Tinnitus Stops If I Cover My Opposite Eear

Well, my low humming vibrating noise is back from hell after being in remission for almost a year. Only in left ear.
Yesterday it was not that bad, I could sleep some hours with Clonazepam, didn't hear it in the morning, then it came back and now it sucks.

But what I don't understand and maybe you can direct me to a cause.
I kind of thought that it's due to MEM. But it stops if I cover my opposite ear. Yesterday it only stopped for a little while with this method, but now it stops completely.
Plugging up doesn't terminate it.

I can't find any logic in this. Can it be due to some Eustachian Tube Dysfunction?
Do you have any idea what may be happening?
How the hell can covering my other ear stop the humming in my left ear? This is just baffling.

The bilateral UFH sound hasn't changed. Low humming kind of masks it a bit, covering my ears stops the humming, makes the high frequency sound worse of course.

 

Who knows... these conditions make no sense. When I wear ear plugs the random clicking in my right ear that I’ve had since my inner auditory canal osteoma removal surgery doesn’t happen at all.

 

I just don't understand this whole thing. I also had thumping in my left ear, that's the more problematic one, which happened with earplugs in.

I don't get it. If covering my ears with my hand stops this, why can't it stop when my ear is pressed against the pillow. My whole had feels like vibrating. Plugs don't seem to stop it this time. I cant sleep capping my ears or sticking my finger in it the whole night. Not that it would be a solution, because that only stops the humming, but makes my bilateral UHF tinnitus a lot louder of course. Whatever I do, it feels like I'm screwed.

 

I've had problems with a very deep idling truck sound in my left ear. About 8 times total it has started VERY suddenly, often when I was very happy and elated. It was VERY VERY loud, to the point of me losing grip of reality and knowing that if it did not go away I would most likely kill myself. As I think Bill Bauer puts it sometimes: my body would be uninhabitable with that sound being constant.

Usually these attacks faded down to its normal, low level gradually during 10 min to 2 hours.

One time though, I had it for 20 hours. I ended up in a psych ward that time and was sedated..

One thing I found especially interesting was that the VERY loud sound went away completely when I used my voice. I did some chanting to try to calm myself down and while my voice was active the sound went away, only to return instantly when I did not use my voice. This has to mean something. I haven't researched it yet but there is something there to be understood, I think.

I have no idea what this thing was.. Muscular? Haven't had a loud attack like that in a while now, at least a month.

Ride this one out Kriszti. Almost everyone that describes this type of tinnitus reports that it goes away from what I've seen.

 

@HeavyMantra

Something similar, it's like a washing machine motor mixed with a foghorn or drum, really hard to explain. It completely stops if I talk or if somebody else talks to me, but TV and other sounds only stop it if I put it on high volume, which I can't because of the UHF tinnitus. Me humming also stops this. But whistling doesn't. It also stops or just gets very quiet when breathing in. But in between it feels like someone is drilling in my brain, but much lower in frequency.

This is familiar to me, that's the 4th time it came back, and normally it goes away in a couple of weeks, last fall it took 2-3 weeks to go into remission and I had off days too, but this is simply horrific. I suffer with my bilateral tinnitus as well, but this is so much louder. No way that there is no explanation for this. But I've asked lots of ENTs about this and they have no clue and also no interest whatsoever.
Just the thought in my head that if this doesn't go away, I can't live with this.

Online education also starts today, so great timing for getting the low hum back.

 

This is unbelievable awful. I'm back to sleeping an hour. I even took Clonazepam again. Not much, 0,25 mg, but it did absolutely nothing.

This cruel low hum is so loud and uncomfortable, not even the shower masks it.

Plugging up slightly lessens it, but then I have to listen to the high frequency sound screaming.

 

How is that possible for a low hum to be unmaskable?? How loud would you perceive it if it were a real noise?

 

Have you spoken to your doctor about sleep meds with melatonin? I use fast dissolve and extended release melatonin plus rx sleep med to get sleep, per guidance from my doctor.

 

I think because it's more like a feeling than just a sound. I tried with the shower and that doesn't mask it. When it's on, it's like my head is vibrating.

I really don't know how much real noise would be the equivalent, because even quiet talking makes it stop, but music from my phone around 70 dB doesn't. I'm not willing to go much higher in volume, because my bilateral tinnitus is reactive.

I am suspecting that it's indeed some kind of MEM, but it doesn't sound like thumping or clicking. In a specific MEM group, other people say that they have this kind of tinnitus too.

No, I only tried them separately. I mean, bio-melatonin (it's OTC in my country) and Frontin/Rivotril.

 

Now you got me really confused...

What is MEM?

Try an experiment, hum the whole day and see if it goes away permanently?

I have a theory that if something makes tinnitus stop, keep doing that until it stops permanently.

The theory is called residual inhibition by the way.

 

Sorry you’re experiencing this. I had a low hum for about a minute once, about 4 months into developing hyperacusis. Very scary. It has something to do with the trigeminal nerve irritation that is at the root of hyperacusis. Our tensor tympani muscles are confused... Try massaging areas associated with the trigeminal nerve, working on your posture, exercise, and (moderate) drinking.

 

I'd say my hum when I get my sudden "attacks" is about 75-80 dB, although I don't really think you can translate tinnitus to a specific dB just by guessing... It's just mindboggling how loud I percieved it. Louder than any sound I would expose my ears to.

