- Mar 13, 2019
- 5
- Tinnitus Since
- 11/2018
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Rapid shaking of head/neck or focus on ear
Appologies for the long post. My intention would be to find someone with similar symptoms like me as most people I know and talk to have a different situation than me (where they have more of a pure tone that is on 100% but only varies in volume)
I developed my tinnitus in November 2018 - So around 4-5 months ago.
I have two theories about what was the reason behind it. I got some water in my right ear one day at a waterpark. I shook my head quite hard and got it out. The next day I went back to the waterpark and had the feeling that I got water in my left ear. Tried shaking my head, but had the feeling it was still there. One day later I still had the feeling of water in the ear so I "violently" shook my head in great downward force repetative times (yea.. stupid....) While I don't remember the excact moment I noticed the tinnitus (I also find this strange as it should be a defining moment..) It was either directly following the shaking of the head or the morning after.
Two theories about what triggered the tinnitus:
1. The shaking of the head resulted in complications in the neck/jaw/head that triggered it (supported a bit by some of the symptoms I will mention later)
2. The intense focus that "there is something ie. water, in my ear, over a couple of days made the brain discover the sound(s) that were there that was already filtered out by the brain.
I have quite good hearing. A bit of a loss in the high frequencies, but not likely that this is the cause of the tinnitus. (according to the doctor) I also have normal MR and x-ray of inner ear, head and neck. All cleared from several specialists in terms of ear issues etc. Chiro says I have tention in the back of my neck (but this can obviosuly also be because of the stress I have been under)
The tinnitus started off as a hizz in my left ear. It went on like that for about 4-5 days until one morning I woke up and it was gone. I was very relieved. Sadly it came back late in the evening. Over the following weeks and months it started "living" a lot and today it is almost in constant change from day to day or even minute to minute.
I feel a bit confused, lost and alone with my symptoms.
1. Many days (like 2-3 days a week) it can be almost totally silent. In order to hear it I would need to go to a quiet room and place the hands over my ears. I would then notice a very, very low buzz. This is something I for sure would not notice if I would not check for it and is obviously not an issue for me. Often these periods will last for whole days and be connected (so I would have two whole days in a row without any sound) - No, its not habituation etc. its simply not there.
2. During night and rest its almost always very silent. I can hear it, but just like a low hum. There are for sure nights that are more sound than others, but 90% its very quiet. This often continues in the morning, but after getting out of bed I sometimes can hear when its going to be a "noisy day" it then starts building up. I can have days where its "on" the whole day until I go to bed. It then quiets down again and the next day will usually be a good day.
3. On "not quiet days" it lives a lot. Its mostly a couple of tones in my left ear, but sometimes also in my right ear. This would then be a different sound than the one in the left ear. It feels like pulling a string. From a very low buzz/hum that goes all the way up to the more classical puretone. Sometimes another tone on top of this that is more up/down. Some days its more like a "head buzz" and not the feeling its coming from the ear. Some days its fairly quiet, so much I don't notice it much of the time, but there can be sudden spikes that I notice like every 5-10 minutes. It seems to come and go and volume moves up and down very frequently. Makes me fear that habituation would be more difficult. Good thing is that mostly its not very high in volume
4. I am able to modulate the sound a lot! I can do several movements that increase the volume of the T a lot: Wide open of mouth, trusting the jaw forward, bending neck backwards to the right, pressing my head down (think this is because of activating my neck muscles and not the pressure on my head...) pinching my lips together and moving chin down, pressing a finger in behind the ear will also modulate the sound. My chiropractor is not able to reproduce this by doing the same movements on my head and jaw. Its only when I use my muscles to do these movements so it made him conclude its not because of a compressed nerve (unless the nerve is compressed only when my muscles are activated) I have been able to almost Complete (ref. point 1) remove the sound by doing some of these movements or pressing some points in the back of my neck. Sometimes it seems that chewing and swallowing triggers the sound (increases in volume or turns on)
5. Even after monitoring this for 4-5 months now I am not able to pinpoint what would trigger a day of "silence" or a day of "noise". One experience I had on a silent day was falling to sleep in my car (passenger seat
) for only 5 minutes and then waking up to tinnitus. Was this my brain turning it on or the fact that the neck was bent backwards - no idea. Today, I had a moderate sound day. I went to the dentist who had to fix a tooth in the upper back of my mouth (close to the ear that has the most T) She used anestesis and once I was done the T was "gone" (ref. point 1) Was it because of the anestesis, the fact I was tensing my muscles over a period or time, or keeping the yaw open for a long period of time.. no idea. Chiropractic work seems to make it much better, but sometimes it can come back with a revenge during the night or following day. Same with massage that seems to quiet it down a lot. Also a warm shower has also turned it off or made it better several times.
6. I also have a lot of crackling sounds in my eustatian tubes and ear that has gone on since the onset of T. It feels like the crackling sound also varies based on the sound/no sound or pitch of the sound. Not sure if this is simply because of the focus on the ear that has made the brain turn up the focus/sound on this vs what it has in the past.
This has had a massive negative impact on my life. Having said that I'm sure I can move on and with time be able to do as many as my friends who has T with no issues as they have learned their brain to filter it out and/or don't react to it… But what keeps me back a bit in "letting go" is the search for a "fix" If this is due to muscle tension etc. and that can be fixed or if there is a solution or someone here with similar experience with these type of symptoms it would be great to hear your story. I'm thankful for the quiet days and the fact that its fairly low volume and farily quiet during nights.. but the noisy days and the whole thing still kinda.. sucks
Again, sorry for the long post and happy to hear any feedback, experience or encouragement
I developed my tinnitus in November 2018 - So around 4-5 months ago.
