When One Sound Disappears, the Other Appears, and So On

Thank you again for your support these last few weeks. Yes I have been making decent progress which is amazing, sure, but its still awful and rather scary how one big blast of noise (car radio) can set off/reset the Tinnitus/Brain Buzz like it did yesterday. Makes me wonder what is really going on inside my ears/head. Perhaps whatever the damage was really was healing and this was a “re-aggravation” of sorts comparable to let’s say if someone tried walking on a broken foot before they were supposed to? In any event, with regards to ear plugs, its like is that what my life has to come to? Walking around wearing ear plugs for most of the day? MUCH safer no doubt and amazing piece of mind, but I just don’t know. Just wish I knew what the real issue was with my ears.

 

No problem mate, you can write me whenever you want. Unfortunately i don't think i can give you an answer on what the issue is with you ears, since i am fairly new to this condition myself. After reading a fair bit here in the forum however i can tell you what i am doing since i got this condition, and that is wearing earplugs when i am around (possible) loud noise. I took @attheedgeofscience s advice after reading his post:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...will-i-become-stupid.27825/page-3#post-322983

Now i don't go totally crazy with protection, however i wear them most of the time in my car (musician earplugs) and when i am in restaurants, bars, shopping and the gym (foam earplugs). I am not sure what caused my tinnitus, but i treat it like noise induced, better safe than sorry.

But please don't just take my advice and deceide for yourself, i am not really in the position to give advice to anyone. I am just telling you what I do=).

 

@Smartone202 Hey buddy, how are you doing?

 

Hey @Deamon22 ... The pulsatile tinnitus/head buzz mix is still ongoing, with more of it being the PT, though for a good solid week recently it became non existent. I would hear both of them but very faintly. It was yet another amazing stretch, the longest yet, and I had visions of forgetting about T again as well as visions of writing a success story. But I knew better. Bc that being said, the last few days now, 4 or 5 I'd say, the PT has grown in volume significantly and has really been bothering me again. I had forgotten about ever doing an MRI but now that is a possibility again. So, to answer your question (and I appreciate you reaching out more than you know), things are better, but they're definitely not great by any means.

At one point I thought Rogaine was somehow someway causing this so I gave that up and after just a day or two that's when things began calming down. It was shocking to think this was causing all these noises, though there are a decent amount of stories of Rogaine connected to ringing. Anyway, after the week of peace and near quiet, the head buzz started coming back as did the PT, and therefore I simply went back on the Rogaine as that didn't really seem to be the culprit. I've learned that having bad sleep definitely affects it, as does stress and running around in general as opposed to a more relaxed days.

 

Thats good to hear. I would take these long stretches honestly as a good sign. Around 3 months after onset my tinnitus also started to go away 90% for a few weeks and then come back, put me back to square on, just to vanish again 2 weeks later. I am now again in my third week of 90% silence (i mean by that, that i practically have to insert earplugs to hear some remaining head noise). It sounds like your T behaves similar, so lets hope in a few months it will be always low or silent.

Unfortunately i have no idea if the medication could have to do something with it.

In case of stress, did you try meditation? I now it sounds cheesy, but it won't hurt and could actually help lower your stress level.

In any casy i am happy that it got a bit better for you=)

 

If it was as simple as going out and buying a low dose of Xanax and trying it at this point, I would do it. But it's not that easy. I'm ok with holding off on more desperate approaches such as that right now. In the meantime I may very well do the MRI just for peace of mind if nothing else. Lord knows they won't find anything. It really was nice to have those few (albeit short) stretches of feeling close to healed. I'm so glad you are doing better, too. Thank you for you kind words. Will update in the near future.

 

@Smartone202
Hello,
I think I'm experiencing similar symptoms.
Sometimes I have pulsating feeling in my ear synced to my heartbeat (and sometimes very high bpm, like a rapid pressure change) and something that sounds like a venous hum inside my head. The feeling in my left ear is like a subwoofer hum and some kind of tone. It also has a physical sensation and I feel like something is pushing on my eardrum. When I get this the electric hissing (like my head is being shocked with electricity) goes away 90% to a very quiet hiss that I could only hear in total silence. The hissing on the right comes down too, but I can still hear it.
It can revert back and forth to hissing without apparent reason, but I've noticed that I get pulsating feeling mostly when I like down or move my upper body around (stretch etc).

