MemberWow these are again amazing pieces of information thanks a bunch man! I really like the way you're dealing with this.
About the MVP it's another thing actually worth testing for, but the list of possible causes has become so long by now that one must remain a bit sceptic. In my opinion when the T would be because of MVP, i would think it would have a pulsation that is either the same as your heartbeat, or the double of it (blood flowing out, and then back in again), or slower, in case it doesn't happen with every heartbeat-->blood flow movement. Which is not the case with the "white noise pulsation" which is way faster, and very irregular too. It does make me think though, remember that pulsatile "morse code-ish" T we we're talking about a while earlier? It is intermittent in my case, and i vaguely remember you saying you had it too sometimes, what i did notice about that one is that it pulsates double as fast as my heart beats at that moment, and i regularly noticed that i would mostly have this T when my heart rate is elevated, and whatever speed my heart would be beating at that moment, it would always pulse at double that speed, that's something i find quite interesting, and i'm convinced all those T's (which is probably the one T morphing in different sounds like crazy) share the same cause, it has to be. Then again, i can imagine muscle spasms in the middle ear, particularly the stapedius muscle, or restricted blood flow causing this too, so i don't know honestly, it only seems logical to me that when the heart rate is elevated because of stress/physical activity, the muscle spasms would get a higher/ more severe rate too.
It is interesting that the stylohyloid muscle is a major muscle in the play here too, i also can modulate my T quite severely (compared with all other movements, one more than another) by protruding the lower jaw, and the same happens when sticking my tongue out to my nose like you said, not only it hurts below the tongue, radiating around(especially beneath) the lower jaw bone instead of directly around the tongue, it tiggers a "textbook" white noise sound. I think the platysma muscle is in play here too though, especially when protruding the lower jaw. It is even more interesting that the blood and nerve supply for the stylohyloid comes from the facial nerve and arteries, which are responsible for a lot of the muscles that cause major changes in our T, i'm only curious which is the cause and which is the consequence.
A constricted nerve, or a constricted vein, it's all perfectly possible because of muscle tension, inflammation, or dislocation actually, and it sounds quite logical to me that that constricted vein would keep the muscle problem alive in turn, one badass vicious circle.
I do agree, especially the inner ear is most certainly not the cause, and the sound is indeed what i got too when yawning or other movements like that, especially, i sung death metal vocals for some time just as an amateur, grunting etc..., i don't know how familiar you are with that, but you tense up a lot of muscles in the facial and neck area when doing that, especially the platysma and masseter(or at least i did), and i got that noise too then, even more extreme than when yawning, and it does indeed seem like that sound keeps sticking around.
On the other hand, i haven't fully discarded the DCN rewiring theory (misinterpreted signals), as on the other hand, when we are suffering from a lot of myofascial and neck pains, i can imagine those movements (like yawning, moving the neck 90°, tensing the platysma and all else) would cause a lot of pains don't you agree? Only they don't, or at least not to the degree i would expect, the same goes for that motorcycle accident i had(2-3months before T i think), where i smacked sideways head and neck first to the ground at a little less than 50kph, i stood up, and i immediately was boggled i had no pain at all, nothing, in the head, shoulder, and neck part of my body although that part took the hardest hit, i heard this very loud T for a few hours, i was dizzy, nauseated and i felt like crap, but no pains at all, (my arms and legs did hurt though). All those things passed after a few hours, and the pains we're currently talking about only came i suspect weeks later.
My gut feeling does tell me too that there's probably more to it, but i haven't found arguments to discard that theory, it seems quite legit actually.
One more interesting thing i noticed, in the months before T, i had these really annoying episodes of itches in the neck area, radiating downwards along with the levator scapulae, and the kept increasing in severity, and were actually quite severe i think, because my skin was quite rashed of scratching it the whole time, and then, somewhere around onset T, poof they vanished in about a few days, now what is even weirder, is that those itches always did coincide with moments i had those heart arrythmias we talked about earlier( now don't you dare imagining a lunatic scratching like there's no tomorrow, because it does sound like thatbut i just wan't to emphasize they we're very annoying). It seems so random, but chronologically speaking it must be related. I haven't had those itches since then though, or very midly. Except for a week or so i had the same in the area of the upper jawbone, but not only during arrhytmias, continuous for a week, with no dermal cause, and then they just vanished too.
Also one last thing, i don't know if anyone here is still suffering from pains more or less in the middle of the upper back, around where the shoulder blades end, and the spine area starts(so you have 2 locations actually, one on the right and one on the left if you're following me)? I had that for quite a while, though not so severe the last weeks, well i noticed the levator scapulae goes downwards from the neck along with the edges of the shoulder blades until it stops. I managed to discover some extraordinarily TP's there and release tension from them, since a few days the pain at those 2 locations is literally gone, whatever movement i do, no pains there, only some in the levator more up in the neck, which i will try to resolve too. So apparently for me, the levator scapulae was responsible for that. Thought maybe someone might benefit from this.
The most central line of TP's sums up quite nicely where the pain was situated for me.
@Sjtof
Thanks for such great information!
Its interesting that you had the noise as well while yawning, and especially while tensing up your muscles around the jaw area doing vocals. I had the exact same thing.. I vividly remember each time I was doing situps and bench presses that I would have this hiss as well.. But it seemed like that sound was triggered by muscles in the jaw and throat. I remember that when I tensed my throat I would get this sound, and the same with my jaw. It also seems like I can tense most muscles without affecting my T, except my throat and jaw related muscles.
