New Tone?? I Feel So Scared and Confused and Could Really Use Advice...

I awoke with tinnitus (in my right ear) the morning of July 20th, 2014. I was being treated for a tooth infection during the week prior and could feel pain and pressure building up along my jaw toward my right ear. The doctors believe that nerve inflammation from the infection compressed on my auditory nerve and caused the tinnitus. Over the first couple of weeks the tinnitus became very high pitched, loud and reactive (it sounded like feedback from a microphone). It was also complicated by severe hyperacusis. Then, over the following two weeks both started to settle down and the tinnitus became a quiet, high pitched "tinkling sound". At that point I started taking taurine and NAC (both at the same time). Shortly after I started taking these, I began having daily episodes of fleeting tinnitus as well as a loud hissing in my right ear (and at times I would wake up in the middle of the night with the sensation of an "electrical firestorm" in my head). I'm thinking that these were side effects from the taurine (as when I discontinued the taurine both the fleeting tinnitus and "firestorm" sensations stopped). However, the loud hissing remains.
Additionally, a few weeks ago I started perceiving an additional low tone (around 300 hz) that fills my entire head (it definitely isn't coming from my ears). Initially, I could only hear the tone in an extremely quiet room. Now, I hear this low tone throughout the day whenever I move from a room with sound to no sound (and it becomes very loud during the night). It seems to fade away when I'm in the kitchen and the refrigerator is on, or if I'm driving in the car, etc. However, I don't think these sounds are just "masking" the tone, as it really seems to briefly fade away, but, as soon as the outside noise stops comes flooding back. It's almost as if my ears have lost the ability to pressurize and adjust from noise to quiet. Has anyone experienced this? Did it stay or eventually go away? The high pitched hiss is very difficult to cope with and now I'm distraught over this new low tone. I'm upset with myself for taking the taurine. I think it messed up something with the GABA in my brain. I stopped taking the taurine for two weeks but am not seeing any changes other than a discontinuation of the "firestorm" and fleeting tinnitus. I would greatly appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions. Thank you--

 

My T has been mild up until last week when I got a roaring toothache. The dentist said I had infection and proceeded to extract the tooth. After the extraction which was on the same side as my bad T ear, the noise level shot up to an intense high. It's got to have something to do with the nervous system as everything is interconnected. Maybe the noise level will settle down again. We can only wait and see what the brain want's to do.

Have you ever experienced ''Exploding Head Syndrome'' ?

Now that's a weird one. Gees, the things we have to live with, it's not easy being alive ...lol

 

Thank you--did your T settle down again? I noticed that after my tooth was extracted, I was T free for about two hours from the Novocaine. But then it was much worse for about 1 1/2 weeks. I just don't understand why I now have this low droning tone that fills my head every time I move from an area of "sound" to "no sound". Even in steady silence, the low tone seems to increase and decrease on it's own (as if someone is turning a volume dial up/down randomly in my head). I definitely didn't have this prior to a few weeks ago. Even in the soundproof room where I initially had my hearing tested the only thing I could hear was the high pitched T. Now, if I go someplace very quiet, my entire head fills with sound and feels like it is going to burst. I was so incredibly anxious for the first 6 weeks and feel like this new tone was either caused by the Taurine or my anxiety "cementing" these tones in my head forever. I've been trying to calm myself down over the past two weeks and think more "positively" but it doesn't seem to be improving anything. Maybe the damage has already been done and I'm too far gone??

 

I just read your post closer--my T definitely increased for 1 1/2 weeks after the extraction but then went back to it's baseline (until I started the Taurine and it turned into a loud hiss). If your T hasn't started to go back down yet, hopefully it will soon!

 

No my T hasn't settled down yet, I now feel a build up of wax in the bad T ear, it is a re-occurring problem I have so that might be why it is not settling. Now I'm waiting for the wax to soften so I can syringe the ear clear.Maybe then the T will quieten down again.

I don't know what to say about volume fluctuation, it's a total brain thing, it does what it want's to do, it's erratic at times, all we can do is listen to it do what it want's to do. One day I could hear the sound of church bells in my ears, but these days it's more like the sound of chip pan fat frying.

 

Hi Scicia,

Are you there ? I have the same case...has abcessed tooth on my lower left jaw (3 of them) and also numbness and tingling on my nose ....I also had some tooth inflammation on my left jaw before the T set in....I have now taken those three tooth out on May 5, but things have gone downhill from then on....and of course my T has not gone away...

I still feel a tight feeling on my left cheek and the left side of my face feels off.....I also had a bit of H and the left eye feels sensitive...the left jaw line and cheek is extremely sensitive and if I even touch it lightly, the pain and tingling on my nose comes back.

I have visited couple of dentists and even two nuerologist but really stuck as to what it is....they are of the opinion it will go away but will take time. Also spoke to somebody in the Michigan university and she told me my trigeminal nerve has gotten affected and the T is due to that. I Also feel fullness and pressure in my right ear.

I would like to know how you are doing now and what is your story now that it has been 1 year...

Thanks, Mita