New Horrible Tinnitus Sound That Disappears When I Plug My Ears

Dear community,

I am struggling a lot (again) at the moment and I honestly don't know how to find hope to move forwards again.

Not that things were improving as such, but I felt that I was taking slow steps towards habituation. Well, that is now all ruined and I'm back at square one.

I've had some sort of stomach flu for the last 3-4 days. It meant I could not eat normal and I was very drained and had a lot of stomach pain. In the past, when I've had stomach pain, I always felt that Coca-Cola provided some relief so I have been drinking quite a lot of Coca-Cola over these past days. I usually only drink soda water very rarely as I don't like to fill my body with sugar and sweeteners. I did not drink diet coke, but the regular Coca-Cola.

I also took some over the counter tablets for stomach acid - containing aluminium-amino-acetate and magnesium oxide.

Last evening, a new horrible tinnitus sound started out of the blue. No noise exposure had taken place, it just started while sitting in my couch. The strange thing about this sound is that it seems to DISAPPEAR when I put my fingers in my ears, which is the opposite of what tinnitus has always been to me. It is also worse when I am sitting and standing. It started as a bit of a morse code-like sound but has now turned into a more static horrible tone. What the HELL is going on?

I just can't deal with a new sound that behaves in such a strange and to me unknown way. Why does it disappear when I plug my ears? It seems to be in my head, not my ears. Has anyone experienced something similar? Any type of explanation or advice would be so much appreciated, as I am despairing every minute.

I know that there is some research suggesting a connection between gut microbiota and the inner ear. Could this be due to my stomach flu? Or the excessive amount of Coca-Cola? Or the tablets for stomach acid?

I honestly feel like with this condition, no matter what we do to try and help ourselves, we face severe consequences and worsenings. This is just so heartbreaking and I don't know how to cope.

Please advise.

Juliane

 

My only input here is that my stomach cramps disappeared completely after I quit Pepsi Max. I think of Coca-Cola and similar drinks as a "chemical juice" these days, which obviously helps a lot with staying away, since it gives a nasty mental image. And rightly so.

 

Yes, I've experienced this on a number of occasions. I correlated it happening with illness; for me it was during a heavy cold type of situation. It always disappeared in the end (no point trying to gauge when that'll be - it'll do it's thing).

My layman's conclusion about what was going on was that the illness had probably inflamed the Eustachian area - bit of 'bung' - usual kind of thing, and that the knock-on effect was pressure differential that well-established long-term tinnitus likes to react to.

 

Not the same stomach medicine, but when I took Loperamide for stomach issues a couple years ago I had terrible reactive tinnitus for a couple days after. It did go away. Magnesium Oxide can also spike tinnitus.

I can't figure out what name-brand medicine contains aluminium-amino-acetate, but Tums are pretty safe to use to reduce stomach acid.

I know this was almost a week ago. Has everything subsided back to normal?

 

Thanks for your input @kingsfan.

I can't believe how everything can cause or worsen tinnitus :-( So impossible to deal with.

No, unfortunately things are not back to normal :-( Whatever normal is with this condition...

 

Sorry you're going through this. New sounds will come and go, and can evolve before they become the new normal. They can also recede and become almost unnoticeable.

Just give it time and try and live the best life you can. I've had chronic tinnitus for 10 years and 4 years ago it became 20x worse and multi-tonal with hyperacusis. But most days it doesn't really affect me any more.

 

I've actually had something similar happen to me after I was sick. It lasted for about two weeks. I could hear a lower tone that was only present with noise, rather than my other tones that are always present and get worse with noise. It could be some kind of sinus/Eustachian tube issue.

 

Is it low frequency?

 

Yes, I have static and pure tone until I plug my ears and then it's only pure tone.

But, I can hear morse code and shhh too when I am next to a fan or running water.

 

Yes!

 

I got the same kind of low-frequency humming last weekend. Actually, I have had quite loud tinnitus at 10-12 kHz for almost 3 years, but this humming is something new. When I plug my ears - it disappears. It also becomes less loud when I wear my headphones with cushions. I even feel vibration. It isn't modulated by any neck movement. I have no hearing loss (in comparison with a 2-year-old audiogram). I'm going to a doctor next week, since this might be something that can be cured (in opposite to my high frequent tinnitus). If the doctor doesn't help - the only choice is doing my own research and eventually habituate.

@Juliane, do you have any new information or improvements to report?

 

I don't think it can be cured, but good luck. I've had a low-frequency variable tinnitus for over 3 years in my left ear (in addition to mid and high frequency tinnitus for even longer in both ears.) The low frequency varies in intensity and will fade if there are external low frequency sounds, such as those generated by putting your fingers in your ears. Sometimes, it's faint, even in relative silence, but sometimes it can be annoyingly distracting. I think it's just another form of tinnitus I can expect to continually get worse over time.