A Tinnitus-Free Day: Why Is Tinnitus Regarded as a Biomechanical or Neurological Issue?

[Andy Busuttil]

I had an experience recently that completely blew me away. I have had tinnitus for a number of years now. On occasion, it gets extremely loud, and after seeing a specialist, these occasions were diagnosed by him as 'atypical migraines.' Other times, it is not as present. At the moment, it is a 'normal' level for me, which means it is as loud as background noise and at a moderate/high level.

A few days ago, I had a totally TINNITUS-FREE day. My life was absolutely silent. It was an amazing and edifying experience. My 'noise' levels were back to what they were before I experienced tinnitus. If it is the case that tinnitus is caused by a breakdown somewhere in the biological or neurological systems of our bodies, how on Earth could I have had this absolutely tinnitus-free day? If something is 'broken,' how does it spontaneously fix itself? I'm back, as I mentioned above, to my usual tinnitus levels, but this experience told me something about the nature of this awful disorder.

There was nothing that I could point to that I had done differently that could have caused this fleeting recovery. I had no idea about any food, medications, daily routine, or anything that could have led to this. I'm going to carefully watch from now on and see if there is something that got past me that could have led to this on this one occasion in many years of experiencing this phenomenon.

 

[Cbush]

Please keep us posted if you have any idea why you had a tinnitus-free day.

 

[BuzzyBee]

There was nothing that I could point to that I had done differently that could have caused this fleeting recovery. I had no idea about any food, medications, daily routine, or anything that could have led to this. I'm going to carefully watch from now on and see if there is something that got past me that could have led to this on this one occasion in many years of experiencing this phenomenon.

That is absolutely amazing! You were actually totally free of it for a day and not just back to your low baseline.

I'm eight years in and so grateful for days when it just sounds like cicadas. Mine's usually like static on a TV or standing next to a fountain or faucet or waterfall. I took a flight yesterday, and the decibel level in the cabin was 78 for most of the flight. I could hear my tinnitus over it, and the whole time, I was terrified of what the ramifications of being in that loud environment for 2 hours would be. So far, it's back to the usual running faucet level.

The point I was trying to get to was I also have days where it's less reactive and just stays low-key cicada level, and I can't figure out what triggers the lowering. I just drank 2 1/2 cups of coffee and it's the same as always. A glass of wine doesn't do anything. The minute I walk outside into the noise, it will crank up, and noise-canceling headphones and earplugs don't do a thing.

In the Tinnitus Talk Podcast with Dirk de Ridder, he says that for certain people, tinnitus will go "central" and just become part of you and that the only way to get rid of it will be by "separating it from the self" with psychedelics or Ketamine, then using typical therapies like hearing aids or meditation or maybe medications (?) to keep it at bay. If this is true, how can it be quiet for a day?

Sorry to ramble here (that was the coffee), but if someone ever figures out the answer to this and can treat it, I hope they make millions and millions of dollars and that their lives are blessed.

@Andy Busuttil, thank you for sharing that little bit of hope.

 

[UKBloke]

I have had tinnitus for a number of years now.

A number of years or a number of decades??? Anyhow, thank you for posting this; it's fascinating.

I've got a theory that tinnitus comes about as the result of a genetic build flaw within a neural voltage-gating mechanism. I wrote a layman's "paper" about it here if you're interested in taking a look.

The human body generates its own electricity. However, I've never believed the operating voltages needed to sustain our organic life are fixed to a narrow degree; there must be quite some latitude within the system. I believe it's this latitude that eventually exposes certain flawed circuits, resulting in things like tinnitus.

The fact that we're essentially electrical generators has led me to become much more open to the idea that the types of food we eat and drink, our moods, the weather, etc., can all feed into the mix. Our bodies are constantly changing, too. I remember @Juan often speaking about how his tinnitus and hyperacusis had evolved over the years—oftentimes for the better. Perhaps this is what's happening on your side? Regardless, long may it continue.

 

[Note]

Is your tinnitus noise-induced?

 

[Andy Busuttil]

Hi folks. I'll try to answer all your questions. A number of decades. I've had tinnitus at increased levels for at least 30 years and cannot remember a day free of tinnitus like this! The tinnitus I experience is not noise-induced. It is there constantly. It's a whistling sound, and sometimes it is extremely loud. I live well with it. I am lucky to have the kind of psychological makeup that deals with it in a way that it does not impose itself on me as severely as it does some others. Right now, I'm sitting in bed typing away on my laptop, and the tinnitus is as loud as the sound my fingers make on the keys, and that is pretty loud! It does affect my audio engineering work, but I'm aware of the frequencies that my hearing loss affects, and I have developed strategies to deal with them effectively.

@UKBloke, I also think that tiredness affects tinnitus levels. I'm not banking on having more 'tinnitus-free days.' If they happen, they happen, but I won't let this thing drive or ruin my life.

The one thing I can point to that 'may' have made a difference to me is that I have been put on Cialis 5 mg daily by my urologist following radical prostatectomy. I ran out of them, haven't renewed the script yet, and two days after stopping them, I had this amazing 'tinnitus-free day.' I was extremely grateful to have had a quiet day again, which I thought was never ever going to happen, but it has gone, and I don't know if I'll get it back. I'm going to refill the prescription probably tomorrow and kick off on these meds again and see what happens. I'm going to play with the schedule of taking them and resting from them. I'll keep everyone informed.

 

[momus]

My guess is that the tinnitus was still present that day, but you weren't aware of it. It's like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it. Does it make a sound? Sure, the sound waves would still have been transmitted through the air, but if no one heard it...

