(New) Static Noise in Head

Okay, I really don't know what's the hell is happening...

A week ago I made a post about trying to stay positive, and so on. I wasn't even overly optimistic or anything, but I guess I was still tempting fate with that post.

My tinnitus I've had for around eleven months now fluctuates/oscillates. I have worse days and better days and sometimes for a short amount of time I can't hear it at all in a quiet room, but it's very much always the same noise that I find quite hard to describe.

This weekend I've done nothing special, but suddenly there was a new, higher pitched (than my regular tinnitus) continuous noise that would come and ago. And ever since yesterday, I have this weird, definitely high-pitched static in my head. My regular tinnitus sounds like it's coming from my ears or sometimes the outside, but this weird static noise sounds like it's in my head rather than my ears and I can't mask it with anything. The strange thing is that this noise isn't unfamiliar to me, from time to time I've experienced this long before my tinnitus, but it would always go away after a few minutes. So the fact that I've head this for over a day now concerns me. And as I started writing this, the higher pitched continuous noise has started again, too, for no apparent reason.

I'm so confused as to what is going on. I know I need to take a deep breath and calm down but I'm scared. I was doing my best to handle that one type of tinnitus I had going on but if there are one or two more I really don't know how to cope any longer.

I forgot to add that I've also been having some slight pain in my right ear. Nothing extreme, kind of like when your ear canal is inflamed. I've had this before and went to my ENT and she essentially told me she there's nothing wrong, so I don't know if it's just psychosomatic...

 

Hi,

I just wanted to say I also have this static inside my brain, on the side I have the ringing. That is my right ear. I've only had tinnitus for a week now but I'm on the brink of wanting to die.

 

Your new tinnitus noise sounds a lot like the first tinnitus noise I got. Just like you I have also got two noises in one ear, one high and one low, and surprisingly it is the high pitched one that my brain has been able to cope with the easiest. I don't know if you have already tried a white noise generator, it helped me a lot with the deeper noise (the higher one, unfortunately, got agitated by it - but hey, just because that's been the case with me...). Apart from this I don't have any good tips for you but I'm sending lots of positive thoughts your way - stay positive and strong!

 

I'm so sorry. I know it sounds ridiculous coming from a person who has been having a mental breakdown since yesterday, but for what it's worth there have been beautiful moments in my life nonetheless. It's tough these days with all of the restrictions due to COVID, but what's helped me back then was trying to live my life, meeting friends, do fun stuff and such.

Plus, although it probably feels like eternity to you right now, it's "only" been one week. I don't want to get your hopes up too much but there is a chance your tinnitus will fade enough to be unnoticeable most of the time. I gotta admit that I'm still holding onto that myself, at least a little, though I do know it's unrealistic and not likely.

 

Thank you ♥ Frankly, I feel like I've maybe had more than one noise to begin with, when I'd wear earplugs for sleep I could obviously hear them much better, as without earplugs in a quiet room it usually sounds like it's coming from outside. But this new higher pitched voice that pops up from time to time (I'm definitely going to jinx it with that, watch it become permanent) and the static noise are definitely new. It really sucks because how are you supposed to habituate when there are three different noises going on?

I don't know what it is about white noise but it makes my tinnitus (the lower pitch one) worse. The white noise distorts it and makes it sound even louder, as if it's competing against the white noise. It's just white (or brown, or pink) noise though, like the type of noise that mostly stays the same. Other "irregular" noises to do not have that effect on it. It's so strange.

The worst thing about the static noise is that it's almost like I can feel it. Like a very faint buzzing sensation. I'm honestly just praying for those new noises to go away, but I'm not really optimistic (or naive) enough to believe that anymore, because that's what I told myself when my regular tinnitus came around first

Wishing you lots of positivity too ♥

 

I've tried all kinds of earplugs (foam, silicon, earplugs for shooting, for swimming, ...) but while most of them block out most of my surroundings my tinnitus just gets worse so I have given up on them. The weird thing is that when I put my fingers in my ears it actually makes a bit of a difference. I'm not sure if that is because it makes me hear my own pules/blood flow or because I'm using "material" that is not synthetic to block my auditory canal.

