Hello. Tinnitus Is Just One of a Series of Health Issues.

Firstly, a ‘Hello’ from me. I’ve spent a few hours reading here before posting this, so I feel I know some of you already.

I’ve not yet sought treatment for tinnitus, although I have mentioned it in passing to doctors when discussing other issues.

I’m a man in his late fifties from the UK and have had Tinnitus for a few years’ now. It’s a high-pitched ringing in my ears that seems to be getting gradually worse; whereas a couple of years ago I only noticed it in silence, not in general activity, it is now always there regardless of the noise outside. On its own, it’s annoying rather than debilitating; however, it comes as another thing on top of other health issues where I seem to be slowly drowning.

I can find no obvious reason for my tinnitus. I was around high-pitched noise in my twenties, but I always used ear defenders. I’ve ridden motorcycles at speed for donkey’s years, but always used ear plugs to stop wind noise. Most of my work has been office-based with little risk of ear damage. I did go to loud discos and band performances in my twenties, but probably no more than the average 20-something. I suspect that it’s related to my other issues or medicines that I’ve taken

I’m late coming here as I viewed my tinnitus as a lower priority target to the other issues that I’m struggling with. I feel I’ve been battering my head against a brick wall (itself tending to bring on ringing in the ears) and at times I’ve got so frustrated I’ve done that literally (and, no, it didn’t help).

I’m still trying to take in what I’ve read so far. I have to admit. It’s all been a bit depressing.

I’m pragmatic and, probably more by training than nature, optimistic. On a wet, grey day, whilst everyone around me is moaning about miserable weather I’m thinking and saying “We know we’re going to get wet days and dry days, so a wet day like this is only to be expected, and it fills the reservoirs”. However, I’m now really struggling.

Please, can you give me the benefit of your experience and knowledge to help me here?

Posts in this ‘Introduce Yourself’ section do seem to contain a lot on someone’s case rather than putting that in a separate section as I often see, so I’ll put my full story in a second post on this thread, written so that mods can move it elsewhere if they think that’s better.

I look forward to spending some time with you.

 

Here is the story of why I am here.

Me

I’m a man in my late fifties who has always taken care of his ears, for example always wearing ear defenders around loud noise and wearing ear plugs to guard against wind noise from motorcycle helmets.

I’m relatively intelligent, pragmatic, fact-based rather than artistic and a little on the introverted and psychologically-vulnerable side. I tend to face up to problems and wouldn’t call myself anxious.

My Tinnitus

My tinnitus is a high-pitched ringing in my ears that seems to be getting gradually worse.

Whereas a couple of years ago I only noticed it in silence, not in general activity, it is now always there regardless of the noise outside.

I haven’t identified anything that makes it better or worse. Food, alcohol, caffeine, exercise, sleep and banging my head against a brick wall all seem to make no difference.

Drug Interactions

The only drug that I’m currently taking is the awakeness-promotor Modafinil, at low doses, which I’ve taken for 5 years now. I notice no change in my tinnitus when I don’t take the Modafinil.

Although Google doesn’t show any links to tinnitus, the following drugs that I’ve taken might have some relevance:

@ The tricyclic antidepressant Imipramine/Tofranil with the anticonvulsant/painkiller Gabapentin/Neurontin at fairly low doses for 2 years as treatment for nose pain, with a secondary aim of treating possible depression (see below). I stopped these because my nose pain was under reasonable control and these drugs had lethargy listed as possible side-effects.

@ The SSRI antidepressant Sertraline/Lustral at medium doses for 3 months before I discontinued it as it exacerbated my restless legs (RLS).

@ Gabapentin/Neurontin for a second time, this time for 3 months at a medium dose, for RLS.

Other Issues and Conditions

My other issues and conditions are, in rough chronological order, as follows:

@ Mild Depression. Over 30+ years I’ve had a series of high-status jobs and was high-functioning, but occasionally would have short spells of personal struggle that were fairly quickly sorted with CBT and counselling

@ Lethargy, tiredness, excessive daytime sleepiness and a mental struggle to do anything. Although over the years sometimes I’ve felt a tiny amount ‘Tired All The Time’ (who doesn’t?), around 5 years’ ago after a stressful period at work and home I was struck with a very quick onset of mental and physical lethargy that made work impossible. It’s a mental lethargy rather than a physical one, feeling as if I have lead weights over my brain, eyes and shoulders that I have to lift to do anything other than vegetate. My mind is still sharp and I readily do crosswords and other brain challenges. I exercise well, going further and faster than most people my age, so this isn’t traditional ME/CFS. I’m now getting really, really frustrated with this.