 

Please let us know more if you have sources etc. I would love to look into it myself! I also think my hum is muscular in origin since it's very different from my usual tinnitus, and because it starts in a split second going from silent to 75 dB. Has to be some kind of spasm? I also had TTTS spasms in the same ear, leading up to the time when the hum started.

 

Have you looked into the "weird MEM" thread? Now my suspicion is that it is definitely muscular, although it doesn't match exactly the symptoms of MEM.
But the on/off nature must mean something, also the irregular stopping mechanisms.

Mine is not like yours that goes up in a split second from 0-very loud. It's more gradual, and I think mine is not as loud as yours.

I had tympanometry and stapedial reflex test last autumn when the humming (I'm using "humming" in the lack of a better word) was on, and my tympanogram was type A, but very shallow and also the stapedial reflex test was irregular. I uploaded my tympanogram somewhere on Tinnitus Talk. I didn't research the connection between MEM and tympanogram results though, because I was concentrating on that maybe I have otosclerosis.

I don't want to undergo an other tympanometry test or ART because of the loudness.

And currently from around midnight, it's off, but my right ear feels pretty clogged.

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3629860/

I read about and from people who got their stapedial muscle or tensor tympani surgically cut, but that seems risky to me.

 

It is indeed very confusing.

I'm familiar with residual inhibition, but I think this is different. Humming and talking during the day is possible, but when I'd like to sleep it's more problematic.

MEM is middle ear myoclonus. It's when the muscles in your middle ear spasm. So my theory is that I have two different kind of tinnitus, the low humming/buzzing and the UFH, more "normal" one. The low hum keeps coming back every year for some time, then goes into remission (Praying for it not to ever become permanent); the other one is constant.

 

Out of curiosity, has your eustachian tube been evaluated?

 

No. All the ENTs I visited only looked into my ear for a couple of minutes, then claimed my ears are perfectly fine, it's tinnitus, deal with it. The last one I visited seemed to be a bit more progressive, but because my symptoms were in remission and only the ultra high-frequency sounds were present, and my audiogram showed air-bone gap, we mainly talked about a possible otosclerosis diagnosis. Since then I got an other hearing test done which showed yet an other result.

My GP was the only one who actually looked into my nose as well and said that my eustachian tube seemed oedemic, but nothing more has been done.

Do you think it's more likely to do something with eustachian tube? What kind of examinations should be done?

 

I can't say how much of a factor it is but I think it could be at least contributing. Something you can try at home is a good humidifier. If it makes a slight or moderate difference (might take a month or so), might give you at least a clue.

 

Thank you, I'll give it a try.

I know that ETD may cause low sounds, but for me (thank God) it's not constant, it has came and gone away, so I think that something might trigger it. First 2 times were during winter/spring; last 2 during autumn. The only thing common which I can think of is that I was/am very highly stressed. When I was on a passive term in 2018 at the university, I didn't have this. May be coincidental.

 

I agree it's probably mostly relevant to your low sounds. Hope it helps (fingers crossed).

Btw, TMJ can predispose people to ETD so I would look into that if you haven't already too.

 

I went to a general dental check up 2 weeks ago and panorama X-ray was done and on that the dentist couldn't see an issue. I know that gnathologists are the expert on issues with jaws and maybe an HRCT should be performed. I was planning to get one in order to take a look at my middle ear bones, then procrastinated and now my country is shutting down again due to COVID-19.

What are the protocol for diagnosing TMJ?

 

CT of the jaw to fully rule it out (you don't need a full CT). The dentists who specialize in this have it in their office here in the US anyway.

Gut feeling is that it sounds less likely in your case with normal exam and panoramic rads but not impossible.

Since yours is seasonal, allergies are a possible culprit too.

 

I thought that I'm free again, but in the night, after around 24h, it came back and now buzzing away. So no sleep again.

 

Ey @Kriszti, sorry to hear you're still struggling. Did you also try Mirtazapine? I tried it with Melatonin when my sleep rhythm was completely out of whack due to a fresh onset of multi tonal tinnitus a few months ago(high pitch cicadas & the occasional loud subwoofer), and it helped stabilise my sleep around 6-8 hours a day. You can taper it once your sleep is stable.

 

How long did it take to stabilize your sleep? My problem with Mirtazapine is that I'm already overweight and it's associated with significant weight gain.

 

Rather quick Kriszti. It took around day 4/5 when I was slowly getting used to the new regime. It's not entirely innocent, that's true. I gained a few pounds, as I sometimes preferred to sleep longer & staying longer in bed than I was used to. That's why I tapered with the medication in week 5 when my sleep pattern was stable enough and from that moment on things are running smoothly sleep wise (now 3,75 mg instead of 7,5 mg). Anyway, I really do hope that you get your sleep back. Life is no fun without the occasional visit from the Sandman.

 

Kriszti, do you want to try Lenire?

 

I don't know, but I'm leaning towards no. The results in the Lenire thread are so mixed. And I do think that this low hum is due to something physical in my ears, muscles spasming, palateus Eustachian Tube.

 

Okay, I just wanted to offer that you can borrow mine, since we both live in Budapest. It didn't help me (although ultimately it didn't hurt me, either), and it's just sitting here gathering dust. Maybe it can help you.