Now that I think about it, Somatic T might be a result of BL Syndrome.
@Mr. Cartman That is very interesting what you posted about barre-lieou syndrome. I can relate to all symptoms except 2, thanks for sharing! It would indeed make sense for somatic T, and the stinging pains!
Now if i read it correctly neck stretching should help with that syndrome, and using sympathicomimetics would also offer some temporary relief? I have some pseudo ephedrine still from my ETD problem, in that case i could most likely test if that gives any relief now, as it acts as a vasoconstrictor, and if it does it's another pointer.
Aside from that my T has been quite low all day now, it had it's ups and downs, but generally a huge improvement in contrast to the last days, in the right ear the T has also been gone every now and then for some moments , some weird pressure is still present in my ears, my neck is also hurting a lot less today, if this keeps up that stretching, sleeping position and the myofascial treatment is really doing something .
@Sjtof Interesting article as well, i've been having those "sinus headaches" for years, that itchy feeling seems related too. I've had temp spikes as well when stretching, but they always subside, the line between stretching and over stretching is thin though indeed.
I've noticed that when i grap and stretch the most upper part of my SCM, it itches in my ear canal somewhere and it is directly related too how hard i'm massaging the SCM.
It is weird how the T fluctuates so much indeed and changes pitch, but it's positive, one day it might be so impulsive that it decides to disappear. (the T that is)
There's quite a lot of good information in this thread already, might indeed be a good thing to create an overview .
I posted a link above from a Success Story on TT. The person claimed to have a pure tone T for about 4 months and suspected neck issues. It ultimately ended with that person doing some neck exercises and resuming regular light fitness activities and began hearing a reduction within a week and more soon thereafter. Not sure if he had hearing loss or if it was somatic T but it seems related to this thread.
On another note...
I can change or increase the sound of my somatic T by: pressing behind the ears, turn my head, extend my jaw, bend over and as soon as I lay my head down. One strange thing is if I walk or run, my Somatic T will go up and down in volume with each step. Does this happen with any one else?
Also my Somatic T has a slight pulsation to it. Not the whooshing sound I read about OR all the time but for durations of activity. ...Any body else?
If this is all neck, nerve and muscle related then one would think with proper time, posture changes and exercises this type of T will resolve in some degree.
Yeah, I can relate to a lot of those symptoms myself.. I think stretching is a very good thing.. I started one more exercise, which seems to really impact something. I lay in my bed with my back down, and the back of my head on a pillow, then I slowly pull my head up and then down again. I do this as many times as Im able to do it, until my neck fails to lift up my head. Then I take a break and repeat it a few times.
When I think back, I have always had my head bent forward, and my suboccipital muscles have almost taken the entire load of keeping my head in position. With this exercise I retrain the muscles at the front of my neck/throat which is probably under-developed.
@Mr. Cartman
@chronicburn
@Sjtof
I hope you don't consider this off topic but all things considered since we seem to have similar T symptoms especially when it comes to Somatic T (ST). I want to believe ST and other random non traditional T sounds might be symptoms of what we do and put into our bodies. I came across another thread talking about toothpaste for sensitive teeth containing an ingredient called Potassium Nitrate (PN). Some claimed it's side effects include causing or aggravating someones T. Really!? I was hoping mine (Crest Pro-Health) contained PN but it did not, instead it contains another kind of ingredient for oral hypersensitivity called Stannous Flouride (SF). It's not recommended to use for more than 4 weeks unless otherwise instructed too. Other than that I could not find anything in regards to SF and T. But my first instinct is if anything can desensitize teeth then it's possible it can cause other (nerve desensitizing) problems too. I know it's a ridiculous question but I'm curious to know what kind of toothpaste everyone is using?
That is indeed some good thinking, thanks a lot for sharing all your thoughts. The forward head posture thing is something i also have always had, and until now is the most difficult part of my posture to correct, i have a slight feeling that my neck has formed itself in that way, by doing that too much when i was still growing up... I don't know if that's possible, but it feels that way. I'm gonna do that exercise too, next to neck stretching, sub occipital stretching, posture correction, and shoulder and jaw "relaxation" (a bit like the exercise you described with the 2 pillows beneath your shoulders).
I hope that should be enough to tackle the T after a while. In combination with those myofascial treatments, which i will surely continue.
