I Have Yet to Hear Anyone Suffering from My Type of Tinnitus

Hi guys haven't posted here in a while so wanted to give another update.

My tinnitus is extremely odd and I'm almost certain it's my terrible anxiety that is the issue rather than the tinnitus itself.

If you don't know my story it's basically in my left ear and it's very low almost non existent. It's a tone that appears a little high pitched at first but actually dies down and becomes barely noticeable even in silence...although my anxiety makes me search and search to which I then focus in on it which sometimes makes it sound a little louder but again if I stick to a position when I'm sleeping it sort of fades away after seconds/minutes. If I keep moving around it seems I hear it more.

Also what I find extremely strange is that it vanishes almost completely if I am wearing ear plugs or cover my ears making me think it might actually be an external sound that my left ear for some reason picks up as a different tone to my right. If it's coming from my head/ears wouldn't it be magnified if I closed my ears? Rather then just stop completely?

My girlfriend hears the same things I do but it's never an issue for her. She says her tone that she hears in complete silence is in both ears but she's had it most if not all her life so I'm guessing she's habituated. She's asked me all the time when I can't sleep "why are you focusing in on it" but with anxiety it's magnifies issues. She calls it the "atmosphere sound" bless her.

Another strange thing is that I can actually go days or even weeks without hearing anything from my left ear even in dead silence. It oddly comes after a night of drinking and going to a social environment where music is being played which is just so so odd.

Oddly I started hearing this tone in June (I think...to be honest maybe I always had it but never focused in?) After some pain I had after a flight due to the air pressure and then 2 days later I woke up from clubbing with this slight tone. Panicked about this tone for around 2 weeks...read loads...thought I had H as well because everything sounded like this tone. After doing some tests with my girlfriend in different quiet rooms where she could hear the same thing I literally couldn't hear it again for 2 months...it just went (both the H and any T sound). Can it just go like that or was it that my brain didn't care about it anymore?

Anyway I only started thinking about it again now because around 2 months ago I had actual ringing tinnitus in both ears due to really loud music which thankfully went away the next day but it made me focus in on my ears again(specifically my left ear).


So in conclusion, My supposed T can sometimes be heard when its completely quiet and I am dead still (left ear only it seems) but I can stop it by plugging my effected ear or both ears. If I've gone out and drank alcohol I seem to not be able to hear a damn thing that lasts days maybe weeks. The sound when I do hear it is initially a relatively high pitch tone (very quiet) but it sort of changes after seconds/minutes and turns into what can best be described as my left ear sounding like it's switched on...so maybe no proper sound as such...just that it's on if that makes sense. If I stay still it sort of fades away if I move around it seems like it stays.

I am obviously blessed my case is very mild all things considered but the only annoying issue I have is sleeping and also continuously going into quiet rooms to check if I can hear something. The sleep is an anxiety issue as the sound of T itself is not bothersome at all.

 

My tinnitus, I believe, is of the intermittent, or fluctuating, type, although I wake up with it every day to some degree. By checking for it compulsively, which I did myself, you are instructing your brain to find something, which it will. That is a very hard behavior to break, but unless we try, it will not go away and can get worse.

Always use ear protection to prevent further damage when in very loud venues. Every time you expose yourself to extreme noise without protection, you are doing more damage, which is cumulative.

 

yours dont sound to bad i would just move on with your life you will be fine god bless

 

It's called reactive tinnitus. I have that too but mine is mostly modulated with head movement. When I'm laying down it gets very quiet. It's noise reactive too.

 

Your girlfriend already gave u the best advice. Use some soundenrichement for a couple of months and get used to it. Be happy u are able to mask ur sound and pay attention to your girlfriend instead of ur tinnitus.

 

@threefirefour What kind of head movement? If you have a misaligned jaw then it may come down to your sternocleidomastoids not being in balance. This can also place pressure on your C1 and C2 even without discomfort. Sound modulation with jaw misalignment, having tinnitus and with more quiet when laying down is usually an unbalance of the sternocleidomastoids muscles. A chiropractor could fix this problem.

 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I know my SCMs are out of balance because I can't stretch my right one, and my neck is slightly misaligned to the left.. I didn't know that was relevent to TMJ.

 

This sounds like "somatic" elements of tinnitus which many experience, no two exactly described the same, but it often occurs after noise damage, and in some people have purely somatic T I have read. I do not know the details but I have read along the lines that it is suggested that the auditory cortex takes on somatic input (muscles/movement/internal bodily sounds) being amplified as a reaction of losing the proper auditory input from hearing damage. Not sure if that is the case, but it makes sense sort of I guess?

Some of what you describe sounds slightly similar to what I experience and refer to as "hearing distortion" and I believe is oven interchanged with the term "reactive tinnitus" (which I think usually refers to constant tones, not the same as hearing distortion).

I do have hyperacusis and constant tones as well though.

