Brain Stoopid!

[Martin G]

Four months in and I still can't figure out why our brains are doing this to us.

I mean, I assumed brains were meant to be smart . . . simply by nature of what they are. Actually, I take that back. I know they're smart. It's just that for some inexplicable reason . . . they seem to have dropped the ball when it comes to Tinnitus.

Aside from obviously giving us (well, most of us) intellect and cognition etc. . . . the other thing the brain is 'usually' really good at, is protecting itself and the rest of the body from any kind of potential threat.

There are so many amazing things the brain does to care for us . . . to minimize our discomfort and to heal us.

SO WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH YTINNITUS?

Where's all the thoughtfulness and consideration when we really need it?

Ok . . . so in reality, it might think it's being clever . . . making all these noises to try and compensate for some auditory input which it detects as missing.

Alright . . . props for that, I guess . . . maybe.

But once it starts generating these sounds . . . why for goodness sake doesn't it get the message that they are not only 'not welcome' . . . but are in fact causing us major distress?

At least in my untrained, non-medical mind . . . I can't help but think . . . 'If you're smart and considerate enough, for example . . . to temporarily turn off that feeling of pressure from my bladder, if you know I'm not in position to 'go' right at that moment , just to spare me some minor, short-term discomfort . . . why aren't you doing anything about stopping or toning down this horrendous cacophony that's assaulting my head and ears non-stop, every day and night?'

Unfortunately . . . it looks as though my brain's turned out to be a bit of an idiot.

I mean . . . they're supposed to be the most advanced 'super computers' on the planet!

It's just a pity they appear to be running 'Windows' as operating systems.

Anyway . . . that's enough brain-bashing for now.

My story (the abridged version) is . . .

TINNITUS: Woke up with it one morning . . . completely out of the blue.

HYPERACUSIS: Started a few weeks after the Tinnitus.

PULSATILE TINNITUS: Started a few weeks after the Hyperacusis.

DOCTOR/BLOOD TEST/CAT SCAN/AUDIOGRAM/ENT/MRI/DENTIST: All fine, normal, unremarkable etc.

Despite hearing being 'normal' . . . I assume my prognosis is more than likely 'hidden hearing loss'. Possibly due to years of cruisin' with the top down (and the jams pumped up).

All symptoms have continued to worsen over the weeks and months.

Whole situation is wearing me down . . . but as it's relatively 'early days', I'm trying to be positive and hopeful that things might improve to some degree over time.

So far . . . the two things online which have helped me maintain at least some semblance of sanity since this whole mental ear/brain thing started happening . . . are 'mynoise.net' . . . and reading this Forum.

Have a number of questions, which I guess I'll post in 'Support'. However there is one I would initially like some feedback on.

When I first researched tinnitus . . . I read about Pulsatile T and remember thinking . . . 'Doesn't sound too good. Well, at least I don't have that'.

Cut to several weeks later . . . and I began to develop those symptoms. However it was and has continued to only be intermittent.

When someone has both tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus . . . are the two sounds usually different? As in the tinnitus might be a ringing . . . but the pulsatile tinnitus is a whooshing?

I ask because my pulsatile tinnitus is the same sound as my tinnitus . . . except that it pulses with my heartbeat. It always 'goes Pulsatile' when I'm walking or doing any other kind of physical activity. But on the other hand . . . it can also start randomly, even when I'm just sitting around.

I'm wondering, due to the fact my pulsatile tinnitus isn't constant and the fact that it's the same sound as my 'regular' tinnitus . . . does that mean it might not actually be pulsatile tinnitus, in the truest sense of the term?

Is there such a thing as regular tinnitus, which just happens to occasionally act in a Pulsatile manner?

Ok . . . that's it for now.

Thanks for listening.

 

[GregCA]

When someone has both tinnitus and pulsatile tinnitus . . . are the two sounds usually different? As in the tinnitus might be a ringing . . . but the pulsatile tinnitus is a whooshing?

