Tinnitus After Neck Treatment — Any Help Is Welcome!

Hello my fellow Tinnistusians!

First of all thank you all for participating in this forum. Some of your posts got me more worried and panicked, but then again others have given me hope and kept me informed for the past few months.

It will be a long post but please take your time and read it because I really need some good advice.
Bare in mind that English is not my first language.

My tinnitus started exactly one year ago.
I got a lower back injury (sacroiliac joint dysfunction) while making a back bend during a yoga class so I went to see a physiotherapist who has helped me with a knee injury in the past. He has his own special method which I haven't seen anywhere else. Something like soft tissue manipulation but much more aggressive. He used it only on my lower back and it didn't help at all, so I went a few more times (since my back was hurting so much I couldn't sit or lay down). So the last time I went there, he did a treatment on my whole back, including the neck and the jaw. And that is when this nightmare started.
I was lying in bed the night after the treatment and I noticed a beeping sound. You know the drill: I got up and started searching for source of this boring sound. I noticed that wherever I would go, the volume would be the same. And then it hit me! I closed my ears with my fingers and I realized that the sound is coming from my left ear.
I was so scared and I spent the next few days on the Internet reading about it. (The first video regarding tinnitus was about a lady who got euthanasia because she couldn't live with it anymore.)
At the end of my tinnitus research, the conclusion was that the therapist damaged some of my nerves and I was so angry that I never even went back to his office.
Then I started seeing doctors, and all I got was the regular procedure. My hearing was perfect, my tests were good, nobody even sent me to do an MRI or a CT or anything like that. They all said that I just have to get used to it. So i kind of decided to just let it go and maybe it will go away. Boy was I wrong.

The thing is, it was not that loud at all. I could hear it only when I would go to sleep at night and it was only sound induced. When a car would pass by, or I was breathing a bit louder, or when my husband would snore. It sounded like some sort of a machine, like those old network modems connecting to the Internet. There was also a baseline tinnitus present which sounded like a synergy of humming, hissing and white noise, but that didn't bother me.

Time passed by and it didn't get any better. Some days it would be louder, some days it would be quieter.
Of course I tried everything from ginkgo, b-supplements, magnesium, you name it! I eat pretty healthy, never drank coffee or alcohol, no refined sugars and so on.

And then a month ago, the worst thing happened.
My husband got a knee injury and he went to see the same guy cause he knew that he could help him with that kind of injury (his ligament gets turned over every once in a while).
He told him about my condition and the therapist said to him that this is no problem, he knows exactly what he has done and that I have to come as soon as possible so he can fix it.
You can imagine my reaction! I was so happy that I started to cry!
So I went there again, although some little voice inside me was telling me not to.

He did the same thing with my neck, it lasted 40 minutes, my nervous system got so overwhelmed that I almost fainted a few times. I was shaking like a leaf and he was babbling about my nervous system and my veins. When he was finished my neck hurt so badly that I could barely move. He also charged me 200 dollars for it.
When I got home, all I could hear was high volume ringing in my ears. That night in bed I realized that I got the ringing in my other ear too.
It was worse than ever and now I could hear it during the day. It became so loud that it was really difficult to mask it. My neck was hurting so badly I thought that it was broken. I also got a big bulge under my left ear which was very hard and painful when I pressed it.
The next three weeks were the worst days of my life. Very little sleep, bad thoughts, depression...
The only thing that kept me sane was cannabis oil. It helped me sleep and it made me feel a bit better.

Two days ago I went to see the best physiotherapist in the country. He knows about the therapist I went to see before and he says that his treatments are lucky shots, and that he has no medical education.
He was very thorough with his examination and he found that my cervical spine is in very bad shape. Every vertebrae is heading in different direction and the bulge under my ear is in fact my atlas (1st cervical vertebrae) which is very displaced. He suggested that I start my therapy as soon as possible (Tuesday to be more precise) and if there is no result after 2 or three sessions he is going to send me to make some tests like x-ray, MRI or whatever is necessary. His only concern is that the nerves are irreversible damaged.
The therapy will consist of placing the spine in place, decompression of the nerves and exercises to keep everything in place.
I also got an appointment at the best acupuncturist around but I have to wait for it for three months!

The thing is, I live in Croatia (Europe) and there are no good doctors working here. All the good ones have gone to work abroad because of the bad economical situation in the country, and the ones that are left are uneducated and they don't care. They don't even know how to read test results.

So to wrap it up,
If anyone has any suggestions on my further actions, please post them! I will do anything. Luckily, money is not a problem for me, so I would be willing to go anywhere to ask for help, I just don't know where to go.

