Hearing My Eyeball Move... and Then Tinnitus

[Rozchan]

Hi all. For the past couple of months I have been lurking around these forums, ever since my tinnitus began to creep into my life a few months ago. My life has come to a complete halt since it started and I have become an emotional wreck. Anyway, I decided to be proactive today and share my story so far, and who knows, it may even turn into a success story - but every passing day I feel that hope slip away. I have experienced a couple of weird things that I don't seem to have found many others have mentioned that have me worried.

I'm going to be thorough, so this might be a long post!

To start off - 30 year old female, healthy diet, lots of exercise, barely drink, don't smoke, only ever been a handful of loud pubs/venues in my life(never been a fan of loud noise), only wear headphones now and then and the volume is never cranked up high. TV is usually a fairly low volume. No sudden loud sound exposure recently that I'm aware of that might have caused it. Never so much as heard a peep of ringing in my ears in my life until now, no ear problems except an ear infection I had when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old that lasted a couple of days. I dont take any medication save for the pill. I dont so much as take a paracetamol for a headache. No known allergies. Had a spell of depression at the beginning of the year, but have had it on/off in my life.

The constant ringing has been going on for 3 months now - but I feel my problem started possibly even a few months prior to that. It all started when one day I began to hear(this is the weird one) the movement of my eye buzzing in my right ear. Every time I move my eyes left or right, a split second buzz/vibration. When I first heard it I thought 'that's weird' but never thought much more of it, thinking it was just some passing sensation. This sensation has been present throughout this whole experience and is I believe to be the start of it all. (I've recently discovered if I put my head upside down it doesn't make the sound/vibration). Also sometimes I hear my neck movements vibrate ever so slightly more in my right ear too. Also when i tug or pull around my right ear, I get a creaking/squeaking sound which I don't get on my left..but I'm not sure if that's due to this. Anyway, I'm not sure how long this went on(as I wasn't paying attention to it) until I began to wake up in the mornings with a buzzing/vibration sensation for about 10 minutes or so in that same right ear. It would then go away and not show up again until the next morning when I woke up. This went on for maybe three weeks or so.

Then one day I got back from work and started doing my own stuff at home in the quiet when the buzzing was suddenly on and off in that ear. Sometimes it would stop for a few hours after coming home and sitting down for a rest, and then it would start up again. I started getting worried and stressed at this point. I noticed if I had any background noise on it would stop completely, and start buzzing again when I was in silence. I also felt my right ear felt blocked, or plugged, like something was in it. I can flex the muscles in my ear like when you yawn or swallow and found my good left ear was clicking fine, sounded clear, whilst the right ear didn't click at all. After looking up online I figured this might be ETD from the blocked and buzzing symptoms I was having - but it didn't seem to explain the eyeball noise. Perhaps because the tube/muscles are inflamed? I have also noticed that when i'm in the bath or close to a running tap my right ear drum seems to pop/spasm rapidly when I hear really low sounds, or when a passing car/plane goes past with a really low rumble my right ear vibrates as though its extra sensitive to these very low rumbles.

Now during this I had to go on a long coach journey that was six hours in total - during which time my ears popped numerous times. When I got home I was over the moon to find the popping of my ears had completely cleared away the buzzing. For the next few days I didnt hear a peep. I thought perhaps the popping had cleared my ears, perhaps it was ETD causing this and cleared some liquid out.

Unfortunately, it crept back after three days. It would be on and off. Then it set off a ringing in my left ear,that would come when the buzzing in my right ear stopped, and stopped when my right ear began buzzing. Then my right ear began buzzing CONSTANTLY, 24/7. I began to really panic as it stopped me from sleeping. Luckily my mum lent me a bluetooth speaker and by playing a low fan noise it stopped the buzzing completely.

After about a week and a half of constant buzzing in my right ear I woke up one morning and it had miraculously disappeared. Completely gone. I was over the moon. That is, until, slowly, the ringing in my left ear started.

