Sleeping on My Bad Ear Means I Have Tinnitus During the Day

[Ben Winders]

Timeline:

• 28 March 2020: in-hear headphone incident
• 1st of May (almost a month later (!)): woke up with a (very loud) low (80Hz) buzzing noise (a fridge / truck engine) seemingly originating from the right ear/side, scared the living daylights out of me.
• The rumble was especially bad at night, needed a lot of masking. Rumble stops every time someone speaks to me, but in between words it was buzzing.
• May: went to 2 University Hospitals > did MRI (nothing) > audiograms were perfect (obviously only within the range they can test) "as a 42 year old , you are within the top 3%" "you almost have the hearing of a newborn baby" "it's probably your neck muscle" > but then I would have a pulsatile tinnitus, I reckon.

… fast forward ...

Today:

• I live in a mountainous region. When taking the car my (right) ear pops/goes full almost once every 30 seconds.
• Also just sitting here behind my computer can make my ear feel slightly full, but less intense than when driving (driving produces a lot of noise > maybe that makes the ear contract in protection/feel full).
• I sometimes have spasms in the muscles "behind my ear" which produce a different kind (but same tone) of rumble > more of a brr ("pulsating") in stead of a bzzzzz (solid tone)
• This week for the first time I had instance where I felt a slight electric shock in my right neck muscle which made my entire body twitch / spasm.
• I sleep with the rumbling noise of an A/C on.
• I sleep on my left side or back only (!)
• Driving car with earplug in right ear makes my ear scream (earplug in left ear doesn't have as loud screaming)
• I definitely have hyperacusis in right ear > opening jar with metal lid, closing sliding door that makes high squeaky noise, A/C at night giving me a gentle 'high hiss' (that isn't there)
• Static hiss in both ears (I believe this is fairly recent > didn't have new acoustic traumas tho)
• A 'gentle' high tone in my right ear as well (had this since May)
• I haven't really (only very silent) heard my rumble since May but on two occasions (see below)

This is the important part:

• I woke up one night with the A/C off due to a power cut. I woke up and rumble was definitely back. Turned A/C back on and slept on.
• 1 week ago I did an experiment and slept on my right shoulder for 3 nights for the first time since long > result: around 11am when I was working the rumble started back up! I had to take a day off due to this and drove to the sea to get away from it.

tldr:

• When sleeping on my left shoulder (not pushing my bad ear in the pillow) and "feeding" my brain with rumbling A/C noise all night I go almost the entire day without my rumbling tinnitus, which was/is very loud. Is this my brain compensating for the silence (when my ear is in the pillow) and starting up the tinnitus buzz? Weird though that I can sit in silence the entire day without the tinnitus starting up after having a night on left shoulder.

 

[Kendra]

Could be tonic tensor tympani syndrome.

 

[Ben Winders]

Could be tonic tensor tympani syndrome.

Thank you for chiming in. The weird thing is that, while I am prone to anxiety, I was completely relaxed and at relative peace with myself when this all started back in May.

I have two things to add to vast array of symptoms:
- 2 weeks ago I had an episode that lasted about 2 hours where I suddenly had a different kind of tinnitus where I clearly heard my heart pumping , again, in my 'bad' right ear... blood was flowing with a loud whooshing sound following the rhythm of my heartbeat. Never had this since this started. (my initial/main tinnitus is NOT pulsatile (or it pulses so fast that I don't hear the pulse , but it's a steady brrrrrrrr - sound)
- Also when I stick my pinky into my ear - the left side is completely pain free, but when I feel inside my right ear and push against the top, it actually hurts - sort of a numb/dull pain sensation.

 

[Kendra]

Thank you for chiming in. The weird thing is that, while I am prone to anxiety, I was completely relaxed and at relative peace with myself when this all started back in May.

I have two things to add to vast array of symptoms:
- 2 weeks ago I had an episode that lasted about 2 hours where I suddenly had a different kind of tinnitus where I clearly heard my heart pumping , again, in my 'bad' right ear... blood was flowing with a loud whooshing sound following the rhythm of my heartbeat. Never had this since this started. (my initial/main tinnitus is NOT pulsatile (or it pulses so fast that I don't hear the pulse , but it's a steady brrrrrrrr - sound)
- Also when I stick my pinky into my ear - the left side is completely pain free, but when I feel inside my right ear and push against the top, it actually hurts - sort of a numb/dull pain sensation.

TTTS doesn't necessarily have anything to do with anxiety. It's just a guess as to what may start it. I'd look into TTTS a bit more. A lot of people's TTTS isn't pulsatile.