Long-Time Tinnitus Sufferer

I've had tinnitus for about 40ish years, started at about age 15, but it was very low and bearable. This past April I had rotator cuff surgery - it was the first time I went under anethesia. Since then, my tinnitus has become so LOUD and unbearable, and is causing me to become deeply anxious and unhappy. It is constant and never ending. It is loud. It interferes with everything I do and every thought I have. I am presently trying out very expensive ($5200) hearing aids with masking, which instead of the high pitch, gives a low shhhhhhh sound which gives me a break.
I am absolutely miserable. Has anyone had this kind of reaction to surgery? I'm thinking the anesthesia somehow screwed up my brain to cause this. Has this happened to anyone? If so, does it get quieter over time, or is this what my life is going to be like forever?
Also, I have been going to a chiropractor for many many years. Now that my tinnitus is so loud, I have been noticing that when he adjusts my neck very high up, I hear a spike of VERY LOUD tinnitus and then it goes down to it's now normal roar. This leads me to believe that getting my neck adjusted very often for an extended period of time may help. Unfortunately, my crappy health plan has my co-pay as $50, so before I take this on as a payment plan for treatment, I would like to know if anyone has had success with frequent (three times a week) adjustments. And if so, does it just come back when you go back to monthly treatments?
Any comments would be appreciated.

 

LoNicot...hope you are doing well. I had surgery 2 months ago and went under anesteshia too (secretly I was hoping and wishing that when I woke up from the anesthesia the T would be gone, sigh) But no, no change. Instead, my hair started to change in texture. It also got weak and started to break. The hair dresser told me it was the anesthesia and to give it at least a year to get out of your system. So maybe it did something to your T... maybe not. Maybe pure coincidence. Don't be consumed trying to figure out the how.... just try to relax. I take CalmsForte Homeopathic pills to help me relax together with chamomile tea, 3x a day. The natural way has worked good for me... Hope you find relief. Saying a prayer for you.

 

@LoNicot

Most people on this forum have had no problem with anesthesia. But exceptions always exist. I did fine one article about a low frequency tinnitus that may accompany spinal anesthesia, but this isn't applicable in your case.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15034637​

That your tinnitus decreases with chiropractic adjustments, however, is a very good thing. It sounds like you may have developed a surgery-induced type of somatic tinnitus. Such tinnitus may be amenable (or may not) to medical interventions, like chiropractic adjustments or physical therapy.

Here is a reference to one type of somatic tinnitus that was helped with spinal injections:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25353360​

Of course, this may not apply to your case. Please check out the forum's thread on somatic tinnitus. You should ask questions there too. And I do hope you are sleeping well. If not, check out ideas for sleep. Sleep deprivation always makes tinnitus worse. More information on sleep is available if you do a search on "sleep" in the upper right hand oblong box with the word "Search" in it. It will examine all the forum's threads for key words like "sleep" and "supplements."

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/somatic-tinnitus.812/page-3#post-71989

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/anxious-cant-sleep-what-sleep-supplement-works-for-you.5760/
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I hope you find information that will help you get relief. There's a lot of things we can do now for tinnitus, but no cure yet. That said, it's important to keeping trying things and remaining optimistic. I'm sure you'll be better in a few months, maybe even back to baseline.

Good luck and welcome to Tinnitus Talk!