Aside from that today is the third day in a row that my T is generally quite low , it has it's spikes and fluctuations like always, mainly after my physio treatment yesterday, which is a good thing actually i suppose. But the average level has subsided quite a bit, it is at the level of the slight hiss i always had when yawning and moving my neck and stretching etc... I even can't hear it most of the time when walking . Once i sit down it's a bit louder though. I have the feeling that i can "blame" those myofascial dry needling treatments for this, the timeline sort of fits for now in combination with the stretches, i have several treatments planned in the near future, if this success continues, i would surely recommend it. My only doubt is, that in the case of Barré-Lieou syndrome the relief would only be temporary, but only time can tell.
Also, a lot of the trigger points in my right neck and jaw area (5 points in total which we're very painful), seem to be improving, they aren't fixed (yet), but most certainly improving.
Another weird thing i noticed, but this is only happening last 2 weeks and not every time but quite often, if i plug my ears with one finger in each ear and push with a considerable pressure, the T goes down in volume considerably for the duration of the pressure. This doesn't happen when plugging my ears any other way. I wonder if this is due to the same mechanism @MT09 described in his Succes story, when he puts his head in a bucket full of water.
Also i noticed i often have a silent pulsatile T, i notice this when being stressed or just having done a lot of physical activity, i'm convinced it relates to by heart beating faster than usual at those moments, as it is always twice as fast as my heartbeat. Don't know if it's related to all this, 90% of the time it's too silent to hear without plugging my ears, so it could've been existent for all my life for all i know. When that happens my usual somatic T tends to pick up a bit of the very rapid pulsation too though, a bit like @Jay M described i think.
Also interesting that Electromyogram (i suppose?), that your doc wants to refer you to. Didn't know that it was possible to inject botox into nerves in the neck etc..., i can imagine this is not without risks though. So it might indeed be a last resort sort of.
I too do believe, with the proper stretching and posture and lifestyle, this might resolve on it's own, the T and the stinging pains etc... are just way too reactive to stretching and other movements for that.
Leaving no stone unturned. The mouth is the first part of the digestive tract and teeth and gums have plenty of nerves. Theres countless posts and threads that talk about dental work and T. Toothpaste is chemicals. My point is if someone changed something recently in the past 6 months or so such as a type of toothpaste it could easily be over looked as harmful.That toothpaste and potassium nitrate scare is not true at all. Just ignore stuff like this.
Tinnitus upon wakening could be:
Hi, what you experience is common. The theory i have been told is that your brain, even as you sleep is monitoring your hearing. It cannot make sense of the sounds (vibrations) because the hair cells are no longer functioning properly. This results in the high pitched ringing that you hear upon awakening. You are a bit fortunate because yours calms down - for some it does not. I keep a day-timer and record the level of T and what may or may not affect it. I spend less than a minute on this as you do not want to dwell on it. At the end of the week, review it - it gives you something positive to do..
I wake up with loud hissing everyday. I would like to think it is muscular caused also, but it may be inner ear hair cell damage. I know nobody wants to hear that (literally), but it could be a fact.
Reading you guys blog, since I have the same problem, plus other problems dizziness..Sleep on your back. I wake up every morning with a low rustle/hiss. Even when i got a loud ringing when going to bed. One time I slept sideways at my gf place. I woke up with severe neckpain and a sharp pitched sound. Sleeping position has definitely influence in my case. Maybe the same counts for you.
Just give it a try. As long as you don't experienced loud exposure to noise when it all started, there is always hope that it may be somatic.
Oh ye and don't take a pillow which is too thick, plus perhaps support your shoulders with putting a pillow under each shoulder.
Sleep on your back. I wake up every morning with a low rustle/hiss. Even when i got a loud ringing when going to bed. One time I slept sideways at my gf place. I woke up with severe neckpain and a sharp pitched sound. Sleeping position has definitely influence in my case. Maybe the same counts for you.
Just give it a try. As long as you don't experienced loud exposure to noise when it all started, there is always hope that it may be somatic.
Oh ye and don't take a pillow which is too thick, plus perhaps support your shoulders with putting a pillow under each shoulder.
Hang in there! hoping it all works for you..let me know..also have the same problems.I will try sleeping on my back, although I have more sleep apneas that way. Sometimes my hissing is more pronounced in one ear when I sleep on my side, so you could be on to something there. I ordered a quite expensive neck traction device, so I am not totally giving up on the neck muscle caused T yet.
