Tinnitus Suddenly Spiked Out of Nowhere — It's Now a Higher Frequency — Permanent Increase or Not?

[Filipe_L]

Hi everyone, I have had tinnitus for about 19 months and I was able to habituate pretty easily since the onset. I had some spikes during this time but none of them would last more than 3-5 days, but it's been 2 weeks now that I noticed that my tinnitus spiked really hard. I know this because I always used to sleep with a tinnitus masker video (with crickets and nature sounds) and suddenly it was no longer effective since the tinnitus became more noticeable. I think it's not louder than before, but it's sure a higher frequency now.

Since then I've been struggling to get decent sleep because I can't find an effective way to mask the sound, it's really high pitched.

Can someone help me to figure out if this is permanent or if it's just a spike? Can I expect the sound to go the way it was before? What can I do in this situation to get better? I really don't want to go back into ADs to sleep :/

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Sorry for any typos, English is not my first language and I'm pretty nervous right now.

 

[Michael Leigh]

HI @Filipe_L

Please click on the following link and read my answer to another member on this forum as I think it also relates to your circumstances. I advise that you do not use headphones even at low volume and be careful of loud sounds. Also, read the posts in the links at the bottom of the page.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/delayed-loud-spike-confused-and-scared.37153/#post-476187

Michael

 

[Bill Bauer]

What was the cause of your spike?

It is possible that after several months it will spontaneously become lower pitched again.

 

[gerhei]

Hey,

Do you have cold? When I have a cold the noises get usually louder. Generally, you should not panic although it can be hard to not to panic. When I notice any sort of change I try to give my body time to see if the change could be related with something underlying.

 

[Filipe_L]

@Michael Leigh Thanks for the reply, means a lot! I read your post when I was on the onset, it was really helpful. I'm trying to stay positive but this time I'm afraid because it's been two weeks already... I've been away from headphones since the beginning of all this. Hope this improves someday.

 

[Filipe_L]

@gerhei No, it's been months since my last cold, I think this time it came out of nowhere and it's been for 2 weeks already... I have no problems being relaxed during the day but the real problem is to sleep with this, tried almost every video with white noises and not making any progress so far.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Thank you for your kind comments @Filip

From what you describe and if you have been using headphones, it is my firm belief that the increase in your tinnitus is related to sound. Usually, this is caused by headphone use even at low volume and other forms of sound/noise exposure.

When the original cause of tinnitus is due to noise exposure 99.9999 times should the tinnitus increase, the cause is headphone use or other forms of loud noise if, there is no underlying medical problem that's responsible. Please do not start overusing hearing protection as this can make the situation worse. Properly used earplugs can help but overuse causes more harm than good, because earplugs can lower the loudness threshold of the auditory system making the ears more sensitive to sound.

All the best
Michael

 

[gerhei]

If you have no problem with being relaxed during the day, it is really good, at least when I compare it to me being permanently in alert-mode after I first got my tinnitus. Did the tone itself change or did the same tone become louder? Do you have any medical conditions with respect to your back/neck/jaw?

 

[Filipe_L]

@gerhei Haha I was like that too when I first got it, but thanks for the information I found here I could calm myself and eventually habituate. The tone itself is not louder but in higher pitch than before, like it went from 11000 Hz to 15000 Hz or something, really weird. As far as I know I don't have any problems related to my back/jaw/neck but I want to check it out now.

 

[gerhei]

Ok, I got you. I had this problem some months ago after I had an operation in my nose. I suddenly experienced a really high tinnitus that appeared together with back pain between my shoulder blades. After some time I figured out that it was related to problems in specific muscles in my back, close to the spinal column. It was strange, because the muscles itself only started to pain after I started to massage them. Within two weeks or so the high pitch disappeared and only the regular tinnitus was left.

Does your tinnitus change if you move your neck or the jaw forth/back and left/right?

Check out this video from 1:18 on, ignore the German babble



You should try the movements in complete silent environment and see whether it changes your tinnitus tone.

 

[Filipe_L]

@gerhei Hmm I do feel some pain right at the base of my neck in the back side when I touch it, might go for it as some movements that is shown in the video change a bit my tinnitus. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Filipe_L]

@Bill Bauer Its what Im trying to figure it out. It started when I tried to sleep 2 weeks ago. I think it has something related my sleep position. I can only sleep on my stomach.

 

[gerhei]

@gerhei Hmm I do feel some pain right at the base of my neck in the back side when I touch it, might go for it as some movements that is shown in the video change a bit my tinnitus. Thanks for the suggestion!

You're welcome. I am also still in the process of figuring out what this means effectively. The problem is that tinnitus can have many forms and various reasons. If I am not mistaken, it is possible to break down subjective tinnitus for patients in four kinds (leaving objective tinnitus aside because it's really rare and should be perceivable by a second person):

1) Tinnitus that is initially caused by dead hair cells and gets elevated by certain brain regions in the auditory and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex
2) Tinnitus that is caused by neuronal malfunctions in the cochlear nucleus and leads to a conversion of sensory signals to auditive signals because both get processed in the cochlear nucleus
3) Tinnitus that is caused by some physiological malfunctions like pressured nerves, jaw damages, etc. (maybe those damages caused also changes in the cochlear nucleus)
4) A combination of all the reasons above.

Now, not every tinnitus patient can change the tone by moving body parts. According to a recent study, it are about 68% of patients who can while the remaining 32% cant. The 32% who can't modulate the tinnitus have most likely the type 1 tinnitus that is purely caused by dead hear cells and has no relation to wrong processing in the cochlear nucleus. The 68% have most likely a tinnitus of type 2. In this type, some sort of neuronal networks exist that interlink the sensory signals with the auditory signals and lead to the body "hearing" the sensation. I personally can strongly influence the tinnitus by moving my jaw, flexing muscles and I even can change the tone by only touching my skin. Those things have been described by studies of the previous years and are related to tinnitus of type 2.

The good news is that research is pretty advanced for tinnitus of type 2, I just found that out some days ago, just like I found out that there are those different kinds of tinnitus which almost noone talks about, which is pretty problematic when we try to find a therapy for someone. This video is just two weeks old:



P.S: I forgot that you wrote that you feel some pain in the neck. This is important to notice. I discovered painful areas only step by step because they didn't cause pain per se but once I touched and massaged them I felt that I have a problem there, mostly muscular. You should maybe carefully examine the regions that are painful for you. Often various regions are interlinked and problems in your neck can be related even to something trivial like pelvic obliquity or walking in the wrong way, etc. If you feel that you can identify the pain, it could be a good idea to inform yourself further about the specific pain and the relation to tinnitus and to get to see a specialist who can deal with the underlying problem. Maybe this can improve the tinnitus.

Best regards.