- Jun 1, 2022
- 7
- Tinnitus Since
- 04/2022
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Noise-induced from a concert, maybe because of ETD too?
I've been lurking here for a while now, and figured I'd talk about my situation.
So in 2019 I had a pretty bad concussion that never went away. I developed post-concussion syndrome from that. No tinnitus then. About two years later, I had the occasional heartbeat in my right ear or weird surreal sound in my right ear, but it averaged maybe once a month and lasted a few minutes at most. No big deal. I also developed other neck issues, cervical spondylosis, trigeminal neuralgia, etc, on the right side. I only rarely have those episodes now, and it's always on the right side.
During New Years 2022, I was outside with the dog a few hours before midnight, taking him to the bathroom. Someone in the neighborhood set off illegal fireworks. It wasn't a direct neighbor or anything, but the blasts were enough to muffle my hearing and give me very occasional tinnitus for three weeks before it faded.
Fast forward to April 2022. A musician I thought I'd never get to see was touring in my area. I don't do concerts, so I had no idea about hearing protection. I wanted to push myself to go out, because my post-concussion syndrome is incredibly disabling and I haven't left the house for anything but doctors for years. So I went, and it was super loud. Nobody else was wearing earplugs or anything, so I thought this was all normal. During the show the insides of my ears were throbbing and painful, but I was afraid to leave because the artist was chewing out other people for doing so. I was in there for at least 5 hours.
Immediately afterwards my hearing was extremely muffled. I got the occasional ringing, but mostly it was just muffled hearing. My ex-husband told me to vape weed to relax. I did, and the next day I woke up. I thought about, what if I get tinnitus, from stuff I was reading on the internet about how long it takes muffled hearing from a concert to go away. I listened to a bit of one of those tinnitus binaural beats videos. Soon afterwards, I got a noise in my right ear. Over time, it spread to the left ear as well. Sometimes it's in both ears, but usually it's mostly only in one. This has been my life since that horrible, horrible day two months ago.
I went to a GP a week later. He said there's nothing you can do for tinnitus (and even laughed about it), but also that I had ETD on both sides, a lot of congestion, and sunken in and dull eardrums, and to take a nasal steroid and antihistamine. I seem to have frequent issues like that, but I never notice it until a doctor mentions "oh by the way you're also super congested". I'm just used to not being able to really breathe well through my nose. Anyway, I took the medications for another week (only took the antihistamine once after I saw they are ototoxic, and just stuck to the nasal steroid and saline nasal irrigation), and then saw an audiologist. She found that I had hearing loss in my right ear only, and the next day she got me into to see an ENT. She seemed convinced that all I had was a temporary threshold shift and that the tinnitus and hearing loss would go away. The ENT gave me intramuscular dexamethasone. After a month, they rechecked my hearing and my hearing was back to normal. However there was zero effect on my tinnitus. Oh, I forgot to mention, I also developed hyperacusis after the concert and noises sound very loud to me now.
Backing up a bit, back in March of this year I had two episodes where I lost central vision in my right eye upon waking up. Since my concussion, I wake up daily with black splotches in my central vision. It clears up within a few minutes to 45 minutes. My NUCCA chiropractor refused to keep seeing me, and I had to get a CT scan with contrast of my head and neck. Both looked good. After I stopped going to the chiropractor, I started getting horrible pain under my skull, the back of my neck, behind my eye, tender SCM, etc. Doctors have commented that my neck and shoulders are extremely tight. That was before the tinnitus, but it continues to be an issue.
The ENT pretty much just gave me a paper with a shrink's number and a link to a masking app and said "sorry, it's for life". When I tried to mask it, I noticed I couldn't with a tone because my tinnitus does not sound like that. I found out that a few of my friends have tinnitus, but theirs is a straight ringing tone, like what you hear in a movie. I get that occasionally as well, even now, but only in the same way as normal people where it only lasts like a minute max and it is only very seldom.