Right now I'm wearing ear plugs. They do help a little bit, but I can't wear them all the time because my ears hurt. And when I take them of, the beeping is back. It's like my brain can't decipher the sound that the ear is hearing.

Matea

 

Welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear about your misfortune with some bad experience with people who tried to help but actually make things worse. My ENT didn't worsen my T physically but he totally made a mental hell for me when he said to me during my darkest day 'The only thing I can lower your tinnitus is to SHOOT you!'. Gosh! What a jerk! Did he really suggest to me that the only thing I could get over T would be to just shoot myself in the head?

Also, the since you are asking members to refer you to better doctors, you may want to post such request to the main support forum because this Introduction section may have less readership than the main support forum. But a good start for you is to approach the doctors in the Doctor's Corner and ask them. Take care. God bless.

 

Thank you so much for your reply

I can't believe the doctor said that to you! As I said, most of the doctors don't even care about patients, especially when they hear the word tinnitus.

I will scroll around the forum a little bit, I didn't even realize that there was a Doctor's Corner.

See you around

 

@binsonica Hello. With your first treatment on neck and jaw from a physiotherapist, your upper neck facet joints that has connection to your jaw may have been pulled too much. It sort of like whiplash when both jaw and neck muscles are intensely constricted at the same time or within same treatment session.

Bulge behind ear - that could be an infected cyst, tissues, cells or mastoid bone, Otitis media - an ear infection. Swollen nodes, if painful. I see a doctor if still swollen. Maybe mastoid bone - that would fit right into pulled facet joints.

Just an opinion: I would have a simple X ray of neck taken and maybe jaw if hurting before having new physiotherapy treatment. I'm not a doctor or physiotherapist.

 

@binsonica I'm wondering if you can now rotate your head and neck freely. If you can then you don't have an atlas problem. If you can modulate your tinnitus by trying to turn your head and neck then that could be from muscle tension in relation to your atlas.

Can you rule out age condition factors such as arthritis? You mention that every vertebrae is heading into a different direction - facet joint condition. Does the C1 hurt if you move your head just a very little forward? Do you have an over extended curve in your c spine known as loss of normal lordosis? This can also cause muscle, nerve tension and tinnitus. Correction of this can also lower tinnitus. Loss of normal lordosis can come on gradually from head and neck posture, but it can happen immediately from muscle spasm trauma that can include the jaw. Non alignment of the neck and pulling of neck vertebrates could strain the mastoid area near the ears. With c spine problems extra steps need to be taken. I would get some testing starting with a X Ray.

If you don't have age related conditions, research facet joints, neck vertebrae treatment and loss of normal lordosis exercise. Many possible treatments. There's thousands of links on somatic tinnitus and I would in your case focus on the c spine.

 

@Greg Sacramento Thanks for answering.

I can rotate my head but it has some restriction. But it feels more like muscle stiffness. I feel pain wherever I apply pressure on my neck. It is not excruciating pain but it is uncomfortable. Also when I do a circle with my head, the neck makes all kinds of crackling noises. I am certain that my C2 is out of alignment because i can feel it poking me all of the time. I do have a certain twitch that I make with my head and then it kind of falls in place but only for a little while only to come back poking me again.
I had my first therapy yesterday and he allegedly adjusted my whole cervical spine. I must say I do feel a difference. I don't have the need to rotate my head all of the time to "make it sit in place". But it is too soon to say. I also woke up with a terrible migraine. The muscles on the right side of my neck are all cramped up. But that is my usual problem. I don't know how to relax my neck and shoulder muscles. I tried exercise and massages but nothing helps.
I can't regulate my tinnitus with the movement of my neck or in any other way. The only time when I don't have it is when I put on ear plugs. But even then, if the external sound are too loud, the beeping comes back.
I'm definitely seeing my doctor this week and I will ask him to point me to some tests, starting with an x-ray. There is some arthritis in my family and I definitely have a higher chance of getting it, but I don't think that is the cause of my tinnitus. It all started with that stupid neck treatment. I keep worrying because I think that he damaged my nervous system and that the damage is irreversible.

 

@binsonica What you describe is the same with me. I had loss of normal lordosis from muscle trapezius spasm trauma and jaw pressure - whiplash. Bones are normal without fracture and soft tissues are within normal limits. This is often the case. My noted arthritis could be a secondary factor. Joint hypertrophy / some facet joints were exposed from my whiplash trauma - manipulation of jaw and neck. Occipital Neuralgia may be present caused by my trauma which may have caused irritation to the occipital nerves, however ON doesn't show on the MRI, but is in question from a CT. So there's a question if a possible pinch nerve complicated from arthritis or in relationship to tight muscles in the back of the head that entrap nerves plays a secondary role to my over curved c spine- loss of normal lordosis.

