Hello.
I've been visiting this forum on and off for years. As seen in the title, I've had my fair share of issues in life.
When I was a little kid, in school, somebody exploded a carton of those box drinks right next to me and I had some ringing after. I learned to live with that little beeping and it was alright.
Flash forward to my second year of University, a few weeks after my 21st birthday. I was involved in a hit and run and woke up a few hours later in the hospital. They told me they did a head CT, spine CT, and all kinds of tests. I was lucky. I broke some teeth and had massive swelling in my jaw but no broken bones nor brain bleed and the spine was deemed fine too. The TBI caused some memory and concentration issues but I've mostly adapted and I think I'm up to 90% of my former self.
I had some physical therapy and I had a splint made to cover my repaired teeth, as I had started grinding (from stress?) during my first years of University and with the accident, it just made sense to finally tackle that.
I've been using the splint every night and it helps me feel at ease and sleep. Without it, I wake up with a numb outer ear shell and in tons of pain, so I am grateful to have it.
It's been a few years and I've been on and off struggling. I have tinnitus, which seems to be directly impacted by muscular tension which is why I am not sure if it's related to blood flow or whatever the theories are. I got tested and I don't have any tumours or any dip in the audiogram to explain my tinnitus.
I can modulate the tinnitus, and sometimes certain head movements like extension of the neck or chin tucks (but wrongly, like, moving the whole neck and head down to my breast) will cause an episode of fleeting tinnitus. The fleeting tinnitus lasts only a short time but it scares the crap out of me. I is varying frequencies, mostly high frequencies but sometimes a low frequency hum, too. And I get the feeling like any other sound is "gone" for a few seconds. It scares me a lot.
I'm a bit scared it means that my vertebral or basilar artery might be fucked up but then, the ringing is never in time with my pulse.
I can't explain why movements have such an effect on my tinnitus. I can now predict which side is more tense when my mother tries and massage me because that's where either the fleeting tinnitus was or because that side is louder. I also know if I am tense because that's when the tinnitus is louder, too.
I'd say, without the tense neck, my tinnitus is a 2/10 or 3/10? So I can live with that.
It's the fleeting tinnitus and the spikes that make me anxious.
I'm a bit stuck and unsure what to do. The physical therapy I had was manual therapy where the therapist works on jaw muscles. Since the accident, when I shrug, I can feel and hear my muscles make slight cracking noises. Sometimes, my upper spine and neck crack a bit - which usually doesn't hurt. My therapist used to tell me I'm too tense.
I don't really know what I want from you guys. I'd love to find a path to healing because the accident was almost 5 years ago and I'm not over it. It changed my life what with the jaw and dental issues and I have the suspicion that it caused some dysbalance in my muscles.
I've been visiting this forum on and off for years. As seen in the title, I've had my fair share of issues in life.
When I was a little kid, in school, somebody exploded a carton of those box drinks right next to me and I had some ringing after. I learned to live with that little beeping and it was alright.
Flash forward to my second year of University, a few weeks after my 21st birthday. I was involved in a hit and run and woke up a few hours later in the hospital. They told me they did a head CT, spine CT, and all kinds of tests. I was lucky. I broke some teeth and had massive swelling in my jaw but no broken bones nor brain bleed and the spine was deemed fine too. The TBI caused some memory and concentration issues but I've mostly adapted and I think I'm up to 90% of my former self.
I had some physical therapy and I had a splint made to cover my repaired teeth, as I had started grinding (from stress?) during my first years of University and with the accident, it just made sense to finally tackle that.
I've been using the splint every night and it helps me feel at ease and sleep. Without it, I wake up with a numb outer ear shell and in tons of pain, so I am grateful to have it.
It's been a few years and I've been on and off struggling. I have tinnitus, which seems to be directly impacted by muscular tension which is why I am not sure if it's related to blood flow or whatever the theories are. I got tested and I don't have any tumours or any dip in the audiogram to explain my tinnitus.
I can modulate the tinnitus, and sometimes certain head movements like extension of the neck or chin tucks (but wrongly, like, moving the whole neck and head down to my breast) will cause an episode of fleeting tinnitus. The fleeting tinnitus lasts only a short time but it scares the crap out of me. I is varying frequencies, mostly high frequencies but sometimes a low frequency hum, too. And I get the feeling like any other sound is "gone" for a few seconds. It scares me a lot.
I'm a bit scared it means that my vertebral or basilar artery might be fucked up but then, the ringing is never in time with my pulse.
I can't explain why movements have such an effect on my tinnitus. I can now predict which side is more tense when my mother tries and massage me because that's where either the fleeting tinnitus was or because that side is louder. I also know if I am tense because that's when the tinnitus is louder, too.
I'd say, without the tense neck, my tinnitus is a 2/10 or 3/10? So I can live with that.
It's the fleeting tinnitus and the spikes that make me anxious.
I'm a bit stuck and unsure what to do. The physical therapy I had was manual therapy where the therapist works on jaw muscles. Since the accident, when I shrug, I can feel and hear my muscles make slight cracking noises. Sometimes, my upper spine and neck crack a bit - which usually doesn't hurt. My therapist used to tell me I'm too tense.
I don't really know what I want from you guys. I'd love to find a path to healing because the accident was almost 5 years ago and I'm not over it. It changed my life what with the jaw and dental issues and I have the suspicion that it caused some dysbalance in my muscles.
