I Guess This Is Where I Say Hi.

[Trinity]

Hello everyone,

I am here looking for support and hopefully answers (as many of you are as well). My journey with T started years ago but I have to tell a bit of a back story first as I think it's relevant to my T.

About 13 years ago, I took an elbow to the jaw while sparring in kung fu class. It didn't feel like a hard hit but it certainly made me stop for a minute. The next day, I laid down to do my sit-ups and the room started flip flopping. This lasted for hours and unnerved me as you can imagine. After that, the room would spin whenever I rolled over in bed. That feeling gradually subsided on its own and over the next few years, it would come and go in severity ( I later found out this was BPPV). This is where the T comes in. Sometime during those years, I noticed a faint buzzing in my right ear. It was low enough that I could ignore it for years. My dad had tinnitus so I figured that's what it was, read up on it on the internet, knew there was no treatment and so never sought treatment for it.

Over the years, both my BPPV and T got bad enough that I told my GP who sent me to an ENT. I was guardedly hopeful during my appt with the ENT. Her diagnosis: I had no hearing loss, I did have BPPV, and there was no cure for my T, so learn to live with it. She did a positioning excercise for my BPPV which didn't work. I went back after a month, she did the same treatment and so far it has worked.

Since then, my T has gotten worse. I mean screaming worse. I have the basic buzzing in my right ear but now have the high pitched tonal T on top of it and it's spreading to my left ear. It used to be I could only hear it at night but now it's pretty much all the time unless I have loud music on (which we all know is not good).

I tell you all this because I wonder if my BPPV has something to do with my T. Maybe the fact that I did not get treatment for my BPPV right away has caused some inner ear damage that is showing itself through T? I also have severe neck/shoulder pain on my right side (likely from too much computer time) which I wonder if it's related as well.

Thank you to everyone who read this far. I know there are no answers but I think sharing stories can be helpful and at the very least, theraputic.

~ Trinity

 

[Mike K]

Well if anything, this sounds like the most badass cause of tinnitus I've heard of. I'm sorry to hear that the T has gotten worse for you :/ I wish I could offer some insight but I do not know much about BPPV. Perhaps the blow caused fluid to enter into the inner ear, causing you to have vertigo and tinnitus.

I hope things sort themselves out, but it's good to hear that it's not bothering you entirely too much!

 

[Trinity]

Thanks Mike. At this point, I don't think my T will ever go away but I do try to stay positive.

 

[billie48]

Welcome @Trinity , one Canadian to another across the great land of Canada. I was there visiting Ottawa last year, and visited the Parliament and the War Museum. Nice place.

You muscle tightness and shoulder pain can make T worse. So try get some chiro or massage therapy to help. If anything, try some relaxing exercises to help soften or exercise the stiff muscle.

I agree we need to stay positive. There are things about T which we can't control, but there are areas which we can do better in controlling, such as our reaction to it. That is where positivity can come into play to make it easier to live with T. Being positive can help reduce the anxiety and stress level, which in turn will often help to reduce T level. I had ultra high pitched dog whistle T and then severe H. They turned me into a mess initially. But over time I learn to use positivity and other strategies to help me turnaround my suffering. Hope you will do well too over time. Don't panic nor despair. Better days will come.