My Tinnitus Was Probably Caused by Long COVID-19 — Headaches, Stiff Neck, Sleepless Nights

Hello. I've had tinnitus in ear/head for about 5 months. Fairly sure it was caused by long COVID-19. It's been getting steadily more acute. Headaches. Stiff neck. Sleepless nights.

I'm due to have an MRI scan in a couple of weeks. Brain and inner ear. Meanwhile, doing various supplements to try and calm it down. Ginkgo biloba, Zinc, Benfotiamine, L-Theanine, B12. Guess I'm probably typical of many new tinnitus sufferers who try and fix this thing with a pill.

The lack of sleep is the worst. But I'm using OTO app to help with this. Going through a very difficult time at present and wondering whether I'll get through this.

 

Right there with you. This is the toughest period, the first year. I'm confident it gets better for us both.

 

Has there been anything that's helped you - lowered the volume and intensity of the pitch? Can this thing be dialled down?

I managed to sleep last night. By using one of the OTO sounds. Plus I was very tired from several sleepless nights.

 

Your tinnitus could have been caused by COVID-19 but there are other possible causes too. The MRI scan should reveal if there is an underlying medical problem within your auditory system that's responsible for the tinnitus onset.

If none is found other possible causes are stress, medication or hearing loss. One of the most common is exposure to loud noise, especially if you regularly use any type of headphones.

Many people learn to habituate to tinnitus with time. Please click on the link below and read my post, that you might find helpful for your sleep management.

All the best,
Michael

New to Tinnitus, What to Do? | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

As @Michael Leigh said, you can most definitely improve and habituate. It is important to take it one step at a time and not to put too much extra stress on your body.

I'll give some advice that has helped me (or at least, following it has not made me worse in the past two months I've had tinnitus).

Avoid headphones, alcohol and stress. It is important to give your ears the possibility to rest. The white noise may definitely help - don't put it too loud and if possible find a way to not have it playing all night. Some apps (the Tasker app, and the IFThisThenThat app on Android) have settings to stop sound playback at a specified hour. Apple has a built-in music sleep timer in the Clock app if I'm not mistaken.

Sleep has a major effect on the way you perceive your tinnitus. Try to sleep often, even if it is a struggle (masking sounds, sleeping pills [discuss with GP!]).

Take extra care of your oral hygiene. Bad oral hygiene or dental surgery can negatively impact your tinnitus, best to try and avoid them.

I hope you recover soon and experience a lessening of your symptoms.

 

Thank you for your time and support @Michael Leigh and @koffee_monster. Much appreciated and very helpful. Can already see that coming onto this site and forum is a smart move.

I've read the New To Tinnitus thread and will now read it again and take time to digest it all.

I don't drink alcohol. Or very seldom and sparingly. I had a small half glass of wine about three months ago. That's how seldom! But I could quite easily not have alcohol, and wouldn't miss it.

Sugar. I avoid. I recently reversed T2D through intermittent fasting and diet (Jason Fung method).

I've noticed there seems to be a correlation between jaw and tinnitus. Or at least in my experience. I wake up with locked jaw and neck stiffness. So I'm doing relaxation exercises daily for this. And also see a body worker for myofascial therapy.

Steam is good. I do a face-over-bowl steam in the evening before bed to help declog any clog.

Caffeine. My cafetiere and I make a damn fine coffee of a morning. And I think decaffeinated beans will probably be the way to go. Tea is alright (lapdog shoesnog) but it doesn't hit the coffee spot for me.

I'm using a variety of sounds at night. 'Village' worked well last night. There's occasional distant gentle chatter and occasional passing car sounds and it's mildly hypnotic. I also use Waterfall and Ocean sounds which make me feel Glastafarian as if I've landed in all night Bring-yer-own-dolphin workshop! S'funny, I'm finding humour is important. Is that a thing?

I had two hearing tests in recent months. And one at the Tinnitus Clinic in London. There's a loss of some hearing in the right ear. Which might be a cause of the tinnitus.

Can hearing be regained? Can the cochlear hair cells regenerate through fasting? I know that fasting can have a tremendous impact on health at the cellular level. Our bodies can begin to recycle old and clapped out parts of the cell within three days.

Thank you,
Gilo

 

I did not mention this in my original reply: invest in a good pair of earplugs (foam or whatever suits you best). A higher protection rate is better.

