I'm Slowly Losing It...

I'm finding it really difficult to habituate.The hardest part is not so much the tinnitus, but the near constant neck pressure which spreads up to the nape, around my jaw then across to the bridge of my nose. It feels like a massive muscle spasm. Clicking and popping on a daily basis. Brain fog and mental fatigue. When I wake up in the morning ( I sleep okish) I feel like I haven't slept at all. When I eat, all sounds are amplified - eating crisps is deafning!! None of the ENT's I've seen can give me a conclusive answer as to why I'm experiencing so many different symptoms. My audio is fine, no hearing loss. MRI of neck is fine apart from bone spurs but these are not touching any nerves. Doctor has arranged for me to have some PT and blood tests. I can just about manage the stream of intense hissing, but all the physical crap is literally draining the life out of me. Sorry for ranting, but I feel so helpless

 

@truesilence sorry that you're having such a rough time but if you hear a clicking sound it's most likely stapedial myoclonus. You can goggle it more and they even have sample sounds online so you can compare if the noise you hear it's the same. Best of luck

 

Hey there. While we all know there's not too much we can do about T, there's a lot to try for more physical things. It sounds like you're under a lot of stress - which, at least for me, can cause really terrible tension headaches. I had horrendous shoulder and neck pain. I got a nightguard, tempurpedic neck-support pillow and I swear those two things nearly got rid of all of it within a few nights - its a HUGE difference after you get things properly aligned. I still clicked and popped, I went to an oral surgeon who helped me with a little therapy and now that's normally not too bad either - at least not painful.

Of course, your body isn't mine, but you might go the dental/oral surgeon route rather than an ENT if you neck and jaw pain and intense clicking/popping - that's a good dentists "happy" place for helping.

For the brain fog, try eating really healthy food for a solid month - organic if you can (no cheating, no booze) and exercise a little every day - yoga is chill and good for alignment. You might be surprised.

Good luck to you! Don't lose heart, T is hard to do much about, but some of the stuff you're mentioning you do not have to habituate to - you can likely fix those things to an agreeable degree.

 

Hey, many thanks for your replies!
I wonder whether the tinnitus is giving me this terrible muscle tension or is it the tension that is giving me the Tinnius? I've had a lot of stress in the past, but it has never manifested into this monster!!!

 

Neck tension can cause tinnitus. I'm not saying that's what's happening but it's possible. I get what you describe fairly often and have acupuncture which helps and massage. Also I'm sometimes given a drug by the doc which works well to relive the muscle spasm only unjust can't recall the name but it work on the brain so the muscles are released. Also I have very bad TMJ and a twisted spine due to some accidents when young and I need a splint to hold my jaw in place. You might look into all these things. I'd try the massage first as it's the least expensive or invasive and can work wonders for the pressure in the neck and round the nose.

 

Oh and if this reduces the amplification of the noises when you eat (I also get this on occasion and its deafening!) you'll know it must have been irritated nerves from the tense muscles. Other than that you could investigate SCDS which can cause the noise when you eat to be amplified greatly.

 

What's SCDS? My muscle spasms are really intense! I've never felt anything like it before. If I try to self massage, the T goes through the roof sometimes.

 

You may want to give baclofen a go against muscle spasms, it's cheap and without serious side effects afaik. It's also works great on mental side of things: thinking gets very ordered and the wheels are turning, it gives you amazing willpower and confidence to face difficulties and at the very least you don't suffer while on it. That was my experience on dosage 15-20mg x 3 times per day.

 

Thanks! I'll look into that!

 

Thank you!

 

Great advice from above posters. I can only add that if the neck tension or muscle spasm are the problem, massage or chiropractic treatment may be required. Yes, muscle relaxing drug should also help. About brain fog, it is mostly due to either acute anxiety or problem with sinuses. Do your sinuses inflame or plug up often?

 

I've woken up a few times congested with my mouth wide open and dry as a bone but no inflammation as far I can tell. I've also been told I have mild rhinitis in my right nostril. The brain fog and fatigue can last for days and then just disappear. It's terrible in the morning, whether I've had 5 or 9hrs sleep it feels my body hasn't rested at all.

 

Truesilence, Im with you brother. Hang in there there may be some med around the bend.

 

Thank you Rubén. I really hope that there is some med soon for everyone who is suffering with this awful condition. It has nearly broken me...

 

True silence, j honestly think it is stress and worry on top of even other things like not eating healthy consistently, etc. though tinnitus can cause some physical pain, I personally can have my ears blaring at times, but still feel energetic and good. When I eat crap, don't exercise at all, drink tons of coffee, get less sleep and generally over work, I get more headaches, and generally aching. You will feel better.

 

SCDS is superior canal dehiscence syndrome. It's a hole in a bone between the ear and brain. Also muscle tension can make T louder - see somatic tinnitus. If you are having a lot of muscle spasms perhaps your nerves are unsettled?

 

Your last sentence suggests the possibility of sleep apnea. How I know? I have it for years. The muscle of the airway collapses during sleep blocking the respiratory track, causing the brain to not going into deep REM sleep as a normal person. It wakes up the person multiple times at night just so the airway can open up again to breathe. This is like shallow sleeping for the whole night, resulting in tiredness and sleepiness the entire day. If you have spouse, you can ask the spouse to watch you to see if you stop breathing at times or struggle to breathe during to sleep. If you don't know for sure, there are sleep tests which can be done to determine if you have sleep apnea and how serious. Ask the doctor to refer to do a sleep test. The solution is to use CPAP machine to pressurize the air so it can be inhaled without the airway collapsing. The are also oral appliances for that. I can tell you sleep apnea is a serious contributor of bad T, because when the brain is deprived of oxygen and is spaced, the resulting T can be off the chart for a while.