I Can Cause My Tinnitus

I have two sounds of tinnitus. One I can live with (quiet hissing/cicada sound), and one that is unbearable (loud cicada sound). I think I have figured out how to turn off the loud one – still experimenting.

But when I turn it off, I know I can cause the loud one to come back momentarily in a few ways:
1) Clench my teeth.
2) Burp in a specific way (small burp with a hiccup at the same time) – which I cannot voluntarily reproduce, it just happens.
3) Crunch my chest down for a second or two (like an ab crunch but with the upper torso).

Which leads me to think that maybe the tinnitus is somehow caused in the upper digestive tract or airway?

 

Thank you to everyone for your support.
I have nothing much to say.
I have begun tracking again my sleep, tinnitus levels, and mood.
I have rarely if ever had a day of relief.
I hope there is some joy to come soon.

Fleegle

 

Hi Fleegle,

I see you're from Australia... whereabouts?

Has something happened to make you more bothered by your tinnitus?

 

Hi there. I would prefer not to say where I am from.

To answer: yes. Now the sound is relentless. Although I am noticing less the teeth grinding and TMJ/jaw pain, occasionally headaches are so bad.
I thought that I could "turn it off or on" but things are just so bad that each day is just the same and I just do not notice if there is any difference.
I stopped tracking it after I never got more than 1 day of relief.
I thought that maybe I could change my status through body positioning. But I haven't really tried in 6 months and now in the cold months I can't really do much activity.

There is someone who gave me good advice, and seemed to indicate which vertebrae or spinal location was the issue.
But I don't remember - Greg something???

 

I think @Greg Sacramento seems to have a lot of experience with somatic tinnitus, which is what you seem to have. Hope he can chime in soon.

 

My story so far...

I have a static hiss - like crickets or cicadas in a forest. In Australia we have areas of trees called "bush" or "bushland". And walking through that cicada bushland in summer is a pleasant enough sound except when there are so many cicadas it seems the very air is thick with the sound.
That's what I am hearing.

I measure the sound on a relative scale. From 0 to 5 - with 0 being none, to 5 being unable to move (and it is not a very good scale because if I ever feel at a 5, then...).
With the left side being louder I record daily the levels of both. Most times the sound is 3/1 or 4/1, with left always louder than the right.
And sometimes, rarely, the sound can go away and it becomes 1/0. with a "normal hear it but can cope with it" level of 1 on the left.

Sometimes I think I can do some exercise or yard work and it will go away.
At one point I went for 9 days as 1/0, only to be followed by 10 straight days of 4/1. But I cannot remember when those days were and even though I tracked it, I am worried if I really knew how long ago it was.

Now I am pushing myself to stay awake each night until I am so tired that I will immediately sleep, and finding no hope that I can sleep when I do wake up for whatever reason and no matter how short the sleep time. The noise literally keeps me awake. No drugs or magic potions for me though.
I wake until I sleep, and when I wake I can't sleep at all.

I have tried (maybe) a kind of meditation: imagining the same sound in my head as what I am hearing, and then if I get it just right, my tinnitus goes away. Like mixing two sounds together to cancel them. It's in my head, I think it works. But it is meditation (I don't call it that, but I guess so) and I can't do it during all my waking time (which is considerable - see above).

Sometimes when I lie awake at night I can hear the buzz of the electric clock next to me - not too far away, but far enough to consider my hearing a "superpower". How come? I don't get it.
Things don't sound to loud to me - people talking, traffic, city construction sounds are all tolerable. Sometimes, when I have amazing headaches, some voices will sound harsh and I feel it.

I have seen colored lights three times - ocular migrane it's called. I don't know if that is related.

I am in good health, and eat well enough I guess. I don't exercise as such but I do some yard work.

 

@Fleegle

Sorry to hear your struggling. Can I ask if you've been exposed to any loud sounds recently? Listening to music through ear buds? Or taking any medication?

Steph <3

 

Is it the case that you have had your tinnitus for five years now?

 

Loud sounds? Like long loud or short loud? No and no, anyway. I have listened to music through ear buds but I don't do that a lot. Only on the bus - twice in two weeks. I do listen to music at night - sometimes 1 or 2 hours. But at reasonable levels. I make some music, so I like dynamic range over "beats" or pumping bass.
And no. No medication at all. Ever. Maybe ibuprofen when the jaw or face feels a lot of pain.

 

It is the case, Bill Bauer. Since 2015, I guess.
I have looked for your posts in every thread. Thank you for your words and comfort.

 

I think it is Greg Sacramento who has shared advice in the past. And I think he followed my story and told me exactly what was wrong. I believe Greg. And I think if I had the opportunity to pursue it he might actually have helped me.
Don't give up though, Greg! I feel like today I am on the verge of finding an answer - only today.