For example, 3M foam earplugs are rated at 33 dB - this means a 33 dB (-5 dB = 28 dB in reality) reduction in sound intensity if the earplugs are fitted correctly - watch a video on how to plug them if you're unsure if your ears are plugged all the way.

Don't "overprotect" your ears, it can have a negative effect on your hearing. But if a sound causes you noticeable discomfort it is better to plug your ears and to try and create distance between yourself and the source of the sound.

Take care!

 

I can't speak on fasting, I have no experience and have not researched this subject at all.

Hearing can be regained or adapted in a plethora of ways, each with its own pros and cons.

There are hearing aids. Some people on the forum are helped by them tremendously.

There are cochlear implants (CI) that directly stimulate your auditory nerve through the cochlea, bypassing natural ear workings (eardrum, bones, ...). This is, however, "reserved" for people with debilitating hearing loss as it permanently damages or even destroys the natural hearing pathways (removal of the CI after placement will result in near-complete or complete deafness in the ear).

There are new trials for medications that look into the regeneration of the hair cells or synapses and nerve endings in the cochlea using an intratympanic injection. Take a look at the threads about Frequency Therapeutics or Otonomy.

There are anticonvulsants (epilepsy and seizure medication) that suppress brain activity related to some types of tinnitus. Ebselen and XEN1101 could be an approach for future treatment.

There are therapies like TRT and CBT that focus on controlling your mental response to tinnitus and hearing damage in general. Michael who replied above has a lot of information on TRT and I'm sure other forum members are willing to discuss it with you as well.

As you can see, there is definitely hope and possibilities. It all comes down to how much your hearing loss or tinnitus bothers you and where you want to go with it. In 10 years there will hopefully be a lot more possibilities and more concrete data on how effective each of them is in treating hearing loss and tinnitus.

 

Thank you for your kind comments @Gilo. It is your choice but if you like a drink, then I wouldn't stop drinking alcohol as long as it's consumed in moderation. I explain more about this in my post: Food, Drink and Tinnitus, in the link below.

If you live in the UK my advice is not to seek private treatment for your tinnitus. You will get the best help and long term aftercare for tinnitus under the NHS, that no private practice can match in the UK.

I do have experience with TRT. Please go to my started threads and read: What Is TRT and When Should It Be Started?

Take care and all the best,
Michael

Food, Drink and Tinnitus | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

Thank you both again. You've taken valuable time to give your wisdom and experience. Invaluable.

Part of the frustration for me has been dealing with my local medical centre who seem unable to take tinnitus seriously. "It's probably just migraine" was one doctor's comment. I travelled up to London to visit the Tinnitus Clinic to get answers to questions my own medical centre didn't know how to answer. And so I could begin to understand what was happening.

Like many others, I've ended up doing my own research online and hoping the various supplements will help. I don't think there's any crazy amounts in the mix. For example I'm doing 30 mg Zinc Picolinate which seems a fairly sane daily dose.

You've given me much to read up in your threads ... so I'll spend the weekend with this. And further research. Feels like the best approach is to get informed and proactive in response to this condition and take a multi-layered approach.

Nighttime is the challenge. And this is something need to focus on over the next month to get back into good sleep pattern.

Thank you both again, @Michael Leigh and @koffee_monster. Diamond!

Gilo

 

Take things slowly @Gilo because it does take time to get used to tinnitus. One of the most important things is to know what caused it. Although tinnitus can appear for no reason, more often than not something is usually responsible. Once you know what it is then hopefully an appropriate treatment can be tried.

I note that you have some hearing loss but this is not unusual for some people with tinnitus to have. It all depends on the level of impairment. Whilst hearing loss can cause tinnitus, it has to be significant to warrant the use of hearing aids. Once hearing is restored to optimum the tinnitus will usually reduce over time.

If your MRI scan shows nothing untoward within your auditory system to be causing the tinnitus then this can be ruled out. It now leaves whether the tinnitus was caused by COVID-19, is related to stress, medication or is noise induced.

You haven't said whether you regularly used any type of headphones? If you haven't been using them and not previously exposed to loud sounds, then noise induced tinnitus can also be ruled out. Once it's determined stress and medication aren't linked to causing the tinnitus, then I think it's safe to say COVID-19 is responsible for it.

