Tinnitus with Physical Tickling Sensation

Does anyone have or has anyone had tinnitus with a physical sensation? I am not talking about pain from hyperacusis, but rather a sort of nails on chalkboard tickling sensation.

I think I can habituate to noise, but the sensation in my nerves has caused me panic attacks, nausea, and I feel like I haven't been able to relax for one second since I got tinnitus. If the sensation was gone I could confidently say I could go on with my life, but the sensation being there for so long is literally driving me insane.

Any success stories with this would be appreciated!

 

I don't know if you are talking about the same sensation, but back when UHF t was fresh for me, I felt a kind of a tickling, vibrating sensation like my whole head was electrified. Like when you electrocute yourself a little, but the feeling was constant. Does it make sense? It went away.

(I don't know whether there is a connection between the two, but my tinnitus started with a low freq, unilateral buzzing/humming/vibrating hell predating the UHF one, which also felt like a physical sensation besides the sound.)

 

Hi, thanks for replying. My feeling is very localized to my inner ears. When it flares up - it is not always there - it feels like my ears are being tickled or like nails on a chalkboard. Thank god it doesn't happen all of the time as it is much worse than my normal tinnitus - I am praying it goes away and I can just have normal tinnitus.

The feeling it induces for hours or days on end makes me break down.

I think it is actually the physical sensation of a certain high pitch tinnitus. I have no idea why it cycles on and off.

Does yours change between days?

 

Some, but it's much more stable than it used to be. When this started it fluctuated so much even on the same day. It migrated between ears, turned up/down the volume, sounded like pure tone/electric hissing/buzzing/whining. Now sounds like (my main sound) a very, very high frequency metallic dentist drill or grinder, unfortunately bilateral.

 

I am also bi-lateral. Ranges from a quieter but still piercing EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE - similar to a dentist drill - to the aforementioned nails on chalkboard HORRIBLE feeling. I pray we both get some relief.

I also get distortion which seems to cycle as well. Basically everything from my A/C to laptop fan to toilet flushing sounds like this weird shrieking in addition to the normal noise. I wish I was joking : (

 

Nerves gone weird. Sounds very much like pain hyperacusis. Do you know if you get that sensation in reaction to certain sounds?

 

Hi, yes I definitely get it in reaction to certain noises. If I am wearing my earmuffs I don't think I get it at all.

Maybe it is similar to pain hyperacusis but instead of pain I'm just getting these pings that make me wince? It's literally this sort of painful/ticklish ping from certain noises, that feels like nails on a chalkboard.

Honestly my first line of thinking is, if it's hyperacusis, it might heal! My tinnitus is noise-induced.

 

I had surgery to have an osteoma removed from my inner auditory canal hoping it was somehow related to my tinnitus and getting it removed would improve it. It didn’t help at all.

Anyway, post-surgery multiple times after waking up from naps I had tinnitus that literally felt and sounded like a rattle snake was crawling around on my scalp for hours. It didn’t feel like it was localized to either ear or centered in my head like previous “head” tinnitus I had experienced when I first got tinnitus. Thankfully, as I healed this stopped happening.

 

I'm glad it healed for you! How long did that take?

 

It was under 3 months. I don’t remember exactly. I just know between the time they took the staples out for the craniotomy and my 3 month follow up it had stopped happening.

Perhaps also worth mentioning is that I sleep with a mouth guard, but when napping after surgery I often didn’t sleep with a mouth guard because I’d just nod off. Could have somehow been related to bruxism.

Maybe something to do with sensitization of the mandibular nerve like @100Hz has discussed in the FX-322 thread. So you could look into jaw exercises or a mouth guard to see if that improves your situation at all.

 

I have exactly what you are describing...

I have a lot of trouble describing the sensation, but the quieter the room is the more sensation I get in my nerves. It is a physical sensation. I always have it.

I do not mind the sound so much, it’s the physical sensation that kills me.

 

Mine is noise induced and comes and goes. I guess I hope it’s a symptom of hyperacusis as that means it probably has a better chance of healing and leaving at some point.

 

Did you ever work this out? Has it improved since then? This is what I’ve been going through over and over again. I’m not sure how to cope with it.

 

The tickling sensation went away after about 3 months. Although all parts of this are hell, that was definitely the worst part. I hope it passes quickly for you!

 

@GBB, did the physical sensations go away on their own or did you take something to help? Thanks.