Somatic Tinnitus — Chiropractic Success (Initial Report)

I have had severe tinnitus for about 8 months. Before that I had it mildly for several years. I have never been exposed to loud noise. I started to notice that I could greatly modulate the noise by moving my head in certain ways and accentuate it by pushing on the top of my head. I did all the usual ENT/ear tests. ENT was of less than zero help. I’m lucky in that although my T is very severe, it doesn’t stress me out like it seek to for some people. I can definitely see how some people have such a hard time with it. Most of the time, mine is like a hotel fire alarm going off 15 feet from head. It’s just insanely loud.

In desparation, I started to see a chiropractor recently. I am a huge skeptic of this so, I was reluctant to go , but I had read some web posts that some people had had benefit. I have been going twice a week for about 3 weeks. After the first several vists, I had some mild relief, but I wasn’t really sure. Yesterday, I had an adjustment and the practitioner did a more forceful adjustment while pulling and and twisting my neck. This guy definitely knows what he is doing and specializes in upper cervical care. He was careful not to oversell or over promise that he could effect the T, which I appreciated.

After this last adjustment, my T completely disappeared. I have had no days of relieve in 8 months, and I felt the change immediately after the treatment, so I absolutely sure the adjusment caused this. Time will tell if this has a lasting effect. For the fist time in many months I have had a full day of silence and I just wanted to report this to others who have somatic T so that they might seek out a chiropractor. I think I got lucky in finding a good one. My experiences in the past for other issues were not as favorable.

I’m trying to keep an open mind, and I am hopeful for the first time since I developed this....

 

Great to hear this!

 

I have a friend who told me she found complete relief after chiropractic care. She had upper cervical spine adjustments for C-0 through C-3. It's been on my mind for a while to give it a try, but they scare me a bit. I know my C-3 is hurting, clicking and cracking. Please keep us updated and thank you for your encouraging post.

 

Well explained posted making it clear that it was the intervention that helped

I too know someone who found the volume to be reduced through chiropracty

A word of warning that if you're hypermobile you have to be careful with the manipulation side of chiropracty

 

Later yesterday (the day of the chiro visit), I had a massage. At the start of the massage, I had zero tinnitus (the first time ever for me). While the therapist was massaging my head, and pressing on my sinuses (maxillary) my tinnitus would "turn on" as soon as she applied pressure. As soon as she stopped, the T stopped. She massaged my scalp and the T again turned on, and stayed on for several hours, then stopped. I have noticed before that pressure on my scalp caused the volume to double, so I am not surprised by this, and I wanted to see if it would trigger it again.

Today my Tinnitus is back, but at perhaps half normal volume. Going to be interesting if the next chiro visit has the same benefits. It's just fascinating to me that the sinus pressure will cause it to spike and the pressure on the top of my head too. It's a strange condition, for sure.

 

@Mattv have you got any hearing loss?

 

I know the pressure phenomenon, too.
Do you have the tinnitus on both ears or just one?

 

@Agrajag364 - I have minor high-frequency hearing loss. I actually tried some lyric in-ear hearing aids, but i didn't like the sound quality and it had no impact on the tinnitus, so I didn't continue with them. (the in-ear aspect is great, however)..

@Tinniger - It's most pronounced in my right ear, but I have to say the sound sort of "floats" behind my head in the middle.

 

@Mattv It's seem that you don't know what caused your tinnitus, but have some high-frequency hearing loss. With having a sore neck and having pressure on your head increase tinnitus (maxillary sinuses), have you had blood work or spinal tests to rule out bacterial viruses? I'm not referring to meningitis, but if you have a temperature I would get some blood work and have your oxygen levels tested.

