Tinnitus Began First Week of June 2020 After Wim Hof Breathing

[Lukee]

Another question, has anyone here had an extended audiogram? I don't believe I have high frequency hearing loss because I can still here up to 16 kHz but wondering if our tinnitus coincides with hearing loss in those frequencies. I was reading some of the earlier posts and @Matchbox gave some interesting insight early on as to what could be happening. He also said recovery is possible though slow. A lot of these forum members have been researching this stuff for years and have a very technical understanding of the inner ear and all things tinnitus and hearing related. I still very much am in agreement with the ANS theory but what I don't understand is why Prednisone has worked for a couple people here, even if only temporarily.

We are obviously having an inflammatory response but the mechanism isn't clear yet. Is it autoimmune, brought on by a severe shock to the ANS? Many autoimmune type disorders can be traced back to a traumatic event and maybe this is no different.

On a separate note, I want to say that when I do feel some pressure come, I do the alternate nostril breathing and see some relief within a couple minutes that last for hours I think. I have only been doing it for last few days but I'm going to start paying more attention to it moving forward.

 

[Renfrey]

So there might be some residual fluid going in there and causing the crackling

That's what I was considering too, because in the shower when I wash that area with soap and water and rinse, I get a 'movement' or a slight cracking sensation. This whole 'cracking' sensation feels like it's very close to the opening of the one ear that I have it in. Not something that feels more internal.

I've also been considering that it might be a bacterial thing. So I've been thinking about using either some homeopathic ear drops, or some left-over Neomycin ear drops that I have.

 

[Renfrey]

Another question, has anyone here had an extended audiogram?

Not I. I haven't had any type of hearing test yet, even though I have a referral to get the full battery of tests. I'm leaving that on the backburner for now, because my hearing ability feels fine and I'm not looking to make any unnecessary co-pays.

 

[Lukee]

For me, I still do ice baths everyday with deep slow breathing. I've been doing ice baths everyday for many months for at least 10 minutes at a time. And so far, I've really gotten a good feeling from it - strong, healthy, calm, more cold resistant, immune system boost etc.

This may be the reason why you have passed the "pressure" hump. Maybe the cold exposure and breathing has you stimulating the vagus nerve and recovering quickly. I believe @MrC6688 took a few months to get over the fullness and I am at least on week 5-6 and not over it. At one point, however, I felt like a million bucks. No pressure, tinnitus was there but not bothering me and I had more energy than ever. I am still trying to pinpoint what I did differently for those 1-2 weeks but I cant seem to remember. I was on ACV at the time and came off it so maybe coming off it made me relapse with the fullness? I am trying a bunch of different things to see if I can make something work again.

 

[Renfrey]

This may be the reason why you have passed the "pressure" hump. Maybe the cold exposure and breathing has you stimulating the vagus nerve and recovering quickly.

Man, I hope you're right. I sure love the feeling of going into the ice, taking calm deep breaths and acclimating. I think I'm at a point where the shock of the cold isn't really a shock anymore. I think that after getting out of the ice may be the time where the vagal stimulation is in full flight, because it's a total calm and relaxing feeling. I do the ice bath around 6pm and that feeling usually carries through the rest of the night. You know how it is, right? Have you done any ice baths?

For a while in the beginning, I would get pretty gnarly afterdrop after the ice sessions - cold, chills, shivers, taking a while to warm back up. But I seem to have pushed through that phase, because I don't get that anymore. Just this morning I was thinking about adding a morning ice session too. I think I'll start that tomorrow morning.

I believe @MrC6688 took a few months to get over the fullness and I am at least on week 5-6 and not over it. At one point, however, I felt like a million bucks. No pressure, tinnitus was there but not bothering me and I had more energy than ever. I am still trying to pinpoint what I did differently for those 1-2 weeks but I cant seem to remember. I was on ACV at the time and came off it so maybe coming off it made me relapse with the fullness? I am trying a bunch of different things to see if I can make something work again.

Maybe you could try a steady ice bath schedule. Didn't you say you were taking walks in freezing weather? You're already primed and ready to go! What general area are you in? I wish I was in much colder climate.

 

[Lukee]

Man, I hope you're right. I sure love the feeling of going into the ice, taking calm deep breaths and acclimating. I think I'm at a point where the shock of the cold isn't really a shock anymore. I think that after getting out of the ice may be the time where the vagal stimulation is in full flight, because it's a total calm and relaxing feeling. I do the ice bath around 6pm and that feeling usually carries through the rest of the night. You know how it is, right? Have you done any ice baths?

