I touched the left side of my neck but it went away shortly after. I'm getting Physical Therapy. The one on Friday morning was very good after I had to work and slept finally that night but now I can't hardly sleep again. It is very frustrating and it is hard to function at work because I can't really sleep.

 

I have PT that changes volume with head and jaw movements, I can usually suppress it by putting my chin down, or pushing on my right jaw. I have a Skype session scheduled in 10 days with a Dr. In Brazil that treats somatic T. Hopefully she can recommend exercises. I think mine is more like Per said, maybe my brain turned up the gain on my hearing system and is now hearing blood flow, I don't see how my brain could invent the heartbeat sound. I've also noticed that wearing foam ear plugs in a loud place seems to cause my brain to turn down its gain since I usually have this strange silence for about an hour after leaving the noisy place and removing the ear plugs. I wouldn't be surprised if mine was brought on by stress or adrenaline.

 

How did it go with the Skype session? Have found them helpful?

 

I have also PT high hiss tone which changed by neck movement, jaw, teeth, etc.. Nothing that they can do. I got mri mri neck mri from vessel neck and head. Also heart was controlled. Nothing they find. Doctors says you have to live with that.. So stay away from internet sites About tinnitus. Relax and Search for diversions. Best remedy he say. How more you Search how. More you focus with your brain on the tinnitus.. So Guys stay away live and do anything you want!!

 

I have not exercised in about 3 months How should I ease into exercising? I have access to a gym. I have extreme somatic symptoms (T increases with stretching, deep breathing, etc.). I think yoga may be too extreme for now with all stretching. I would like to add some light cardio. I want exercises that lessen my somatic symptoms.

 

Always start light and easy after a layoff, don't try and do too much as the strain will likely make your tinnitus louder. May be worth trying something dynamic like Pilates to stretch things out, as long as you don't overdo it. I also have increases with stretching in certain ways, but I think that it can be improved by loosening up the muscles. General relaxing massage may also help.

I personally don't have any music with me at the gym. When I'm doing exercises I can listen for jumps in the tinnitus through certain movements, and then I know to either avoid them, change the weight or work on my technique.

With tinnitus it's hard to give a specific guide, the best advice I can give is to listen to your body and create your routine accordingly.