I did visit an ultrasound guru yesterday. He did a scan of my carotid arteries and some of its branches and also the jugular veins. The walls of the arteries and veins were all smooth, and it did not indicate any signs of stenosis or anything like that. At least not where they were scanned.
But, the blood velocity (speed of the blood) was unusual high down at the sternum area (about the spot where the omohyoid muscle is crossing the carotid artery). And from what I understood, it was an indication that the carotid artery was somehow narrow or narrowing down in this area. It might not be related, but thought I should mention it.
The itching you are talking about is quite interesting as well.. Because I had some itching at the back of my shoulder. I remember it was pretty annoying.. But I dont have that anymore as well.. I only get some minor itching in my ears from time to time.. More like a tingling/ithcy feeling.
The pain between my shoulders are pretty much gone after a massage therapist took care of it. Now I only have some minor sore feeling which doesnt bother me at all.
You do have a point, that we should have had at least some slight pain when tensing those muscles in the past if it was the same mechanic behind it. However, what I do find interesting is those stinging one or both sided headaches we had before onset. Those would look an aweful lot like migrain headaches. And when stretching my stylohyoid muscle using my finger I got the same headache back for a while. I also read that irritation to the nerves around this area is a common cause of myofacial pain. And another very weird thing I have noticed is that when I sort of listen to my T, I get some random aches out of the blue. Then if I pay close attention to my muscles while doing this, I can indeed feel muscles in my throat, face and around my ear tensing up. I mainly suspect its the styloid muscles and the auricularis muscles that are tensing when listening for this sound. The same happens if I hear loud noise.. Somehow those muscles are being tensed when I sort of try to avoid a sound.
Could it be that the styloid muscles and the auricularis muscles were way too tense in the first place, and when we added additional tension to them, they got injured and maybe inflamed affecting the network of nerves in close proximity of them? I would also think that a slight dislocation somewhere in the neck could add strain to them as well, as it seems like especially the omohyoid and the stylohyoid are both linked to eachother, starting from the temporal styloid process down to the hyoid bone and further down to the sternum/clavicle area towards the scapulae. I just find it very boggling that "trying to listen for a sound" or "trying to avoid a sound" is literally adding strain to my styloid and auricualris muscles and sort of seems to trigger myofacial pain as well. Even when Im stressed out I strain those muscles and I try to catch myself doing it.
If this is the case, and if this does not only apply to me, it could look like a very evil loop and explain why stress, sound, anxiety etc would have such an impact on the symptoms we are experiencing.
From the past, I do remember having inflammation in various muscle tendons because of injuries or too much strain during heavy workouts. It was pretty painful and the muscle was pretty much disabled for quite some time, and pain were radiating. If I kept lifting, it seemed to only become worse. I especially remember I had it in my biceps tendon, and I had to take some pills to get rid of it. And for some reason, I found that relaxing the biceps were quite easy. But the stylohyoid muscle seems to tense up all the time. It seems like the only way of relax this muscle would be general anesthesia, lidocaine or something similar.
I dont know if you have the same thing going on, but this muscle is a killer for me. I subconsciously tense it in about whatever I do. Especially if I listen to my T or are stressed out, and the myofacial pain seems so closely related to tension of the styloid muscles. Even the one sided stinging headache seems to be directly related to this. Dizziness as well. Nausea seems to be related to auricularis anterior (but not so much anymore).
Im trying to find some exercises and relaxation techniques for this muscle, but Im not able to find much information regarding this muscle at all, so I have to go for my own gut feeling. That would include sucking on candy (it feels like the muscle relaxes while doing this). Also stretch the omohyoid and stylohyoid by looking at the ceiling and turn my head to the right and left (it feels like this exercise adds some stretch to it). If you happen to know of something, please let me know.
Of course, the above could be all wrong, but I do suspect that the styloid muscles and the lateral and medial pterygoideus are playing a major role. Also, they are all attached very close to the auditory meatus.
And like @Sjtof says, I too get some random toothaches now and then, and I do believe that its caused by nerve irritation.
Also, its the same for me when waking up.. My T is low and pretty much none existant at the time Im waking up.. As soon as I start doing something, moving around etc etc the facial pain and T gradually flares up, and ends up worse during the end of the day.
But as I have stated before, Ive had spontanious recovery (or whatever happens) when lying in a special position. When this happens, everything goes away for a while. It would be very interesting to know what happens in that second of recovery. It does feel like something physical is happening in that moment. Like muscles are adjusting and releasing everything that is related to tension. However, it literally feels like the muscles are instructed to tense up until an equilibrium is found. Maybe injury or strain to a muscles makes this equilibrium impossible to sustain. Or some ducts opening up releasing some liquid and the pressure sensation goes away, or a blood vessel that is opening up. I have no idea, I can just describe it as weird. Fleeting Ts are always involved when this happens as well, and it seems to happen when Im relaxed and not thinking about it so to speak.
I attached another image of the muscles in the throat (Source: Wikipedia).
I think MVP would be nice to rule out as well, as I believe it could attribute to turbulence in the blood flow.
I also read a great comment @Sound Wave wrote in a post, regarding silent reflux.
Probably something to have in mind as well.
If theres some dislocation, pinched nerve or major inflammatory process going on, I would think that theres a slight chance they will pick this up on the MRI I will have done in about 2 weeks. This will be done at a private clinic.
