Tinnitus and Daytime Sleep Paralysis?

[KerryCinTexas]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and have had tinnitus off and on for years.

Over the last few months, I sometimes wake up in the morning with my ears roaring and a feeling of vertigo. My muscles also become extremely tight, and I can't get out of bed for hours, even to eat or drink or use the restroom. If my phone is not nearby, sometimes I cannot even notify my family or my office. It goes away suddenly and I feel fine once it does.

Has anyone heard of something like this? My ENT says it is not in his purview, but I don't even know what kind of doctor I should see — rheumatoidist, neurologist? If anyone has any thoughts on the matter, I would love to hear them.

 

[Dana]

Tinnitus from perforated eardrum is an ENT' purview, but because the perforated eardrum may cause you inability to hear some frequencies that may be the cause of what we call "brain tinnitus", a neurologist might help you.

Because your very likely hearing loss is not caused my damaged haircells in the inner ear, what i would do is an extended audiogram (beyond 8khz, up tp 20 khz) and get a hearing aid (nothing shameful in that, you could wear it only in your home, and put it in the morning, i think you cannot wear it during sleep). Once you you will hear the sounds that are not heard by the auditory cortex because of the perforated eardrum, that area of the audio cortex will be stimulated and tinnitus may stop. Tinnitus is in most cases a phenomenon that takes place when some neurons corresponding to certain frequencies are not used (stimulated) and they act as if they are stimulated all the time, hence tinnitus starts.

Tinnitus in most cases is worse in the morning, when the brain wakes up. Passing quickly from sleep to tinnitus, you become in no time, of course, tense.

The tense muscles, i think, are due to stress, and that is why i think a psychiatrist might be helpful with that, he can prescibe you relaxing/anti-anxiety pills. Over the counter relaxing drugs are also available.

 

[KerryCinTexas]

Thank you so much, Dana. I will discuss this with my family doctor this week.

 

[Dana]

There are special hearing aids that can be switched to act like "maskers", meaning that they emit a sound that helps you get distracted from the tinnitus sound.
I read the testimony of somebody who was told that the maskers are the only solution, and he used them for several hours a day, less and less, and he eventually stopped hearing the tinnitus (brain learned to ignore it)
In order to hear something two conditions must be met:
1) activity in the auditory system, because of a real sound or tinnitus
2) the brain to pay attention, to listen to what happens in the auditory system (how many times did it happen to you to stop hearing a sound because your brain stopped "listening" to it, because it was deemed unimportant, irrelevant because it wasn't giving information of any importance, like the tic tac of a wall clock, which we stop hearing after a while. That is habituation.)

A method to beat tinnitus is to do something about conditions nr. 2, to train the brain not to listen to the tinnitus. It is called "habituation", becoming habituated with the tinnitus so much, that you do not hear it anymore. Many people achieve that without the use of maskers.

But you do not need maskers, in my opinion, because your hair cells in the inner ear (the first cause of tinnitus) are not damaged, which is very good.

I think you have a chance to stop the tinnitus if real stimulus travels along the auditory system, with help of a hearing aid.

To find a place which measures the hearing ability up to 20khz is hard to find, but not impossible.

If the hearing aids do not work (you may find them bothersome because they amplify everything too much) you can return them paying for just a fraction of their cost, which is, unforunately, high. This aspect must be talked before, to find out how much it will cost you if you don't like them or if the tinnitus does not stop.

It was just a suggestion, not a sure or very affordable solution.

Anyway, it's a very good thing that after a while tinnitus stops and you can start your day. Maybe it would help you to try to get up no matter how bad you feel and become distracted by the daily activities, if you say that in the morning, after a while, tinnitus stops. It does not really stop, you just get distracted from it.

Best wishes.

 

[Dana]

Reading your message again i had second thoughts. I overlooked something relevant: your tinnitus is not high pitched (like it usually is in hearing loss), but like a roaring, and, nr 2, you have vertigo.
Those two symptoms mean, unfortunately, a possible start of Meniere's disease, the cause of which is unknown.
This possibility must be checked, or ruled out, and is definitely the purview of an ENT.
You must tell him about the roaring and the vertigo.
Go to another ENT, if you can, this one does not sound very competent

If it is Meniere's disease, it must and can be kept in check, to not get worse.
Take heart!

 

[KerryCinTexas]

Thank you again for your interest and very helpful suggestions. I had a test for Meniere's, but the doctor stopped the test because of the hole in my eardrum, which will not heal. I have started a low-sodium diet, which I hope will help.

 

[Dana]

You have t since 2006 because of a perforated eardrum.
That means that your eardrum has not healed since 2006?
Wow!
I heard about artificial eardrums, but i do not know how good they are.
Sorry to hear that. This is definitely out of the area of my "expertise".

 

[KerryCinTexas]

An update: I saw an ear specialist and spent half a day going through a series of tests. I didn't get an answer to my problem, but the tests ruled out several possibilities such as Meniere's, and my balance and hearing were not bad.

Just knowing what I don't have has given me some confidence. I know now that although my ears always ring when I am dizzy, I am not always dizzy when my ears ring. I can function, work, and exercise while my ears ring, which thankfully is not all the time. I still have a CT scan planned to check for bone loss in the ears, and maybe some vestibular therapy.

I've only had the paralysis feeling once in the last few weeks, and I fought against it by stretching and moving instead of shutting down. I think perhaps the pollen situation is improving for me and that may be a factor, too.

The doctor also discussed surgery to repair the hole in my eardrum.

 

[Gene Poz]

Kerry:
First, can you tell us what tests you took that ruled out Meniere's?
Secondly, I've had a collection of symptoms in my right ear for 20 years: Occasional balance mild problems, increasing hearing loss, fullness, pulsatile tinnitus, poor sleep quality (which I associate with regular tinnitus). Early on I was told I didn't have the correct symptoms for Meniere's, especially the sleep issues, which are debilitating. I sleep soundly but wake up exhausted (negative for sleep apnea). When the exhaustion gets REALLY bad, I will get stuck in REM sleep for longer than usual periods, have lucid dreams, and experience sleep paralysis. From what I could gather, the primary issue was a lack of deep (delta wave) recuperative sleep.

I drew the logical conclusion that something was messing with my inner ear during sleep, and Meniere's is the most likely cause of inner ear problems. But doctor after doctor told me I didn't meet the criterion for Meniere's. It also seemed that my symptoms were exacerbated by some airborn irritants. Sinus irrigation and hepafiltering fresh air from outside helped for a while, but never got me back to normal.

Recently, however, I found this study of Meniere's patients that showed most of them suffering from shorter periods of deep recuperative sleep than normal, which exacerbated their other symptoms.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2952747/
I'm going to be seen by an otolaryngologist soon and I will post back here the results.