I don't know that there is a rule about this (or that anyone has studied this particular aspect). I have a continuous high pitch T and sporadic low pitch pulsatile T. I'm not sure that my pulsatile is exactly in sync with my heartbeat, just that it seems to pulsate.

 

[Contrast]

How do you have both pusatile and non pusatile tinnitus, did a doctor confirm this?
They are not related conditions unlike tinnitus and hyperacusis which evidently do go together.

Recent research shows hearing loss outside of the hearing voice range can also contribute to tinnitus such as hearing in background noise or complex environments such as music, meaning tonal audiograms are inaccurate. So I'm suggesting you do have hearing loss.

I have a questions regarding your hyperacusis?

Is your hyperacusis described as painful, abnormal loudness or both?

Sorry about what you are going too, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Striveon]

Agreed, brain stoopid !

 

[Martin G]

I don't know that there is a rule about this (or that anyone has studied this particular aspect). I have a continuous high pitch T and sporadic low pitch pulsatile T. I'm not sure that my pulsatile is exactly in sync with my heartbeat, just that it seems to pulsate.

I wondered the same thing at first too . . . but every time it would start pulsing, I'd put my fingers on my neck . . . and sure enough . . . it was always in perfect sync with my heartbeat.
Does physical exertion activate your Pulsatile T? Like if you ran around the block . . . would it start up?

 

[Martin G]

How do you have both pusatile and non pusatile tinnitus, did a doctor confirm this?
They are not related conditions unlike tinnitus and hyperacusis which evidently do go together.

Hey, thanks for the welcome. I'm aware they are unrelated conditions. All I know is, I have 'regular' T . . . which is a constant sound. It can do all kinds of weird acrobatics . . . but it's always more or less linear. However on regular occasions, the exact same high pitched sound starts 'pulsing' in exact time with my heartbeat.
I'd read on here that some people have both T & PT . . . so at first I thought I must have been one of those people. But because it's the same sound for both and because it's not Pulsatile all the time . . . I thought I 'd just throw it out there and see what people had to say.
I'm new to this and I'm still trying to figure out what's going on.
I just wondered if maybe there was some kind of hybrid T . . . which just happens to 'go Pulsatile' from time to time. Or does the mere fact that my T acts Pulsatile at all, mean that I definitely have two, separate, unrelated conditions? Tinnitus . . . and Pulsatile Tinnitus.

Recent research shows hearing loss outside of the hearing voice range can also contribute to tinnitus such as hearing in background noise or complex environments such as music, meaning tonal audiograms are inaccurate. So I'm suggesting you do have hearing loss.

Yes, I agree. That's why I said I assumed I had 'hidden hearing loss'. Something which I wasn't aware of until I read about it on this Forum.

I have a questions regarding your hyperacusis?
Is your hyperacusis described as painful, abnormal loudness or both?

Afraid I'm not up on what the 'official' descriptions actual mean. All I can tell you is that everything sounds hella loud! Like a lot of other people here . . . certain things like the sound of plates and silverware are especially bad. And I can't even be in the same room as a plastic bag.
I'm not sure what 'painful' means in relation to Hyperacusis . . . however, by far . . . the worst of my symptoms is the terrible 'distortion' I get from nearby sounds, including peoples voices. This is most noticeable in my left ear. It's so sensitive to sound that I can get the distortion even by just scratching my head. Or if I sniff or snort . . . just the sound of the air going in or out of my nostrils is enough to trigger distortion.
So in answer to your question . . . I assume I have the 'abnormal loudness' thing. The distortion hurts my ears. But I don't know if that's what's meant by 'painful' H, or whether that's something else altogether.

 

[GregCA]

I wondered the same thing at first too . . . but every time it would start pulsing, I'd put my fingers on my neck . . . and sure enough . . . it was always in perfect sync with my heartbeat.
Does physical exertion activate your Pulsatile T? Like if you ran around the block . . . would it start up?

Yes there is a component to that for me. Also the way my body is positioned: it's more frequent when laying down than standing.

 

[PortalNaut]

Hey @Martin G , yup T sucks and it is strange that the brain adapts in such a bad way to the ear/nerve problem.