For a while in the beginning, I would get pretty gnarly afterdrop after the ice sessions. Cold, chills, shivers, taking a while to warm back up. But I seem to have pushed through that phase, because I don't get that anymore. Just this morning I was thinking about adding a morning ice session too. I think I'll start that tomorrow morning.

Maybe you could try a steady ice bath schedule. Didn't you say you were taking walks in freezing weather? You're already primed and ready to go! What general area are you in? I wish I was in much colder climate.

I already do cold showers for a couple minutes every morning. Though I haven't been able to fully acclimate and I usually love the end of it when I get out. It's funny because I felt the best when I was walking in the extreme cold and since it's warmed up some over the last week, not feeling as great. Maybe something about the cold air invigorating my body.

I'm in Toronto, Canada, which is why it's cold and why I can't get access to great healthcare!

 

[MrC6688]

@MrC6688, do you still get the crackling??

I don't know if it's the same crackling you guys are referring to, but when I swallow I do often get a crackling noise coming from my ears. I've been attributing it to possibly ETD because my ears won't pop correctly. Now here's the weird thing... when I blew my nose tonight I could feel air escape from my ears. But when I try that last ETD exercise from Dr. Fields' video (holding the nose and drinking a glass of water), my ears won't pop properly.

 

[MrC6688]

I already do cold showers for a couple minutes every morning. Though I haven't been able to fully acclimate and I usually love the end of it when I get out. It's funny because I felt the best when I was walking in the extreme cold and since it's warmed up some over the last week, not feeling as great. Maybe something about the cold air invigorating my body.

I'm in Toronto, Canada, which is why it's cold and why I can't get access to great healthcare!

Do you find the cold showers help alleviate the tinnitus at all? That's something I never tried. I know tonight when I came in from the cold I could feel my ears sort of closing off and the tinnitus got aggravated (possibly pointing to inflammation?)

That sucks about lack of healthcare, sorry to hear that man! Down here in NJ, I'm grateful we have access to it, though visiting these ENTs is a good recipe for wiping out your bank account, lol.

Don't worry about it man. I think we are all frustrated and I definitely have the same feelings towards Wim. I'm upset that 3-4 days of something that was supposed to be positive has created so much distress in my life and possibly forever. I agree that we should make our voices heard and it's not unreasonable to be upset. I was actually thinking of contacting the App Store and Google Play and they will pull the app knowing it's causing medical issues for users. But before going down that path I'd like to notify Wim and team and maybe there will be some discourse on how to remedy our problems. He has had many scientists study him and he has had many students. I know this isn't the first time he has encountered these problems, it's impossible. It's sad we have to threaten to take harsh action to get a response from this scammer but I'm certainly willing to do it.

On a side note, Mr C, do you feeling like over the last 7 months you have had improvements? Your ear pressure is gone, do you feel like your tinnitus is getting better? Most of the recovery stories seem to point towards 1-3 years of healing so wanted to know if you feel that you have some at least some recovery given you're the farthest in on here.

The pressure has greatly improved but my tinnitus has not improved. I'm not giving up though. I'm determined to find the cause of our tinnitus due to WHM and heal it. If it takes more than 1 year that would be a bummer. But ETD does take quite a while and I'm not sure how long it would take to heal our ANS. We'll see. I just received my Ayurvedic supplements today so I'm going to see how they work out. Speaking of Ayurvedic medicine, I also read about these eardrops that someone used to heal their tinnitus called Ksheerabala 101 oil. Not sure of the efficacy but worth investigating.

Our MRIs are coming back normal, our auditory tests are coming back normal, so my guess is this is a combo of neural malfunction and possible ETD. The ANS theory is something we need to keep investigating. As for ailments, the pressure inside my head did go away, I think it took about 1-2 months for it to subside. But as you guys know, I'm still dealing with the lack of ear popping issue.

Back to the tinnitus, I notice that it gets bad on days when I have more stress than usual or if it's cold out. I just walked my dog tonight and came back inside and the tinnitus is noticeable and at a very high pitch.

Regarding Wim Hof, I don't feel bad about getting upset, I just didn't want to bring you guys down. I know we're all dealing with this so I really do appreciate your understanding. As for Wim, yes... no doubt in my mind the guy is a scumbag. Any normal person would feel bad about harming this many people with something they've created. But with Wim, not only does he not seem to care, he doesn't even address it. So, to me... the guy is a narcissist and a scumbag. I knew I was in trouble when I initially reached out to a few veteran students of his and never got a response or received the "you must have something wrong with you, go see a doctor" nonsense. I think shaming WHM on App Store and Google Play is a great idea if he doesn't get back to and/or you receive no satisfactory answer (please keep us posted on that and share any contact details -- I'm happy to do it also). At the very least, blasting his product on App Store and Google Play would hopefully prevent other innocent people from getting tinnitus.

