Faint Ringing in Head — Tinnitus from COVID-19 Vaccine?

I received my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine on Saturday. Saturday evening I think I was lying in bed (forget exactly when I noticed this) in silence and noticed an incredibly faint ringing coming from like the top of inside of my head. Not one ear or the other, just up top inside my head. Not loud, but constant and very faint. Now that I am hyper focused on it, I can hear it pretty easily. I would sort of liken it to the sound a TV would make before flat screens (early 2000s) when you'd turn it on with nothing actually on the TV so the screen is black, but you can tell the TV is on because it's make an electric humming? But, again, it's faint.

Once in a blue moon I do experience full fledged tinnitus in either ear, where the ear sounds sort of like it's clogged and the heavy ringing lasts for maybe up to 10 seconds. This is not even close to that, but it's starting to drive me crazy because it's all I can focus on and I am also paranoid that whatever this is was caused by the shot. But, at the same time, I don't know if this has always been around and I am just now somehow noticing it. Timing seems awfully convenient though. It appears that ~1 in 40,000 people experience tinnitus from a COVID-19 vaccine, so it is extremely rare, but I don't know why I would happen to notice this the night I got my first shot and was not aware of this (albeit rare) side effect until I researched it following Saturday evening.

I almost wonder if it's nothing at all but me hearing my brain activity when it's completely silent? Like literally the "sound of silence" - but then again, now that I am hyper focused on it, I can hear it if I try even when there are other sounds around.

Earlier today I was laying down for a bit and noticed that it seemed as though the sound is more prominent when I am laying down.

I guess I am looking for peace of mind that this is something that everyone experiences in silence and I am just making it up in my head to be something it is not. Does what I am explaining sound like tinnitus or just regular ambient noise your mind/whatever makes that I am now focusing on but has always been around?

 

You have very mild tinnitus. I’d be careful with loud events going forward.

 

Slight update: ringing appears to *knock on wood* have disappeared from left ear. It remains in right ear.

After some research I am wondering if the Eustachian tube is blocked in my right ear. When I swallow both ears click like they should, but when I hold my nose shut and blow out, only my left ear pops and not my right ear. My right nostril has been on and off blocked the past week or so. I’ve taken Sudafed to try to clear it up which works only for a bit. But in any event, blowing out nose doesn’t unclog right ear so I’m wondering/hoping the remaining ringing is due to that. Is that plausible?

I’ve had my first non depressed day since this started. I really hope things are looking up.

 

Currently on day 2 of a 13 day Prednisone course with 60 mg for 7 days, and then tapering.

Still trying to understand why the ringing completely went away from my left ear after about a week but has not gone down in the right ear when it all started the night of the vaccine. I feel like it's neuroinflammation, esp. because it gets worse after a hot shower/hot tub (which promotes inflammation generally). But does inflammation go down at equal rates, or could it just be taking my right side a lot longer for some reason?

Anecdotally, while at the ENT, he told me i have a deviated septum and my right nostril/sinus is smaller than my left side. When I do the valsalva maneuver to clear my ears, my right ear does not clear while my left does no problem. Feels like something is blocking it, but ENT thinks this is unrelated to the ringing. Weird thing is my ear is not clogged though because i can hear just fine and also when i swallow my right ear pops, just nothing when I try to do the valsalva maneuver...

 

My tinnitus shifts between both ears all the time, there is no rhyme or reason that I can detect (hopefully some day AI can help solve tinnitus altogether, it is far too complex for our siloed thinking). Contrary to your experience with the hot tub, a sauna session calms my t down significantly. I'm not sure what this could mean with respect to inflammation, possibly nothing..

Take care of yourself whilst on the steroid, it did numbers on me emotionally and physically. I lost 10% of my body weight and a lot of strength.

 

So I previously made a post that I first started experiencing tinnitus the night I got my first Pfizer shot on 2/26. It seems to have gotten better on my left side but not right side. ENT hearing test showed no hearing loss, and a 13 day prednisone treatment did nothing (just finished yesterday). The tinnitus is also reactive to a lot of things.

Now I am learning a bit more about TMJ and somatic tinnitus. On my right side (where the tinnitus is), I was feeling around with my thumb pretty firmly where the joint is. There is one spot under the cheek bone, if I push kind of upwards into it where some muscle is (because it tenses when I flex it), it definitely feels tender/kind of sore. I have to push decently firmly and it's not super sensitive just to simple touch, but when I press in it is definitely a bit tender. And the left side in the same spot doesn't feel the same, I can push as hard as I want and it doesn't hurt. I have also been told long ago by my dentist that I clench my jaw at night.

Similarly, when I yawn or just flex my jaw really hard, I hear a bit of a static in my ears and that seems like it also sort of intensifies the tinnitus in my right ear while I am flexing, then goes back down when I release (I guess this is somatic tinnitus, but maybe everyone experiences this same sensation when they flex their jaws hard?).

Starting to now wonder if in fact my ringing is not due to ear issue but something with my jaw, possibly neck.

But if that is the case, why would this have just started the night I got the vaccine? Why wouldn't it have been around longer? Does it make sense that something from the vaccine would have amplified this? If it is TMJ issue, then wouldn't resolving that ultimately result in alleviation of the ringing?

 

How did the steroid work?