If you really want to know more about what or how the brain is processing, lookup a Ted Talk on Tinnitus, presented by a German professor. He has some diagrams of complicated circuit modeling of the brain's hearing process and where he thinks the circuit malfunctions to cause T. I of course can't vouch for his model, but it gives insight into the complexity.

I think (or am hoping) we can calm the brain's malfunctioning down, and retrain some of its pathways so T is reduced or eliminated. The brain (+mind) can adapt but part of our trouble is there is no rhyme or reason sometimes, and probably every T sufferer experiences different conditions and malfunctioning. Yours is a good case of complexity. It goes beyond me, but as for many "in the first year" you need to hang in there and care for your ears, your sanity, and refocus on what gives you meaning. Remember that constant focus on T and its affects prevent one from being free, and in my opinion can make attachment to the T sounds something interpreted as desired. Again, my opinion, but find a stance that lets you live while you help yourself, and of being aware without overboard focus.

Good luck!

 

[Rajin]

Welcome, so if input is missing to the brain at some point, supposed to adjust to the new norm. Get used to the new input and reprogram. Stop creating noise on its own. Correct. This is maybe called habituation, getting used to it.

 

[Martin G]

Thanks for that @PortalNaut . . . you're right about the 'no rhyme or reason' . . . and I'll check out the German dude.
Am doing my best to try and focus on other things. So far, I'm managing to still work at a full-time job . . . which is good in that it distracts me from my T & H.
But on the flip-side . . . I work in an office which is attached to a really noisy factory. Most of the time I don't require protection . . . but I do have to monitor my environment constantly . . . alternating between ear plugs and noise-cancelling headphones at a moments notice, depending on what exactly is happening around me. So in that regard, on one level I'm kind of forced to be conscious of my T & H throughout the day.

 

[Martin G]

Thanks for the welcome @Rajin
I'm afraid I don't know exactly what my 'new norm' is yet. My T has been changing so much over the 4-5 months I've had it, that I'm kind of waiting to see if it settles on one type of sound and stays there or not.
Who knows . . . maybe it will never 'stabilize'. Maybe it will permanently be changing . . . and that will be my 'norm'.
Either way . . . I'd like to think I could 'get used to it' . . . but so far it's pretty hard when all these sounds are so unnatural and intrusive.

 

[Martin G]

Hey . . . I've never posted on a Forum before and I'm wondering if it's common for things you type in a post to be altered when it's actually uploaded?
In my first post . . . I wrote a sentence in 'all caps', which said WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH (and then I put a capital 'T', with a question mark after it.
But when it uploaded . . . the T and ? had somehow changed to . . . 'YTINNITUS?'
Just wondering if anyone knows what would have caused that to happen? Seems weird.
Thanks.

 

[Martin G]

Hi everyone.

I'm afraid I'm still confused about something . . .

From what I've read on here . . . am I correct in understanding that Tinnitus and Pulsatile Tinnitus are two completely unrelated conditions . . . with Pulsatile Tinnitus usually having vascular origins and (regular) Tinnitus usually having hearing-loss related or other (non-vascular) origins?

If that is the case . . . then the thing I don't get is . . . how come the sound of my intermittent PT is the same sound as my constant T? For two things that are supposed to be unrelated . . . isn't that some kind of 'relationship'?

For example, I hadn't had much noticeable PT during the last couple of days . . . but last night I woke up at 3:30am with loud PT in my right ear. Not sure if the cause of it starting in the middle of the night was a bad dream which raised my heart-rate or the way my ear was pressed against the pillow . . . or something else.

But as usual . . . the sound of the PT wasn't a whooshing or a thumping or any of the more common sounds I read about. It was just my regular, high-pitched T sound . . . except wildly pulsating with my heartbeat. It sounded very much like someone playing the triangle in a high school orchestra, striking it repeatedly.

Does anyone else have constant T & intermittent PT, which are the same sound . . . and also feel as though both symptoms seem to be part of the 'same thing' . . . rather than two totally separate, unrelated conditions? Just asking.