It started off as a fading in and out sort of 'peep' sound. Then it got louder, and more constant. Over the course of the past two months, I have experienced complete hell with it. I have had multiple tones in my left ear and head, that used to change in tone or pattern every week or two. I have had screeching, ringing, peeping, whining, hissing/fizzing/low buzzing/vibrating all over my head, something that sounded like a distant car alarm or wonky toy losing its battery. Sometimes it was quiet, yet when a car went past it would immediately go loud and quiet again as soon as the car passed. At first I could block it out with background sounds at night for sleep, but now it seems to react to the sounds I put on to try and cover it, even though they're not loud - the sound of rainfall, or wind, or a fan etc - so that I can still hear weird ringing or squealing tones over the top. And because there is sometimes more than one tone going on, one tone might be masked by a background noise, but not the other. During this my right ear felt completely blocked, yet had absolutely no ringing in it. Nothing except the buzzing eyeball movement when I move my eyes.

And so I have had this ringing/hissing/squealing in my left ear now for over two months. My left ear is the 'good' ear I will add, has never felt blocked this whole time, has always popped as normal when i swallow/yawn etc. It is the normal feeling ear. My right ear had felt totally blocked, but has slowly started opening up again as I found was able to get air into it. As it started opening I have occasionally felt a dull ache/burning sensation, pressure or stiffness in it, sometimes a tickly feeling, and have heard a stickyness/crinkly sound when I flex my eardrum in that ear - a sound what I can sort of describe as something like a crinkling wet bag. I compare it to the left eardrum which sounds clean and quiet. It sometimes feels like it fuses shut now and again. It still hasn't totally opened or gone back to normal like my left ear. Worse still now ringing has appeared in my right ear now its started opening up. I also get an occasional buzz in my right ear as well (like back when it all first started), and if I clench my ear muscle, can sometimes hear a dull throbbing in my right ear. Not every time, though.

I have been unable to get decent sleep because of it for over a month now. I've been off work multiple times because of the anxiety and depression its causing me, and now complete lack of sleep because I cant block it out/gets louder when ear is on a pillow and has left me constantly tired and drained. I've completely broken down over this. If I manage to block out any ringing or squealing I get an allover head hiss/fizz which I can hear no matter what. I've lost all interest in life and feel trapped in my home. I stayed with my mum for a bit in the countryside to relieve my confined existence, and noticed my ears feeling pressure/popping a lot when we went driving up into the hills.

I have been to my doctor 5 times, he has not noticed anything wrong with my eardrums, no fluid, no infection, no wax. He simply said ETD from the symptoms i described and prescribed steroid nasal spray. Luckily on the first appointment with him i insisted he get me on a waiting list to see an ENT, good job too as I am having to wait four months to even get to see one(uk nhs is SLOW). That's three months of the wait up now, I'm still waiting for them to get in touch with an appointment. As well as that i've tried the herbal approach, steaming etc. All to no avail. He also prescribed me sleeping pills which worked for the first three days, then stopped working as I would wake up three hours later and not get to sleep again, so I ditched them.

I haven't had dizzyness, nor have I noticed any kind of hearing loss (though a visit to my ent might test that and tell me otherwise) or severe pain or headaches. No pulsing heartbeat or roaring sounds, no hypersensitivity to sounds and being outdoors doesnt seem to make it spike or anything. Clenching my jaw/teeth has no effect on the noise, though clenching my ear muscles really hard will make a ring sound in the left ear which disappears as soon as i stop.

I'm just at my wits end now. I have a hissing sound throughout my head and in both ears which feels like some sort of static noise headache, with an on off screech in my left ear or a constant mid tone that appears and disappears. The hissing wont stop. I try not to get upset about it but break down now and then when I hear it. I thought it was ETD, but is taking a hell of a long time to clear up if it is and i'm worried its going to leave me with this ringing for life. But hearing your eyeball movements vibrate in your ear when you move them isnt described anywhere as a symptom of ETD so i'm worried it is something more serious that wont clear up without an operation, or even at all.

Anyway I just wanted to vent and share to see if anyone has expereinced similar weird effects or an inkling as to what this might be. My appointment cant come soon enough..I was hoping it would have cleared away by then, but it doesn't look like its going to..