My tinnitus sounds like a "tsst. tsst. tsst. tsst." and mostly resides in my left ear currently. It sometimes goes to the right side, or into both ears at once, usually as different volumes in each one with the left one being louder. I tried to replicate what I hear the best I could here: https://www.checkhearing.org/pulsat...=0.686&rangeLoudnessVari=0&toneType=buttonHum
The pitch (?) is much higher than that is. The pitch and loudness/softness keeps changing, but it is definitely rhythmic. It does seem to follow my pulse, but I don't know if it's pulsatile tinnitus because this was not an issue for me until after the concert. Likewise, I had a hearing loss and still have hyperacusis, so I'm pretty worried. Sometimes I wonder if it's psychological, but I have no idea.
I am seeing a physical therapist for my neck issues, and I notice that moving my neck and jaw in certain ways makes the tinnitus louder or quieter. For examples, doing chin tucks and moving my head back makes the tinnitus go bonkers. Doing median nerve glides as well causes ear fullness that fades after a bit. The ENT thought I might have a TMJ issue but I don't know. I have been using a custom fitted night guard for bruxism (which I definitely have) for three years now.
Also, the issue with my ETD (?), i.e. the ear popping, a tiny bit of fullness, and congestion, still has not cleared up months later. ENT says currently I have no earwax issues, my eardrums look good, and the pressure is good.
In sum I have no idea what's going on with me. It's been over two months now, and there has been no change in my tinnitus.
I feel deeply lost. I have a degenerative eye issue, and I always figured, well, even if one day I go blind (my eyesight currently isn't the best), at least I would still have my hearing. Well... Likewise, the post-concussion syndrome and all of the vision, cognitive, and vestibular issues that go along with it are a nightmare. I have tried to get onto disability for help with all of the medical issues, but I got denied. Because of all of this stuff, I am very seriously considering ending my own life if this all does not improve after a year.
Supplements and medicines I have been taking.
- Barlean's Omega 3 fish oil 1,500mg
- Cataplex b (thiamin, niacin, vitamin b6, choline)
- L-5-MTHF (bioavailable folate, 850 mcg DFE)
- Magnesium L-threonate 144 mg
- Vitamin d3 2,000
- Histamine phosphate
I will add any major updates to this thread as I go through this.
I would be deeply grateful if anyone could offer any thoughts or insight into what my tinnitus might even be.
Thank you for reading.
So in 2019 I had a pretty bad concussion that never went away. I developed post-concussion syndrome from that. No tinnitus then. About two years later, I had the occasional heartbeat in my right ear or weird surreal sound in my right ear, but it averaged maybe once a month and lasted a few minutes at most. No big deal. I also developed other neck issues, cervical spondylosis, trigeminal neuralgia, etc, on the right side. I only rarely have those episodes now, and it's always on the right side.
During New Years 2022, I was outside with the dog a few hours before midnight, taking him to the bathroom. Someone in the neighborhood set off illegal fireworks. It wasn't a direct neighbor or anything, but the blasts were enough to muffle my hearing and give me very occasional tinnitus for three weeks before it faded.
Fast forward to April 2022. A musician I thought I'd never get to see was touring in my area. I don't do concerts, so I had no idea about hearing protection. I wanted to push myself to go out, because my post-concussion syndrome is incredibly disabling and I haven't left the house for anything but doctors for years. So I went, and it was super loud. Nobody else was wearing earplugs or anything, so I thought this was all normal. During the show the insides of my ears were throbbing and painful, but I was afraid to leave because the artist was chewing out other people for doing so. I was in there for at least 5 hours.
Immediately afterwards my hearing was extremely muffled. I got the occasional ringing, but mostly it was just muffled hearing. My ex-husband told me to vape weed to relax. I did, and the next day I woke up. I thought about, what if I get tinnitus, from stuff I was reading on the internet about how long it takes muffled hearing from a concert to go away. I listened to a bit of one of those tinnitus binaural beats videos. Soon afterwards, I got a noise in my right ear. Over time, it spread to the left ear as well. Sometimes it's in both ears, but usually it's mostly only in one. This has been my life since that horrible, horrible day two months ago.
