Return of the Tinnitus Along with Dizziness/Hyperacusis/Rumble

Hi guys, sorry for the long message, I appreciate your time.

Background

I first got tinnitus in 2015. I woke up with it after a night out with a friend, we'd been to a loud bar. I'd gone and slept on their sofa, without a pillow (so a hard surface). The noise was an awful loud whine. I was in despair. I'd lost a bit of hearing too.

It took me until 2018 to fully habituate. It turned into a whisper.

The return

Unfortunately in summer 2021 it came back. Same tone, same ear. I'd not been out the night before, I'm 36 so had had a chilled night in with my girlfriend. I was absolutely gutted because I knew the hard yards I was going to have to put in mentally.

I'd noticed fairly quickly that I'd also lost more hearing, so this time after check ups and MRIs showed nothing (apart from slight thinning of the bone, which they they dismissed in their final evaluation)... I decided to buy a hearing aid.

It was incredible to hear out of that ear again and the bonus was I couldn't hear the tinnitus whilst it was in. I was loving it until one night I was in a bar with some friends, and turned it up to hear them better, probably too high. We drank, we had pizza and then I went home to sleep. Woke up at 4am, with the oddest of noises, a rumbling that increased when I turned my head or stood up. I felt like I was on a boat and everything was at an angle. Threw up 10 times and almost passed out. This was Xmas 2021.

Now

Since that moment I stopped wearing my (very expensive...) hearing aid and the tinnitus has slowly abated generally to a quieter noise (although not the whisper previously).

The problem is the rumble has stayed, sometimes in the background, always there when I bend over to pick something up or bob my head too much. That gives me dizziness/lightheadedness. I'm now in a cycle where I will have 4 quiet days almost to the point where I think I've recovered, but then, very loud, very intrusive tinnitus starts, builds and builds until it gets to a crescendo... and then the rumble takes over, I throw up 4-5 times and I'm looking at everything at an angle again (vertigo). The rumbles are like waves, sounds a bit like waves slowly coming to shore.

Blood tests in March showed I was Celiac, which possibly provides a clue but I've been gluten free ever since a not noticed much difference.

It takes me about a day to recover. I usually sleep with the curtains drawn. Thank god I work from home, but seriously this is affecting my ability to work.

Has anyone else had similar? It's harder work than just a tone which will eventually settle. I hate the vertigo. It makes me feel unconfident to go and plan things.

 

Welcome to the forum @left_ear_loser. Have you checked with ENT to see if you have Meniere's disease? Tinnitus plus vertigo may suggest Meniere's. Sometimes vertigo can be BPPV type, which can be solved by some specific maneuver, like the half somersault technique.

Take good care. God bless.