Tinnitus Switches Ears Based on Sleep Position?

I'm wondering if anyone has experienced anything like my situation.

I've had fairly significant tinnitus for several years. I noticed that, over time, it would switch from one ear to the other. After a lot of experimentation I discovered that my sleeping position would affect which ear had the significant tinnitus. If I sleep on my left side, the right ear (the one on top) has the strong tinnitus the next day or longer. If I sleep on my right side, the left ear gets the strong tinnitus.

An ENT with a lot of experience with tinnitus said she suspects my tinnitus is from age-related hearing loss (the nervous system fills in for sounds it isn't hearing). However, she had no idea why it would change from ear to ear based on sleeping position.

Sleeping on my back isn't the solution -- often both ears get it at once. I noticed that some of the sequences in Tinnitus Tamer will remove the tinnitus completely for a couple of minutes, which is consistent with it being in the nervous system. However, it always returns quickly. Keeping my outer ears cleaned out and/or doing aerobic exercise seemed to help for a long time, but haven't been working so well recently.

Has anyone ever run into something like this? I'm just wondering what physical aspect of this would cause the ear change due to sleep position.

 

Frank,
I actually have something similar. I had mild tinnitus for about 6 years and I woke up with it screaming one morning. I really had no reason for it to change, no sound trauma, etc. It has always been in my left ear. Now if I tilt my head to the right the sound perception goes to the right then left back to the left. I can decrease my tinnitus by tilting my head straight up. I also went to a tinnitus clinic and they refused to treat me until I got to the bottom of the issue. I have started to see an upper cervical chiropractor and found that my neck is out of alignment and I tilt to the left mostly. I have only seen him twice and he has only done one adjustment, so far no change, but I am being told for it to take up to 90 days to have an affect. He says it takes the body up to 90 days to heal. I have a thread on my journey if you want to keep up with it if it helps. I used to exercise daily but I can't because my tinnitus fluctuates just from the head bobbing from walking.

 

Thanks for the reply. I just took a look at your status thread, and it sounds as though there are similarities and differences in our situations. In particular:

-- In my case, the upper (elevated) ear gets the stronger tinnitus the day after I sleep on the other side. It sounded from your posts that you experienced the reverse (i.e. the ear on the side you sleep on (lower ear) gets the stronger tinnitus).

-- The tinnitus onset and ear-switching in my case is very gradual. I don't get "instant" symptoms (or relief) from moving my head, changing body position, walking, etc.

I have two theories about my situation. One is that, even though I keep my ears cleaned out, I get a very dry kind of ear wax which may form kind of a hard shell layer within the outer ear when I sleep with that ear elevated. The other theory is that it has to do with particles or something in the middle or inner ear.

The ENT I saw several years back suggested I might want to try a Neuromonics device. They sound really expensive, though, and would not be covered by my insurance. So I might look at threads here to get more information on people's experience with it and/or any alternatives. As noted, I actually found that the Tinnitus Tamer software can cause my tinnitus to go away virtually completely, but just for a couple of minutes. Using that or something similar several times a day over a longer period of time might be another experiment worth doing.

Good luck with the chiropractor treatments. To be honest my experience with them hasn't been good, but this is probably one of those your-mileage-may-vary things.

 

You may be experiencing a phenomenon called “residual inhibition” which is quite common. You can google about it or start with this link, which explains it well.

http://www.residualinhibition.com/residual-inhibition.pdf

 

Thanks, limebyte, interesting information. Yes, that closely describes the benefit I receive from playing certain tones generated by Tinnitus Tamer software. It sounds as though the HushTinnitus software mentioned in the writeup is similar. I also wonder if the Neuromonics system is based on a similar principle (delivered by hearing-aid-like devices)? But orders of magnitude more expensive, it would seem.

 

I have a couple of questions for you:

1. Would taking an over the counter medication Meclizine before sleep do anything to tinnitus your next day?
(I don't think that is good to do long term, but was just curious if it did anything)

2. Would the Eustachi device help?

 

Thanks for the questions. I've never taken Meclizine because I've never had a problem with motion sickness, despite having done a lot of ocean boating. The main ENT I consulted specializes in Meniere's disease, and she ruled it out in my case. I suppose I could give Meclizine a try if I understood what it would be testing.

I've never seen that before. It sounds as though it is used to inflate the Eustachian tubes. In my case, my Eustachian tubes are virtually always nicely open. If I pinch both nostrils closed, close my mouth and gently bring a bit of air out of my lungs, both ears pop nicely. Is there something beyond that that the device does?

 

Great questions. Well, it was just a "shot in the dark" here but I was just wondering if there could possibly be some drainage that happens during the night and perhaps the drainage would effect one of the ears based on sleeping position. By taking Meclizine which is an antihistamine, an hour or so before sleeping it it might affect the drainage during the night, possibly making it better or worse which could hopefully shed some light on what's happening. (If you do take it, be prepared to wake up groggy because anti-histamines affect sleep architecture. Maybe you could try it on a weekend.)

As far the eustachi device is concerned, it was just another "shot in the dark". Perhaps if your tinnitus was related to eustachian tube issues, a few days of using it may reduce or clear up the problem.

 

Thanks, I bought some Meclizine today and will give it a try.

When you refer to drainage, are you imagining that as being in the outer ear, or rather somewhere behind the eardrum (perhaps middle or inner ear)?

 

Oh I mean just fluid in the eustachian tube. It's possible that meclizine will change the way your tinnitus sounds in the morning. If it is for the worse, don't worry about it because it should change back as the day goes on. (If it makes it worse, I wouldn't recommend taking it again). Also, be prepared to wake up groggy. It will probably be harder for you to get out of bed.

 

If the tinnitus sounds changes for the "worst" and it doesn't change as the day goes on, it should definitely go back to normal when you wake up the next day.

 

Hey Frank, how did it go?