Humans are very, very complicated. Especially our brains, where you have more possible synaptic connections than there are atoms in the known universe. So, some of the connections took a detour off Hwy 49 that day. It would be similar to having a broken leg. If you didn't try to stand on it, you might forget that it was broken. I think the little bent hairs inside your ear were still vibrating, but if they didn't get transmitted to a center of the brain that would notice it, then no tinnitus effect.

What's strange is when this happens to me, when I have days or even weeks of non noticed tinnitus, I don't notice it that much. Probably because, for decades, I didn't have tinnitus. Now, I've had it for decades. Who knows? I have given up trying to figure it out. Honestly, unless it's super loud, my life goes on exactly the same as if I didn't have it. But if I have a noisy neighbor or something, I am much more reactive about that. It really amps up my temper, and there's fear in there somewhere, too. People who don't have tinnitus just can't relate to that.

 

[Andy Busuttil]

My guess is that the tinnitus was still present that day, but you weren't aware of it.

I don't agree with not being aware of it. I am always aware of it, but on that day, I had no tinnitus. Plain and simple. I also have to say I have NEVER had a day like that since tinnitus became an issue for me.

 

[RunningMan]

I don't agree with not being aware of it. I am always aware of it, but on that day, I had no tinnitus. Plain and simple. I also have to say I have NEVER had a day like that since tinnitus became an issue for me.

The only time I wasn't aware of tinnitus throughout the day was when I had a much milder tinnitus a few years ago, and even then, I would hear it first thing every morning when I woke up. Mine varies to a lower, broken, sizzling hiss sound sometimes, but I can still hear that over the TV and everything. I've never had it disappear for even a day in the last 26 months of becoming severe.

 

[BuzzyBee]

My guess is that the tinnitus was still present that day, but you weren't aware of it. It's like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it. Does it make a sound? Sure, the sound waves would still have been transmitted through the air, but if no one heard it...

I think I get what you're saying. The tinnitus is still there, but on a "tinnitus-free day," the broken gateway that causes us to hear it constantly is actually working (for some reason), so we don't hear it.

 

[ECP]

The one thing I can point to that 'may' have made a difference to me is that I have been put on Cialis 5 mg daily by my urologist following radical prostatectomy. I ran out of them, haven't renewed the script yet, and two days after stopping them, I had this amazing 'tinnitus-free day.' I was extremely grateful to have had a quiet day again, which I thought was never ever going to happen, but it has gone, and I don't know if I'll get it back. I'm going to refill the prescription probably tomorrow and kick off on these meds again and see what happens. I'm going to play with the schedule of taking them and resting from them. I'll keep everyone informed.

Hello, it's been a while since you've posted. Have you had more tinnitus-free days since last April? And did you ever figure out if starting and stopping Cialis had anything to do with it?

 

[geraldinehum]

My guess is that the tinnitus was still present that day, but you weren't aware of it. It's like if a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it. Does it make a sound? Sure, the sound waves would still have been transmitted through the air, but if no one heard it...

Humans are very, very complicated. Especially our brains, where you have more possible synaptic connections than there are atoms in the known universe. So, some of the connections took a detour off Hwy 49 that day. It would be similar to having a broken leg. If you didn't try to stand on it, you might forget that it was broken. I think the little bent hairs inside your ear were still vibrating, but if they didn't get transmitted to a center of the brain that would notice it, then no tinnitus effect.

What's strange is when this happens to me, when I have days or even weeks of non noticed tinnitus, I don't notice it that much. Probably because, for decades, I didn't have tinnitus. Now, I've had it for decades. Who knows? I have given up trying to figure it out. Honestly, unless it's super loud, my life goes on exactly the same as if I didn't have it. But if I have a noisy neighbor or something, I am much more reactive about that. It really amps up my temper, and there's fear in there somewhere, too. People who don't have tinnitus just can't relate to that.

No, I cannot agree with this. I have also experienced the sudden realization that there is no humming sound, like the noise of a diesel engine. This has happened to me twice—once for a three-day period and another time for a single evening.

I have been hearing this hum since the mid-1980s. Initially, it was intermittent, but over the past five years, it has become a continuous background noise. While it no longer causes me undue distress, it did take time to adjust. In some ways, it's almost easier now that I've accepted it as a constant. I no longer try to stop it with techniques like jaw stretching or masking noises.

The absolute silence I experienced on those two occasions over the past few years was unmistakable and felt physical.

 

[HighleyTall]

I had an experience recently that completely blew me away. I have had tinnitus for a number of years now. On occasion, it gets extremely loud, and after seeing a specialist, these occasions were diagnosed by him as 'atypical migraines.' Other times, it is not as present. At the moment, it is a 'normal' level for me, which means it is as loud as background noise and at a moderate/high level.

A few days ago, I had a totally TINNITUS-FREE day. My life was absolutely silent. It was an amazing and edifying experience. My 'noise' levels were back to what they were before I experienced tinnitus. If it is the case that tinnitus is caused by a breakdown somewhere in the biological or neurological systems of our bodies, how on Earth could I have had this absolutely tinnitus-free day? If something is 'broken,' how does it spontaneously fix itself? I'm back, as I mentioned above, to my usual tinnitus levels, but this experience told me something about the nature of this awful disorder.

There was nothing that I could point to that I had done differently that could have caused this fleeting recovery. I had no idea about any food, medications, daily routine, or anything that could have led to this. I'm going to carefully watch from now on and see if there is something that got past me that could have led to this on this one occasion in many years of experiencing this phenomenon.

Does a tinnitus-free day mean you woke up without tinnitus and went to sleep without it? And then the next day, your tinnitus returned to its 'normal' level?