Hello and Some Questions

Hello,

55 years old here and have had tinnitus in my left ear 24/7 since 1994. I'm a retired Army Tanker and spent 25 years around loud explosions, on top of that in 1996 I suffered a TBI which increased my hearing loss in my left ear and made my tinnitus seem much louder.

The tinnitus has mostly been a moderate irritant. About 6 weeks ago the whistling sound got much louder and in both ears. It has now got to the point I cannot hear almost anything else, very very loud.

Here's the odd part (Or maybe not I am not sure), it only seems to come on at night. My normal tinnitus I have been living with since 96 is still there all the time, but around 10PM, or sometimes earlier I get this really loud whistling in both ears. It will also occur from time to time during the day, but seems to last a short time and not every day, maybe 2-3 times per week. But it does happen every night. Sometimes I wake up with it but soon after it disappears. Then, 8, 9 10 at night, all over again.

I'm diabetic, but during these tinnitus episodes I seem to have no other issues, no sick stomach, no increase in headaches, no dizziness (Which I would expect if it were blood pressure related), no nothing. Just this loud loud whistling.

Any ideas on why this sudden onset of tinnitus in both ears may have occurred. My doctors are well aware I have tinnitus. When I mention it I pretty much get "Unfortunately, there isnt a whole lot we can do, something your going to have to live with".

Well I can live with it, but signed up here because I would hope to find someway to lower the noise level. Id also like to find out more details on what can be causing this and if there is something else that may also be wrong causing it.

R
Edit: One thing I left out. Along with the high pitch whistling sound there is also a low pitch hum going on at the same time. I can hear both of them simultaneously.

 

Welcome to TT @RRJ_1962.

There are many causes which can trigger or aggravate tinnitus including drug reaction or side-effects, ear or Eustachian tube infection, ear drum injury, fluid build-up feeling pressured, TMJ, high blood pressure or blood circulation problem, loud noise exposure or acoustic trauma, neck muscle problems, hearing loss, Meniere's, barotrauma from flight, grief for the loss of love ones, sleep deprivation, untreated sleep apnea, elevated stress, anxiety & panic disorder, etc. See if you can find any hint that happened lately which can aggravate your T. Is there a chance that the aggravation is related to the sleep quality, or the act of sleep posture itself (which can change the blood flow to the ears or head)? How about the bedroom itself? One other thing to research on is whether there is a somatic element of your T which can related to some muscles or joints around the head. Does the sleeping posture affect this to cause T aggravation? Hope others can help solve the enigma. Perhaps you can post this on the main support forum so a larger audience can answer this. Take care & God bless.

 

@billie48 did you just say sleep apnea can trigger tinnitus? I never heard of this before and my doctor thinks I have sleep apnea, so I am supposed to go to a sleep study due to lack of sleep lately. Do you have more information on this?

 

I don't know if sleep apnea can always cause T. But from my own experience, it can aggravate my existing T. I have sleep apnea for a long time and every time my face mask failed for leakage or when my sinus plugged my nose, then my sleep will be of poor quality or that my brain can get a bit oxygen deprived. I usually wake up with T blasting away anyway, but when the sleep apnea machine failed, the waking T can be off the chart for quite a while and I have to do quite a bit of deep breathing to oxygenate my body to calm my T down to baseline. This has been a pain in the neck for me before, but now I don't care a dime about T high or low and just go about my day, and my brain is hardened to the loud T so it tends to fade it out of consciousness when I am engaged with things. As I am typing now on the subject of T, it is blasting away loud and high pitch but I have zero negative reaction to it now and so it doesn't affect me. Here is a site talking about the possible link between sleep apnea and T:

http://www.thecpapshop.com/blog/are-tinnitus-ringing-in-the-ears-and-sleep-apnea-linked/

Anyhow, there is such thing called 'Awakening Response' which a doctor posted a while ago to try to explain how the lack of REM sleep can cause loud T while waking up from a nap.

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@billie48 Thank you for the explanation. I guess that can't be a reason for my tinnitus, but it certainly might be making it worse.

 

So sorry to hear that your T is getting worse @RRJ_1962 in the evenings. I can only recommend a "White Noise" app that I've been using, I bought the "pro" version for $4.99. You can get it on Android or Mac (in their stores).
http://www.tmsoft.com/white-noise/

I had T, since 2002, then in 2014 I had Pulmonary Embolisms because I was taking Valium to sleep, (which worked for the T for a while), and the drug was relaxing my breathing & I wasn't getting enough oxygen. Post PE, had a sleep study done, and that's what they found. I now sleep with a cpap (with Nasal pads). I really don't think the T and the sleep apnea have anything to do with increased T volume. I still have it.

Unfortunately, I have just come to the conclusion that, until some cure is found, we all have to do our best to mask the noise. If it's driving you crazy, at any given time, move, get up change what you're doing, dance, make a phone call, make a snack.... ANYTHING you can to to distract yourself from focusing on the "T".

Good luck, I hope you feel better soon. We're all in this "boat" together, let's try to be positive for each other.