Have you come across the website myNoise.net? When my ears hurt from of having my white noise generator in them or my headphones on, I have it run in the background while doing computer work. You can experiment with the frequencies and try to find the one that suits you best. In my case, it doesn't help with the high frequency noise and the new noise is pretty loud so I need to play it pretty loud, too, which, unfortunately, gets to me as well after a while.

 

I have the static in my brain as well as tinnitus in my ears. It feels like sizzling on a BBQ. I have several noises coming out of both ears. I don't know what it is but it has stolen my life.

 

You're very new to tinnitus. Since December 2020...

Were you an anxious person before tinnitus? OCD?

Do you now monitor your tinnitus frequently?

I hope to God you are using a lot of background sounds to distract yourself.

 

Never an anxious person. Never ever. Confident, capable, happy, on top of the world. No stress in my life, no conflict, no financial issues. I never in my 42 years suffered with my mental health.

Tinnitus started early December, went away and came back a few times before it set in permanently in the 28th December. That is the day my anxiety started. My depression started about 2 weeks later when I was told by several medical professionals that it was never going away and to learn to live with it.

The sizzling in my brain is fairly recent. Maybe in the last few weeks. I am now on Lyrica. For the most part I think it is helping with the brain sizzling but not the tinnitus.

 

Thanks for your optimism. It’s just I’m nowhere near as optimistic and I’m genuinely considering ways in which I could just die right now, I’ve contacted a euthanasia clinic too so let’s see. Because it’s incurable I hope they accept. I am willing to die right now than live with this all my life.

 

Sounds a lot like my experience, never had issues until I got tinnitus, also in my 40s. I experienced both anxiety and depression for a while, until my brain lost interest in the tinnitus.

 

I have tried Lyrica as well but only a small dose (then it made my vision blurry so I stopped) - what dosage are you on and have been further improvements with the brain sizzling?

 

Yeah, earplugs definitely make my tinnitus worse short-term. Like five minutes into wearing them it genuinely goes crazy loud, probably because it's the only input my brain can focus on. But funnily enough I still manage to fall asleep! I only wear them because I'm super sensitive to noise when I'm trying to fall asleep (this was the case well before the onset of my tinnitus).

I've heard of myNoise.net! Unfortunately really any white noise aggravates my regular tinnitus no matter the frequency :/ But thanks for the recommendation!

 

I also have the static in my head. I also have some static that it also localized to my ears along with a few loud-ass tones in my left ear. It's a mess. I'm pretty convinced the static sound has gotten louder over the past month too, ever since I moved in with a roommate (dumb idea).

Maybe if I put some tin foil around my head I'll pick up an AM/FM radio station...

 

I know what you mean. It used to help with one of the two noises I have but now that there is a third and very different noise I can't seem to find a setting that works. Even worse, after having played around for a while all three of my tinnitus noises felt twice as loud as they did before when I eventually left the page.

Fortunately, I've got an appointment at my acousticitian on Thursday where he will try to adjust my WNG to fit my left ear and help me find a frequency to mask the new noise. It's not ideal, but, if it works, at least it will be quick, if temporary, fix for the time it takes to get everything else checked out.

 

Yeah, it's super hard to stay optimistic at first. I really do get that. In the beginning I often asked myself why this had to happen to me. I thought, wow, I have this one, short life and I'm really gonna have to go through it with this constant noise, never hearing silence again. And I won't pretend that there aren't days that I still think that. January has been pretty bad for me even before the onset of this new noise. Again, I know it's super hard but a week really isn't long enough to judge whether your tinnitus will a) be permanent or at least b) be permanently this bad.

I do get it and for me a big factor is that the cause for my tinnitus remains unknown. The two ENTs I consulted essentially told me my ears were fine. I can't even be hopeful and/or optimistic for stuff like FX-322, because since I apparently don't have hearing loss it wouldn't work on me anyway, which sucks. I think if ENTs aren't able to help you they should at least give you some guidance on what else you can do. I mean, I didn't even get an MRI (although those apparently can be horrible for you ears so maybe that's not the worst thing). Technically it could be a brain tumor or something causing my tinnitus, so who knows lol.

But in any case, I'm still here and I still have wonderful family and friends that I love dearly, and like GRRM once wrote, “Death is so terribly final, while life is full of possibilities.”