So after trapezius muscle spasms causing loss of normal lordosis / non alignment of neck then pulled neck vertebrates and strained the mastoid area and nerves near the ears - stapedius possible connection. This connects to the DCN along with pulled vertebrates that will at times present bilateral tinnitus.

I need to get my loss of normal lordosis corrected/ over curve in c spine caused from manipulation / trauma so that no blood vessel disorders or malformation of capillaries appear. Then there's that brain. My C1 c2 related trauma caused TMJ.

Some studies say correction of an over curve can lower tinnitus by 50% or more, but gentle slow side movements of head and neck of 30 degrees may take a year or two. A pinched nerve causing pressure to a disc or stressed muscles can be seen by a nerve conduction study / EMG. Studies say that many times if a pitched nerve exists, such as in the C5-C6, treatment can completely solve tinnitus.

I wish you successful treatment.

 

Probably true, but it is very hard to wait that long for relief. I'm going to try my soft neck collar once again. It seemed to work once, only to be reset by awakening. It could be muscle spasms. I self manipulate my neck too much.

 

That's more advice than most ENT's give you.

 

@just1morething Since you had testing and you are one very informative person, I respect your thoughts that a neck brace may benefit you. For me a neck brace can control the c spine from curving more from forward bending, but it also can lock my curved c spine in place. For me, a neck brace can apply more pressure to a nerve touching a muscle or disc if present.

 

@Greg Sacramento, It seems I get some mild dizziness at times. I don't know if it's related to my left TMJD or my neck muscles or both? I'm not too well informed or I would possibly have some of my body issues resolved. The noise is the most frustrating to deal with as you know.

A person at Caring Medical told me to wear a soft collar for 2 weeks to see if it helped with the tinnitus. I think that had to do with cervical instability/spasms and to see if prolotherapy would be of any help. I'm having cervical RFA on the right side today and have a appt. at a Regenexx clinic tomorrow. I'll probably try PT for my neck in another 2 weeks or so. I hope you can get some of your body problems resolved as I'm sure you are very distressed by them like I am.

@binsonica, I hope you will find some relief from your tinnitus, neck pain, headaches, etc. I wouldn't think any possible damage is irreversible. @Greg Sacramento has some great advice. We are all a bit different in what may help us.

 

@Greg Sacramento You are saying that you had a whiplash trauma. Was it from and accident or you also had some kind of a treatment?

I also feel pain in my left ear and it goes all the way down to my shoulder. Like something is very tight and its pulling my ear. I also have TMJ pain (especially when i smile) only on the left side which I never had before.
Oh and my ear won't pop like it used to. I feel like it is under pressure.
I'm taking CBD oil which keeps my quite calm so I can sleep during the night. Thank God for that and for ear plugs

@just1morething Regarding the collar...My therapist told me to sleep with a big towel wrapped around my neck, which didn't function very well but I discovered something better. An inflatable collar. That is such a great thing! I highly recommend it. I use it 3-4 times a day and I keep it on for 10 minutes or so. It really stretches my neck in a good way and my muscles feel more relaxed when I take it of. And one thing I realized while wearing it: i never let my head rest on it, I always push my head up and my shoulders down, so my muscles are active. That way I stretch the muscles while my spine is elongated and my discs get a bit more space to "float". If I let my head rest on it, my muscles end all cramped up.

I also discovered TRE exercises which are the best, I highly recommend them from the bottom of my heart.
They help not only with my muscles, but also they keep my mind calm and don't stress about the ringing so much.
I will post about that in another thread.

 

@binsonica Sorry to hear about your experience. A lot of your story is familiar to me. Messed up cervical issues - nerve/vascular/muscle/joints etc. Also trying to seek treatment to only have things get worse and so called medical experts clearly to blame. ENTs are the worst culprits.

I had a neck adjustment once by a chiropractor and decided not to ever again, not because he did anything wrong (he was actually awesome and the most helpful out of anyone I've seen), but just in case after reading stories on this site. I would only let a cervical specialist treat it (which is on my to-do list once I move back to a normal country that actually has one). If you are in Europe, surely it is pretty easy to find someone good elsewhere if there aren't any in your country?

Quite strange about the earplugs making your T go away. I also find often when I wear them my T goes away or subsides for a while, except for a very gentle hiss that doesn't bother me. But when having a spike it doesn't work. Can I ask, is your T affected by sound at all?

