My Tinnitus Often Disappears Almost Completely While My Neck Is Being Massaged

My tinnitus is somatic and always worse first thing in the morning (like a teakettle in my head). I have not had a quiet morning since I got this over 18 months ago.

I often get specialized massage for my neck early in the morning and the amazing thing is that while I get the massage, often the tinnitus disappears almost completely.

As soon I leave and begin my day, the tinnitus returns, but usually settles down to a lower level when I sit and am inactive. Activity (mental or physical, but mostly physical) seems to be the thing that spikes it.

The perplexing thing is that I sleep extremely well. If an activity spikes tinnitus, why is it always blaring first thing in the morning when I am at my most still???

I know there are no answers or known root cause, but do other people experience this?

 

Welcome to the forum. Neck muscle problem is a known cause of somatic tinnitus. That is why some chiropractors specialize in treating tinnitus with neck maneuver.

Waking with loud tinnitus happens to many people, myself included. Some call this 'awakening response'. For some people, their brain tends to scan for vital signs when waking up, much like the warm up period of a car with sensors checking for trouble. Unfortunately the brain mistakes that tinnitus is part of the vital signs that we are alive and it brings it up. I am a late man on the medical explanation of this phenomenon. But a former member who is a MD has written more technically about this:

“I have always felt it to be due to the role of the reticular formation in tinnitus perception. The reticular formation is a primitive structure in the brain stem. It's a "vital sign monitor." When you wake up, the RF checks to see whether or not you are alive! It looks for heartbeat, respirations, blood pressure, temperature - basic bodily signs. It does not care whether or not these signs are good or bad - just that they are present. And as far as the RF is concerned, tinnitus is part of "expected" body function in an individual suffering from severe intrusive tinnitus. So when you wake, your RF checks to see whether or not tinnitus is present. And if it doesn't immediately find the tinnitus, the RF seeks it with a vengeance - - especially in the post-nap state, when there has been inadequate REM sleep and when, therefore, the RF is on already "high alert" that something might not be quite right. Theoretically - very theoretically - this RF hyperactivity in seeking tinnitus, which in a person with severe intrusive tinnitus it equates with life, results in temporarily markedly augmented tinnitus perception.”

This is the reason even many people who have tinnitus for years and have habituated still like to sleep with music or nature sounds playing in the background so when they wake up they have other sounds around the brain can listen to instead of just the tinnitus.