 

[billie48]

Anyway I just wanted to vent and share to see if anyone has expereinced similar weird effects or an inkling as to what this might be. My appointment cant come soon enough..I was hoping it would have cleared away by then, but it doesn't look like its going to..

Welcome to the forum. I feel for you anxiety and depression with your T. Your description in detail paints a picture of very unstable ears which is quite typical of new tinnitus. It can morph into different symptoms, such as cracking, beeping, change tone, multi-tone, jumping ears etc., etc. So in a way, many of your symptoms are shared by new T sufferers. Try not to be over-worried about it, as stress and anxiety can aggravate T.

Members here mostly are not doctors so you will need the ENT to find out if you have something going on in your ears. Saying that, I feel that many of your symptoms have been reported by members here, if not all alike but similar. I haven't heard much about hearing eye movement though. That is one thing you can ask the ENT what could have caused that. ENTs have their limits. If they can find something wrong with your ears, they can try fix it. Hopefully that will take care of your T or the symptoms will be much improved. Beyond that, they may not have a solution for T and they generally will say try live with it. If you don't find much response here, you can try post your conditions to the main support forum where there are more readership. Take care. God bless.

 

[Rozchan]

Many thanks for your reply. I am really trying my best not to lose it as ive already broken down so many times about it, but the constant worry in my head i cant get rid of is keeping me up all night, i havnt had a decent sleep in two months which isnt helping. I fall asleep for a few mins then wake up, over and over...
Another noise has appeared when i go to bed, a very low sort of rumble throughout my head...worst thing about this sound is i recognise it from before all this started..sometime this year after i moved into my new flat last october i would occasionally hear it at night, i used to think it was a neighbours electrical applience upstairs vibrating through the walls..

Thanks for the suggestion about posting it into support, ill probably summarise too so people dont have to read an essay!

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Rozchan Thanks for all the detailed information. I have a few questions.

Do you clench at night?
Have you been in an accident?
Are your headaches vestibular or sinus?
Burning in upper mouth?
Aching upper teeth?
Where does your neck hurt?
Any dental work done 3 months prior to first notice of tones?

Your tonic tensor tympani reactiveness can be caused from almost anything that relates to tinnitus,
but if there's a TMJ and neck problem then almost always the combination of these (3) will point to the neck and jaw as being the cause of tones. I will go more into this after you answer the questions.

 

[Rozchan]

Hi greg, to answer your questions:

I dont think i clench my teeth at night, though i think my teeth may touch from time to time, i havnt kept track.
I havnt been in an accident
I havnt noticed headaches, save perhaps a couple ive had recently due to being so damn tired from lack of sleep - i mentione the static one to kinda describe the sensation of the hissing feeling all over my head, but it isnt actually a headache.
No burning in mouth
No aching teeth anywhere
No neck pain - though i do get an ache now and again due to my physical job
No dental work for a while now, i did have a visit booked not long ago as ive not been for a general check up in ages but cancelled it as i was exausted from all this. I did have braces as a child but that was a long time ago and never experienced any problems during or since. I dont experience any jaw pain.

 

[Rozchan]

I forgot to add, now and again i sometimes turn my head suddenly and get a sort of whiplash/crick that gives me a sore back of the head/neck for a few minutes, but thats not all the time, and i dont remember any particular incident with it that set this off. Perhaps its related to it though. I do work a physical outdoor job with a lot of walking and repetitive carrying loads..perhaps years of this has been the culprit

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@Rozchan continued … Been continuing to examine your situation. Taking in account hearing your eye ball move and physical movement changes and what you said about your neck. I thought this: Some type of injury whiplash or too much lifting with forward head bending, neck injury by itself or developing TMJ/D from a neck problem which happens 87 to 96 percent of the time when there's a neck injury.

However TMJ/D can also cause the neck to be sore, but you have tone association from your neck so I think your neck is primary. Other involvement could include many things such as internal and external pterygoid, sternocleidomastoid and temporalis - causing your eye situation. Plus maybe some influence from occipital nerves and facet joints and deep fiber nerves in your neck.

