Weird New Development: Head Whistle (Able to Modulate Somatically)

Hello all

I wanted to pop in and ask a few questions from all of you. You can read my introductory thread if you want, but basically I'm 2 months into tinnitus caused by cold symptoms/ETD.

Overall, my tinnitus has been following a downward trend. Volume is far lower. I can be happily in a cafe or restaurant or even friends house with voices going on and not hear it.

I feel like there has been a new development recently. My left ear has a low frequency hum with fluctuating higher metallic tones (that is very quiet), and my right ear also has a low frequency hum. In the past few weeks there has been an added "whistle" in the middle of my head and left side. Honestly this is the worst sound. It is the most intrusive and won't let me sleep. Usually my tinnitus isn't intrusive during the day, but at night laying down this whistle becomes all consuming. It spreads to my left and right ears and my head. It sucks, and I yearn for a good night sleep.

What is head tinnitus? Why did this whistle develop?
Is it a good sign its' primarily in my head?
Do other people experience this?

It's also somatic for sure and can be changed by tweaking my neck around.

Felt like I was really the path to recovery if it wasn't for this head whistle.

Hopefully I can sleep soon Makes it all better.

Thanks for any input.

Love, Clare

 

Hi Clare,

Try to ignore it... don’t hone on on it and mask it with non loud noises. It may fade. Some sounds come and go, even after weeks.

I’ve been there x

 

It's weird, but lying down for sleep brings all the weird tones out. Beeps, clicks, and whistling. Not all at the same time, they take turns! It's really horrible.

 

Let me guess: depending on your posture? I have exactly the same, though I've gotten used to at it this point.

 

It must be. It happens most when I lay down or but also can spike a bit when I have my head tilted forward looking down at my phone.

 

How severe is it for you? I used to hear loud sounds 24/7, but after finding out that my tinnitus was caused by neck trauma, I started doing neck exercises and having some physiotherapy. Half of the sounds disappeared in a few months, and the others reduced a lot in volume as well: now pretty much every "normal" daily external sound masks my tinintus. Life got a lot better for me, I can recommend trying this if you have similar symptoms and haven't done it before.

 

I'll give it a try. Mine was noise induced so my milage may vary. My tinnitus is super high pitched, reactive to white noise. it's moderately loud but it's the pitch that makes it very intrusive though. It spiked yesterday evening, hoping it'll reduce soon.

 

@Clare Johnson

I have the exact same thing, left ear low hum, sounds hollow or like wind and intermittent high pitch regular tinnitus sound. Mine has reduced considerably over the last 7 months and is mostly maskable or I can ignore it now. Give it time and it will either go away/reduce considerably or you’ll be so used to it that it won’t bother you any more xx

Question for @Tybs

You seem to have got your tinnitus because of neck issues.
I find that bearing in mind the tinnitus is in my left ear, when I stretch my neck/ head to the right after a few minutes the low tone either goes away completely or reduces to very quiet. I have found when I do this in bed I can lie for at least an hour in that position with no noise, eventually when I move it comes back.

Do you think this could be a neck issue??

Denise x