Sacroilliac joint pain is the worst. Whenever mine flares up, I use an ice pack on it to reduce inflammation. My chiro recommended it without doing any adjustments and it works. Seriously life changing. No more hobbling around for a week at a time in excrutiating pain. There are also pelvic rotation exercises but I don't waste my time with them.

@Greg Sacramento could an ultra low frequency sound that pulsates with my heart beat be a blood vessel disorder? It started after my recent multiple acoustic incidences. For around a year now my vision sometimes pulsates in time with my heart beat.

 

@Gman Thanks for the SI joint advice. I'll try it immediately since it flared up again I tried all kinds of exercises but nothing really helps.

Regarding a specialist..I'm seeing a good physical therapist and he is trying his best, but nothing affects my T. He tried manual therapy for the cervicals, massaging my neck, massaging my jaw, today he put me on a decompression table and it was quite pleasant but t is still the same, actually a bit worse..


About the ear plugs...yeah it is pretty weird, especially because everyone is saying that there is no such thing as responsive tinnitus. Well, mine responses to sound! I don't have hyperacusis, loud sounds don't bother me. My ears were hyper sensitive for a few weeks after the treatment but that went away. I can listen to loud music and the level of my T stays unaffected.
But when I have a spike (like for the last 10 days), there is no help.

 

@binsonica, sorry to hear you are flaring up. I'm not doing well either. I took 1 Cymbalta and seem worse. Are you convinced your noise came from your neck or is it your brain?

Lyrica helped my spine pain today but my noise is terrible....loud static sound.

 

@just1morething There are three sounds: the first is from my brain, it is all around my head and usually one side is louder than the other. The second sound is from the ears, and the third is a mixture which Is somewhere in between
Fixing my neck was just a lucky try. I had neck problems even before tinnitus, so it was a problem of its own and now seems a good time to try to fix it. It really isn't so bad, except when I develop a migraine (which is usually every 8-10 days). And I never had jaw pain, which I have now and my jaw is popping and clicking like crazy! So I decided to give it a try and if it helps with the T great, but mainly I want to get rid of the headaches.

 

Chiropractic adjustments always give me spikes but only temporary.

Reactive/responsive T is real in my experience and not always accompanying sound sensitivity. Some people are just closed minded, regurgitating what they’ve been told.
Anyway I think the ear plugs thing is just the brain filtering out the T sound, but how it works I have no idea and it doesn’t always work. There seems to be some residual inhibition as it lasts for some time after using them.

Maybe you should avoid the loud music just to be safe.

 

You probably need a splint. I've been using mine again. I always worry about permanent nerve damage to inner ears and no way of fixing them. Even if I get off all my CNS depressants I could have tinnitus from withdrawals.

 

@just1morething The splint, how does that work for you? Do you wear it only while sleeping or during the whole day? I'm planning to get one, I have an appointment at my dentist this week, he has to change two of my old fillings and then it's splint tiiimeee There a more and more props coming into my life since this T thing started, gosh
The nerve damage is also my number one fear. I just don't see what else could be causing my T.

@Gman Oh I barely ever listen to loud music. I just meant that as an example, loud noises in general don't bother me as if they would if I had hyperacusis as people say I do.
My theory with the ear plugs: It is like my brain cannot completely decipher the sound I am hearing, like only a certain frequency range, so instead of hearing the correct sound I hear fax machine sounds. Like there is a blockage in the communication system. And when I put ear plugs there is no sound hence there is no fax machine sound. Of course, if there is a louder sound that can penetrate trough the ear plug, the fax sound occurs.
I found this explanation about why do fax machines make the sound that they make:
"The sounds you are hearing are the preliminary transmissions used to establish audio gain, stabilize the clocks, set the transfer rate, and begin negotiating the protocol as to who starts the dialog. Once the modems are properly connected, those sounds cease, and the modem tones standard for the negotiated speed of transmission."
So I'm guessing that my brain/auditory nerve or whatever is involved in the process cannot complete the protocol.

 

@binsonica, I have been only wearing it when sleeping for now. It is for TMD and sleep apnea. Here is a video that I posted with the Dr. I had seen. I think he is one of the higher rated TMJ Dr.'s. Dr. Hakala talks about tinnitus from TMD in the 1st video.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/possible-tmj.26586/#post-307927


Looks like my appliance:

 

@just1morething I talked to my dentist yesterday and he told me that the splint would only put more pressure on my teeth?!? He suggested drilling my teeth to make them a bit smaller/shorter!!!!! to reduce the pressure. My God he is crazy. And he is such a good dentist, this really shocked me.
So the splint actually helps you with the pain?