My Story with a Timeline (Every Step a Little Closer)

[xcrackia]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post online about my tinnitus. I've been extremely thankful for this site and its positive members towards reaching a resolution to T. I thought I would pass along my story and where I've been to date…Through this site I agree that tinnitus comes in "many" flavors and causes. I might be narrowing in on mine but it's been a long road this year. Below is my log of events and the assumption is that I might be dealing with a TMJ or neck issue.


Age: 36-37
Career: Software developer for 20+ years.
Social: Two kids & wife, working dad that plays soccer on the weekend.
Medical Conditions: Familial Erythrocytosis (natural high hemoglobin ~ 18.4-18.6) / Scoliosis (lower back)
Tinnitus: 98% left ear… 6hz to 8hz high pitch. Constant but can make it quiet by making my jaw go backward with tension. I use to be able to make it spike turning my head left all the way but relatively quiet turning my head right. Noticed when I jog the ring spikes every time my foot hits the ground. After a couple miles it almost non-existent.

July 2015

• Had a cavity filling on my lower left side that was incorrectly filled and required a return trip 2 days later to fix.

August 2015

• Awoke one morning where the left side of my neck was incredible pain. This lasted for 4-6 weeks.

September 2015

• My doctor ordered x-rays on my neck and found nothing. Was noticing on the left side of me something was feeling odd especially my vision .

December 2015

• Felt ill one day and returned home. The following week I started to feel dizzy or offset. December 23rd I started to feel numb on the left side of my face near temple area. Visited ER and nothing found after CAT scan / blood work.
• Week later I experienced a morning where I awoke extremely dizzy (vertigo). This would be the only serious spell of dizziness.

January 2016

• Feeling in left side of my throat. Felt like something was stuck in it. Almost to the point I was chocking. Lasted for 6-8 weeks.

February 2016

• Visit the GP doctor and he looks in the throat. Can see a little red in my throat on the left side but no pre/post drainage, no redness in ears. Figures it might be a small sinus infection so prescribes z-pack and prednisone.
• 5 days on meds and the last day I played a soccer game. Severely hurt my lower back in soccer game while making a twisting motion. I almost couldn't walk after the injury.
• Next morning… "ringing starts"
• Visit GP the same day and refers me to an Audiologist (result = no hearing loss)

March 2016

• Follow up with GP about audiologist. Sends me to another audiologist (result = no hearing loss)
• Frustrated with GP, I seek out a ENT. Result = nothing medical that he can see what is happening

April 2016

• 6-month cleaning at dentist. My orthodontist from 30 years ago is substituting for my dentist. Feels my jaw line after the cleaning and ask a very curious question to me… "Do you have troubles eating?". Asked in a way that he was expecting the answer to be yes… I just blew it off and said "no"

May 2016

• Start visiting a chiropractor for my back & tinnitus (his method for treating tinnitus was to pull down on my ear… odd… never helped IMO).

June 2016

• Chiropractor continuing. I ask the doc if he can use a TENS machine one me. Places it on my left shoulder and the other towards the left side of my neck. Noticed an immediate reduction in T afterwards.
• Lower back/hip pain starts to fire up. Now have sciatic pain radiating down my left leg (this continue to date).

July 2016

• Receive a sports medicine massage. Notices that my left hip appears to be out of alignment and that my leg gives the appearance of being shorter on the left side. She attempts to loosen things up.

August 2016

• GP recommends I visit another ENT. Audiologist at the ENT office stats no hearing loss but he could see my T frequency with my reactions. ENT see nothing medical, sinus, ear, etc… recommends a OAE test (result = no detectable ear damage). Refers me to Neurologists.

September 2016

• Another 6-month cleaning at dentist. Informed them that I appear to biting the left side of my inner cheek as I'm raw on my cheek. They checked my cavity filling and noticed it was still raised so they filed it down.
• Noticed two weeks after dentist visit, the numbness/tingling feeling in my left temple from last year is returning.

November 2016

• Neurologist visit. Best doctor visit of my life… extremely detailed on the history and examination, over an hour long examination. Due to my naturally high hemoglobin; the worry was around it being the cause or possibly a mini-stroke. She noticed the left muscles in my face/neck are extremely tight. Believes my tinnitus to being caused by something "mechanical". Demands that I run to the dentist immediately to get a bite guard made and then orders MRI/MRA to rule out an acoustic neuroma.
• MRI/MRA results come back clean.
• Bite guard received and started using
• I start P90X trying to build my core strength again. Currently 14 days in and I've noticed my T has dropped from an 8 to 2.
• My daughter took a photo of me for P90X and I noticed that my "head" isn't siting straight on my neck. My neck comes outward (skull) to inward (body) on my left side > "\\".
• Been having a lot of tension/pain at the base of my skull on the left side.
• Started feeling a tingling feeling in my left ear, like there was water in there.

December 2016 (future)

• Going to visit an upper cervical chiropractor.
• Follow up with the Neurologist.

I'm starting to agree with my Neurologist that it could be mechanical in nature. It appears the more I work on loosing my neck and back that things are starting to quiet somewhat. My next visits are not until mid-December but I'm interested to hear what the upper cervical chiropractor sees and the input from my Neurologist. My neurologist is hands down the best person I've ever seen and understood many facets of Tinnitus. I believe it's all about getting to the correct person who can listen and I'm hopefully that someday my T will resolve or at least I'll know that I gave it my best to figure out what could be the reason.

Brian =)

 

[The Red Viper]

Question: did you have or ever have headaches that wouldn't seem to go away? Not like a migraine, but just a headache, either on one side or both sides of the head. If so, where exactly did the headache hurt?

 

[xcrackia]

I've never experienced headaches through all of this so far. More muscle strains in the back of the skull when bending my head downward or to the left.

 

[xcrackia]

Thought I would provide a quick update. My appointment with the upper cervical chiropractor was moved up to yesterday. After a couple x-rays, my suspicions where confirmed. My neck is leaning to the right side away from my left ear where my tinnitus resides. I was provided my first adjustment yesterday evening and noticed a reduction in the intensity of the ringing along with a many nerves in the back of my skull firing up and down my spine. During my rest after the adjustment one of my legs almost jumped off the table. This morning my T is about a 1 out of 10.

Upper cervical doc also stated my right leg appears shorter because of my hips being off balance. Standing on a dual scale; I'm applying 15 extra lbs to my left side. Hope this can help anyone with T that might be mechanically caused. I'm staying hopeful for a resolution!

 

[The Red Viper]

Hope everything turns out ok for you! I'm rooting for you because like you I think my T is mechanical in nature as well.

 

[The Red Viper]

On another note I would take those x-rays with a grain of salt. I think everyone has some "misalignment" to some degree.

 

[Kayla L]

I know you wrote this last year but how are you doing?

 

[Kayla L]

Does the bite guard help?

 

[xcrackia]

Hi Kayla,

Bite guard provided little relief. Source of my problem is likely related to a motorcycle accident that happened a couple weeks before all the events above which combined created a ton of stress. Thus my left side of my neck locks up with tension and left ear gets loud (stress doesn't help).

Upper cervical chiropractor and focused neck massages have reduced the number of bad days to a minimal. I still have buzzing but lately it's reaching a point where I don't even notice it.

I hope the best for your experiences. Battle is tough but we'll all get through this.

Brian