Screaming Tinnitus — As If a Truck Tyre Was Being Deflated — When Waking Up

I have had tinnitus since 2002-ish but since last month, the day after the COVID-19 vaccine, I have been given a new shrill sort of hissing sound with a reactive swirly wispy whistle noise on top (imagine tuning an old radio inbetween signals). The last few nights I have woken up with the hissing sound extremely LOUD, blasting out of my ears like a truck tyre is being deflated. Each and every time I wake the noise makes my head buzz with intensity and terrifies me of going back to sleep as it is not just loud but LOUD. My tongue also tingles.

But then over the next 60 seconds of being awake the noise lowers to a more standard but still raised level. I can't mask the noise because when I use music or white noise to try and mask then the extra swirly high frequency noise on top of the hiss happens and I end up with swirling whistling on top. I also have my usual long term low diesel engine style hum going on that is also made louder during this time. So I have all these sounds driving me insane. I get 2 hours a night sleep if lucky. I used to use my air con to mask noises too, but that drives my ears crazy now. Everything I once did has stopped working. It was so simple before last month as I just kept fans running 24/7 and unless I had a cold that spiked it, I also never had this level of hiss.

I honestly don't know what to do. This is way beyond the tinnitus I have had previously, I am praying to God that because it happened after the vaccine that it will go down eventually, like inflammation can do, but given how loud and constant it is I don't know how. I remember the first week this started it was up and down and then gradually as the days and weeks went by it has become unbearable and constant.

If this was caused by the vaccine, given I am at 6 weeks, do I still have a chance of ridding this in time? How do I cope with the blasting hiss every time I wake up? I also don't know why my tongue is tingling, if this is an anxiety exacerbated issue on top.

Thanks all. I am desperate for help and terrified of this being my life now.

 

If you wake up with it loud and then it dissipates, you can try to get used to it.

From experience, 1 year is the cut off time to start seeing improvement.

The tongue thing is due to brain hyperactivity which should die down eventually.

 

Prednisone. Treat it as an acute inflammatory attack (just like MS). They give it for COVID-19 to avoid damage. That could be happening here too. I wouldn't sit idle hoping it would just magically go away.

 

Came off Prednisone just yesterday. Lowered volume overall and yesterday night was pretty quiet. However I have a new reactive (?) tone that spurred up.

 

In patients with a B12 deficiency correcting with supplements reduced volume significantly in one study. I had my doc add this test to my blood work for next week to check.

If you want to treat it as damage and inflammation/oxidative stress damage that needs to be limited you might want to head over to the NAC thread. One study supplemented NAC plus Glycine and saw improvement. The military studies used NAC alone. Another study found sublingual Glutathione as effective as NAC.

Some here recommend Ginkgo Biloba which is supposed to increase blood flow to the inner ear.

Consider limiting salt and stimulants and watch for any other food sensitivities.

Focus on sleep, fatigue makes mine go crazy. Melatonin, relaxation techniques, limit alcohol, experiment with quiet vs some sound, etc.

I have set backs routinely with increased level and new noises. I now consider it part of the process and assume it will settle down. It does.

Mine is always bad in the morning. The sooner I get to something with just the right amount of ambient noise and a mental task the faster I’ll forget about for a while and get a break.

Good luck,

George