Sleep Apnea and Tinnitus

[Eric Winch]

i was just told i have sleep apnea and will need a cpap air mech. but the dr. also siad the cpap mech. my rase the air pressure in my nose an throat , and this my worsen the "t". i was wondering if any else uses this mech. and dose it have an affect on your "t"? i would love to hear any response /

thx

 

[Markku]

Hmm, do a search on Google for "cpap tinnitus".

I found these for example:
http://www.sleepnet.com/apnea105/messages/697.html
http://www.apneasupport.org/about23426.html
http://www.whoila.com/blog/?p=1227

Generally the CPAP machine can seem to have an effect on tinnitus... not that good news

Sleep apnea, then again, is a serious condition (I'm not belittling tinnitus here though!). I'm not a doctor, so consider these amateur comments, but my mother has sleep apnea and when she started using the machine it made a day and night difference. And if the sleep apnea stays untreated, it really can have bad effects on your body.

But hmm, have you talked to your doctor about the possibility of surgery? Check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_apnea#Surgery
"The Stanford Center for Excellence in Sleep Disorders Medicine achieved a 95% cure rate of sleep apnea patients by surgery."
"Overall risks of MMA surgery are low: The Stanford University Sleep Disorders Center found 4 failures in a series of 177 patients, or about one out of 44 patients."

Of course CPAP is the first treatment method that is tried, but: "CPAP is the most consistently safe and effective treatment for obstructive sleep apnea but it is not a cure, and people are less likely to use it in the long term."

My mom does find the CPAP machine somewhat uncomfortable, but her doctor hasn't really even mentioned surgery as a possibility. And she thinks the uncomfortableness is worth it considering the effects it has on day time energy etc...


It's a tough situation for you, I can relate. I don't know what I would do.

Hopefully someone with sleep apnea that is treated with CPAP and pre-existing tinnitus can chime in? But of course even if someone hasn't noticed their tinnitus worsening by using CPAP, that doesn't mean it couldn't happen to you. But comments from CPAP+Tinnitus peeps would be welcome anyways!

Best wishes Eric,
Markku

 

[Eric Winch]

well i just used the cpcap mech. for the first night. no real differance in my noise , but this mechine is going to take some getting used to , i slept poorly at best. im hoping it starts to help i havent slept well in a long time , heres hopeing.

thx markku

 

[Jon Wayne]

had sleep apnea when i used to smoke, when i quit and started exercising it went away as i got fitter, now i struggle with tinnitus

 

[Markku]

had sleep apnea when i used to smoke, when i quit and started exercising it went away as i got fitter, now i struggle with tinnitus

You got tinnitus the same year as I did.

How'd yours start?

By the way, welcome to TT!

 

[Jon Wayne]

hi Markku,
i got it following an extremely loud concert, didn't see it comin, wish i knew about tinnitus before it happened

 

[Ddurband2016]

I've had tinnitus since 1983 and Menieres disease since 1992. For the last ten years my menieres has been under control due to going low carb and low sodium. In December 2015 I started on CPAP. Over the months my tinnitus us noticeably worse. I am drowsy and slight menieres symptoms have resurfaced. I noticed CPAP air blowing into my ears around the time the problems worsened. Had my pressure reduced from 12 to 10 psi, with no improvement whatsoever. Also have deviated septum which hampers breathing at times. Sure would like my life back again.

 

[Frédéric]

A preliminary study on the correlation between obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome and chronic tinnitus.
[Article in Chinese]
Liu XL1, Wang J, Hong ZJ, Zhongshan MF.
Author information
1
Department of Otolaryngology, Vertigo Clinic Treatment Center,the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, 116011,China.
Abstract
Objective:To investigate and analyze the chronic tinnitus prevalence and its related factors in OSAHS patients.Method:We studied 115 patients who were diagnosed with OSAHS by polysomnography.All patients BMI were calculated. The amount of patients accompanying tinnitus was calculated by investigating the history of tinnitus. Univariate and multivariate logistic analyzes were used to calculate the association between gender, age, hearing loss, BMI, and the lowest SPO₂ with tinnitus. The differences in tinnitus prevalence among different age groups and gender were compared using chi-square test.Result:①The prevalence of tinnitus in 115 OSAHS patients was 38.26% (44/115). ②Between the ages of 31-80 years, the prevalence of tinnitus in every 10-year-old group was 9.09%,6.82%,11.36%,38.64%,and 29.55%,respectively.There was a significant difference between the age groups (χ²=14.55,P<0.01). The prevalence of female was 44.12%(15/34) which was higher than the male 35.80%(29/81), there was no significant difference (χ²=0.70,P>0.05). ③The results of univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that sex, BMI and lowest SPO₂ had no correlation with tinnitus in patients with OSAHS, while age and hearing loss were independent correlates of tinnitus(P<0.05).Conclusion:More than 1/3 of patients with OSAHS had chronic tinnitus, both age and hearing loss maybe the risk factors of tinnitus in patients with OSAHS, but neither BMI nor the lowest SPO₂ was clearly related to chronic tinnitus.

KEYWORDS:
body mass index; rapid eye movement; sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome,obstructive; tinnitus
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29798138