Since starting my treatment for venous issues pulsating feeling became very rare and the volume has gone down. Beforehand during the day it was like 70% of time pulsating + 30% of time hissing + constant ringing on top of that.
Now I get pulsating feeling only for 10-15% of time during the day. I don't know if I explained myself correctly I meant that right now pulsating feeling takes up only about 2 hours a day. That's a huge reduction in recurrence.

I also feel like when I'm indoors (somewhat noisy and my tinnitus blends with everything else) my hissing/electrical noise feels like it's coming and going in waves. With every heartbeat I feel something squishing my head very slightly from inside and hiss increases for 0.5-1 seconds for about 10-15%. It's very subtle, but it's definitely there.

Regarding a brain MRI I recently did it and they didn't find anything. I guess that's good, because I had a lot of other issues regarding other areas of my health. They got better with treatment btw.
Tomorrow I'm bringing the test results to one of the top MRI doctors in my city to have a look and form a second opinion.

I want to warn you of the risk. I've done the MRI using on of the most quietest MRI machines out there. Siemens Magnetom Avanto 1.5T (under 99 db) with 3M earplugs + earmuffs (-18 db). It was still very loud. It gave me a huge spike that has yet to come down. Before that I only had ringing/hissing in my left ear and only venous hum in my right, but super quiet. But after that hissing spread from the left side of the head to my right and became at least 2 times louder.
So unless you have real reasons to do an MRI I would suggest you postpone it and to start preliminary treatment for your possible underlying conditions and give it a bit of time.
It goes without saying that you should search for the quietest MRI machine in your city and come prepared with your personal hearing protection.

 

Thanks for your reply. What exactly is venous treatment?

My fluctuating tone T at this point is giving me more good days than bad, but I’m still far from happy with what’s going on. The electric head buzz has actually subsided the most however that only means that the pulsating T is there more often. Just this past weekend for example it was PT for most of the weekend. I have noticed something however and that’s that the PT becomes VERY bad when I work up a sweat or am running around / doing errands. Stress related I’d say, in a way. Who knows.

I was in a rush to the supermarket yesterday and once inside looking quickly for what I needed the PT was at its highest point all day. Not sure if anyone knows what this might mean. I’ve accepted the fact that I have anxiety in general and that doesn’t help a person with T, but getting some Xanax isn’t as easy as 123. Today for example both tones are nonexistent and it’s back to baseline post July wedding T, which I’m coming very close to accepting is now permanent.

 

@Smartone202

Hello,

I'm getting:
IV infusions Vinpocetine 20 mg + Citicoline (Ceraxon) 1000 mg + Cerebrolysin 10 ml 2152 mg
I've been getting intramuscular injections of Emoxypine (Mexidol), but know switched to pills with 750 mg a day.
My doctor is also suggesting stopping Vinpocetine. I'm not sure. This is the second day without it and I feel a slight negative change. I have a lot of other factors to consider so I'm not sure if it's related to discontinuation of Vinpocetine.

For the last half of week or so I don't think I hear venous hum inside my head anymore. This overpowering humming sound is definitely gone or has diminished to the point that I don't notice it anymore. Before that if I wear earmuffs indoors in complete silence I could feel like I was swimming in this overwhelming hum.

I'm not sure to what I can contribute this improvement to. It's either this cocktail of drugs of steroids. I'm thinking that the injections and infusions helped, because I can still hear the high pitched electrical hissing flowing around in my head and sometimes ringing in my left ear. The pulsating pressure on my eardrum is getting less frequent too.

Have you measured your blood pressure? I think the worsening of your symptoms is closely related to your veins.
I would suggest you to do and ultrasonic exam of your neck and head veins. I've had one done in 2016 and got very bad results. They found severe spasms. At that point in my life I had to stop doing any physical exercise. I've been going to the gym before that and when it got bad I couldn't even finish 2 or 3 sets of exercises. The moment my blood pressure and heart rate raised I got severe black pulsations in my eyes, feeling like I don't have enough air, like I'm about to pass out, etc. There were no correlation with stress, only physical activity.
After that I've got similar treatment to what I'm getting now, although in much smaller dosages and the problems went away for the most part.

So yeah, I would suggest getting an X ray of your neck to see if there's any changes and ultrasonic vein exam. It might be the culprit of your problems.

