Tinnitus Began After C-Section Epidural... Worried!

Hello,

I had a c section in Nov 2014. From the day after the operation, I had tinnitus in one ear. For the first few weeks it sounded like a distant slow drum beat, but soon settled into a constant 'electrical'-sounding bell sound. The thing is, I did not think it was that strange and did not link it to the operation at the time.

Then recently I looked up 'tinnitus+epidural' and found cases of accidental dural puncture causing tinnitus (usually accompanied by terrible headaches, which I did NOT have). Anyway, alarmingly it seems that an undetected dural puncture during an epidural can be very serious and should have been treated within 48hours of it happening. I went to the doctor straight away once I found this information, and they have referred me to ENT ,but I will need to wait a few weeks. I am not sure if I am actually just completely overreacting, or if I should be urgently pressing the doctors to check out my spine etc...

I thought someone here might have heard of any connection of epidurals and tinnitus (as I realise that by googling a medical complaint I probably ended up finding all the 'worst case scenarios').

Also, having two small children and a constant ringing in my ear makes me question whether I am able to think clearly about what might have happened!

Many thanks for reading...

Cath

 

Welcome Caths. I am not a doctor so I can't comment on the medical procedure you went through which might have caused your T. You may want to raise these questions to the doctors in the Doctor's Corner.But what members here can help you is how to cope with T and live a normal life without all the negative emotions.

The first starting point is to try get some masking sounds to help you. TT has an excellent thread with great masking sounds, and it also gives you instructions step by step to deal with a new T. Another important thing is to read up as many success stories as you can. There are many young moms here with T and young children among the members who have posted. So try to learn to cope with T with a positive attitude as it can keep you more calm and less stressful. Stress and anxiety are toxic to T, as well as sleep deprivation. Make sure you have good sleep though I know if may be tough for moms with children (my daughters are in that stage too and they often don't have enough sleep). For sleep you can try natural stuffs such as Camomile tea, Hops, Valerian tablets, Melatonin etc. You can also try supplements such as Magnesium, NAC, Zinc, B12, D3 etc. Also try to cut back on intake of caffeine, alcohol, MSG, salt, sugar etc. to see if that will help lower the T loudness. Take good care and God bless.

Here is the link to TT thread 'Don't panic' with masking sounds and tips for newer sufferers:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

(the icons on the left side give you instructions step by step)

 

I want to share that I have also developed tinnitus after a c-section I recently have found an effective treatment. I hope it helps other women who are passing through the same. After seeing so many specialists (docs and dentists), the only thing that was helping to ease the ringing in my right ear was to give a massage in the c-section scar, but it was a temporary release. I recently found a doc specialized in rehabilitation and women's health who gave me some injections of Ropivacaine (pf) 0.5 % (5 Mg/ml) Epidural Solution in the scar and the tinnitus was gone that day! She said it will take a few more doses as the scar tissue is really tight and these injections help to soften the tissue.
Please, spread the word!

 

Did you ever get your tinnitus resolved? I am not sure where you are from but in the US they usually treat it with a blood patch to clot the hole. In my case I had a 1MM hole that required a major back surgery.

 

That's odd.

I work in midwifery, and the only clinical indication for a blood patch in Australia is a post dural headache.

Did you mean a traumatic spinal necessitated surgery to repair the puncture? If that is the case... I hope you've recovered

 

I think one of 2 scenarios are possible; excluding the scar.

1. The Lignocaine, which can eliminate tinnitus (temporarily)

and

2. Effects of spinal/meds given in theatre wore off.

Did your tinnitus resolve completely?