Please Help; New Here.

hi, I've just joined. 19 year old male.

I'm incredibly anxious about what I believe to be tinnitus.
I should add I suffer from immense health anxiety and OCD.

A few months ago my girlfriend developed some vertigo symptoms.
Long story short, I worried for months that she had a brain tumour, and she went for an MRI which was a very tortuous time. Luckily she didn't, but soon after the relief, I myself started to worry I had one.

It started when I began to worry about a pain I was getting in my outer ear when I wore headphones.
I began to research online and unfortunately one thing led to another and I came across acoustic neuroma.
I started to compare my symptoms to those I'd been reading about.

I had noticed I had a very faint ringing in my ears for quite a long time and didn't take much notice of it, but as I sat there and thought about it I could definitely here a louder ringing in my left ear, and my right ear there wasn't really any ringing.
It's like a high pitch ringing and hissing sound that's continuous, not pulsating. Not majorly loud, and it's rare I notice it unless everything was fairly quiet around me.

Occasionally it goes away, often oddly when I'm in the bath.
This instantly spiked my anxiety as I read unilateral tinnitus was a red flag for AN.


I have also a tingling that comes and goes in the back of my head on the same side as the tinnitus ear that I started to notice when I began to analyse my head; checking for AN symptoms.

Something I do also have is a clicking jaw on the same side as the tinnitus ear.
When my jaw has been closed for a while and I open it, it clicks loudly on that side and is audible to other people around me.
There are also always little clicks and pops when I open and close my mouth that I can hear coming from the TMJ joint only on one side, which is the same side as the tinnitus.

Finally, I've noticed that when I look down and simultainiously move my head backwards, I get a pain that I can't quite pinpoint.
It feels as though it's connected to my ear and jaw; it's quite a sharp pain that feels like something's pulling. Almost like when you have an ear infection sort of pain but I don't have one (been to the doctors several times about it)
It doesn't feel directly in the ear, but around the Eustachian tube maybe? Again, all of this on the tinnitus side, and when I swallow I get a popping in my ears more often than not.

Something quite odd that I have noticed regarding that pain is that when I put my head in that's postition, the tinnitus sound seems to become more pronounced.
I was worried that this might mean I have a tumour and putting my head in that position is causi it to press on the vestibular nerve, and cause the tinnitus to become more pronounced.

I've noticed on the opposite ear to the one with tinnitus, that when I make sounds with my hands in that ear and then the other, I seem to be able to hear a bit less in the ear without tinnitus.
I've done several online hearing tests and they've come back okay and that I didn't have hearing loss, and I'm going for a proffetional test a week on Tuesday which I'm majorly nervous about.
If they say I do have hearing loss I'll be even more worried that I have AN.

I'm not really sure what to think.
Obviously I seem to have a lot of jaw issues on that side, so maybe that's what's causing it?
There are also several neck pains at the back of my head and base of the skull on that side that often pull when in various portions.

Has anyone experienced similar problems?
I get so anxious about it often days I can barely eat.
I don't think I could physically go through the stress of having an MRI.
When my girlfriend had one I was beside myself with crippling anxiety waiting for the results for weeks.
I just don't know what to do.
Ive been to the doctor and he just said it's probably some jaw issue or problem with the sternocleidomastoid muscle but I'm so terrified it's AN and my life will be over.

Thanks very much for listening.

 

Hi LG88,

Welcome aboard!

From reading your message, you should start your inquiries by going the medical route. I would go to my family doctor first and explain everything you wrote in your message to him or her and see what they suggest for you.

 

Hallo,

I am an OCDer also and your story is very similar to mine.

Last year, after a lot of stress accumulated I had a strong OCD spike, starting to be very anxious about having cancer or other illnesses (searching the internet about symptoms) and then I developped what I call full blown OCD, which means I was extremelly anxious and occupied almost all day with these obsessive thoughts. When I first noticed tinnitus, I wasn't sure if it is yet an other OCD thought or a seperate symptom. But what it is sure is that stress makes tinnitus worse. From what I can see in your post, your problem is not tinnitus but having an acoustic neuroma, the opposite of mine who remember my self I was praying they find something so they can take even with surgery rather that telling me that exams are clear and it's just tinnitus, so you have to live with it.

Your fear about acoustic neuroma is most probably an other OCD thought.

 

Hi LG88
It is most likely not an acoustic neuroma, these are rare.
However, a prudent ENT doctor will order an MRI to rule out an AN when unilateral tinnitus is present. I had an MRI and it really wasn't that bad. A half hour and it's done, for peace of mind.
Please try not to worry and see a doctor to put your mind at rest.
Sam.

 

Hello. do you have ear blocked or pressure on in your ear?

 

Acustic Nuroma is a non cancerous tumour on your acoustic nerve.
They are slow growing and no treatment is needed only to observe it yearly and only if does grow would they remove it.
Tinnitus can be caused through lots of problems and a MRI will check for anything and usually done routinely for tinnitus.
Having one done will put you at ease.
Have a chat to your doctor about how you feel and I'm sure he can put you at ease too....lots of love glynis

 

Hi LG88,

I think there is a great chance that all your symptoms are caused by anxiety. Health anxiety is exactly what I suffered from half a year ago, and that is when my tinnitus started. During my anxiety disorder, I experienced several weird symptoms, ranging from numbness to pain to twitching muscles. Maybe you can find all your symptoms at http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-symptoms.shtml#symptomslist.

Of course, you should go and be checked by professionals. You never know for sure. But keep this in mind: whatever is going on, anxiety only makes it worse. Try to relax a little. That will be very hard at first, but you can train yourself herein (I did so too, and man, I was anxious!).
Oh, and the jaw clicks: about 33% of the population has it (according to my fysiotherapist). I have it too. There is not much you can do about it. For some people who perform deep relaxation, it goes away. I have done so, but the clicking is still there. Nothing to worry about.

Please keep in mind that is perhaps all the worrying that is giving you the trouble. Maybe you could try this: give your symptoms two weeks. In those two weeks, take it easy. Don't be hard on your body. It needs time to heal from all your anxiousness. You might find that it is all the worrying that keeps the symptoms alive. The brain needs rest every now and then.

Best wishes,
Rudy

 

Oh and one more thing (something my doctor told me and helped me):
The body experieces about 10 new things every day (like a muscles twitch or a random pain). Try not to focus on those random events. Because if you do, they will only grow. Everything you give attention to grows. Like tinnitus. The more you worry about it, the more your unconcious brain believes that the symptom really is something to worry about and it will only amplify it for your, like it does with tinnitus. This is a very healthy reaction of the brain: one would like to be able to monitor real danger accurately. Although, in most causes you are not dealing with real danger.
Let the doctors find it out for you. Do not browse the internet, you will only find more to worry about.
Try to let it go!