@ Nose and Tooth pain. A few weeks after leaving work for a rest, my nose erupted with intense pain from the site of a turbinectomy (drilling out my nose to size to reduce snoring that started after a broken nose). It disappeared with strong painkillers then came back after I started to get depressed (see below). The medics could find no cause, so I joined the list of people with idiopathic pain that was probably psychosomatic (from my brain misfiring, rather than personality). Two years of the standard antidepressant and anticonvulsant treatment gradually saw this off. It does reappear in a very mild form for a day or 2 for no apparent reason and then disappears just as mysteriously. Around 2 years ago I got a similar pain in a tooth that had had a lot of work done to it a long time ago, but extensive examination revealed no consistent explanantion.

@ Depression. My lethargy started to get me down and, some 3 months after it started, I began to feel depressed. I coped with this until a few months ago with exercise and self-help, aided by the antidepressants for my nose pain for a while. Alas, the lethargy and attendant frustration got too much and I started to feel slightly suicidal in a ‘they shoot horses, don’t they?’ way (to be clear, I am not going to commit suicide and this isn’t a cry for help). Sertraline took the edge off for a while but exacerbated my restless legs (RLS) too much so I came off it.

@ Sleep Apnoea. Three years ago a home sleep study showed that I had sleep apnoea. A CPAP machine controlled the physical apnoea and gave me a little benefit. I still had a high arousal rate for Central Apnoeas (essentially my brain forgets to tell my lungs to breath), which a change to a more advance machine stopped. The new machine gave little extra benefit and a proper sleep study showed that I had Periodic Leg Movements Syndrome/Disorder (PLMS/PLMD). The first line of attack for PLMS, Gabapentin, doesn’t seem to be working and I’ve not had the application/energy/resolve to go back to the sleep centre.

@ Restless Legs (RLS). For over 30 years I’ve felt extremely mild RLS sensations that caused only observation not discomfort. Then 2 1/2 years ago I started to get restless legs in the evening and at night that have at times been frustrating and disruptive. I can’t identify causes and even exercising until my legs want to drop off has little effect. I’ve not yet sought medical intervention, other than indirectly through the sleep centre’s PLMS.

@ Air hunger. Over the past 3 years I’ve suffered from occasional air hunger, where I feel as if I’m suffocating. My oxygen levels (SATs) are within limits. I suspect the cause is psychological rather than physical, often occurring when I see or think of situations where someone is trapped, such as a film scene with a cowboy’s being left buried up to his neck in sand. I don’t have the anxiety or other psychological issues that I find Googling causes.

@ Feeling Cr@p. I can’t think of a better description than cr@p. It’s a roll-up of the lethargy, frustration and depression manifesting themselves in physical form. It’s a bit like a hangover without the headache and alcohol consumption.

@ Feeling cold, particularly in hands and feet. At the first sign of my feeling cold, my hands and feet go into iceberg mode.

Investigations and Solutions Tried

Relevant investigations and solutions I’ve tried are as follows:

@ Self-help. I’ve read enough self-help books to build a small house with. I exercise regularly to well over the recommended amounts (2 hr bike ride with heart rate over 75% max, anyone?)

@ CBT and counselling. CBT helped a great deal, counselling only a little. I saw a psychiatrist but he was useless. I haven’t tried a medically-qualified psychologiest yet as I’d have to pay (lots) and I’m a bit sceptical.

@ Drugs. Drugs don’t seem to work for me. I’ve not tried illegal ones yet.

@ Sleep study. See above.

@ Blood tests & Endocrinologist. I did a whole series of blood tests that showed a lot of variable results in the ‘not the best’ range for thyroid, vitamins and minerals, but nothing that stood out. I tried self-medicating anyway and found nothing that worked. I saw an endocrinologist but nothing on his side stood out.

@ Neurologist. I saw a neurologist for my nose then recently saw another as possible rare causes popped into the endocrinologist’s head, with nothing found. I mentioned tinnitus in passing but he didn’t pick up on it.

@ Meditation. I’ve tried meditation on-and-off without much success, other than making my tinnitus more obvious.

 

I have very high-pitched tinnitus too. Have you found it necessary to mask it at the ugly spiking time? You can use some good nature sounds like heavy rain, waves/wind, cicadas and even shower or faucet sound.

Incidentally I also have sleep apnea for 20+ years and have been wearing CPAP. Recently a poster mentioned using AveoTSD to help with his sleep apnea. I may give it a try as it is not too expensive and quite portable for travel.

You are surely loaded with health challenges. I have empathy for you as I also have my own sets of health challenges. Take good care. God bless.

 

Thanks. Despite my being aware of it all the time, I've not tried to mask it out. To the contrary, in the hope that it is psychological, I've tried to ignore it in the hope that will bore my brain into giving up whatever it's trying to do.

I'm not travelling much at the moment. When I do, I go by car so I can easily take and use my full AutoCPAP set-up.

Take care. God bless.