I have had a lot of noise exposure, especially with a loud shrill sound of a used grain vacuvator, so my condition could be somewhat different than the rest of you.
I want to share something with you guys.
@just1morething
@chronicburn
@Sound Wave
@Jay M
In my latest post I was telling about a very bad pain I had while massaging a spot just above my earlobe.
I did continue to play around with this muscle, and instead of massaging it, I kinda started to pull it down and inwards to my skull, and added a slight stretch to it. When I did this, I was experiencing massive pain. It wasnt just located at the spot where I was pushing. I suddenly for dizzy and I had the sensation of wanting to vomit, and a very warm feeling started to appear on my chest. It was so terrible hurtful that I almost fainted.
I kept doing this pull, starting gently, and pulling harder and harder so it wouldnt hurt that bad. I used my thumbs and I held the muscles on each side in a kind of a stretched position for a few minutes. This muscle is called the Auricularis anterior muscle, in my case it kinda pops out a bit so its easy to locate. After doing this several times. My T went crazy for a while. And guess what, after about 30 minutes, my T started to act as my previously temporarily T's right before they faded away. It got lout and kind of synchronized. Then I got this feeling of a slap on my ear, and the T travelled upwards in frequency until it faded out. And eactly at that moment every single symptom I was experiencing regarding fullness in the ear, headaches, it all went away in a split second.
I now experienced silence without a lot of weird stuff going on, and I had a hard time to believe what was happening. I went upstairs and sat down for a while trying to figure out what just happened. And Im very familiar with my T, so it was not that I didnt notice it. It was gone, and so was everything else regarding weird pain. This has never happened before, and I dont believe this was a coincidence.
Also, when I pulled this muscle, my symptoms kinda started to reverse just before the T faded.
What I have noticed is that some pain seems pop out of the blue when Im kind of monitoring my T.
And then I realized that when I was listening for my T, this muscle was moving. I kinda tilted my ear slightly.
If im correct, this muscle and one more makes us able to wiggle our ears, or at least some are able to do this. And in the past, a few times my ear has literally moved by spasms, and I think its because of those muscles.
Another thing I have in mind though, is that when I had those temporarily T's in the past, just before it faded I had this weird movement along the exact same spot where this muscle is located.
Kind of above my earlobe and at my temple bone. It could be something to this.
This is just a theory I was thinking about:
If this muscle is not working properly, and is too tense, maybe it could make a pull on your ear, and then affecting the middle ear, like the SCM muscle according to a previous post. For me it seems like this muscle is also somehow in a connection with the muscles around your eye balls, at least from a diagram I was looking at.
It seems like if I hear a loud sound, I automatically contract this muscle. And especially if I try to avoid a sound. If I drive my car I also use this muscle a lot. Especially when Im stressed out.
When I move my neck to the sides, I stretch the Articularis superior. If I open my jaw, it seems like the Auricularis anterior and the Articularis superior is affected. And when thinking back, when I was yawning, I had this T while my mouth was wide open. Now it seems to be somehow stuck almost all the time. Maybe this muscle got so tensed, that it makes a pull on the ear at about the same force as when I yawned before.
Im going to try out some more stuff regarding those muscles and see what happens.
Especially stretch them by pulling my ear backwards and down with my thumb.
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Auricularis anterior
Articularis superior
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Very interesting. I told you before that I got this spot above my ears which kind of hurts when I press it but is also able to influence the sound, even lower it down or change the intensity. The spot feels kind off like a bruise. I think it is called the Auricularis superior.
However I'm not really sure if it the muscle or the bone which hurts. But ye I got some more triggerpoints. Also in my shoulder it hurts really bad.
I remember rubbish that Auricularis superior when I had headaches around that spot. When I did that i first thought it lowered the sound, but then it came back in a painfull way.
Anyways everything feels messed up. Even watching TV is painful without proper support of my neck.
The thing you said about listening to the sound. I noticed that now and then when I really start to listen carefully and stay still, my muscles below my ear start to get tensed. The Auricularis post on the picture above. But it may also be the scm so not sure about that.
I think I have built up so much tension in my body that it has reached a boiling point.
You could try a muscle relaxer such as Robaxin or Flexeril.