Tinnitus Will Gradually Improve

[martin12]

I'm at the 4 month and 2 week mark and i've noticed a fair change in my level of T. The first 2-3 months are the absolute worse and then the 4 month mark things tend to improve.

I have noticed that eating tons of berries (raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries) coupled with Cod Liver Oil has been of help with daily does of Vitamin B12.

My Tinnitus was brought on by a head injury and only in my right ear. Although I'm still noise sensitive, feel exhausted all the time, I do believe that the ear has the ability to slowly heal as nerve fibers and neurons slowly re-navigate.

 

[Asian]

So happy for you bud. I hope you continue to improve. My T has gone down in volume as well and is more tolerable now. Maybe it's xanax that's making it less noticeable, who knows. But my ears feel much better than before and they are healing!

I am taking a B12 supplement and cod liver oil capsule, eating berries loaded with antioxidants, turmeric milk and pineapple to reduce inflammation if any..and most importantly lots of rest with xanax...all this definitely helps in the long term.. And makes a difference...do keep us posted how it turns out for you...I hope it goes away altogether but I am not waiting for that to happen..just ignoring it for habituation to happen..good luck to you

 

[martin12]

At Asian- Feels like 3 days foreword and then 1 back. Unfortunately i hit my head really hard on concrete and that knocked me out pretty good. I'm going through all the hearing tests to determine if it is ear or brain.
Unfortunately i also acquired a light/mild case of hypercusis where the T amplifies with certain sounds.
Full recovery from head trauma is hit or miss. Some people get lucky and others don't. I think 1 year mark is the determinant.
Careful with the Xanax! I've heard of many having great withdrawal trouble. Please keep us posted.

 

[Stina]

Im glad to hear you are doing better I have also noticed than in time tinnitus seems to get /gets better (doesn't matter which one). Resting especially beneficial Dont overdo with the supplements though. Vit B should only be taken in courses (no longer than 2-3 months). Deficiency can be detected via a simple blood test - if you are not deficient then no reason to take it. Cod liver oil helps with Vit D deficiency ( if you live in a sunless climate) and omega 3 helps with reducing swelling. Ive taken cod liver oil for years due to arthritis but Im not sure whether a normal person needs excess omega 3 (you could just eat fish). So just watch out
Also Ive heard than hyperacusis can go away on its own in time so maybe you'll get of rid of that too

 

[Asian]

Martin, are you able to travel? Have you experienced any sensitivity to head from bumps and potholes on road ?

 

[martin12]

not too bad. main symptoms insomnia due to Tinnitus with day-time fatigue. I think that the doctors conclude that my hair cells were injured. oddly and although rare some humans can have injured hair cells that have spontaneous recovery.

 

[Ricky81]

not too bad. main symptoms insomnia due to Tinnitus with day-time fatigue. I think that the doctors conclude that my hair cells were injured. oddly and although rare some humans can have injured hair cells that have spontaneous recovery.

Yea same here I think I have insomnia due to Tinnitus.
I play rain fall and waves music, and it helps a lot, but maybe its PTSD due to assault + ringing scare that is making me stay up all night. F**** my life.

 

[Asian]

Martin if I am not wrong you have had a OAE test done already and that was negative right ? I think tinnitus due to a concussion is more of a neurological damage than hair cells although one can put forward a theory that the impact force travel and damage the hair cells ...but most likely it's just our brain chemicals slightly out of balance my neuro told me...a different category of tinnitus..plus if the OAE test was negative it's safe to assume that most of the hair cells are intact in my opinion...also I remember your docs suspecting blood vessel damage in your ears in your initial months...what happened to that? Any benefit from neuro feedback ?

 

[martin12]

OAE test is marked either "present" or "absent". Absent might indicate hair cell damage caused by shockwave of the blow to your head. I landed on my right side with blow impacting my right ear. Inner ear concussion is the term.

i would suggest everyone with tinnitus get an Otoacoustic emissions test to indicate health of one's hair cells.

 

[attheedgeofscience]

My Tinnitus was brought on by a head injury and only in my right ear.

In as much as two-thirds of cases of people suffering a head injury, there will be discrete, unilaterial, and asymmetrical dips of about 15-20 db on the audiogram at unusual places such as 1 kHz or 1,5 kHz. This can - and will - often be missed by ENTs because they tend to look for:

1) General hearing loss (ie. hearing loss worse than 25db)
2) Noise induced hearing loss (notch or cookie bite at 4 kHz)
3) Presbyacusis (ski-slope hearing loss)
4) Reverse ski-slope hearing loss (indication of Meniere's disease)
5) Marked differences between bone and air conduction audiometry

The 1 kHz frequency is normally a frequency that is heard well by almost everyone. Dips in this part of the audiogram is unusual.