You are still in the early stages of tinnitus. It is quite possible for you to make steady improvement with time. ENT may refer you to Audiology if you are having difficulty with tinnitus management. There you will see either an audiologist or hearing therapist and various treatments will usually discussed. Please go to my started threads and read my article: Tinnitus, A Personal View.

Talk to your GP about any difficulties you are having with sleep.

Take care,
Michael

 

Hello. I had the exact same thing happen to me (except I don’t have headaches) after I was infected with COVID-19 (most likely Delta) last November. My tinnitus is bilateral, I hear multiple sounds 24/7 simultaneously, and I had never heard tinnitus ever prior to my COVID-19 infection. I’ve had my hearing tested up to 16 kHZ and I do not have hearing loss. I had a recent MRI with contrast and it showed abnormal permanent vessel scarring (little white spots) scattered throughout my brain in pockets throughout which I’m told is highly unusual for someone my age and is usually only seen in elderly patients or patients with migraines or other diseases. The neurologist told me that while the neurons in those areas probably didn’t die, they’re damaged and so would function abnormally.

I don’t know if the case will be the same for you, but I hope you’ll update the community on what you find out. Best of luck to you and please take care of your health in the meantime.

There isn’t anything that takes my tinnitus away unfortunately but I notice it less the more distracted I am by a task I have to perform in front of me so I try to keep busy and engaged the more irritated by my tinnitus. I can’t take my pain away, but I can sort of take the edge of sometimes, which is what I try to do. I was recommend by my doctors to eat Mediterranean style, do cardio, avoid caffeine, and stay cognitively engaged and I’ve been trying to follow all their advice. Like most people, I also find I’m more irritated by my tinnitus the less sleep I get. In April, a doctor is going to go over the results of an in-lab sleep study I had done for the same kinds of issues you’re having so I can report my findings back on this forum later.

 

It's been calmer last few days. But for some reason it's spiking at present. Very stressful tonight. 12.30am and I fear it may be a difficult night.

 

Your tinnitus is likely to spike and be variable for some time @Gilo because it's the nature of this condition. It will settle down in time. I have explained this in many of my posts.

Take things easy and talk to your GP if things are getting too stressful.

Michael

 

Thanks for the helpful replies. Sorry to reply so late on.

I started a course of hypnotherapy today to reduce the experience of volume and intensity - to turn down the dial in my imaginary 'control room' of the brain. The therapist was very helpful..he asked what might be trigger words for me and i replied 'tinnitus' itself is a word that makes me fear the worst. His answer surprised me, but was right approach I think... "well that's the word we'll use, because it's just a word and part of this is learning not to be afraid of the condition".

Also returning to a very strict T2D diet. Very low carb and no sugar and good healthy seeds and nuts. Chia seed pudding with fruit juice. Coconut yoghurt and fresh blueberries. And I'll start fasting again.

ENT appointment at the end of the month. And then an MRI soon after. I reckon the approach to this is multi-faceted, but healthy diet and fasting (both IF and prolonged for 5 days) will make a big difference.

 

Hello Gilo. Your case is very similar to my own. I had COVID-19 last February and got tinnitus a few weeks later. I also have slight hearing loss in my right ear. I also suspect I got it because of COVID-19. Granted, being a music lover, I have used headphones, but always on a "normal" volume I think.

1 year in now and it's been a rollercoaster. My tinnitus has changed a lot. It started out as a pure clear tone around 4000 Hz mainly on my right side. Now it's a static hiss most days. Weird as hell.

My main problem however is the constant headache I have. I feel pressure in my head and cheekbones, especially on the left side (trigeminal nerve?), throbbing, pulsatile pain. I have no idea why. Most people with tinnitus don't suffer headaches I think. I also have slight hyperacusis. People with hyperacusis sometimes report having headaches.

Do you have similar symptoms?

I manage to sleep OK taking 25 mg of Trazodone and some Melatonin. I was on a low dose of benzos (Xanax and then Klonopin for a year). Not a great idea but the anxiety I had was out of control. Off it now thank god. Not a long term solution.

I try to have a life without stress and I hardly drink alcohol. It's a struggle but I have hope I will get better with time.

I think I could habituate to the tinnitus but the headaches makes it really difficult at times.

All the best,
Petter

 

How are you now? I also have tinnitus due to COVID-19 infection in January. 6 months in and I'm mentally exhausted from the ups and downs.