 

sounds specifically similar to some of what is discussed here, though thankfully yours does not sound as severe (not to minimize your condition) so hopefully you can recover better and faster than I have/am hopefully.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hearing-distortion-recruitment-reactive-tinnitus.19449/

 

@threefirefour I little more to add. If you go to a chiropractor that specializes in neck and jaw for a consultation, he will measure your shoulders for height and balance. If one shoulder is lower, then this will cause the SCM to be unbalanced.

You may have one leg shorter than the other by just a quarter of an inch. This may not be noticeable when standing in front of a mirror. Like with hearing loss often being commutative, walking and exercising with one leg shorter than the other could over time affect muscle balance and posture. A few who walk or exercise a lot will favor one side. Thus, this recreates a handicap that can be a cause of somatic influence - SCM and jaw with less reaction when lying down.

My specialized neck and jaw chiropractor said, so having somatic tinnitus, lets get those shoulders measured first thing. Then he felt my SCM muscles and said this is one problem. Unfortunately I also now have degenerative disease in my entire neck including spine. Don't wait years for a consultation.

 

Thanks for the heads up (No pun intended). I hope your neck improves a lot.

 

I just measured. My left shoulder is 3.175 cm (1.25 in) higher than my right shoulder standing perfectly straight. Wonder if that's significant.

 

My chiropractor said that my right shoulder is 3/8 inch higher. I was very active in outdoors activities when I was younger. I also had done a lot of lifting. So lower spine and muscle pressure finally led to my neck.

So my chiropractor said this is why you have somatic tinnitus - neck and jaw. Bending my neck forward at the dentist when pressure was applied to my front jaw was the last straw. Although my first T was subjective from ear syringing.

 

Guess mine isn't good then. Thanks again. Hope I can fix it somehow.

 

One day it might not go away.

 

I understand that mate and I've literally become overly cautious now because of this.

 

@threefirefour I think that in your situation it was just your jaw giving your neck a little temporary discomfort. Could it be that your temporomandibular joint is just inflamed from misalignment which is messing with the stabilization of the eardrum? This is mentioned in many TMJ articles. Many tinnitus success stories with this. It can take time.

 

Maybe. Could an ENT see if the eardrum is unstablized? They didn't say there was an issue there

 

@threefirefour I don't know what they mean by stabilization. Could it be just hyperactivity? Here's just one link of many articles that mention the eardrum and stabilization with TMJ and tinnitus.

Go to second paragraph
"How TMJ and Tinnitus Are Connected"
https://austinoralsurgery.com/tinnitus-tmj/

 

Thanks this is really helpful

 

Hi guys just wanted to give an update.

So for the last 2 weeks I haven't heard the sound anymore. Even if I look for it I usually don't find it (in a dead silent room) so i'm relieved but it's preoccupied my brain so much over the last few months that I'm still suffering from sleep issues and still scared I might hear a sound again. I can get to sleep ok but after a few hours I wake up and find it hard getting back to sleep (that's when I panic about hearing a sound). I can't stop over thinking when I'm lying down.

Can anyone give me tips on what I can do to improve sleep issue? It seems that I have 1 bad night then my brain instantly starts telling me everything negative will happen and it will never be the same again.

 

Hi @Kingdawson

that's great you don't hear it anymore. If you are still having bad anxiety and unable to control that, then I think it's best you see a therapist or some sort that can help you. All we can really say is stop thinking about it, but that's not going to help you much is it.

Maybe try melatonin or zzquil in the meantime.

 

First of all, even if your T comes back, now that you got to hear silence again it is very likely to eventually go away for good.

Have you tried taking melatonin? Make sure you don't take too much:
https://vanwinkles.com/the-dark-side-downsides-side-effects-of-melatonin
"In 2001, researchers at MIT concluded that the correct dosage for melatonin falls between .3 and 1 mg." {Most pills are 3 mg or even 5 mg.}

You can also try taking valerian root pills.

If you need something harder (and that needs to be prescribed by a doctor), amitriptyline helped me sleep when I was in the acute stage of tinnitus. It is non-addictive and it didn't make me feel drowsy in the morning.

 

I come across posts like this and I just get triggered that people are disturbed by stuff as minor as this. I really don't mean to be inconsiderate, even though that is exactly what I'm being. It's just, a lot of people on this board have tinnitus that is louder than a shower, and hyperacusis to the point that they can barely go outside. I think if your "tinnitus" is at a level such as how you described it, you should seek anxiety counseling first, and worry about the tinnitus second. Again, sorry for coming across as an asshole, just saying..

 

A perfectly in-place comment on our fair site of anxietytalk.

 

Tried Valerian roots previously and they did nothing for me. Heard a lot of great things about Melatonin but its not available over the counter here in the UK which is a shame. Will go to the doctors about amitriptyline. Cheers for always being helpful, it's much appreciated.

I've always said I appreciated that mine wasn't as extreme as other cases and never wanted to come across as if I was even trying to imply that. Just wanted to give some updates so that others who might be reading this and have very mild T like mine maybe need to sort their head out first as the primary issue.

 

You could try ordering it online. If you are going to see a doctor, ask him or her to prescribe melatonin. Try melatonin before you try amitriptyline.