Please Help! Losing My Mind

@attheedgeofscience thank you for that however I received a blood patch last Tuesday and it did not help at all

 

Perhaps you developed hearing loss from the assumed (or confirmed?) Meningitis. Meningitis can cause hearing loss - or possibly the medication used to treat it can. An audiogram is probably a good place to start for anyone who had a case of Meningitis.

Patient history is often the best resource to rely on when it comes to establishing the cause of tinnitus (that includes exposure to loud noise, past illness, and a history of medication used).

For an auditory insult, there are no proven interventions that can rectify the issue, but steroids are sometimes used during the very acute stage. Personally, if I had been exposed to loud noise or ototoxic medication, I would seek LLLT as the first option of treatment (if I knew what I know now about the cochlea during the acute stage of auditory damage, that is...).

 

@attheedgeofscience all of the drs I have seen don’t believe it’s “true tinnitus” because I hear it in my head and not in my ears smh they keep implying it’s a result of extreme anxiety, they keep trying to prescribe me antidepressants and I took a hearing test is was good

 

Hello, mine is in my head, I've had T 6 months I had no anxiety before T and I was not on any meds either. Yes it is T and T hits people differently. Mine is moderate and moves but does go to left ear. My anxiety came after i got T and after a few different meds i finally found one that works for my anxiety. I have no hearing problems, and it is called head T.

 

If you hear noises (not voices), then it's tinnitus. It doesn't matter where it is perceived. Certain dichotomies can be made such as:

• subjective vs. objective tinnitus
• acute vs. chronic
• etiology (i.e. noise vs. non-noise induced)

But other than that, there is no such thing as tinnitus not being "true". It's all true.

The attachment is a set of clinical guidelines that all patients should bring along to their doctor's visit (top of page 2, right hand-side looks into where tinnitus can be perceived incl. the head). TRI's flowchart (page 2) is equally worthwhile. Hope that helps.

 

UPDATE: after 4 days on Prednisone I had to stop as it was INCREASING the T and made me feel like my head was going to explode I went to a Neurologist last Friday he claimed if I hear it in my head it’s not true Tinnitus and that it’s most likely caused by Anxiety. I am so tired of all the drs I’ve seen blame my symptoms on Anxiety! I feel hopeless at times because I don’t feel like they’re taking me serious!! They tried giving me Amtriptiline (spelling?) and after the first dose I woke up with terrible shakes and an increase in T so I haven’t taken that again! I have bought a sinus steamer and use it as much as I can through out the day and it alleviated the pressure I was feeling in my nose/forehead. Although when I yawn and swallow it sounds like my ears are crackling not sure if that’s normal or if I have ETD? I also have been drinking apple cider vinegar twice daily for inflammation. I have been taking Xanax to get me through the day which is the only thing that seems to lower it slightly temporarily, yesterday I woke up and it was at its lowest since it began but went back up throughout the day which was disappointing. I have an acupuncture app tomorrow because at this point I’m willing to try anything! Also the dr that did the SPINAL TAP (which I believe has something to do with it) called me today and I explained what was going on and he said in his 15 years has not seen it as a side effect to the spinal tap and he wants to run some more tests because my Protien in my spinal fluid was high but I will most likely be going to another hospital out of state because most in my state are subpar smh. I am trying to remain optimistic. I wish there were MORE SUCCESS stories of COMPLETE remission on the internet to help keep spirits up. . .

 

@attheedgeofscience thank you for that I will show my primary dr this

 

@MBH i swear Drs need to start doing more research on this condition! I definitely hear it my head BUT what’s odd is when I plug my ears I hear it coming from my right side more.

 

@billie48 thank you for that information and I try to google success stories as much as I can but most are just habituation/acceptance and not much on remission

 

There are studies on complications with blood patches (such as these two):

• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27378709
  
• www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26036932

I have no idea what the cause of your tinnitus could be in your case. As always, (re)consider your patient history (incl. meds used). I can't attach the above articles with this post (paywalled). If you require the full texts and can't get them on your own, send me a PM...

 

@MickV hey read my original message I had a lot going on so not sure what caused it

 

Not sure if this will help you or not but after 18 months of piercing T and a continuous pulsing, tension type headache, seeing every doctor you can think of and countless CTs, MRIs, x-rays and hearing tests, physical therapy etc., I finally found my source of T. Unfortunately, all the doctors and all the tests never yielded an answer. In honest ignorance they gave me pain pills and muscle relaxers trying to help with the pain but their attempts only made me worse. In desperation to find an answer, I filmed myself sleeping using an infrared security camera. Long story short, I discovered I have REM cycle severe obstructive sleep apnea. When I slip into REM sleep, my tongue relaxes into my throat and chokes off my air way. My body responds by clenching my jaws and flexing my neck muscles in an effort to open an airway. The continual clenching through the night aggravates the muscles and causes them to spasm, which eventually vibrates the auditory nerve, giving the T. The prescribed muscle relaxers were causing my tongue to relax more which only served to choke me more. The prescribed pain killers were blocking the pain of clenching, which only forced my body to clench harder. The more I choked, the longer I had to clench, the longer I clenched, the worse my headache and T became. Along with this is the complication of low oxygen levels when I did sleep but never getting relaxed REM sleep at all. The headache and ringing lasts all day and usually left me in tears from pain. Sometimes the headache and T would lighten up around mid-morning but by evening, using my jaw muscles for talking and eating caused the T and pain to increase. Needless to say, most days I really thought I would lose my mind. I would have never guessed that I had OSA or that it could cause so much pain and trouble.

 

@Ohiomix thats great you found your cause, how is your T now? And I definitely clench at night which is from stress I’m assuming, been using a mouth guard

 

I thought humans evolved from the ape and no God or Satan was involved? Then your demon theory doesn't make any sense.

 

@Bill Bauer hey so I had an MRI and I’m not leaking spinal fluid which I thought may be causing my tinnitus my Dr seems to think it’s a lingering symptom of the meningitis but I have googled and can’t find any literature on this (only bacterial meningitis) but I did find ppl have suffered depression after viral meningitis , I wanted to ask if you ever happen to stumble on someone who got Tinnitus after viral meningitis and treated or it faded please let me know i started taking tumeric daily and was seeing improvement but I went on vacation this past weekend and something there seemed to irritate my sinuses and ET’s because my right ear feels clogged and the ringing is much louder in that ear when it was more in the center of my head before I went to an ENT who said my ears look good and suggested Claritin but I’m scared to take it, I’m still on Xanax I have to start weaning soon I just want this nightmare to be over next week will be officially be 3 months and I’m losing hope also since my vacation it seems my hyperacusis is returning but I believe that may be psychosomatic

 

Sorry, I don't recall ready any posts like that. But you might find something if you scan the search results
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/search/2155571/?q=meningitis&o=relevance

Ear fullness is a sign of something not being right with your ear (it doesn't have to have anything to do with ETs/sinuses). Were you exposed to any loud or semi-loud noises?

 

@Bill Bauer yes but only my right ear is bothering me

 

A significant number of people here ended up with T on only one side, after doing something like attending loud concerts...

What kind of noises were you exposed to?

 

@Bill Bauer just music in a restaurant and loud kids in a museum

 

Interesting product, but so expensive. There are other "sound pillows" available much cheaper. This one, for example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soundasleep-the-Original-Speaker-Pillow/dp/B000XS42RQ/

Is that because there's a player and pre-recorded sounds included or is it something else?