 

You're right! I have NO idea what caused it. I have had my T lowgrade for a long time, and only last year did it ratchet up. I'm very healthy. I recently had a full physical. I have low blood pressure, low resting heart rate, good cholesterol, a lifelong athlete, exercise every day, eat a healthy diet. I have no temperature. I'm not depressed, I'm upbeat, positive person. I suppose I could have some kind of bacterial or viral infection, but I have no symptoms and my doctors (been to quite a few) don't seem to think there is any reason to pursue any tests. If I didn't have this T, I would consider myself pretty fortunate to feel so healthy.

 

@Mattv If you don't have at least a low grade temperature then anything bacterial probably isn't a cause. It's seems that you have mild somatic T that just may be reacting from nerve stems due to prior muscle spasms, but who knows. Since your in good physical shape, there's a good chance that your tinnitus may disappear forever.

I grew up in the Lincoln Mass area. Take care

 

Greg, yes, I strongly suspect my T is related to muscle/nerve issues in my neck. I have had neck pain for several years but didn't get much help from massage or exercises. The good news is that my T is now, on average, about half of what it was before, and I had a whole day of silence last week. I feel hopeful - for once...

Yeah, exercise is just so important, especially for good mental health. I don't think I could tolerate this as well if I was not active..

 

Just a follow-up on my initial posting. After several more treatments, I can definitely say that my T is much reduced overall. I still have days of relatively severe T, but it is interspersed with days of relative silence, which I never had before. On good days now, it's 80% less that before. Is it the chiropractic treatments?. It must be, because I have done nothing else differently since I started this. Is it all in my head? It could be, but I don't care because it's better. For others with somatic tinnitus, this might be worth looking into.

The rational part of me just can't accept the reasons used by Chiropractors to explain how it works..

 

My success was a bit short-lived. I had a couple of days so silence, but I also experienced a worse result for the adjustment which was low pitch tinnitus in my left ear with significant sound distortion, which is much worse effect overall. This was from the same adjustment that gave me silence on the right ear for a few days. All I can say is that it definitely affected it. My overall tinnitus is better, but I'm a bit spooked by the chiropractic now.

 

Hi Mattv - Thanks for sharing your ups and downs with tinnitus. I also think that my tinnitus has to do with neck curvature and possibly forward head posture as I'm constantly working on my posture. I've been doing neck stretches daily and light neck traction and it seems to be getting better - quite a bit of neck crunches! During the neck exercises, I can feel the pathways in my ears opening up and it feels like things are getting slightly better. I have also been reading about BPPV or crystals in ears being dislodged which causes dizziness. This could be true with me. I believe that my T got worse a while back when lifting too heavy weights in the gym that may have strained my neck. Good luck and thanks for the info!

 

Hey Matt, any updates on the chiropractic treatment? I just had a minor toggle recoil adjustment to my atlas and had almost a week of near silence. Then I took a nap at my desk, sitting up, and it's back with a vengence. I went for another adjustment today, no results yet.

 

Well, I stopped the chiro treatments. I had a bad experience with an adjustment and it permanently affected The hearing in my “good’ ear. It’s just too risky, and I think short lived effect. I have been having excellent results with specialized massage on my neck and intra oral muscles. This is giving me lasting and real relief. It’s not a cure, but it’s a huge benefit. During a massage session , my tinnitus disappears completely. This is interesting because my appointments are first thing in the morning and that is when my T is always the worst. It’s very easy to tell the difference. My therapist is excellent and really interested in helping and listening to what I say. It took me a long time to find a good one. I have bad posture, head forward type, I suspect that is a major contributing factor.

 

Hi Matt, I am having very similar tinnitus (for nine months now) and am wondering if PT or Chiro would help me. I live north of Boston and am wondering if you found any providers in specific who were able to help you?

 

@Jen123.
Hi Jen:
Send me a message and I'll send you the place I go to.

 

Just wanted to add that I've had tinnitus before, I actually got it firs time in April 2016. After I saw a chiropractor, I experience complete and total recovery. Tinnitus went away 100%. I was just damn unlucky to get it again 2 years later. But what Mattv is saying here is correct, if your cause is spinal/neck-related, a chiropractor could actually fix you and with some luck, your T might go away.