New Here and New to Tinnitus, and Very Important Questions

[alem567]

It started 2 weeks ago suddenly with constant noise around 4 kHz in both ears. I had to visit many sites to find out what it is at all and what I should expect. It was scary for me when I found out that around 50 milion people in US suffer from it and generally it is not even known how it should be cured. So at the beginning I didn't even know where and what kind of medical help I should look for - in the 50-miles radius I found 1 neurolog with some experience in evaluation of tinnitus cases, couple ENT clinics, and several audiologists which could possibly recommend and sell extremely expensive hearing aids which would be best for any hearing problem. Then I found out that 1 of my relatives was dealing with tinnitus noises 15 years ago, so I tried to get any useful advice from him. He said that after 15 years he still hears phantom noises when he concentrates on what he is actually hearing, but generally most of the time he does not think about these noises because he got used to T. and he learnt how to ignore them. He also said that I should try to test if there is deficiency of vitamin B12 in my blood because when one of gastrologs prescribed for him injections of this vitamin, then intensity of phantom noises decreased significantly.

Now I am wondering whether maybe I should seek any help in one of ENT clinics anyway because I noticed something very strange what may indicate that my ears suffer from internal, severe infection. My first discovery was that when I open my mouth widely, that is causing a new, very high pitch tinnitus sound in both ears. Then when I try to move my cheek left or right, that can limit such a new noise to the left or right ear. Another discovery was, that when I stay in vertical position and suddenly tilt my head left or right, then I can hear some new noises which may indicate that the liquid in the middle ear chambers is repositioned. That is even better heard when I tilt my head 360 degrees around my upper body.

Would it be possible that due to such middle ear infection it became so sensitive that rapid moves of the head are causing such noises ?

Is there any chance that such simple diagnostics could determine whether somebody indeed suffers from middle ear(s) infections ?

And the final, even more important question would be whether we can expect that if the middle ear infection is causing phantom tinnitus sounds in our ears then we can expect ( with some exclusions ) that curing infected ears could bring at least significant decrease of intensity of such phantom noises ?

Best Regards for everybody
and I would hope that some of this forum participants will be able to answer articulated above questions.

 

[Michael Leigh]

HI @alem567

I see that your Avatar is a picture of a pair of headphones on your profile. Could I be right in thinking that you listen to music often through headphones? If you do this could the cause of your tinnitus. Headphone use and going to clubs, concerts where loud music is played is often a cause of tinnitus.

Please click on the link below to read my article: Tinnitus, A Personal View, that you might find helpful. It would be a good idea to get a referral to ENT for test. If you do use headphones I advise you to stop using for the a while. If they are the cause of your tinnitus, then I advise not to use them again even at low volume.

All the best
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

[alem567]

Hi, Michael :

Indeed I have such a pair of headphones which I use only then, when I want additional ear protection - they are never louder than speakers, but they can easily decrease the volume of speakers when I wish. I placed this Avatar with hope that I will be able to listen and hear valuable advice from other participants of this discussion, especially from those that were sucsessful in tinnitus treatment - such exchange of information could bring even better results in tinnitus treatment than research conducted by most prestigious medical institutes. As a matter of fact during last 2 weeks I was able to decrease volume of phantom noises significantly following advice found on multiple websites applying home remedies like pressed garlic with wildflower honey. But still I hope that even better progress is possible.

Best Regards

 

[Aaron44126]

Being able to modulate the sound by opening your jaw or turning your head in a certain way is pretty common. I have this myself. I read that a study with one clinic indicated that around two thirds of tinnitus patients could modulate their tinnitus by moving their head in some way, and if jaw movements are included then the number climbed up to 80%. I don't think that you can make too much of this, but (I'm not a doctor here) maybe it could indicate that your tinnitus is not from hearing loss but from some sort of physical issue with your ear or head.

If your tinnitus is from an ear infection, it will likely resolve after the infection is resolved. If it is a bacterial infection, you will want to get on antibiotics. If it is from a viral infection, all you can really do is wait it out. It will probably take a while for the sound to go away (weeks/months), during which time you will see slow improvement, as the inflammation in the ear calms down and things return to normal. Corticosteroid nasal spray can help bring the inflammation down more quickly but it still takes a while.

You should get in with your GP who can check for clear signs of infection. My GP was able to see signs of inflammation by looking up my nose. If the GP comes up blank, an audiologist can check for clear signs of hearing loss (just to be sure), and they can do an ear pressure check — bad pressure would indicate fluid behind the eardrum, which is a possible sign of middle ear infection or ETD.

Then, an ENT is the best person to go to for a more thorough check of the ear. The ENT is where you really want to go, but ENTs usually have long wait times for appointments, so you should check with the other doctors while you wait (and ask to be put on the cancellation wait list if it is really bugging you).

You'll probably be dealing with this for a while... I have heard few stories of people who found immediate relief. I found sound enrichment very helpful in the early weeks and I still use it while sleeping. Basically, find some background sounds that you can listen to that make the tinnitus seem less intense.

 

[alem567]

I really appreciate your answer, Sharon - it can be confirmed in many dedicated to tinnitus websites what you wrote but without specific ENT diagnose it is difficult to answer my questions precisely. It happens quite often that tinnitus sufferers at the same time suffer from TMJ/TMD symptoms and upfront it is difficult to find out whether tinnitus resulted from ear infection or there was another factor ( eg. allergy, physical injury, neurological brain problems, poison food or substance ) which may result in both ear inflammation and TMJ/TMD symptoms. At this time it is quite obvious that in my case both ear inflammation and TMJ/TMD symptoms are present and it is also obvious that in such cases both sound modulation is possible ( due to the fact that moving jaws is causing some pain in very sensitive, inflamed middle ear area ) and such sufferer can hear movement of liquid in the very sensitive ear when it is inflamed. In addition to that I can also clearly hear additional sounds when my ears try to compensate differences in internal and external air pressure. There seems to be some sort of pressure valve mechanism ( without that liquid could freely flow from ear out when we move our head or pressure could not be changed at all ). When ear is inflamed such mechanism is sometimes not working properly but by moving jaws we can trigger internal pressure relief what also can be heard in our sensitive and inflamed ears. I hope I will know much more about my ears soon because in couple days I have an appointment scheduled in our ENT clinic.
Currently I became more optimistic because I found a way to eliminate my ear ringing either completely or reduce it to comfortable level at the end of each day when I prepare to go to bed. By comfortable level I mean such a noise reduction that either I do not hear it or I can hardly hear it with some concentration effort. It was possible because I started each morning taking of B12 Methylcobalamin ( better absorbed form of this vitamin) and B Complex tablets, spending 1 hour in warm bathtub and flashing my ear canals with 1:1 mixture of quite warm chamomile tea with Hydrogen Peroxide ( altogether 250 ml ) just before going to bed. This way I can fall asleep immediately without any sound machine and wakeup in the morning with mostly ( but not completely ) reduced ear ringing.

Best Regards and Well Wishes