I ran a computer program with most of your concerns and it points to all that I mentioned above, saying that either your sternocleidomastoid or TMJ/D is primary. It did add that this could contribute to ETD and/or a sinus infection as developing as secondary. Another mention was a possible disc problem within your back which I doubt other than possible C1 and C2 influence.

This is an article on TMJ, but your internal and external pterygoids very well could have some influence even if you don't have classic TMJ/D. There is therapy for this, and if you feel that this could be part of the problem then we can discuss therapy.
http://www.tmjhope.org/tmj-disorder-symptoms/

You probably have other neck muscle influence as well. There are also other sternocleidomastoid articles that talk more about eye ball involvement with tinnitus. So this muscle may be one of the problems. There is easy therapy for this muscle.
http://www.natural-solutions-for-muscle-pain.com/sternocleidomastoid-muscle.html

 

[Greg Sacramento]

I forgot to add, now and again i sometimes turn my head suddenly and get a sort of whiplash/crick that gives me a sore back of the head/neck for a few minutes, but thats not all the time, and i dont remember any particular incident with it that set this off. Perhaps its related to it though. I do work a physical outdoor job with a lot of walking and repetitive carrying loads..perhaps years of this has been the culprit

It's probably your neck even if discomfort isn't all the time. I would suspect your sternocleidomastoids, other muscles - I can give you a list. Also the occipital nerves in your neck at the base of your scull. All of this can contribute to eyes and possible ETD and sinus. So you may have ETD as well. I just saw more messages above. I was typing my message above before I read your additional comments. It's appears that lifting or forward head bending is part of your problem.

 

[Rozchan]

It's probably your neck even if discomfort isn't all the time. I would suspect your sternocleidomastoids, other muscles - I can give you a list. Also the occipital nerves in your neck at the base of your scull. All of this can contribute to eyes and possible ETD and sinus. So you may have ETD as well.

Oh if you could list that would be great - it could be something to discuss with the ENT so they wont just immediately brush me off with 'tinnitus, get used to it'. Yes ive felt like ive had etd in my right ear..something about my right ear feels and sounds wrong, compared to my left ear, despite all the noise being moved into the left ear now. Except the weird eyeball vibrations in the right ear of course. Nothing up with my eyes at least.
God i hope this is treatable

 

[Rozchan]

There is another problem ive considered; i do have an impacted wisdom tooth on the left, which stopped growing some time ago. It is totally out of my gums, it just grew out horizontally. Theres no inflammation or pain with it or anywhere on the jaw..but everything is racing through my head as a possability. But i believe all this started with my right ear, and whatever has caused the sound of buzzing in it when i move my eye, because i had 0 ringing ever before this. Still i will ask my dentist at the next appointment...

 

[Greg Sacramento]

Depending on where you live - I would try to find a neurologist that specializes only in cervical problems also with specialization on tinnitus. They are very to find. There's only a few and most of them are employed by large university hospitals. There are a few doctors that specialize in both cranial, facial and the jaw. There's is only one north of SF Bay in California. Not sure what the population is north of San Francisco in California, but it probably 5 million.

There is a list of muscles and the involvement percentages to physical tinnitus.
Masseter - 51%
Scalene - 41%
Semispinalis Capitis - 37%
Sternocleidomastoid - 31% With eye tenderness or tinnitus influence **97%
Digastric - 22% With TMJ much higher
Facet Joint Tenderness - even if not really felt - 71%
Deep Vertical Fibers in the Neck - 83%
Temporalis - 15% more if headaches, facial, mouth, sinus, ETD, eye pain is present.
Paraspinal Thoracic - 16%
Suboccipital - 41%
--------------------
Clicking of Jaw with TMD/J - 47%
Locking of Jaw with TMJ/D - 23%
TTTS - almost only temporary with both acoustic jaw and neck trauma
Hyperacusis - common - some studies state 70%, some higher

 

[Rozchan]

Many thanks for the list. I live in the uk so not sure of the chances of finding someone specializing in all 3! I also read up more on this muscle and things like sleeping on your stomach with your head to the side can do it..ive slept like this for years but ive been trying to train myself out of it since this started.