I have two theories about what was the reason behind it. I got some water in my right ear one day at a waterpark. I shook my head quite hard and got it out. The next day I went back to the waterpark and had the feeling that I got water in my left ear. Tried shaking my head, but had the feeling it was still there. One day later I still had the feeling of water in the ear so I "violently" shook my head in great downward force repetative times (yea.. stupid....) While I don't remember the excact moment I noticed the tinnitus (I also find this strange as it should be a defining moment..) It was either directly following the shaking of the head or the morning after.
Two theories about what triggered the tinnitus:
1. The shaking of the head resulted in complications in the neck/jaw/head that triggered it (supported a bit by some of the symptoms I will mention later)
2. The intense focus that "there is something ie. water, in my ear, over a couple of days made the brain discover the sound(s) that were there that was already filtered out by the brain.
I have quite good hearing. A bit of a loss in the high frequencies, but not likely that this is the cause of the tinnitus. (according to the doctor) I also have normal MR and x-ray of inner ear, head and neck. All cleared from several specialists in terms of ear issues etc. Chiro says I have tention in the back of my neck (but this can obviosuly also be because of the stress I have been under)
The tinnitus started off as a hizz in my left ear. It went on like that for about 4-5 days until one morning I woke up and it was gone. I was very relieved. Sadly it came back late in the evening. Over the following weeks and months it started "living" a lot and today it is almost in constant change from day to day or even minute to minute.
I feel a bit confused, lost and alone with my symptoms.
1. Many days (like 2-3 days a week) it can be almost totally silent. In order to hear it I would need to go to a quiet room and place the hands over my ears. I would then notice a very, very low buzz. This is something I for sure would not notice if I would not check for it and is obviously not an issue for me. Often these periods will last for whole days and be connected (so I would have two whole days in a row without any sound) - No, its not habituation etc. its simply not there.
2. During night and rest its almost always very silent. I can hear it, but just like a low hum. There are for sure nights that are more sound than others, but 90% its very quiet. This often continues in the morning, but after getting out of bed I sometimes can hear when its going to be a "noisy day" it then starts building up. I can have days where its "on" the whole day until I go to bed. It then quiets down again and the next day will usually be a good day.
3. On "not quiet days" it lives a lot. Its mostly a couple of tones in my left ear, but sometimes also in my right ear. This would then be a different sound than the one in the left ear. It feels like pulling a string. From a very low buzz/hum that goes all the way up to the more classical puretone. Sometimes another tone on top of this that is more up/down. Some days its more like a "head buzz" and not the feeling its coming from the ear. Some days its fairly quiet, so much I don't notice it much of the time, but there can be sudden spikes that I notice like every 5-10 minutes. It seems to come and go and volume moves up and down very frequently. Makes me fear that habituation would be more difficult. Good thing is that mostly its not very high in volume
4. I am able to modulate the sound a lot! I can do several movements that increase the volume of the T a lot: Wide open of mouth, trusting the jaw forward, bending neck backwards to the right, pressing my head down (think this is because of activating my neck muscles and not the pressure on my head...) pinching my lips together and moving chin down, pressing a finger in behind the ear will also modulate the sound. My chiropractor is not able to reproduce this by doing the same movements on my head and jaw. Its only when I use my muscles to do these movements so it made him conclude its not because of a compressed nerve (unless the nerve is compressed only when my muscles are activated) I have been able to almost Complete (ref. point 1) remove the sound by doing some of these movements or pressing some points in the back of my neck. Sometimes it seems that chewing and swallowing triggers the sound (increases in volume or turns on)
5. Even after monitoring this for 4-5 months now I am not able to pinpoint what would trigger a day of "silence" or a day of "noise". One experience I had on a silent day was falling to sleep in my car (passenger seat
) for only 5 minutes and then waking up to tinnitus. Was this my brain turning it on or the fact that the neck was bent backwards - no idea. Today, I had a moderate sound day. I went to the dentist who had to fix a tooth in the upper back of my mouth (close to the ear that has the most T) She used anestesis and once I was done the T was "gone" (ref. point 1) Was it because of the anestesis, the fact I was tensing my muscles over a period or time, or keeping the yaw open for a long period of time.. no idea. Chiropractic work seems to make it much better, but sometimes it can come back with a revenge during the night or following day. Same with massage that seems to quiet it down a lot. Also a warm shower has also turned it off or made it better several times.6. I also have a lot of crackling sounds in my eustatian tubes and ear that has gone on since the onset of T. It feels like the crackling sound also varies based on the sound/no sound or pitch of the sound. Not sure if this is simply because of the focus on the ear that has made the brain turn up the focus/sound on this vs what it has in the past.
This has had a massive negative impact on my life. Having said that I'm sure I can move on and with time be able to do as many as my friends who has T with no issues as they have learned their brain to filter it out and/or don't react to it… But what keeps me back a bit in "letting go" is the search for a "fix" If this is due to muscle tension etc. and that can be fixed or if there is a solution or someone here with similar experience with these type of symptoms it would be great to hear your story. I'm thankful for the quiet days and the fact that its fairly low volume and farily quiet during nights.. but the noisy days and the whole thing still kinda.. sucks
Again, sorry for the long post and happy to hear any feedback, experience or encouragement
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