 

[Lukee]

Back to the tinnitus, I notice that it gets bad on days when I have more stress than usual or if it's cold out. I just walked my dog tonight and came back inside and the tinnitus is noticeable and at a very high pitch.

As I've mentioned in the past, coming home from an hour walk, the tinnitus is screaming. I'm not sure if it's because it's very cold out, the exercise or the strain on my neck while walking. It usually subsides quite a bit once I get in and calm down on the couch. So I'm not sure if the cold showers and cold weather are making it better or worse. The one thing I noticed is once I was walking for about 20 minutes and my nose started to "run" a bit, ever so slightly due to the cold and/or exercise, I am able to pop my ears easily. Usually it takes me a while to pop them especially in the morning, I have to do it gently 4-5 times before I can get them open but while walking, a light pressure and they open right up and the effect is much greater.

It seems that @Renfrey is healing pretty quickly as he has pretty much passed the pressure phase and yet his symptoms started after mine. It may be attributed to his ice baths or something else entirely different but it's worth trying to figure out the path to healing. I feel like my pressure and tinnitus have gotten worse over the last week and not sure why. Most days a couple weeks ago it was almost gone and today it's more prevalent throughout the day, both the tinnitus and pressure. I did have a massage a few weeks ago and felt great afterwards so I'm going to try that again.

I've asked this a couple times I think but no real response: can anyone change the sound or intensity by moving their jaw or neck? If I open my mouth fully like a big yawn, the tinnitus gets louder, kind of more intense. The other thing I noticed is if I suck the roof of my mouth like create suction with my tongue on the roof of my mouth, it changes as well. I would think if I could change the tinnitus with my jaw, some aspect of this is physical and not related to nerve damage or something like that. It goes back to the German person who cured their WHM tinnitus using neck and back yoga.

 

[Renfrey]

I already do cold showers for a couple minutes every morning. Though I haven't been able to fully acclimate and I usually love the end of it when I get out. It's funny because I felt the best when I was walking in the extreme cold and since it's warmed up some over the last week, not feeling as great. Maybe something about the cold air invigorating my body.

Yeah, it's hard to acclimate in a cold shower - too uneven contact with the water. Although I can imagine that the water coming out of Toronto faucets is nice and cold.

So in following the proposition that inflammation is a key factor, it appears reasonable to deduce that controlled cold exposure would benefit not only the vagal system, but the inflammation as well. Maybe that could be a reason why my symptoms don't seem as severe or that they may be healing somewhat quicker. I think the science is pretty unanimous that controlled cold exposure reduces inflammation.

I'm in Toronto, Canada, which is why it's cold and why I can't get access to great healthcare!

Ah, Canada. Land of my childhood music heroes, Triumph and Rush.

So here I am talking about ice baths and loving the cold etc., and you and Mr. C are living the cold everyday. You guys are the REAL icemen! The REAL DEAL! Me... I'm just a wanna-be poser from So. Cal. Although we have mountain areas relatively nearby that dip to subfreezing temps in the winter, where I'm at, the temp rarely drops below 40F/4c during the coldest time of the year.

I gotta get creative with my cold sources around here. I can't just go outside and pick up ice or snow and make ice bags with it, or just leaving my tub out during day and night and have it be perfectly iced-over at all times, like you and Mr, C. can.

Sorry to hear you're not getting great healthcare. I don't think mine is super great either. I would call mine average and expensive.

 

[JONabes]

We are obviously having an inflammatory response but the mechanism isn't clear yet. Is it autoimmune, brought on by a severe shock to the ANS? Many autoimmune type disorders can be traced back to a traumatic event and maybe this is no different.

Sorry to hear your pressure hasn't gone away yet @Lukee. I was reading what you wrote earlier about you not being sure what triggers it - for myself I think it's sound, particularly percussive ones. Like what you said earlier about your ears reacting to noise, I get that totally.

That's what I think triggers the pressure, stabbing pains and pulsatile tinnitus for me. I think it's the muscles in the middle ear that normally contract to protect your eardrum from very loud sounds working overtime, perhaps related to the hyperacusis we're getting.

That wouldn't be such a big leap for a nervous system issue to be affecting the muscles of the body like this, especially small sensitive ones near to the point in the nervous system that has been most shocked. I've had issues with these muscles (in the affected ear only) on and off for years after the course of opioids that I mentioned earlier.

Out of all the people in this thread it seems that yours are the symptoms which most closely resemble my own - good luck!

