Hypoxic Brain Injury → High-Pitched Tinnitus

Hi all,

I did a very very intense Valsalva maneuvre in a stressed situation which unknowingly damaged major parts of my heart. The next day, I felt a weak heartbeat but the psychiatric nurses and the doctor didn’t think it was worth a follow up. In a midday, I orgasmed and immediately felt something was wrong, I could barely move my eyes and I started to feel light-headed in a weird way. About 3 minutes later, moderately high pitched tinnitus in my left ear started and hasn’t stopped since. It is audible indoors and environmental noises (streets) don’t mask it.

Stupidity wasn’t enough, I started to fidget with my right ear out of desperation and developed minor tinnitus in my right ear.

I can’t sleep without Ativan and Temazepam, I tried without one day and dreamt of fireworks and woke up with LOUD tinnitus.

I know this is permanent and I think a bothersome part of my hypoxic brain injury (aside from being totally unable to enjoy food and unable to study and having thrown away my life). I also have a fullness sensation of the ear.

I can mask my tinnitus fairly easily with music or everyday sounds, don’t hear it in the car or outdoors.

Well, that’s it. I will have appointments with cardiologists and ENTs soon enough. Bye. Hope I can sleep tonight.

 

Soon after posting this I paced too hard to the kitchen and got light-headed again. Definitely having tinnitus now in my right ear too. I should pace really slowly because I think I unknowingly may have injured my brain yet AGAIN. Shit. I don’t know why I keep doing this. Haven’t seen a cardiologist yet. Help.

 

Hey, I think the first thing you have to do is slow down and relax. Being in a panicked state will only make things worse. You have to do some slow breathing and get yourself out of fight or flight.

A couple of questions:

What kind of Valsalva did you do that you feel damaged your heart? I find this unlikely but I guess possible (I’m not a cardiologist). Why do you figure this is a hypoxic brain injury, is this something that you know for sure?

There are many things that the tinnitus could stem from, it could be a PLF or a CSF leak. It’s not necessarily a hypoxic brain injury unless you already know this to be true from imaging and speaking to a neurologist.

I would also suggest you look at the Wim Hof caused tinnitus thread as I believe your pathology is somewhat similar.

 

I just tensed my body extremely hard. Everyone kept saying there’s nothing wrong and I believed them. I also started Wellbutrin but I doubt this is the cause.

I haven't seen a neurologist or cardiologist but introspectively this is obvious. The tinnitus started after I ejaculated and it has not left me since.

 

Tensing your body hard is unlikely to cause hypoxia. I would also say it’s difficult to damage your heart this way (impossible even?). It is possible that you gave yourself a PLF, CSF leak or mild aneurysm, especially since you are complaining of light-headedness. I would have it investigated by a medical professional.

 

I am in a psychiatric hospital. They did an ECG. I’ve seen no cardiologist. It doesn’t matter anyhow. I know I have brain damage because I can’t read or remember long Wikipedia pages and I used to be a law student. I can no longer enjoy food. The screaming tinnitus is here to stay. I have no way of committing suicide. My fate is worse than death.

 

People with severe perilymph fistula can't remember or enjoy a lot of things either, but it's curable, especially at the beginning, and it has nothing to do with your brain. It just disturbs your peripheral vestibular system (inner ear) so the central (brain) has to try harder to compensate. So it seems brain. The psychiatrists can't know what PLF is, so if you have it, you're going to have to solve it yourself. And it's not visible on any scan, so don't bother. Just assume you have a PLF and Google it and see if it matches. And see if conservative treatment can help you. Like, keep your head elevated, drink enough liquid, avoid salt and coffee (but don't avoid salt for more than a month or two or you can get hyponatremia) and most important, don't do any Valsalva, not with your nose, not with your abdominal area, and don't bend over, keep your head up all the time for a month or two and don't lift anything heavy.

If you have a PLF it can partially heal with restriction of movement and temporary dietary changes.

 

An MRI and CT would show if you had brain damage.

Honestly if that's what happened to me, I would've popped an Aspirin (if it's a blood clot) and went to the ER telling them I think I had a vasospasm or stroke.

If it's a bleed, well, it would show on CT... and important to rule out because it can/would get worse.

If you feel faint all the time, it could well be your heart / blood pressure.

If it's vasospasm, your tinnitus is probably nail biting but will fade (I had a similar situation years ago with hypothermia) over months.