Head injuries can also lead to more serious types of hearing loss. L Francis - one of the very first stem cell pioneers to use adult stem cells to reverse hearing loss, had suffered a blow to his head when he was 28 years old forcing him to use hearing aids. Some 15 years later, he decided to attempt the Chloe Sohl protocol and managed to reverse up to 35 db of hearing loss.

A head injury may result in what is known as jarring of the brain - and can cause (permanent) tinnitus (regardless of whether hearing loss is found or not).

Here is a sample of such an audiogram. My very own in fact...

 

[martin12]

HI at the edge of science!

No hearing loss in either ear (not even slight dip) until i hit the 8K-10K range where there is some minimal loss in the 10-20 DB range which is likely normal for a guy in his or her 30's.

the 1000-1500 threshold is solid with no hearing loss.

makes me believe Tinnitus from head injury is related to what's going on in the brain.

thoughts?

 

[attheedgeofscience]

thoughts?

Your tinnitus is obviously bothering you - like most people on this board (and who can blame you). Here is an exhaustive list of things you can do, as I see it (costs not considered):

1) Have a complete 0 - 16 kHz audiogram done (not easy to find places that do these).
2) Revisit/have a complete tympanometry test done; if you suffered a blow to the head in the "right" place, then perhaps there is a structural problem with your airways. The tympanometry test would indicate whether there is reason to justify a visual inspection of Eustachian tube (done via the nose under full anesthesia). Radiology may also be warranted - but I am assuming you already have had that...
3) Depending on the outcome of #1 and #2 above, see a neuro-dentist for an evaluation of your jaw; the dentist will - amongst other things - stick his/her fingers in your ear (with gloves on!) while asking you to open/shut your mouth. Perhaps he/she will also ask for radiology of some type.
4) Again, depending on the outcome of the above, consider finding a clinic which can objectively diagnose your tinnitus (assuming it is subjective, which is the most normal type ie. nerve damage). This can be done at eg. the brai2n clinic (www.brai2n.com) or at professor Jeanmonod's clinic in Switzerland.

The above is not going to be cheap, and most of it will only lead to a diagnosis - not a cure. So consider if it is worth doing in the first place. If your head injury and onset of tinnitus is closely linked in time, then you can assume that the injury was the cause of your condition, and if nothing immediately is found by the doctors who examined/treated you, then there probably is not much which can be done. A post diagnosis in that respect is not worth very much, because it is just that - a diagnosis. However, admittedly, there are now experimental otology therapies being developed which potentially could help you - and in order to enrol in those, a diagnosis would (eventually) be required.

Those are my thoughts. I am not a doctor. The above is therefore what you can consider "friendly" advice.

 

[martin12]

Notible hearing loss 30-40 DB once they get into 12-14-16-20k level equally in both ears.

tympanometry test perfect.

need to explore dentist

also what about the neck? i can make the same sound in my left ear if i push my head as far to the right as possible.
my neck twisted and jaw was swollen upon impact. i was unable to chew for about a week and my head took a hard twist.

 

[loosse up]

I think your in for a long journey my friend. The earlier you take action the better. One positive is you can point to an incident that started the T so cause is no mystery. Happy Trails.

 

[Ricky81]

On a positive side my T has reduced 60% in volume and all this within first 2 month.
My 1st month was terrible. I had to take anti depressant meds, and could not sleep, even with White noise app.

Now I don't have to take any meds and i sleep without music.
My T is going down, my ears do make a clicking sound which is strange. Perhaps there is an infection in middle ear?
My ENT doc examined my ear and said it looks fine, but he could only see my outer ear and not middle ear, since middle and inner ear is behind ear drum.

 

[Shane]

Hey.
I have a nearly identical situation as martin12, except without my tinnitus getting better. I actually had a skull fracture though.
It's been 9 months since I smacked my head (upper parietal fracture) on the pavement. But it saddens me greatly to know that I could have potentially made my situation better by eating berries and taking supplements. Is it too late to receive the full benefits from eating berries and supplements 9 months after the initial injury? Is my chance of a full recovery gone? Thank you

 

[Ricky81]

Hi Shane,
Sorry to hear you had a skull fracture. Hopefully there will be a cure. You should always eat healthy so berry are always good for you they have antioxidants. They may help a little with T, but more importantly they will prevent you from getting future health issues.
Has your T gotten any better since it first started? My T has significantly gone down and my T started 2 months ago.
T can go away even after 1 or 2 years or it can stick around for decade and in worse cases for 20+ years.
Hang in there buddy. Hopefully there will be a cure soon, meds, injections, operations, laser, magnetic or brain/ear stimulation. There has to be a fix.