I went to a GP a week later. He said there's nothing you can do for tinnitus (and even laughed about it), but also that I had ETD on both sides, a lot of congestion, and sunken in and dull eardrums, and to take a nasal steroid and antihistamine. I seem to have frequent issues like that, but I never notice it until a doctor mentions "oh by the way you're also super congested". I'm just used to not being able to really breathe well through my nose. Anyway, I took the medications for another week (only took the antihistamine once after I saw they are ototoxic, and just stuck to the nasal steroid and saline nasal irrigation), and then saw an audiologist. She found that I had hearing loss in my right ear only, and the next day she got me into to see an ENT. She seemed convinced that all I had was a temporary threshold shift and that the tinnitus and hearing loss would go away. The ENT gave me intramuscular dexamethasone. After a month, they rechecked my hearing and my hearing was back to normal. However there was zero effect on my tinnitus. Oh, I forgot to mention, I also developed hyperacusis after the concert and noises sound very loud to me now.
Backing up a bit, back in March of this year I had two episodes where I lost central vision in my right eye upon waking up. Since my concussion, I wake up daily with black splotches in my central vision. It clears up within a few minutes to 45 minutes. My NUCCA chiropractor refused to keep seeing me, and I had to get a CT scan with contrast of my head and neck. Both looked good. After I stopped going to the chiropractor, I started getting horrible pain under my skull, the back of my neck, behind my eye, tender SCM, etc. Doctors have commented that my neck and shoulders are extremely tight. That was before the tinnitus, but it continues to be an issue.
The ENT pretty much just gave me a paper with a shrink's number and a link to a masking app and said "sorry, it's for life". When I tried to mask it, I noticed I couldn't with a tone because my tinnitus does not sound like that. I found out that a few of my friends have tinnitus, but theirs is a straight ringing tone, like what you hear in a movie. I get that occasionally as well, even now, but only in the same way as normal people where it only lasts like a minute max and it is only very seldom.
My tinnitus sounds like a "tsst. tsst. tsst. tsst." and mostly resides in my left ear currently. It sometimes goes to the right side, or into both ears at once, usually as different volumes in each one with the left one being louder. I tried to replicate what I hear the best I could here: https://www.checkhearing.org/pulsat...=0.686&rangeLoudnessVari=0&toneType=buttonHum
The pitch (?) is much higher than that is. The pitch and loudness/softness keeps changing, but it is definitely rhythmic. It does seem to follow my pulse, but I don't know if it's pulsatile tinnitus because this was not an issue for me until after the concert. Likewise, I had a hearing loss and still have hyperacusis, so I'm pretty worried. Sometimes I wonder if it's psychological, but I have no idea.
I am seeing a physical therapist for my neck issues, and I notice that moving my neck and jaw in certain ways makes the tinnitus louder or quieter. For examples, doing chin tucks and moving my head back makes the tinnitus go bonkers. Doing median nerve glides as well causes ear fullness that fades after a bit. The ENT thought I might have a TMJ issue but I don't know. I have been using a custom fitted night guard for bruxism (which I definitely have) for three years now.
Also, the issue with my ETD (?), i.e. the ear popping, a tiny bit of fullness, and congestion, still has not cleared up months later. ENT says currently I have no earwax issues, my eardrums look good, and the pressure is good.
In sum I have no idea what's going on with me. It's been over two months now, and there has been no change in my tinnitus.
I feel deeply lost. I have a degenerative eye issue, and I always figured, well, even if one day I go blind (my eyesight currently isn't the best), at least I would still have my hearing. Well... Likewise, the post-concussion syndrome and all of the vision, cognitive, and vestibular issues that go along with it are a nightmare. I have tried to get onto disability for help with all of the medical issues, but I got denied. Because of all of this stuff, I am very seriously considering ending my own life if this all does not improve after a year.
Supplements and medicines I have been taking.
- Barlean's Omega 3 fish oil 1,500mg
- Cataplex b (thiamin, niacin, vitamin b6, choline)
- L-5-MTHF (bioavailable folate, 850 mcg DFE)
- Magnesium L-threonate 144 mg
- Vitamin d3 2,000
- Histamine phosphate
I will add any major updates to this thread as I go through this.
I would be deeply grateful if anyone could offer any thoughts or insight into what my tinnitus might even be.
Thank you for reading.
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