Very Bizarre Case of Ringing in the Ears

Hello everyone!

I am experiencing a very odd case of ringing in the ears.

I will tell you about my issue and any kind of information regarding my situation would be extremely helpful. I have never had a problem with ringing in my ears before.

So, about a 10 days ago, I started experiencing weird symptoms. Prior to these symptoms, I had been having a facial nerve inflammation for about 4 weeks but no paralysis. No ear symptoms whatsoever. About 10 days ago I went to speak with my physiotherapist about the issue and he thought ultrasound therapy would be a good idea to speed up the recovery.

I received therapeutic ultrasound treatment on the temporomandibular joint where the facial nerve is, under the earlobe and the chin area and near the tragus of ear. I felt a sharp deep pain on the joint area for a few seconds when the ultrasonic machine was held there for a couple of seconds. My therapist said it was an indication of an inflamed nerve or neuropathy.

We continued the treatment on the face for about 15min. I didn't feel anything wrong after the treatment.

However, the next morning I started experiencing a weird full sensation in my ears and a slight cold moist feeling, which felt nothing like anything I have experienced before.

Then, 2 days later, I started experiencing a ringing in my ears that continues to this day. I have read a lot about tinnitus and its possible causes. I have investigated ultrasound and everything regarding it and I haven't found any information which would state that ultrasound could damage the ear or cochlea or could cause tinnitus. I know that human ears cannot even process ultrasound, let alone ultrasound damaging the hairs in the inner ear.

So that means, ultrasound cannot have possibly caused my tinnitus? Just to mention, I haven't had any noise trauma or any trauma in general to my ears or head. The only thing happening beforehand is the fact that I had a facial nerve inflammation and that caused neuropathy, because I cannot smell or taste for example.

I have always protected my ears and I eat a very healthy diet, also exercise regularly. I am not sure whether or not the facial nerve inflammation has anything to do with the ringing in my ears.

Also, prior to the ringing in my ears, I took aspirin for 6 days for the inflammation and pain, but during that I experienced no side effects and no tinnitus or any issue with my ears.

So that excludes the aspirin causing my tinnitus, right? I am not taking any other medications.

Anyway, now to the tinnitus part. It is very hard to explain what I am experiencing. I will try my best.

The ringing in my ears is not something usual. It is a rather high-pitched tone. There is a static noise in the background all the time, which doesn't really change, kind of like a radiator noise or a refrigerator.

On top of that, I hear a ringing noise. There are spontaneous bursts of ringing sounds. The weirdest thing about my ringing is that it changes according to outside noises. For example, when the washing machine makes its noise, my ringing gets louder and rings according to that noise, it has the same rhythm. The same goes for the TV, if there is noise, my ringing rings according to the rhythm of that noise and gets louder. When I am driving, the sound of cars driving makes my ringing ring just to that certain noise and changes according to that.

So bizarre. My doctors are clueless. I had an audiogram done which displayed no hearing loss, also my ears looked fine when the doctor did the check-up. That rules out hearing loss as the possible cause. I was wondering whether or not I might have developed an inner ear infection, because tinnitus is one of the symptoms.

Maybe the inflammation of the facial nerves did spread to my auditory nerve hence causing the symptoms.

Also, sounds are somewhat distorted. I have no idea what is going on and I am so scared. I cannot mask the sound because it changes to the sounds I hear.

Maybe the hairs in the cochlea are irritated because of the viral infection?

What do you guys think?

I haven't got any help from the doctors, so any answers would be appreciated.

 

Hi Nathalie,

Welcome to the site!

Sorry you are going through this issue.

You may want to consider going to an oral surgeon to see what he or she has to say. At the very least, they will give you an x-ray and see if that shows anything wrong.

Often times, you as the patient will know more than a doctor because they are trained to give the same clinical response "there is not much we can do for you, unless you want a steroid to see if it will help".

One thing I can tell you is to try to control your levels of stress and anxiety, because that is what makes tinnitus louder. Additionally, getting ample sleep is key every night.

 

@Nathalie

Your T is reactive: it interacts with the noises, and it is a relatively common behavior. Mine interacts with road noise, cooking noises, etc.... some days is very weak interaction and other days is very strong. In my case, the noises have to be continuos.
The high pitch tone and the static noise can give clues of the frequency damage. It is very common to have high pitched sounds, and if the regular audiogram to 8KHz does not show problems, then you should try to get one to 16KHz. Good luck since your case is very recent and might get much better.
Try to stay calm in spite of the situation.

 

@InfiniteLoop

Hey I was wondering whether you have hearing damage and how did it occur? Does it show up on your audiogram? I haven't had any trauma or noise induced hearing loss. How did your damage happen or what happened?

 

I have the same ringing you have...noticed it when using a washing machine/driving a car... And when it is quiet it is just constant "eee--eee--eee--eee" but when listening to music it can be "e-----eee----e-e--eee-----ee--e--eee" I'll follow this thread to see if anyone has input to what might cause it

 

Mine is like this as well... It probably comes from an infection

 

Did yours start during an infection?

 

@Nathalie

You can follow my story at the thread

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...ng-cured-after-taking-anti-fungal-drug.11142/

I am not done yet. The thread contains a link to my audiometry test also.

 

Your doctors are clueless because they have not kept themselves updated about latest research.....tinnitus is caused by hidden hearing loss for which your audiogram is useless.....it does not test high thersold fibre loss which causes tinnitus.

Have never exposued yourself to loud music anytime.......apart from yor audiogram?

 

Never exposed. That cause is excluded 100%