 

[Shane]

Hello Ricky,
Thanks for injecting some hope into my state of despair. I'm only 16, and I feel like I've missed my chance of having a tinnitus free live.
My tinnitus has lessened very little, if at all over the past nine months. The ENT gave me very little to go from, and now I read Martin's story, and It makes me feel like I missed out on a great opportunity to fully recover. Thanks.

 

[martin12]

Hi Shane!

sorry to hear about your skull fracture. any other post head injury symptoms? did your T come on immediately after the incident?

T with head injuries is difficult to call. And it's too hard to predict until the 1 maybe 2 year mark.

I would recommend lots of omega 3 fish oil for a month. try it and see what happens with healthy diet.

 

[Shane]

Hi Martin,
My tinnitus was immediate, and my ear felt clogged for about a week. I was knocked out for about a second immediately after my dog pulled me off my skateboard, and into the ground. I felt dizzy and almost fell down again trying to get my dog. I probably made my injuries worse by rushing to get my dog who was attacking another dog. The pain (in addition to the ringing) was there, and I knew it wasn't good. It was probably an hour till I saw a doctor in the ER. The pain at that point was really bad, and after a few CT Scans, some morphine, and waiting, I had to be transferred Arnold Palmer children's hospital in Orlando Florida which was about 30 minutes away via ambulance ride.
Anyway, I was in the ICU for two days, and a regular room for three. During my stay, I had bad headaches, slight dizziness and confusion, and that loud ringing in my right ear. The doctors thought that the ringing would subside once the blood drained from my ear, but no. The clogged feeling went away, but now I'm stuck with T in my right ear.
My injury list now includes:
Upper parietal skull fracture(non depressed);
Small epidural brain bleed(the word hematoma was never used)

I left the hospital with headaches, slight dizziness, light sensitivity, and T.
The everyday headaches and light sensitivity subsided after about a month.
Now, nearly nine months later, I still have T, hyperacusis, and I think my balance was affected. My T gets amplified when I'm exposed to pure tones, and certain sounds.

Sorry about the sob story, because everyone has one. I'm just trying to make sure that all factors are mentioned.
I really appreciate the help so far.
Thank you all.

 

[Shane]

Oh yeah,
I also have a 15% hearing loss in my right ear.

 

[martin12]

interesting my T also gets amplified when i listen to pure tones. Although I did not suffer a skull fracture it sounds like we have similar experiences.

At what frequencies is your hearing loss? How bad is your hypercusis? are most sounds painful for you? the hypercusis i think should subside.

shit like this too often happens to good people who surely don't deserve it.

 

[Shane]

I don't recall my exact hearing loss, (ill have to check at some point) but my T is probably around 20k hz. The hypercusis isn't too bad, and I'm able to get through the day without it bothering me too much. Only when I'm in loud places, and around loud music is when the hypercusis affects me.
There was a study I read that people who get T from head injuries tend to rate it higher on a "loudness" scale, and have a low tolerance to pure tones.

I guess it's what happens to people who choose not to wear a helmet like me.

 

[martin12]

i would curious to see the hearing test results and see what levels they're finding loss of decibels. is it high frequencies, mid or low?

also any chance you had an otoacoustic emissions test?

 

[Shane]

I don't recall the results.
I will probably take that test again at my next ENT appointment in November.

I finally got some b12 and triple strength krill oil today.

 

[martin12]

thats good! wish you best of luck buddy. hopefully you'll get gradual improvement. as i mentioned before, there is chance that you'll see spontaneous recovery within 12 months. the brain/nerves and inner functions take much longer to heal than say a broken arm/ankle.

 

[Shane]

Thank you Martin.
I am now much more hopeful that I can recover from this.
Best of luck to you aswell.

 

[Lisa88]

@martin12
Thanks for the positive posts.
Not sure that "within 12 months" has ever been proved with tinnitus fading.
Could take longer. That one year cut off point does not make sense to me.
Doctors may quote it, but there seem to be no research statistics or studies to back it up.

 

[Asian]

Hi martin, any update ?