P.S. I just thought - this would also explain why the tinnitus seems to be triggering the ETD like symptoms and not the other way around - if the ear/nerve that serves it are perceiving loud tinnitus and 'tightening' up those little muscles that normally protect it from loud sounds then we'd get an inflammation response if that was happening all day right? That's probably why all my symptoms are like 80% better when I wake up in the morning. Because I'm unconscious my ears/auditory nerve aren't perceiving it as sound and tightening up.

In fact that seems to be the only discernible pattern of my symptoms!

 

[MrC6688]

P.S. I just thought - this would also explain why the tinnitus seems to be triggering the ETD like symptoms and not the other way around - if the ear/nerve that serves it are perceiving loud tinnitus and 'tightening' up those little muscles that normally protect it from loud sounds then we'd get an inflammation response if that was happening all day right? That's probably why all my symptoms are like 80% better when I wake up in the morning. Because I'm unconscious my ears/auditory nerve aren't perceiving it as sound and tightening up.

In fact that seems to be the only discernible pattern of my symptoms!

Interesting theory! Regarding your morning symptoms mine are just the opposite! I feel like the tinnitus is loudest as soon as I wake up. Caffeine, white sugar, stress, and cold damp weather seem to exacerbate it as well. Cold dry weather not so much, but dampness and rain, definitely.

Sorry to hear you're not getting great healthcare. I don't think mine is super great either. I would call mine average and expensive.

I can tell you that the health-coverage in NJ is about as mediocre and expensive as it is in So Cal, so I feel your pain man....

Ah, Canada. Land of my childhood music heroes, Triumph and Rush.

Hah! I was listening to Rush this morning what a coincidence. I'd never heard their first album from '74 and played it this morning for the very first time and all I can say is wow....I'm glad I found it! The opening song on that album is awesome ("Finding My Way"). It's interesting, they sounded like a blues-driven, rock n' roll band on that first album. I didn't sense any of the experimental sounds they're known for. To be honest, I really like the "simplistic" style of that first album, very cool.

 

[Renfrey]

Do you find the cold showers help alleviate the tinnitus at all? That's something I never tried. I know tonight when I came in from the cold I could feel my ears sort of closing off and the tinnitus got aggravated (possibly pointing to inflammation?)

I know you're from NJ, but it sounds like you've never done any type of controlled cold exposure training - even with the WHM?

Speaking of Ayurvedic medicine, I also read about these eardrops that someone used to heal their tinnitus called Ksheerabala 101 oil. Not sure of the efficacy but worth investigating.

I just looked it up a little right now. Looks interesting and very inexpensive. I didn't notice any mention of purity levels in the ones I looked at though.

As for ailments, the pressure inside my head did go away, I think it took about 1-2 months for it to subside. But as you guys know, I'm still dealing with the lack of ear popping issue.

Interesting symptoms - no pressure, but unable to pop ears. It kinda sounds like some sort of ear wash or drops might help.

For me, the pressure is gone too, but I do frequently feel the need to clear "pop" my ears and equalize. Luckily, I'm able to do this pretty much whenever I need to. For me, this is a normal thing and I've been doing it like this as far as I can remember.

 

[Renfrey]

I've asked this a couple times I think but no real response: can anyone change the sound or intensity by moving their jaw or neck? If I open my mouth fully like a big yawn, the tinnitus gets louder, kind of more intense. The other thing I noticed is if I suck the roof of my mouth like create suction with my tongue on the roof of my mouth, it changes as well. I would think if I could change the tinnitus with my jaw, some aspect of this is physical and not related to nerve damage or something like that. It goes back to the German person who cured their WHM tinnitus using neck and back yoga.

Yeah, I get that too. It varies though with the sound level of the tinnitus at any particular time.

One of the things my ENT said was that this is normal. He said that even with people with no tinnitus can hear a certain amount of background hiss when they clench they're teeth, for example. But of course in our case, this is a little more amplified.

I'm with you on the neck and back yoga/stretching/massaging/pressure/strengthening action. I think that everything we've been suggesting - supplements, herbs, diet, medication, exercise, yoga, massage, cold therapy, sound therapy etc., are all acting together holistically to help us.

 

[JONabes]

Yeah sorry @Lukee, I meant to mention if I turn my head/crane my neck it makes it seem worse.

@MrC6688, yeah those are all triggers for me as well actually!

 

[Renfrey]

I can tell you that the health-coverage in NJ is about as mediocre and expensive as it is in So Cal, so I feel your pain man....

Actually, I would say it more like: there's plenty of great healthcare available in So Cal. You just gotta pay a lot more for it.

