Experiencing “Siren” Tinnitus Sounds

Hello everyone,

This is my first time ever posting on anything like this but I’m really just hoping to feel a bit less crazy... which is hard when you don’t know anyone else with tinnitus.

I guess my tinnitus has always just been pulsatile (although I’m not 100% informed on this diagnosis, but basically what I’ve always experienced is a pulsing/whooshing in my ear) but in the past week or so I think I’ve started to experience other sounds... mostly what seems to me like a siren sound. Obviously right now with the current state of the world (pandemic and protesting throughout the US), it’s been a stressful time in general where everything feels on edge. I don’t know if this is just stress related or bad timing on my tinnitus’ part to start to present as another kind of sound... I just feel like I am going crazy.

I keep thinking that it is genuinely just an endless wave of real sirens, police cars and ambulances roaring down the main street in my town. But it’s not, and I can tell the difference just based on volume. Yet still, I’m left standing in the shower or sitting in my room at night hear these noises. Even though a quick google tells me that siren sounds are something people with tinnitus hear I’m just having trouble understanding when this has never been how I’ve experience tinnitus before.

I guess I just want to feel a bit less crazy and am hoping to hear from others who experience siren noises as part of their tinnitus. And if this current state of the world is adding to your anxiety/confusion with thinking you’re hearing crazy things happening out in your neighborhood when it’s really just your stupid tinnitus.

I really thought I’d come to terms with accepting my tinnitus and feeling like I could live with it as just an annoyance, but if it continues on this way I feel like it’s going to be way more of a struggle as I cannot stop thinking about it and it’s badly affecting my anxiety.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

While waiting for the siren sound to abate and hopefully disappear..If you are open to hypnotherapy, it can be very beneficial in re-framing the sound from a tormenting, insanely annoying (and in your case hearing sirens is understandably disturbing because they are meant to cause alarm for humans in the normal!) into something with a positive non-threatening association based on your personality. John Brown is clever at creating positive associations and desensitizing. https://www.yelp.com/biz/john-brown-hypnotherapy-los-angeles-2

 

Thanks, I’ll look into it a bit!

 

Hi there,

I have had tinnitus and hyperacusis for 7 years.

Shortly into it, I started 'imagining' i thought i could hear an engine noise, which sounded like a car idling in the street.

Numerous times, I would set foot outside to investigate, only to find there was no car...

I continued to dismiss it for a while as perhaps a car that had moved on...

Until one day, I was visiting a friend in a rural area, away from any major roads. In the still of the afternoon, there it was... the engine noise. I could no longer dismiss it as an external noise. That is when my panic set in.

It seems to have largely settled (whilst it was largely a noise I would only hear in very quiet environments and at night), I was still rattled by this by some time. I gradually learnt to 'forget about it'. You may read my other posts where I have mentioned receiving my own adipose stem cells in 2017 (for pain). Leading up to having the stems, I believe habituation was starting to happen, but shortly after the stems, the engine noise seemed to largely disappear. (touch wood) It is hard for me to say with any certainty if the stems were responsible. Maybe, it was the combination of the distraction of heart, lung, and joint symptoms (as part of my Lyme journey), the stems, and/or habituation.

I just wanted you to know that your brain is capable of filtering out the noises as I believe this is my experience (not entirely but to a more livable extent).

 

My tinnitus is going from bad to worse. It’s now a constant, progressively worse, siren sound in my left ear.

I’m a complete mess, no break day or night, I’m not sleeping, I’m constantly in tears... back to square one!

Anyone else with this noise? How do you cope?

 

Yup. 'cept in both ears. So sirens (humming, tonal, morse) plus the screeching on top.
I noticed a lot of us vets are getting worse nowadays... It's scary because we had it bad already... and it was our fault.

You can't really cope, you just survive another day and wait for rehabituation?

 

Hey @DebInAustralia, this is a great story. I didn’t realize you got stem cell treatment. While I agree with you on the brain being able to filter out some of these noises, I think yours is a matter of healing, likely due to inflammation. The reason I say that is that for most people, the low hum you describe (I have it too) is likely objective tinnitus. The other possibility is you learned to cope with it and by way of reducing the stress or anxiety attached to it, your muscles stopped the spasms.

I can’t say either one of these scenarios are 100% the case but if it had to bet money, it would be on one of the two.

 

Hey Deb, could you share more in detail what kind of stem cells' infusions you underwent? I'm very interested in the type of cells they used and how long had it been since the onset of your tinnitus til you began treatment.

Thanks in advance!

 

Of course! I'd be happy to.

You need to know that I didn't actually do stem cells primarily for tinnitus. I had severe joint pain at the time (2017) at the start of my Lyme journey, which is what prompted me to contact the Macquarie stem clinic in Liverpool, NSW, Australia (run by Dr Ralph Bright).

Tinnitus found me in 2013 after receiving Ciprofloxacillin, so I was chronic by the time I received the stem cells.

I can't say for certainty if they helped because I have had a few relapses associated with spikes since, but I am currently going along OK.

I had to undergo a liposuction as we used my own adipose tissue. It was determined on the day that I had a high percentage of viable stem cells, so we were able to proceed with facet joint injections, along with peripherally infusing the remainder.

I recall asking about why they don't add growth factors etc to the stem cells prior to administration (as I had found other local clinics did do this). They felt at the time, I wouldnt derive any further benefit from doing this, and leaving the stem cells as they were meant they could differentiate into whatever tissue they needed to become? This is probably a very crude explanation. I hope it helps some.

 

I’m on my third day with a new siren type sound and it’s starting to drive me insane..
I have heard this sound before for short moments after being exposed to an ambulance siren but it has always gone away in 30-60 minutes.

When I was in the car maybe a week ago an ambulance drove by blasting its sirens. I had double protection but it still felt loud to me. Could this be the reason?

Is this a hallucination or can tinnitus actually mimic the sound of loud things?

 

Hey Deb, I am reading through your posts, and glad the stem cells have worked to a degree for you. I am seeing a doctor soon who does stem cells as one of his treatments for hearing loss, and maybe from reading your story he may do it for hyperacusis and tinnitus for me. Do you have a written story or testimony, that I could show to him?

Thanks,
David

 

Hi David,

So you're clear, I decided to do stem cells for severe joint pain (associated with Lyme); not for tinnitus as a priority at the time.

I had started to habituate, so I can't say for certain how therapeutic it was for tinnitus per say.

I did notice my spikes backed off considerably after the treatment. I have no doubt that stem cells may have helped to drive down inflammation.

Menopause has tossed me back in the unhabituated camp

If I can help in any way, let me know.