I don't know if you have read up on the vagus nerve
@Hariz Nonis, I've actually studied this fairly extensively for many years, and so feel I know a fair amount about it. -- Here's an
excellent 10-minute video on the function of the vagus nerve, and 3 powerful ways to stimulate it. 1) Cold, 2) Bitters, 3) Coffee Enemas (which he says is the most powerful of all). As I watched it, I continued to think VN stimulation would likely be very good for treating some of the underlying dynamics of tinnitus.
There are actually a good number of ways to stimulate the vagus nerve, one of them being gargling. I assume that the tinnitus reactions you're having while gargling are due to the "auricular branch" of the vagus nerve being stimulated. But there could be other factors responsible for this as well.
I recently made a post about the vagus nerve and gut function on a different forum. Will paste it below the dotted line. The post was made on a thread which was discussing Craniocervical Instability and Atlantoaxcial Instability. I believe both of these conditions can contribute to gut dysfunction and tinnitus. Here's a
LINK to that thread in case you'd want to check it out.
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If I may offer a hypothesis (most of which is derived from my own experience): -- I believe a neck injury/whiplash can shift the atlas enough so that the cranial nerves exiting the brainstem become "pinched" (and compromised). Of the 12 cranial nerves, the vagus nerve is the longest, and meanders all the way through the gut and ends in the colon. It's critical for the healthy functioning of many organs and glands along the way as well.
So normal functioning of the gut--where a very large percentage of the immune system resides--is dependent on a healthy vagus nerve, giving energy to the entire GI tract. If the vagus nerve is struggling, then digestion can become poor, nutritional status can be impaired (no matter how well we eat), and the immune system becomes compromised (often as a result of leaky gut syndrome). This can lead to opportunistic infections that would not otherwise occur. AND, I've come to believe, autoimmune disorders.
I've thought about this much more, but this is the brief version of my own situation. if this scenario is accurate for other people with ME/CFS, perhaps it could explain your own circumstances. Is it possible your injured neck may have indirectly contributed to your autoimmune disorder? Which leads to the question, "Could effectively treating that neck injury help correct the autoimmune disorder? -- I'm not putting out this rhetorical question for just your situation, but for others on this forum as well, especially those who have known serious neck issues.
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The graphic below is all connected with the things I've been writing about:
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