Hah! I was listening to Rush this morning what a coincidence. I'd never heard their first album from '74 and played it this morning for the very first time and all I can say is wow....I'm glad I found it! The opening song on that album is awesome ("Finding My Way"). It's interesting, they sounded like a blues-driven, rock n' roll band on that first album. I didn't sense any of the experimental sounds they're known for. To be honest, I really like the "simplistic" style of that first album, very cool.

Yeah, the first album is hard and bluesy. I saw them in '84 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, "Grace Under Pressure" tour. Good times! I always thought that all their albums up to "Grace Under Pressure" were good, but especially "Moving Pictures" and "Signals". Those are the two that I enjoy the most. I sorta lost interest in them after "Grace Under Pressure". I don't why or how that happened.

 

[Lukee]

That sucks about lack of healthcare, sorry to hear that man! Down here in NJ, I'm grateful we have access to it, though visiting these ENTs is a good recipe for wiping out your bank account, lol.

No private healthcare, so while it's decent, we are always in line for something. Nothing is same day and most specialists are booked many months in advance. Also, doctors are always kind of skeptical to refer you to a specialist or testing, like an MRI usually because of "cost to the system".

As for ailments, the pressure inside my head did go away, I think it took about 1-2 months for it to subside.

Did you have head pressure as well or just ear pressure? I seem to have developed both. The ear pressure seems to slowly be getting better but I have head pressure and slight headaches to go with it now.

Now I will say that over the weekend for one reason or another, my symptoms mostly resolved, including the tinnitus. Here's what I did different:
-No cold showers
-No walks until Sunday night (which made my tinnitus worse when I got home)
-No NAC or Fish oil
-No neck stretches (this is weird because I now find that the stretches kind of exacerbate it at least short term)
- Took Tylenol liquid gels (300) twice a day. I think this might have been one of the bigger fixes

I also had an appointment with osteopath on Thursday. She did some stuff and craniosacral therapy. It literally felt like nothing, she touched me a couple times and I went home. Now here's the weird thing: Friday was one of my worst days; loud tinnitus, lots of ear and head pressure but Saturday and Sunday up until late Sunday afternoon were amazing. Almost felt completely normal. When she messaged me Saturday, I told her I had bad symptoms on Friday and she said it was normal, it would get worse then get better... and they did! So I don't know if it was just coincidence or this was something that actually made a difference but I have another appointment on Tuesday and will see how it goes.

 

[Lukee]

That's what I think triggers the pressure, stabbing pains and pulsatile tinnitus for me. I think it's the muscles in the middle ear that normally contract to protect your eardrum from very loud sounds working overtime, perhaps related to the hyperacusis we're getting.

It's funny you mention pulsatile tinnitus. I was reading another thread and a lot of the symptoms line up to ours but the underlying cause was pulsatile tinnitus and from what I could gather, a pretty serious condition. The fact that I now have some head pressure makes me think that maybe we are dealing with something beyond just tinnitus. Maybe something like temporal arteritis? It may have been brought on by the exercise-induced stress.

If You Have Pulsatile Tinnitus, Here's the First Thing You Need to Do to Get Answers and a Diagnosis

I was reading what you wrote earlier about you not being sure what triggers it - for myself I think it's sound, particularly percussive ones

I can't correlate mine to noise just yet but I'm around lots of noise between work and my kids. Even when my kids are screaming their heads off right into my ears, I don't seem to get the pressure buildup. It could be a delayed effect but to me it seems more stress related or possibly due to barometric pressure.

@JONabes, has your pressure resolved? You mentioned in your first post that it resolved in 7 days after taking the drops. I'm wondering if you had the same luck this time. Also, have you taken anything else in terms of steroids? I'm thinking of trying to get a Medrol script myself as I believe that it might resolve the ETD and possibly reduce the tinnitus. Both Mr C and Renfrey have seen some benefit even if only a little and I have read many stories of complete or near-complete remission. While I think we are on the right track with the ANS, it seems like we have a form of barotrauma (or opposite of barotrauma).

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/541153

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/posts/233690

There are lots of stories of tinnitus remission and ETD repair by Prednisone and the like due to some for of pressure trauma.

One last thing I wanted to add was that I read a post where someone complained about having head pressure for 3 years after WHM. One of the answers was that his chakra was blocked and for him to do some breathing exercises (ironically breathing exercises are always cures for tinnitus) and a 10 day fruit diet. Now, I find this interesting because if you look up the diets for "throat chakra" and "3rd eye chakra" (not sure which category we would fall under), the diets are full of anti-inflammatory fruits and bioflavonoids. Basically, the purpose of the diets is to reduce inflammation and lower stress. While I'm not hardcore into the Ayurvedic healing, I'm also not ignorant that these types of ancient healing/medicine can treat a whole host of common day problems. I feel like this entire experience has opened up my eyes to the whole CNS/ANS and the complexity with which it operates and even though it is so complex and still vastly misunderstood, looks like some wise people came up with remedies based on generations of practice.

