Day by Day Fluctuating Tinnitus

[PaulFi]

I did have panick/anxiety attacks in the months preceding due to the death of a loved one. I was on pins and needles. So now, I'm worried my T is more of a brain issue and can't be treated like ETD. That said, I do have ETD and my T changes with movement. Hoping to find at least a bit of relief.

Hi Lilah
My T changes/pulses a bit with movement too. I also have sandy sounds whenever I swallow and clicking in left ear. As well as my T I have suspected sonethsom else is going bon on my left side as it is somatic and the swallowing sandy sounds and crackling. How would you know if you have ETD?

Thanks
Paul

 

[Lilah]

Hi Lilah
My T changes/pulses a bit with movement too. I also have sandy sounds whenever I swallow and clicking in left ear. As well as my T I have suspected sonethsom else is going bon on my left side as it is somatic and the swallowing sandy sounds and crackling. How would you know if you have ETD?

Thanks
Paul

I had negative ear pressure in my first tympanometry test which indicated ETD. However, the second time, my pressure was normal. Did you see the ENT yet? The ENT would check if you have other issues like inflammation, fluid, etc.

 

[Stu1983]

Mine seems to be going from moderate one day to severe the next. How loud is your tinnitus? Is it intrusive?

 

[PeteJ]

I yawned or moved my jaw momentarily and my t changed from the usual to a constant single tone. It did return to the usual but what is that? I don't think I have tmj or if you can have very minor tmj, would that be a sign?
Or is it just one of several potential fluctuations?

 

[Mathew Gould]

Must be awesome when it actually goes away! That's actually a good sign, sometimes when people report that later on it does go on together. Mine doesn't do that, it just goes from quiet/moderate to very loud but it's never gone.

Mine can fluctuate after naps or waking up say a few hours before I set my alarm. The other day I woke up with tinnitus at 8am, then at 11am when I reawoke it was gone.

 

[Mathew Gould]

It's common for both acoustic trauma and for those with more physical aspects. So many things could be cause that can also relate to brain processing or just brain processing. It's impossible to find a list or discussion for all reasons unless pulsatile tinnitus has involvement. On the lists from gathering are cranial nerves 9, 10 and 11. The 11th being most prominent of the cranial nerves. Muscles - sternocleidomastoid and trapezius may be weak and influence the 11th cranial nerve. Vascular insufficiency, posture position, jaw-nerves/muscles, teeth, soft palate, throat, sinus, any of the many facial complexes, ear wax. Meniere's.

Much less - Jugular vein or jugular foramen syndrome, carotid artery, Horner's syndrome, Wallenberg's small vessel syndromes, endolymphatic hydrops, idiopathic intracranial hypertension, intrathoracic goiter with hyperthyroidism, thyroid, superior vena cana syndrome, Sigmoid sinus diverticulum, vestibular schwannoma, infection and steroid withdrawals. Other arteries including the vertebral artery.

I know what you're saying, but all the muscles, nerves, etc. that you said stay consistent from day to day while people's tinnitus fluctuates. Also @Greg Sacramento I have issues looking down, up and touching my ears to my shoulder. However my looking left and right isn't so bad. Are those symptoms possible related to my neck being jammed into maybe my head? Like occiput issues.

 

[Agrajag364]

Mine can fluctuate after naps or waking up say a few hours before I set my alarm. The other day I woke up with tinnitus at 8am, then at 11am when I reawoke it was gone.

That's really weird. Mine does that too actually, I can wake up at 4 am and it's quiet, then again at 7 am and it's loud. I wonder about bruxism and tinnitus.

 

[Mathew Gould]

You mean people with noise induced tinnitus are less likely to have these day-to-day fluctuations? Think almost everybody has it constantly.

I got tinnitus in June of 2017. For the first 6 months it was constant. Since January of 2018 it's always there still, but 50% of the time it's either barely audible and/or not annoying.

 

[Mathew Gould]

That's really weird. Mine does that too actually, I can wake up at 4 am and it's quiet, then again at 7 am and it's loud. I wonder about bruxism and tinnitus.

I got a splint that helped move my jaw back into position. I was wearing my splint like 18 hours a day like a pacifier. I've recently tried to cut that down since the last week to 12 hours a day.

 

[Agrajag364]

I got a splint that helped move my jaw back into position. I was wearing my splint like 18 hours a day like a pacifier. I've recently tried to cut that down since the last week to 12 hours a day.

