Startle reaction to "impulse" sounds and calming yourself down

[Sjoerd]

Hey,

I am not sure where to post this, but lets start.

A couple of month before the onset of my tinnitus I noticed a "full" feeling in my ear. The thing that bothered me the most was the ear fluttering when rattling plates, cups, forks knifes (and the lot). I could feel my left eardrum pop and crack. I know this because of the middle ear muscles trying to protect my ear from loud noise.

I have noticed I have some control over this phenomena. If I practiced yoga and I would be able to get into the right state of mind (really relaxed, clear minded and energized) my ear would plop once or twice and most of the symptoms would be gone. Getting in the right state of mind proves to be a challenge sometimes, but frequent practices seems to make it easier. Does anybody recognize this?

On a side note, if I am in this state of mind my tinnitus just seems to calm down.It becomes a gently whistle instead of a harsh whistle. Most of the times my tinnitus does not get louder when wearing ear plugs or being in quiet rooms. In some cases I would say it even seems to die down in quiet rooms. On normal moments my tinnitus has a sort of absolute loudness to it. My ability to hear T does not seem to depend on the level of background noise. Does anybody recognize this?

I cannot shed the feeling that tinnitus is mainly a problem of perception, caused by learned anxiety.

This is an open question to the doctors among us: why is it next to impossible (at least for me) to use my cognitive mind to battle anxiety attacks, while just going for a walk or practice yoga gets rid of the anxiety feeling within 30 minutes. Is there any proven body --> brain interaction that could explain my experience?

 

[Mr. Cartman]

My T also seems to settle down in quiet rooms.. And I have had all kinds of popping sounds in my ears..Even felt movements.. If I have a neck and head massage it will die down quite a lot.

Is your T noice induced?

 

[Sjoerd]

Is your T noice induced?

I think so. I got it from riding my motorbike. Although I was aware of the fact of noise induced tinnitus. Therefor I always used earplugs. After a while I switched to costume made plugs instead of the foam ones. That is where to problem started, they are not nearly as good as the cheap foam ones.

I am not sure it is noise induced, because I used earplugs and I used a very high quality helmet (rated 85 dB at 100 km/h). With earplugs this would be in the near 60 dB region. When I started riding it felt like this, quiet! Like putting your head in a tiny BMW. Slowly the noise started bothering my....before I knew it I had tinnitus. Despite wearing among the quietest helmets on the market and using full earplugs.

 

[Mr. Cartman]

I think so. I got it from riding my motorbike. Although I was aware of the fact of noise induced tinnitus. Therefor I always used earplugs. After a while I switched to costume made plugs instead of the foam ones. That is where to problem started, they are not nearly as good as the cheap foam ones.

I am not sure it is noise induced, because I used earplugs and I used a very high quality helmet (rated 85 dB at 100 km/h). With earplugs this would be in the near 60 dB region. When I started riding it felt like this, quiet! Like putting your head in a tiny BMW. Slowly the noise started bothering my....before I knew it I had tinnitus. Despite wearing among the quietest helmets on the market and using full earplugs.

It seems like you did everything possible to protect your ears too.. I mean, a quality helmet + earplugs..

I too had this fullness in my ears before the onset of T as well though.

 

[lapidus]

My T also dies down when I'm in a quiet room for some time. My T is high when I go to bed, but after reading in quiet for half an hour or so before sleeping it slowly gets quieter, and it's always at its lowest in the morning. Altough my H and tensor tympani spasms are as worst in the morning so I can't really enjoy it anyway. The muscles in my middle ear spasm in the morning even i silence when I wake up. It's seems to be related to other muscles in my neck, jaw and face cause if I just get up outta bed as soon as I wake and not stay in bed, yawning and stretching, the spasms doesnt seem to appear. It seems like I can aggrevate the spasms in the morning by stretching some weird muscles, but later in the day I can not accomplish this. It's really weird.