Tinnitus and Hyperacusis or Brain Related?

Hello everyone,

I'm a male late 30s and I live in Denmark. I've been having serious problems with what I perceive as tinnitus and hyperacusis since January 2019.

I've been sensitive somewhat to sound for 4 years, following a concussion. I've slept with ear plugs since then, since even the smallest sound used to wake me. I also suffered A LOT from dizzyness and balance problems.

My issues with tinnitus began when I moved to a new apartment in January 2019. I soon began hearing humming, low frequency sounds at night. Like an idling diesel engine or the bass sound of someone playing music. I was convinced it had to be someone outside or a neighbor, but it wasn't.

I eventually went to the ENT who got rid of some earwax on the eardrum. This helped with some of the humming sound, but some of the sound was still there. A metallic ringing, which almost felt physical, throbbing in my ears.

It came and went over the year. During the summer, I began developing increased sensitivity to sound. On a vacation to a remote summer vacation house, I could hear the humming of a ship engine, 10 minutes before it arrived! Traffic noise from across the fjord sounded LOUD and constant. It was still only low frequency sounds that really bothered me and traffic noise.

Then some months ago, my symptoms really got worse and I began becoming sensitive to all kind of sounds, the clanking of metal, shouting, all kind of everyday noise just felt so loud and like it just penetrated my brain.

I also began having "normal" high pitch tinnitus, like an old tv signal or something like that.

The worst is still the low frequency metallic ringing in my ears, that feels physical and throbbing. It can be loud and keep me from sleeping.

During this period, I also feel like I've developed more light sensitivity, which I've also had since my concussion, but now much worse.

My ENT directed me towards a center for brain rehabilitation as he believes it is from my concussion (4 years ago).

I'm worried that I have a brain tumor, intracranial pressure or something similarly bad. I hope it's something curable though, like stress related, or blood vessel related or maybe my medicine (opioid and NSAIDs).

My plan is the following:

1) See a neurologist and get an MR scan of my brain
2) See another ENT and get a second opinion
3) Stop taking all pain meds to see if it changes anything

I would appreciate any and all comments.

Thanks!

Erik

 

Welcome to the forum, Erik. You are having a good plan. Item 1) and 2) will clear you of worries if nothing bad is found. A big part of tinnitus suffering is mental and hopefully this will ease some of your mental stress. Some meds are known to be ototoxic. Try google search the side effects of your pain meds and perhaps talk to your doctor on reducing or stopping using them if they are found to cause or aggravate tinnitus.

You mention you have some dizziness issue. Have you checked with the doctor if you have Meniere's Disease? It can cause both vertigo and tinnitus. Regarding hyperacusis, your description brings back memory of my initial days when both ultra high pitched T and severe H both attacked me to cause much suffering. I was in a mess then. But now I live a normal, happy, productive and very enjoyable life. I wrote my success story to share some helpful insights. I leave the link below if you like to check it out. Take good care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/