 

[MrC6688]

Mr C, do you feeling like over the last 7 months you have had improvements? Your ear pressure is gone, do you feel like your tinnitus is getting better? Most of the recovery stories seem to point towards 1-3 years of healing so wanted to know if you feel that you have some at least some recovery given you're the farthest in on here.

I do feel I've made improvements as far as ear pressure go. Definitely. The last things to get healed will be the ringing and lack of ear popping. So, on a side note, the past few days I've been practicing deep meditation and I've noticed the tinnitus dropping after I get out of the meditation; likewise, it gets louder when I'm stressed out during the day from work. Sometimes after the meditation, it's gotten extremely low. There is definitely a link between stress and tinnitus. Again... I really believe this is pointing to the theory we've all been speaking of the past month, about going into parasympathetic. Whatever damage WHM did to our nervous system, I do believe we can heal from it.

Lastly, please try that yoga exercise I sent out.



This one in particular has been helping me with my neck pain. If you guys feel tight in your neck or trapezius, give this one a shot for about 2 weeks (a few times a week) and see if you feel an improvement.

 

[MrC6688]

I also had an appointment with osteopath on Thursday. She did some stuff and craniosacral therapy. It literally felt like nothing, she touched me a couple times and I went home. Now here's the weird thing: Friday was one of my worst days; loud tinnitus, lots of ear and head pressure but Saturday and Sunday up until late Sunday afternoon were amazing. Almost felt completely normal. When she messaged me Saturday, I told her I had bad symptoms on Friday and she said it was normal, it would get worse then get better... and they did! So I don't know if it was just coincidence or this was something that actually made a difference but I have another appointment on Tuesday and will see how it goes.

Good for you! Let me know how your next session goes. I sent my CS therapist all of the info we found on WHM and going into parasympathetic etc, and have her reading them. I'm hoping my next appintment with her will be quite interesting. Regarding your sensations, I can tell you 1-2 days after I had my initial craniosacral therapy session that I felt like crap. I remember feeling disoriented and slightly nauseous. This is totally normal. So the fact that you didn't feel well after the session is in line with exactly what I experienced, and my therapist said that would happen just as yours did. I think it has something to do with the body readjusting and eliminating toxins.

Back in June '20, I remember I had head and ear pressure. I felt like my ears hurt and when I'd bend down to tie my shoes it felt like I had a really bad head-cold with a good amount of sinus pressure. That took a few months to go away but it eventually did for both. I remember one morning the ear pressure was so bad in my right ear that I heard this monotone humming noise that came and went. It was really weird. After that happened, that's when the ear pressure started to dissipate and it eventually got better.

Now I will say that over the weekend for one reason or another, my symptoms mostly resolved, including the tinnitus. Here's what I did different:
-No cold showers
-No walks until Sunday night (which made my tinnitus worse when I got home)
-No NAC or Fish oil
-No neck stretches (this is weird because I now find that the stretches kind of exacerbate it at least short term)
- Took Tylenol liquid gels (300) twice a day. I think this might have been one of the bigger fixes

Interesting... I do feel like the cold weather exacerbates the tinnitus. I notice when I go for walks outside and come back into the warm house that I notice the ringing a bit more. Possibly a reaction of our nervous system? I think the thing we need to remember here is if our ANS is in a heightened state, whatever reactions would normally trigger a response in the body will be magnified in this situation. Please ask your osteopath about going into parasympathetic and see what she thinks. I would even email her the 2 articles we found (see below) and get her take.

1.On WHM: https://www.thestll.com/articles/wim-hof-method-explained

2. About going into parasympathetic to cure tinnitus: https://journals.lww.com/thehearing...yperacusis,_and_the_Autonomic_Nervous.12.aspx

 

[MrC6688]

One last thing I wanted to add was that I read a post where someone complained about having head pressure for 3 years after WHM. One of the answers was that his chakra was blocked and for him to do some breathing exercises (ironically breathing exercises are always cures for tinnitus) and a 10 day fruit diet. Now, I find this interesting because if you look up the diets for "throat chakra" and "3rd eye chakra" (not sure which category we would fall under), the diets are full of anti-inflammatory fruits and bioflavonoids. Basically, the purpose of the diets is to reduce inflammation and lower stress. While I'm not hardcore into the Ayurvedic healing, I'm also not ignorant that these types of ancient healing/medicine can treat a whole host of common day problems. I feel like this entire experience has opened up my eyes to the whole CNS/ANS and the complexity with which it operates and even though it is so complex and still vastly misunderstood, looks like some wise people came up with remedies based on generations of practice.