 

My blood pressure is slightly high as of my last checkup which was about two months go now. I was told to cut down on salt.

My Pulsating Tinnitus really is a huge mystery to me and one that I'm not sure I'll ever find out. I still haven't done an MRI, but that's only bc I can probably bet thousands that they aren't going to find anything.

The "good" news at this point here now over two months from my flight which began this all is that the "head buzz" noise has completely disappeared. Good, right? Not so fast. The pulsating tinnitus however still lingers. Some days MUCH quieter than others, but at other times its very much there. I got off of a fight on December 8th and my head buzz began just a few hours later. Two weeks later for whatever the reason Pulsatile Tinnitus began. Both sounds came and went until I reached where I'm at now. Better than I was? Yes. Completely healed? Far from it, and that still frustrates me to no end.

 

September 8th****

 

@Deamon22 how are you doing these days man?

 

I was doing actually pretty good, had nearly a month of 90% silence (except some very minor head noise that i think will stay). Unfortunately i got a cold this weekend and my tinnitus came back in both ears together with this nasty electrical headbuzz that i can feel all the time. But today it already feels a bit lower so i hope it was just a temporary spike from the cold. Thanks for asking buddy.

I am happy that you are slowly getting better. Since the trend generally seems good i'd say that whith time you will get back to your old baseline and the pulsatile T will hopefully fade.

 

I hope so too man. Right now as I type this i'm at baseline. Just wish I could stay there. I guess I should just be happy I've made some improvement, but I'll be honest I want the PT gone completely, now, and that's that. Seems to come on more during stressful times when I'm running around or at work for example walking back and forth. Who knows what the hel it is. Let's just hope it fades before my next flight and vacation in March

 

Absolutely you should already be happy since such an improvement is not certain for everyone. And i am sure you will improve even further, and with time you will maybe even go back to the point before your wedding spike.

And if not, i am very confident that Bi-modal stimulation will become a treatment in the next few years.

 

Hey @Smartone202

Your case is pretty much identical to mine. Generally, I have the head buzz which I can hear over everything and ringing if I plug my ears or I'm in a silent room - I get fleeting tinnitus very often which is loud but always goes away. Funnily enough, everyday at various points my buzz changes to very loud pulsatile tinnitus that can last hours. Sure enough, once the pulsatile tinnitus is done it shifts back to the buzz.

Not sure what's happening with my ears either, I haven't investigated it. It's been 19 months and I have good days and bads days, but I'd like to think that overall it's getting better.

Clearly it still bothers me enough to visit here though, which is disappointing considering how long I've dealt with tinnitus.

Take care,

Ross.

 

@Smartone202 any updates buddy? doing well i hope.

 

This week was a weird one. There were some days my T would be baseline for an ENTIRE day. This happened multiple days. Usually as of recent memory its back and forth between the baseline and the PT creeping in here and there.

But back to the story, on the other days I swear to you the Pulsatile Tinnitus was there MORE than normal to the point where I was being bothered by it more than I have in many, many weeks.

This entire process has been like a real battle that I can't explain. It's like whenever I think I'm on the road to recovery (even though I've accepted that my baseline post wedding T will now likely always remain) something goes wrong to bring me back to the harsh reality that is the Pulsatile T firing off in my ears. Also, I've mentioned this several times before but, the PT seems to almost always appear in moments of stress and/or running around/running errands.

So, long story short, still doing better, but by no means have I reached the promise land of feeling comfortable enough to write a true success story, yet.

 

@Smartone202 that sounds not to bad, i am very confident that with time it will always get better The headbuzz has subsided completely?

 

Yes
I can comfortably say that the head buzz is no more. I know I shouldn't be spoiled, I know, but the PT has to be gone soon as well. Not going to "settle" for that just bc the buzz is gone. But believe me I'm very thankful for how far I've come.

 

@Smartone202 Just a discussion.
Regular tinnitus disappears and PT remains, but PT also settling within past history.

A vein may be involved not an artery.
Two possibilities:
Mastoid Emissary vein behind ear
Venous cerebral thrombosis - With this anticoagulation or blood thinners

Doppler Ultrasound testing.

 

Awesome news, i am super happy for you You will see, give yourself time, protect your ears and in a fee months you can write your success story. Maybe also the post wedding spike will fade with time again.

 

Hey Greg. I am not sure what you are trying to say/explain. Is this you?

