Experiences with Head Tinnitus?

My T is described in detail in my introduction post, but in short:

Since falling down the stairs one day, I've had multiple tones/static noises/crickets at both sides of the head, and occasionally even in the middle. Things slowly got worse in the first few months, with a burst of stress resulting in the worst week of my life. After which I started to deal with the sounds a bit better concerning my attitude, but they remained the same in volume.

Among other things, I noticed at some point that neck movement influenced some T sounds. Things changed when I went to the physio one day to check up, and he diagnosed clear issues with the muscles there. For example, I had to lie down and lift my head up just a bit in a certain posture: I couldn't even last for a few seconds. Normally someone can hold that pose for roughly 20 seconds. He demonstrated correct postures which I needed to work on, though I wouldn't know how to share that here. Shouldn't matter though, since I only "trained" myself in posture a few times. More benefit was gained from these exercises:

Playlist: Nekoefeningen Tinnitus

I checked them with my physio, after which he recommended them as well. The exercises should be useful in his opinion.

It's in Dutch though, sorry about that . Roughly translated he tells the following:

- Exercise daily.
- Do the exercises on both the left and right side.
- Repeat exercise 1-3 ten times in total.
- Repeat exercise 4-7 three times, each set taking 7 seconds of stretching.
- Stretch (tension) is good, but pain is bad. If you experience pain, stretch less far and less long at first, and slowly build up during the days/weeks/whatever time you need.
- Contact your physio if you keep having complaints (more of a disclaimer, I guess).

I've been doing this for over two months, with really slow progress at start: but after a few weeks, I started to notice small periods of silence/T being masked by the environment, and these periods kept building. At the moment of writing, I'm having a break of a week, since my neck is a bit sore at the moment: perhaps I over-stretched at some point, dunno . I'm continuing next week.

Something to keep in mind. I'm certain these exercises only helped because my T finds its origin in the neck. Therefore, if your T has another cause, it probably won't have any effect. Don't unnecessarily get your hopes up. However, this is a cheap and easy way to at least check: if you don't notice any effect in two months, then the neck is not related. If it is, hey, congratz: hopefully some relief in time

And another thing:
My T sounds usually peak a bit after the exercises: nothing too bad, but a minor increase for up to half an hour. This actually motivated me in the starting period, since any effect could indicate a relationship between T and the muscles. If this occurs to you as well, you could consider it to be a good sign. Over time, as the muscles become more flexible, complaints should lessen.

 

I'm Dutch btw! Rough fall, did you slide downwards or fall on your head? I've heard many stories of people getting tinnitus from having car accidents. Have you tried prednisone for some sort of inflammation?

You describe exactly my type of tinnitus, multiple tones, static noises (I call them weird electric noise, it feels something like 1000th crickets all at once, but robot crickets) and sometimes it's even at a different place, some tones change position. So I'm guessing it's probably fluctuating from day to day and you can't have a stable type of tinnitus?

The thing is I think my tinnitus is coming from my nerves in my neck and jaw. I can simply modulate my tinnitus by opening and closing my mouth, pushing my underjaw forward and putting out my tongue. I can even modulate left and right side. From my neck I can hear it change when I'm walking, from hanging forward with my head to changing directons. Also when having a bad posture it increases and/or spikes. Also it's fluctuating at least twice per day. And I had some success in the past by wearing a neck brace, massaging my neck and fixing on my bad posture. The airplane loud tone went away for 3 hours and came back afterwards.

I had to change my packet insurance for fysio, so I'm starting my process in januari. I'm looking forward to your process and how you are dealing with it. And thanks for the exercises!

 

I was talking about the way scientific research is conducted. Researchers start out with a theory, then test it in an animal model. Then they can develop some treatment and do further testing until eventually a cure is found. Failure at any point is possible. That's why we don't hear from every study being conducted. If the theory still holds true all the way through animal models and clinical trials, the likeliness increases that it can work in humans. As you might know tinnitus has been "cured" in rats multiple times so it's very difficult to tell when a cure will be available, if ever. If research makes it up the ladder all the way and finds a cure then the used theory will be proven correct.
I like to believe they are moving ever closer, also from the experience with failed studies like AM 101 and the likes.

 

Maybe it's a stupid question but how are researchers sure that a rat has subjective tinnitus? And whether it's cured?

