Thoughts on Causes, Request to See If Other People Have Similar Symptoms, Seeking Help-Support

Hi

I developed tinnitus after loud sound in my ear, but not loud enough or for any sustainable duration.

The day before I was just very very tired and a few days afterwards I came down with a flu like illness with some neurological symptoms too. This lead to bilateral tinnitus plus serious hyperacusis.

Looking back, the hyperacusis came first is a moderate fashion and then the tinnitus in response to sound hurting my ear.

Wax removal, manually by ENT, worsened and increased my tinnitus; also bringing it up in what was the 'good ear'.

I also had inflammation in the ear canals, which cleared they said. At worse the hyperaousis was hurting me even if wearing earplugs plus ear defenders, especially high frequencies.

I have intense pain in ears and face that comes when stressed and is lead by more hyperacousis. Initially it would just come. Chamomile tea, meditation/ body relaxation methods improves hyperacusis.

Have not done MRI, due to noise.

Seen Neurologist and ENT's and they added very little value. Hearing test says I am missing some frequencies in one ear, but have done so for a long time but no tinnitus (appart from random 30 seconds there and there).

My kidney function went from normal to serious kidney disease levels back to normal within a month.

Had mild fever for a week but this cleared, neuro symptoms reduced, mind returned to bring sharp. 2 months since onset if symptoms.

I feel sick, nausea, vision sometimes feels a bit blurry in a simmering kind of way. Silence seems to reduce hyperacusis and making me tolerate noise for longer and to be more confident to expose to further sound.

I put foam ear plugs the right way, all the way in. When took them out the tinnitus increased 2 times and stayed so. Unbearable, hoping it is a spike. Used earplugs before incorrectly and no spike.

I keep feeling a weird sensation deep in my nose, like a nose bleed. Salty taste coming down in back of throat. No green mucus, white blood count normal; docs say not a bacterial infection. Pain in mastoid bone in a spot if I touch it. Urine is foamy some times, pain in back/flank some times, taste affected some times, excessive thirst sometimes, excessive urination some times. Stool black like tar for a few days, could be dietary.

I draw the following conclusions and I am interested to hear your views:

High pitch sounds hurt more because they contain more energy, wave form contains more info. A, damaged, auditory nervous system has to do more proccessing to decode it and wears out quicker, leading to pain signaling that exposure should end.

Pain, pressing on walls of canal via ear wax extraction by ENT's curettes or by foam ear plug all the way in; hugely increases tinnitus.

Hyperacusis is linked to muscle tension; massage reduces it and tinnitus a bit.

Over time tinnitus is getting worse, hyperacusis is getting worse; silence for a few days makes me more confident to face noises vs sound enrichment. Steam inhalations reduce hyperacousis but not tinnitus, heat on face does this too.

Ear canal feels a bit painful when touched from the inside.

Neck pain on both sides of the neck and some crepitus. Throat pain comes and goes; simus pressure was there but mostly gone.

Fear, feelings of panic increase hyperacusis (logical as a damaged nervous system may get worse if over-stimulated).

Breathlessness at times.

Was fully ok before symptoms, apart of a muscle sprain. Was at sea and let water go from nose to mouth, did some valsalvas while doing 360 dives in shallow waters, no pressure. No issues for a few days afterwards.

Could it be any of these?

1. Viral illness of CNS ruined my nervous system
2. MS
3. Cancer of kidney, adrenal gland or brain or other organ impacting accordingly. Overstimulating CNS.
4. Benign tumor near cranial nerves.
5. Diabetes, not diagnosed despite tests.
6. Blood pressure issue not diagnosed due to it coming and going
7. Inner ears infection, not affecting balance too much.
8. Sphenoid sinusitis, not diagnosed as difficult to diagnose and rare. Maybe fungal.
9. Eustacian tube infection, not diagnosed as no nasoscopy or tympanogram (incorporates noise in ear, too scared to do). Still very difficult to diagnose.


Was making some progress until foam ear plug was worn properly, and pressure in ear canal was sustained for 4h and led to massive spike.

When meditating, or just when I wake up; tinnitus volume for a sec gets super loud and then down again like someone suddenly turns volume dial up and down, can makes me jump, due to how loud it is. Anyone gets this? Is there a name for it?

Anything sounds familiar re: your circumstances? Any ideas?

Diet: anything not stimulating helps a bit maybe.
Chamomile tea: helps me but maybe things are worse when it wears out.
Meditation: helps me a bit
Steam inhalation: a bit of relief from hyperacusis, maybe due to heat relaxing facial muscles; tight jaw.
Sleep: when it happens it helps.

Thanks for listening.

 

You have a lot of symptoms and you need to starting going through tests to rule a lot of things out if you dont want to see a GP. Because you are having many physical pains in different parts of your head, you should consider getting that MRI. Tarry stools could mean blood in them so you should get an occult test. If you are concerned about your organs, then get an ultrasound which will cover you kidneys, liver and pancreas. Get full blood work like a CBC, liver levels, thyroid and a urinalysis. I understand noise from the MRI is a concern so you can do that as a last resort, even though from the sounds of it, an MRI could be the most telling since. And if this is a lot to tackle, then try to find really good, highly recommended GP to help you navigate the labyrinth of symptoms and find the best place to start. Like when things are all over the board like this, thats when a GP is a good idea. Otherwise I just go straight to a specialist, but in your case, it could be a lot of different things and it could save a lot of time and money if you go over all this with a GP to help you find the best place to start. I mean for all you know you could have Lyme diseases. Try to find a GP so you can step out of the dark sooner than later.

 

Thank you for this; GP not that interested, saying cannot help me and refered to ENT & Neurologist.
Has anyone got this thing where tinnitus suddently gets super loud for a sec then goes back to how it was, loud as in making you jump? what is this?

 

Yes, I get this all the time. For me, it's temporary hearing loss that makes tinnitus seem louder.

 

Fleeting tinnitus?
That's pretty normal, even for people without tinnitus.

 

No not fleeting tinnitus, but a sudden massive increase in tinnitus volume plus a sudden increase in backround hissing but only for half a second, enough to jolt you, then back to previous level of tinnitus. Normally takes place when waking up before getting up. It literally feels like someone turns up vol to max by accident and quickly down again.

 

These all could be described by dehydration. Anything else would have piqued your GPs interest. Also this serves as definitive proof that wearing ear plugs in everyday situations can cause tinnitus.

 

Other ways to protect the ear don't worsen it, plugs deepbin the ear do but plugs not deep in canal don't.

 

Don't over protect your ears

 

It may take a while but it will go down. I did this too.

 

It may be "Exploding Head Syndrome." No joke. It's a thing, and it's happened to me a couple of times in my life.
Here's a quote off the Internet:
"Exploding head syndrome is a type of parasomnia. Parasomnias are a category of sleep disorders that occur during the transitions between sleep and waking or between different stages of sleep. People with EHS hallucinate a sudden and alarmingly loud noise while they are falling asleep or when they are waking up."