My Hyperacusis and TTTS Thoughts and Things That Are Working

- I have had these symptoms and have seen many doctors and physical therapists over the last year and a half and only through my constant internet research did everything line up with TTTS and Hyperacusis. I have had cat scans (everything normal), been given antibiotics for an ear infection, been given steroids, muscle relaxers, told to eat mashed potatoes and mac and cheese, wore a mouth guard at night. Nothing.

- I feel that the genesis of all of this started during an extremely stressful period in my life where I was clenching my jaw and grinding my teeth nightly for about two years.
- I am an avid music listener and I began to experience pain and fullness in my ear while listening. It seemed to me that my ear's "protection circuit" was going haywire and that the pain was more of a fatigue issue.
- Have resolved the grinding and clenching issue by changing my lifestyle (change job, exercise regularly, meditation and prayer).
- This ear pain has caused me great psychological and emotional distress and I cannot believe that I have been able to hold it together. I have chronic back pain, but that I can put out of my mind. MY EARS ARE IN MY HEAD FOR FUCKS SAKE! (ok relax. deep breaths).
- The biggest offender that makes my ear wig out and flutter is having a phone on speaker. Its not that its loud. It's very distorted. Nails on a chalk board.
- Listening to music on a system that is very well put together at moderate levels is enjoyable to me. I can even have it on loud if I am not paying attention to it and doing something else like cooking a meal.


Things that are working, like really working:

- Deep tissue massage of the face, head, neck and shoulders.

- Dry needling the particularly offensive tight areas. For me it is the SCM muscle (it connects to your ear!).

- Stretching the neck muscles. On one side grab the bottom of your chair to keep your shoulder low. Turn your head away from that shoulder and turn your head up toward the sealing you should heel a stretch in your SCM and scalene. If you open your jaw you will feel a pull behind your ear. Take deep breaths.

- Relaxation. I find that whenever I check in with my body that I am flexing tension in my head, face and neck. With a little practice I have been able to turn that off and find that the fullness subsides.

- Heating pad. I put it on my pillow and lay on my side making sure the neck and the whole side of my head is getting action.

- Tiger balm! Putting it around my ear, jaw, and neck takes all pain away! However only about an hour or two.

- Prayer and meditation. "Get out of here with that foo foo shit!" you say? I know right? However, I was ready to try anything. I am beat, my friends. This did not necessarily take away the pain. It helped me be ok with it. Some peace of mind.


Things I want to try:

Acupuncture

Magnesium. Its arriving today.

Maybe some hypnosis. I don't know.


Thanks for reading. I hope this helps someone. If you have any tips please let me know.

 

Hi and welcome to the forum!

So are you saying you've tried to resolve things like posture and teeth-grinding, and found no difference in your tinnitus?

Glad you're finding things that give some relief.

 

the tooth grinding has been resolved after making some life style changes. however, i do have bad posture. i really should give fixing my posture an honest shake.

now this is me just speculating, but i suspect that my issues started out as a purely physiological phenomenon, but then became psychological as i focused on the pain and guarding. now that i am removing the physiological component, there is a psychological recovery that goes with it.

 

Who knows all the complexities of how the brain compensates for damage to the body. It's certainly worth doing whatever is in our power to improve anything that we can. At the very least, it can help guard against more damage occurring.

I'm hearing more and more reports about people who just improved their condition through exercise and healthy living - no miracle cures or supplements - getting enough sleep can be a challenge but I am finding herbal remedies more reliable without the nasty side-effects of other things I've tried previously.

 

Magnesium actually seemed to help me. I took Natural Calm, which is a powdered magnesium citrate. Prepare to shit your life out if you take too much. Disclaimer: I have a weird gene that makes it so I don't transport magnesium properly, so magnesium supplements really make a difference for me. But taking that seemed to soothe my hyperacusis by 10% or so.

I have also had really good experiences with acupuncture. I have a friend who does it, and while it didn't move the needle directly on my tinnitus or hyperacusis, when I was going in for sessions twice a week, my body felt WAY better and I could relax with far less resistance from the relentless demons that have taken up residence in my head.

So give those both a shot.