Today was a bad day for my PT. I actually had to run and catch a train and my PT acted up terribly after that for good hour or two. Just another example of how stress/moving fast triggers it.

For example I can't ever see myself playing basketball ever again. At least not right now. My PT would probably go so haywire I'd have to stop. I really wonder what is causing this.

 

@Smarttone202 It's hard to say what your problem might be. It appears that loud noise caused your regular T, but what is causing PT? Is there a weakness connection that has play with both your types of T?

It may be insufficient oxygen supply to a vein or artery - a circulation problem which could increase blood pressure and lowers so2. If there's circulation problems in the legs then it could be elsewhere too.

My relationship to PT.
I have blocked or weak arteries - heart, neck and legs. Along with thyroid problems.
My PT started seconds after twisting my bad leg that has a dead artery - peripheral artery disease.

 

I don't know Greg. I really don't. It just started one day not too long ago and while it has subsided a good bit, it is still there a lot of the time, at least once a day.

Moving along, I'm really looking for a little support today. The last few days my regular T has seemed to increase significantly to the point where it is giving me flashbacks of onset. I was in a VERY noisy restaurant this past Friday night (music loud on the speakers). Shortly after I got home I could tell my T has gotten higher pitched. Unreal. A spike I suppose, who knows. To be honest this isn't the first time i've experienced post noise spike in the last couple of months.

If this really is my new normal of life at 34 years old I legitimately consider myself handicapped at this point. Also haven't been sleeping well lately.

 

@Smartone202 I'm sorry for your spike and hopefully it's just an another temporary spike.

Some things to do with a spike is to lower your sodium and sugar intake as much as possible for a week. Drink water to the amount that you should drink according to weight. A hot bath or massage to release tension. Walking to keep your circulation moving. Breathing exercises. Any type of vitamins such as B12, Vitamin C, Magnesium to change blood flow movement for a few days. Get a fair amount of sleep and sleep in a comfortable position. Place a pillow under legs while sleeping to change circulation pattern. Tell yourself it will improve, but also try not to focus on it. I know that's easier said than done. Maybe play a computer game with no sound. Something low key like 5 roll.

Let us know how you doing. Please tag me soon.

 

I have noise-induced 'normal' T and a pulsating T that appeared a few weeks afterwards *at the same time that my hyperacusis appeared* The PT is not vascular (according to my MRI) so the only believable explanation I've been offered is that it's the ears becoming hyper-sensitive and hearing normal bodily noises that they used to ignore. This is backed up by the fact that I can hear the blood whooshing around my head with every footstep I take (this appeared at the same time too.) On some good days, I've had a strong cup of coffee and the turned them into bad days. So I think desensitising the auditory systems and calming the central nervous system seems the only way forward (+ time of course)

 

Happy New Year everyone. Wish I was back here with a positive update, but I’m back reaching out for support, as my T has seemed to return to the full fledge head buzz and pulsating mix in the last two weeks or so. Going through a very hard time right now and for those who have been following my story you’ll know it’s heartbreaking because I have tasted parts of the promise land by returning to only baseline T many times. This is the head buzz tinnitus’ first time back in MONTHS, as beforehand and for quite some time if you’ll look back at my posts, I was only dealing with mostly baseline only mixed in occasionally with the Pulsatile Tinnitus. The only thing that has changed for me recently, and I guess you could say this is a connection, is a significant amount of stress. I’ve gone through a rough patch in my dating life and have also not been sleeping well. I am going to keep a close eye on my relapse here to see if it fades away in time when the stress fades as well. From the start I have been a big believer in that anxiety and stress were a main cause of my earlier woes. In any event, I am very much struggling right now. Back at that onset point where it’s hard to look forward to doing anything and not much of anything is enjoyable at the moment. Praying I get back to baseline and can STAY there, but seeing as how that’s probably the 4th time I’ve said that in the last 4 months, its becoming more and more scary.

 

@Smartone202 Happy new year buddy. I would have hoped for you to come back with better news.. I am sure that your stress and lack of sleep are making it a bit worse. Same thing for me. I am also having a bit of a setback after my last cold, it feels bad when you get always a taste of silence just to have it taken away again shortly after.

I am sure in time we will get there again

 

Speaking of which, I am up right now for example at 6:40am EST. My T is completely baseline. No head buzz. No Pulsating T. It's amazing. Why can't it just stay this way