New, from Sunny Florida

[Brian Reade]

Hello everyone. About 7 months ago I started experiencing occasional numbness in my arms which progressed to include pain in my left shoulder. I've also had lower back pain on and off for at least 15 years. In July I went to a chiropractor and found, through xrays, that I have scoliosis (curved spine) but also that some of my neck vertebra were dislocated. Must be from when I fell on my outdoor steps in the rain prior to all this; I remember the back of my head hitting the top step. The chiropractor was able to adjust everything, and I feel great (no more numbness or tingling in arms), although my lower back requires followup treatments. However after my neck adjustment I started hearing a very very very high pitched frequency inside my head. It sounds like those high sounds when you take a hearing test. The sound seems to be coming from inside my head and going out the right ear. I'm wondering if the inner ear has been dislocated. I guess I should see an Audiologist?

 

[billie48]

Welcome to TT. Tinnitus can be caused by so many things that it may be hard to pin point to the exact cause. Usually chiropractor can help some people with the T by adjusting the inbalance in muscle and joints. In fact, there are chiros doing ads about their service to help T sufferers. So perhaps you need to talk to your chiro to explain to him what is happening to see if he can fix it.

In the meantime you may want to mask your T if you feel anxious about the ringing. TT has this thread with many masking sounds and it comes with advice and tips for new sufferers.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

 

[Brian Reade]

Thank you, billie48.

 

[Sailboardman]

Brian,

welcome, you must be from the east coast of FL. Here on the west coast, we've seen the sun out only a few days since June! Rain, rain and more rain! It's raining again today.

Hope you resolve your T Issues and its only temporary for you. If you have no hearing loss, there's a good chance it will simmer down.

 

[Brian Reade]

Thanks, Sailboardman. Thankfully I have no hearing loss. And I am able to sleep. I am near the west coast of Florida, in a rural area between Tampa and Lakeland. We have had A LOT of rain and flooding. Lots of standing water which brings lot of mosquitoes. Dirt roads washed out, trees uprooting and falling across roads...displaced alligators and water moccasins wandering...what a mess.

 

[LadyDi]

Hi @Brian Reade, welcome! Like @Sailboardman, I also am from Sunny Florida. I live on the Right Coast, though -- Fort Lauderdale area. It actually has been surprisingly dry over here this summer, not good for my garden but nice for getting outside.

Sounds like your tinnitus could indeed be connected to your chiropractic adjustment. But it can be very hard, or even impossible, to sometimes figure out exactly what causes tinnitus. Sometimes, I think it can be a combination of factors. For example, I feel pretty certain my tinnitus was triggered by a barotrauma and eustachian tube dysfunction on a long-distance airplane flight. But I believe the fact that I had gone through an extreme period of stress during this time laid the groundwork.

Anyway, if your T is bothering you then yes, I personally would see an audiologist at a good multi-disciplinary clinic. I had a great experience at the Tampa Bay Hearing and Balance Center, where I saw Dr. Loren Bartels. But I would start with the audiologist there.
http://www.tampabayhearing.com/bartels

 

[Brian Reade]

Thank you so much, LadyDi! I will contact Tampa Bay Hearing.

 

[Richard zurowski]

Sounds like it could only be temporary. Let's hope so Brian. By the way am I right in saying Florida is known to have a lot of sinkholes.

 

[Brian Reade]

Some parts of Florida....some areas not too far form where I live. There was one last year where a man fell in and his body was never found. That is within 20 miles from me.
When my tinnitus started I told the chiropractor. He said it would probably be temporary but it has been just about 2 months now.

 

[Richard zurowski]

Two months is not long give it time I'm sure you'll be ok....... Hope you don't fall into a sinkhole. Lol

 

[Brian Reade]

Thanks.

 

[martin12]

how long after your head hit the concrete did the tinnitus come on? so sorry to hear about your accident. Is tinnitus in the brain, in the ear, in the neck or some place else i surely don't know.

however it is disturbing, extremely so. indeed.

 

[Brian Reade]

Hi Martin. Actually, I did not have T after I hit my head. I had no symptoms at all. I just was stunned and of course my head hurt. But I did not go to the doctor or do anything about it. After that I started getting numbness and tingling in my hands and arms. It got worse over a few months and then my shoulder started hurting. I went to a physician; she took xrays of the shoulder and diagnosed me with tendonitis. But the "tendonitis" never cleared up, and the numbness was getting worse. So I went to the chiropractor. He took xrays of my entire spine and neck, since I told him that I've been having lower back pain for 15 years. The xrays showed the dislocated C6 and the chiropractor asked me if I had been in a wreck, and I replied No. After thinking for awhile I remembered falling down the stairs, so we figure that must be what caused it. He adjusted my entire spine which was like a miracle cure for me. The next visit he adjusted the neck. Later that day I started hearing the T noise, very faintly. It got a little louder over a few days. He said it should clear up. It's been almost 2 months; maybe I'm not being patient with it. It's in the right ear only. I can hear out of both ears, and I am able to sleep through it.
After reading many of the posts in this forum I realize that mine is nowhere as bad as many of you have it. However it is enough that it is a distraction. I just try to ignore it.