@Lukee you and me both. This experience has really opened my eyes to alternative forms of healthcare. I did some reading into this topic and found this link: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/5th-chakra-and-tinnitus.1428/

Someone mentions pranic healing (closely related to reiki healing according to my understanding).

I'll keep you guys updated on my aryuvedic regime: Dashmoola, Saraswati Churna, Ashwaghanda, Yograj Guggulu. They are supposedly good for reducing inflammation, helping heal the nervous system, supporting brain function, getting the body back into balance, removing toxins. I think it's worth a shot. Aryuvedic medicine is over 5,000 years old and is still practiced in parts of the world, so the ancients must have known something... Pranic healing, Reiki, Qigong... these forms of healing are ancient and were practiced for thousands of years (coming from India and then into China, Tibet, Japan). WHM borrows from Indian pranayama breathing but does so incorrectly and haphazardly, making something up and putting its own spin on it. I think that's why many people get injured from it. When done correctly, these ancient forms of meditation and healing are very effective and do heal the body.

 

[Lukee]

I remember feeling disoriented and slightly nauseous. This is totally normal. So the fact that you didn't feel well after the session is in line with exactly what I experienced, and my therapist said that would happen just as yours did.

Good to know we are experiencing similar things, it sounds like something is happening with the treatment. I'll definitely give her the info on the PNS and see what she says.

Interesting... I do feel like the cold weather exacerbates the tinnitus. I notice when I go for walks outside and come back into the warm house that I notice the ringing a bit more. Possibly a reaction of our nervous system?

When I get home from a walk, and I'm not sure if it's the cold or the walking, I get the full on hiss and ring tinnitus that's very 3D for lack of a better description. It's almost like I was at a loud concert or club, I feel like my nerves are frayed and overstimulated. I don't necessarily feel overwhelmed, but after 10-15 minutes it seems to calm down anyway.

I recently picked up DMSO and Magnesium oil. There are a few threads on here about DMSO in particular, relating to neck, TMJ, ETD and tinnitus. I am going to try it a bit on my neck, ears and jaw and see if I get any improvement that way. Seems relatively safe in moderation.

Mr C, looking forward to hearing about any improvements form your Ayurvedic regime.

Lastly, please try that yoga exercise I sent out.

This one in particular has been helping me with my neck pain. If you guys feel tight in your neck or trapezius, give this one a shot for about 2 weeks (a few times a week) and see if you feel an improvement.

Definitely will try this exercise.

BTW, does anyone have sensitive temples? Like sensitive to medium touch?

 

[AliasM]

Interesting that temporal arteritis was mentioned above. I had 2 doctor a suspect I had this condition when I developed tinnitus. They both sent me to emergency but emergency said that even though my CRP and ESR were elevated, they weren't elevated enough. Plus I am 42, not over 50. I had all the physical symptoms of the condition.

It has gone now. It left after some Prednisone late December but I get pressure changes in my head constantly.

 

[Lukee]

Interesting that temporal arteritis was mentioned above. I had 2 doctor a suspect I had this condition when I developed tinnitus. They both sent me to emergency but emergency said that even though my CRP and ESR were elevated, they weren't elevated enough. Plus I am 42, not over 50. I had all the physical symptoms of the condition.

It has gone now. It left after some Prednisone late December but I get pressure changes in my head constantly.

I haven't been able to get my hands on Prednisone or Medrol yet but it seems like it has taken the edge off for Mr C and Renfrey. Prednisone is a treatment for temporal arteritis and maybe given everyone is under 50, it has worked pretty well and reduced the symptoms. I still have these brain aches and pressure in my head that I think would've better resolved if I had taken some Prednisone. AliasM, I think I read in one of your posts that you had exerted a lot of pressure in your head when working out, is that correct? If so, then you fit the bill for our symptoms as I believe most of our issues are due to an increase in (blood)pressure in the head.

While our symptoms might mimic temporal arteritis, I think is also possible that we may have it due to a forceful maneuver and not because of age. I would go back to your doctors and ask if they can reevaluate you for that given the circumstances. I'm spinning my wheels trying to get a diagnosis of anything because the doctors are reluctant to do anything here. Please let us know how you make out.

 

[Lukee]

Update: I took a half a teaspoon of Black Seed Oil hoping to help my slight headache and pressure. I also took a teaspoon of Magnesium before bed. I woke up at 2am (I often wake up throughout the night) and though it took me 20 minutes to get back to sleep, I noticed no ringing at all. Many other times when I would wake up during the night it would be worse and then be better in the morning but last night I couldn't even tell if there was a slight hiss. It was kind of foreign to me because I've been so used to hearing something for the last 6 weeks.