Did it stop brain sizzling for you, too? Or did you not have the chance to find out because you had to stop taking it due to it blurring your vision?

I find that interesting since pregabalin is a derivative of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), and GABA seems to help some people with tinnitus in general, although I've read you're not supposed to continuously supplement GABA because it stops your body from producing it by itself or something along the lines.

Who prescribed the Lyrica for you? As in, what kind of medical specialist?

 

My neck hasn't been doing great the past few days so I'm starting to wonder if that's what's to blame for my new noise. I'm so hesitant to go see a physical therapist or even an orthopedist because I know that some of these have effed people up and left them with (even worse) tinnitus instead of the opposite. Wouldn't it be funny if my tinnitus went away once I finally get my breast reduction done next year and the strain on my neck is lessened? I still kind of feel like the cold I had was the culprit but I guess you'll never know with tinnitus.

 

I'm on 25mg twice a day. What were you on?

 

I want to get this same surgery. Too scared now in case a general anaesthetic messes with tinnitus.

 

Tinnitus caused by audiologist tests often go away after 2-3 years.

 

I believe Lyrica made my vision blurry too. Gabapentin does not seem to do so. I need some spinal surgeries done, so need to take something until then for pain.

 

I hope you are right!

 

25 mg once per day, I am already on 10 mg of Nortriptyline which causes blurriness so I couldn't go any higher with the Lyrica so I stopped after about a month - little improvement with hyperacusis but perhaps too small of a dose to impact the head buzzing.

 

Okay, pardon my French, but this really fucking sucks. I feel like this new noise is getting more and more higher pitched rather than the other way around. It's easily a 14,000 - 15,000 Hz sawtooth wave sound, so obviously I can hear it over everything.

It kind of reminds me of those times when you were young and dumb and not protecting your ears in a loud environment, and then once you'd get back home in the middle of the night and get that fleeting tinnitus, only I have done none of that for years so I have absolutely no idea what could have triggered this. I'm getting less and less hopeful that it'll fade.

Probably unrelated, I have a painful swollen lymph node at the back of my head so my body might be fighting an infection, but I doubt that has anything to do with this new noise.

 

Just saw your reply. I think there are some concerns regarding spinal anaesthesia, but for most people general anesthesia doesn't seem to affect their tinnitus.

 

Good to know, thank you. Sorry to hear about the new sound. My tinnitus is not consistent. It can change from one hour to the next - ring, hiss or loud high pitched crackle or a combo of each.

 

Thank you!

Yeah, all I can say is I should've counted my blessings with my relatively mild tinnitus. This high pitched monstrosity is almost physically painful.

 

Hi - It does appear that you have an issue with your lower neck - somatic tinnitus. Maybe from forward posture with shoulder pressure to lower neck. One or more of a few things could be happening with lower C spine, muscles (sternocleidomastoid - muscle on one side) and/or nerves.

Since at times when you can't hear it, points to a nerve in your neck being pressured. Signals from a nerve can project to occipital nerves and to your ears. However, can't rule out occipital nerves as primary or only problem. Since you don't have jaw soreness, then your axis joint is probably centered.

I could get into more detail, but lets hold off on that for now.

Before a MRI of neck/shoulders, consider X rays of your C spine. Depending on results, proper forward weight control and warm/cool moist compresses may make a big difference and more so being young.

 

@Greg Sacramento

Thank you for your reply. I definitely think my neck is screwed up, to be plain. I think the breast reduction will make a big difference. I've been looking into finding an orthopedic specialist before, but most of those who seem to have experience with tinnitus are under private medical care. I suppose even an orthopedist who does not explicitly have experience with tinnitus should be able to help, though. I'm seeing my GP next week so they can refer me to a physical therapist in the meantime. You're correct that I don't have any jaw soreness, but I'm still seeing a TMJ specialist at the end of the month to rule that out. I can't manipulate my tinnitus at all, though, which I always thought was a good indication for somatic tinnitus.

I'd be curious to know if this new, high pitched noise stems from the same problem, too. That one I can hear 24/7 since its onset.

 

Hey @nocticolor, in a previous post you mentioned that you got some sort of a flu recently... if possible, maybe it would be good to get a blood test, just to rule out an ongoing infection.

Are you experiencing any other symptoms, like feeling tired, fever, etc?