How exciting. Do you think it was the splint that made the tinnitus quieter?

There is a post in the success stories forum here from someone who had it go after 4 years as a result of a splint

I had a custom splint made to try to help with this constant headache I had but I can't seem to get to sleep with it in since tinnitus.

 

[dellwas]

Mine can fluctuate after naps or waking up say a few hours before I set my alarm. The other day I woke up with tinnitus at 8am, then at 11am when I reawoke it was gone.

Had that happen today, but in reverse. Very mild, laid down for an hour and awoke to it louder.

 

[Mathew Gould]

How exciting. Do you think it was the splint that made the tinnitus quieter?

There is a post in the success stories forum here from someone who had it go after 4 years as a result of a splint

I had a custom splint made to try to help with this constant headache I had but I can't seem to get to sleep with it in since tinnitus.

I just think it helped moved my jaw into a better position.. In the beginning when I would first get my splint tightened, my tinnitus would go away completely for like a day or two, then come back.

 

[Mathew Gould]

Is your fluctuating tinnitus just random days or is it more like mine where you get a block of good days in a row then blocks of bad days in a row? It's almost like something builds up in my system that gives me bad days of tinnitus, then it's released which follows by good days. I usually get 4-5 bad days in a row, then 4-5 good days in a row then back to bad days and so on.

 

[Andy9214]

I've been noticing that some days I could hear ringing in my ear and others it'll feel like it's my entire head.

Has anyone else had this?

Why does it constantly change?

 

[Mister Muso]

Yep. Hour to hour, day to day, month to month it's constantly evolving.

As long as it's not getting continually louder, and any pain isn't worsening, I try not to worry about it and to carry on with life, avoiding loud environments as far as possible.

 

[boliston]

Mine changes constantly - there are times when it sounds like it's in my head rather than in ears and this is more unpleasant - My tinnitus is mainly 'reactive' in nature so fairly quiet when there is no background noise but louder when there is background noise.

 

[Tex]

It changes a lot, all the time. Some days the left is so loud that I don't notice the right. The good days are when the left settles down from a steady eeeeeeeeeee.

 

[Agrajag364]

Many people find their tinnitus is constant in loudness. Others find it is extremely variable. Mine varies not week by week, but day by day. One day it can be quiet enough to be masked by television, the next day heard over motorway traffic.

It seems to me there must be a reason this kind of variability can happen. Has anybody discussed this daily variability phenomenon with an ENT? Of course most of them would just dismiss it, but I wonder if there is a particular association with TMJ, nightly teeth grinding, or some such.

 

[Tinniger]

ENTs have no knowledge of tinnitus. They are the completely wrong contact persons.

 

[Forever hopeful]

@Agrajag364

I have the same thing. I've had it for two months now - very high-pitched and cannot be masked. Drives me absolutely crazy. It can change by the hour. Right now I'm in the middle of a spike I think. I don't really know because I don't have a lot of history with spikes because my tinnitus fluctuates. But it's been pretty high for two days now following dealing with a very loud child in my car.

I do wonder if I will be able to habituate and that really scares me that I won't be able to due to its fluctuating nature. I find myself getting up in the morning and trying to gauge what kind of day it's going to be by how loud my ears are. Usually it's one day bad, one day good but now it's been two bad bad days. I hope this is just a spike and not a worsening of my tinnitus. Tinnitus is hard enough to deal with but to deal with fluctuating tinnitus is such a pain and really frustrating. And what's even more frustrating is that I can't figure out what the triggers are or what my baseline is There is no rhyme or reason to it. One night I had a lot of wine and my ears were really loud the next day. Another day I had three margaritas and my ears were fine the next day. So I can't figure out if alcohol exacerbates it or not. I've been watching my salt, barely eating anything for that matter since there is so much sodium in everything. Still my ears are ringing away.


I hope we both get some relief soon...

 

[LilSass]

Hi @Agrajag364! My tinnitus is exactly like that. Although I'm glad for quiet days I wonder how I'll be able to habituate. It's been 9 months & not much has changed except this past month I've had more consecutive days of quiet. I emailed Barry Keats from Arches Tinnitus website & he felt it was somatic in nature - possibly TMJ. I'm not sure myself, but will look into. Hope you're well!