Even as I write this now, it's pretty much silence but there is a slight underlying hiss that sounds like a CPU running, it sounds like my brain running. But last night, there was nothing. I don't know if anyone has tried Magnesium yet but I have a feeling it was more responsible than the Black Seed Oil. I also woke up this morning feeling better even though I was up a few times last night.

 

[Renfrey]

Update: I took a half a teaspoon of Black Seed Oil hoping to help my slight headache and pressure. I also took a teaspoon of Magnesium before bed. I woke up at 2am (I often wake up throughout the night) and though it took me 20 minutes to get back to sleep, I noticed no ringing at all. Many other times when I would wake up during the night it would be worse and then be better in the morning but last night I couldn't even tell if there was a slight hiss. It was kind of foreign to me because I've been so used to hearing something for the last 6 weeks.

Even as I write this now, it's pretty much silence but there is a slight underlying hiss that sounds like a CPU running, it sounds like my brain running. But last night, there was nothing. I don't know if anyone has tried Magnesium yet but I have a feeling it was more responsible than the Black Seed Oil. I also woke up this morning feeling better even though I was up a few times last night.

Excellent! I'm so glad to hear that! Sounds like some great results. Makes me wanna go out right now and get some Magnesium and give it a whirl. Even though I feel like I'm making small improvements everyday, throwing the Magnesium into the bag of tricks sounds like it could definitely help the cause. I'll see if they have any Black Seed Oil while I'm there too.

 

[Lukee]

Excellent! I'm so glad to hear that! Sounds like some great results. Makes me wanna go out right now and get some Magnesium and give it a whirl. Even though I feel like I'm making small improvements everyday, throwing the Magnesium into the bag of tricks sounds like it could definitely help the cause. I'll see if they have any Black Seed Oil while I'm there too.

The pressure and sound have been relatively low/quiet today. I went for a craniosacral therapy today and during the session my tinnitus went from a hiss to a high pitch but it was actually less intrusive and almost unnoticeable. The problem I have been having is increased headaches. They really started Sunday afternoon and seem to be constant. I have not taken Tylenol since yesterday morning, trying to see if they will resolve on their own or with black seed oil/magnesium. I feel like it's two steps forward and two steps backward!

 

[Renfrey]

The pressure and sound have been relatively low/quiet today. I went for a craniosacral therapy today and during the session my tinnitus went from a hiss to a high pitch but it was actually less intrusive and almost unnoticeable. The problem I have been having is increased headaches. They really started Sunday afternoon and seem to be constant. I have not taken Tylenol since yesterday morning, trying to see if they will resolve on their own or with black seed oil/magnesium. I feel like it's two steps forward and two steps backward!

Sorry to hear about the headaches.

Was the high pitch sound similar to this:



What do you think about that pitch? It seems different to me than the other videos, because the sound is constant and it matches the pitch of the tinnitus. When I first started listening to that particular video about 2 weeks ago, I found it kind of annoying and thought it might be causing a pressure feeling in my ears. But now that I've gotten used to it more, I think it feels kind of soothing. I think it's important to play it at a low volume though, almost so you can barely hear it.

It's hard to fully explain the sensation, but it kind of feels like the sound is "matching" the sound of the tinnitus, and then sort of "cancelling" out both sounds altogether. The sounds feel like they merge together and cancel out, at least temporarily.

I wonder what listening to this sound for a long period of time would do. I haven't really experimented with listening to it straight for a long time yet.

 

[MrC6688]

The pressure and sound have been relatively low/quiet today. I went for a craniosacral therapy today and during the session my tinnitus went from a hiss to a high pitch but it was actually less intrusive and almost unnoticeable. The problem I have been having is increased headaches. They really started Sunday afternoon and seem to be constant. I have not taken Tylenol since yesterday morning, trying to see if they will resolve on their own or with black seed oil/magnesium. I feel like it's two steps forward and two steps backward!

Awesome to see you're getting positive results with CST. What is the amount of Magnesium you're taking, out of curiosity?

 

[Lukee]

What do you think about that pitch?

I would say I think mine is a bit higher but ya, pretty close. It doesn't seem to bother me but some of these videos were causing a weird sensation as you mentioned.

Awesome to see you're getting positive results with CST. What is the amount of Magnesium you're taking, out of curiosity?

It's funny, today my tinnitus is roaring. Same thing it did a day after my last CST session. I hope it's because of the CST and nothing else. Last week it went crazy for 24 hours then the next two days were the best I've had, hopefully it follows the same pattern.

I took one table spoon, I think it's equivalent to 200mg.