Food/Migraines Caused My Tinnitus Spikes

Hello everyone,

Tinnitus Talk really helped me a few years ago and made me feel less alone. I thought I'd come back and share what happened to me in case it is the same for anyone else.

Long story short: I'm allergic to certain foods that trigger a migraine reaction in my brain. Instead of getting the colours and the headache, it affects the auditory part of my brain and my ears ring. Often just one ear. Sometimes it lasts a day. Sometimes it lasts a few seconds. Sometimes it's as loud as a jet. Sometimes it's not loud at all. Since discovering this, I barely get any ringing at all.

I played in bands my whole life. I was, and still am, obsessed with hearing protection. I've passed every hearing test with flying colours. I've always got foam ear plugs in all my pants pockets.

I've got some super mild ringing that I don't even notice. Then around 5 years ago I started getting these massive spikes. I went to 2 different specialists and got brain scans. They couldn't find the cause. 'The ringing goes away, so that's good. Come back if the ringing starts again.'. Pretty hopeless.

After the worst spike I've ever had, I got a last minute appointment with a specialist in Chatswood, Sydney. Dr. Williams. After doing the usual tests we did s0me sort of an interview. He asked if I've ever had a migraine. Yes. But not since I was 12. Do my parents get migraines. Yes. He said OK, spun around in his chair and got a piece of paper. On it was printed a whole list of foods. He said 'You're allergic to these. They trigger migraines.' this list was basically my shopping list. Chocolate. Cheese. Bread. Beer.

Obviously within those foods are more subcategories. So what I had to do was eat 'clean' for 2 weeks, then try something from the list. If I had no ringing, it was ok to eat.

Firstly, eating clean for two weeks was a revelation. There was always some level of buzzing happening that I'd tuned out. That went away. It was bizarre. First thing I had was soy sauce. It was bad. Soy Sauce triggers me within minutes. BUT, if soy sauce is cooked, like in a dumpling filling, it's ok. But if I dunk that dumpling into a dish of soy sauce, bad.

Brie cheese - bad. Ricotta - good.

On and on this has gone for years. Beer - not great. Red wine - bad. All other alcohol - fine.

I would have never guessed that a problem with my ears was related to what I eat. But here we are. It's been about 5 years and every now and then I think, 'Maybe I'll try bread again.' I try some and the next morning BOOM, ringing.

It's weird. I don't know anyone else who's had this condition. But for me, it's been a life saver and a game changer, maybe it could be for you too.

 

This is interesting to me because I’m in a very similar category to you. I wake up with loud spikes that eventually go. I also have intermittent stuff that comes and goes and I can’t figure out any the connection. Yours sounds very similar.

I would love to know more.

You immediately get a tinnitus spike the next day if you have bread or read wine?

Is it every time you have those items? The day after that the spike will be completely gone?

And you never have spikes when eating clean?

What do you consider eating clean?

 

Interesting, how did the doctor determine which foods you were allergic to? Through the tests? If I wanted to try clean eating, where would I start?

 

Last night was one of the worst for me since the tinnitus began. I made homemade fried rice for dinner and put a small amount of soy sauce in it. I don't know it is was the cause of my spike (which I am still experiencing 24 hours later) but I am not going to eat it again.

 

I will try and answer all your questions here.

Yes I have spikes after eating certain foods. Some harsher than others. I imagine it will vary from person to person.

When I'm eating super clean, which means avoiding the foods I know trigger spikes, I don't have any spikes.

The doctor gave me a list that had many foods on it and said I'd need to make my way through it and test what triggers and what doesn't. I'll see if I can find the original list he gave me and post it here.

Fermentation is a big trigger for me. Whisky, no. Soy sauce, yes. Try not eating any soy sauce at all for a few weeks then have some and see what happens.

 

To AliasM:

I have migraines, and a guaranteed trigger is MSG (Monosodium Glutamate), which is very frequently in soy sauce and in an amazing number of other foods.
My neurologist said that the three biggest triggers of migraines are cheese, chocolate, and MSG.

To James 137:

Thanks very much for this report. I now have a spike (almost as if my tinnitus is on some kind of schedule) every three days. I am going to carefully take note of what I eat.

The problem with various "eating clean" lists is that there are so many foods that have the possibility of triggering an allergic reaction that your diet is often reduced to raw vegetables and nuts (but I would gladly accept this regimen if it eliminated these spikes).

We are starting to transition into Spring, and the major barometric pressure changes are virtual guarantees of migraines (which my neurologist said has been reported by so many patients that it is being seriously researched), and I am considering whether this may also cause tinnitus spikes. I am searching for an effective anti-inflammatory, which theoretically could control the swelling of whatever organs cause these spikes.

An older man with considerable tinnitus (from colossal sound exposure in Vietnam) told me that an antihistamine will occasionally completely eliminate his.

Sometimes it feels like a remedy for tinnitus might resemble Poe's Short Story "The Purloined Letter"; it is so out in the open that everyone in a quest to perform complicated research misses it (although I have tried perhaps 30 vitamins, herbs, supplements, etc. with no effect whatsoever).

 

Soy sauce has gluten in it too. Who knew! After my massive spike I looked at the ingredients and there it was. I have been gluten free for 3 weeks so I don't know if it was the salt, the gluten, the soy or a complete coincidence but I'm not going near it again because that spike was evil.

 

I think it was the MSG in soy that might have caused your spike, not gluten.

 

@James137, if your triggers are usually fermented food, it might be because the histamine content is usually higher in those things.