 

Nice, that should make it a lot easier for you to follow

The fall itself wasn't very big. I just slipped, managed to barely grab the support bar with my right hand and frantically held on while my body was quickly moving down. I'm sure that this caused neck trauma at least, and possibly a bit of jaw trauma as well: I developed a few jaw symptoms. Next to the ability to modulate my T with it, I have a few "clicks" that happen when I swallow or move the jaw in a specific way. Those symptoms are really minor and don't bother me at all, but I'm sure I've never had them before. I did get checked for TMJ though, and they didn't find anything there, so my main focus remains the neck.

Where it comes to T stability: indeed, hardly any. It changes at least daily, and sometimes within a few hours. Quality of sleep does not seem to make a difference: I can sleep well and awake with a massive spike, but it can be also completely quiet in the same scenario. The only "stable" part is the kinds of sound these days, I can recognize them all: but their volume differs anywhere between 0-4, without exception. Used to be 8-10, so I consider myself quite lucky, especially since I starting getting the quiet times during the day

About the prednisone: no, I didn't take that, since I was first misdiagnosed with having water behind my eardrums. This was shortly after the onset of T, so I first though the cause was there, until the ENT eventually told me there was no water at all... at this point, I prefer not to fill myself up with medicine unless it is a definite cure or absolutely necessary.

 

I'm not sure about the exact process, but I did read somewhere that they measure responses to external sounds with multiple rats at the same time. When a rat does not have tinnitus yet, he will notice a new sound in a new environment (for example by looking towards the source). By generating a static external sound, it can be measured at what volume rats without tinnitus will take notice.

Next, tinnitus is induced (by sound, should be torture for the rats I guess) in a selected set of the rats. Afterwards their responses are measured again, it should be possible to determine at what frequency or volume the rat does not respond. Once a tinnitus group is "created" this way, the scientist can put them back in the rest of the normal group. Trigger a sound when the old static external sound is active already: when done correctly, only the rats without tinnitus should respond.

I believe this is (the start of) a setup which Susan Shore used with guinea pigs, but don't quote me on that...

 

There is the gap-startle method proposed by Turner. I don't find the original paper but many subsequent studies refer to this method. Since, it has been pointed out that it has its flaws and if I am not mistaken researchers nowadays rely on auditory brainstem response.
We don't even know for sure if the animals have tinnitus. It's a good practice that researchers now rely on.

 

]If they can determine that the rat has tinnitus, how can they know the nature of it? Don't laugh but even in rats, might the severity of tinnitus vary? Maybe they are not accounting for that, though, anyway?

 

Thank you very much for the information, Michael! I appreciate the links also, I'll have a read through them! Would you mind if I private messaged you? (Though, I'm not entirely sure how to do that, haha.)

 

Same exact issue here. My default tinnitus is a slight noise distinctive in my left ear. I was diagnosed with vestibular migraines which causes severe head tinnitus, floaty out of body feeling, visual snow, aura, disorientation, confusion, unsteadiness when movement and a dull headache that comes in bouts and can last anywhere from a day to weeks. Feels like there's a storm going on in my head. Once it subsides, I get a euphoric sensation and like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders until the next episode. I was concerned it could be Meniere's since some of the symptoms are similar such as dizziness and tinnitus but I have had no HL and no ear fullness when my symptoms started. My theory is that nerve damage triggers neurons in the brain and causes all sorts of neurological and cognitive symptoms and this multiplies the amplitude of the tinnitus greatly. If this happens to you in episodes, take a look at vestibular migraines. Even if you have no headache as this type of migraine often times has no headache associated with it. I've been put on beta blockers and this has reduced the head tinnitus by 95% as well as the other symptoms. Hope this helps.

 

HI @Ashley Ann

You can sent me a private message, by clicking on my Avatar and choosing Start conversation. I will send you a PM and you should receive a message that you can respond to.

Michael

 

Hyperacusis does not exclusively mean it is painful. Hyperacusis just means a sensitivity to sound. I agree with your first doctor that it is probably some form of hyperacusis. Reactive Tinnitus, imo, is a symptom of hyperacusis.

 

I’ll echo this. My major tinnitus problem is caused by the 13-15 kHz frequency tinnitus and during the day, when it is milder (by comparison), it is very difficult to pin the directionality of it. By night, when it gets worse, it turns into a distinct eeee originating more clearly from the left ear. High frequency tinnitus is definitely worse than low frequency tinnitus, which I can say objectively because my lower frequency whirring (again, by comparison) isn’t shit.

Although “head” tinnitus could very well be left and right ear high frequency tinnitus that make it difficult to determine directionality because of such a high register. I definitely have no right ear tinnitus, though, and I suspect my extended audiogram on the 23rd will confirm ultra high frequency loss in the left, and modest (if any) loss in the right.