When You Have a Tingling Sensation in Your Head, Is It Always a Bad Thing?

[ECP]

I've had tinnitus and hyperacusis for over 7 months now. There was never any tingling sensation inside my skull until late February or early March.

The first episode was pretty severe. I felt like my head was a beehive swarming with thousands of angry bees. I can't think of anything that triggered this new symptom, unless it was the decision to go to a quiet restaurant one night, followed by a brief trip to a supermarket on the way home. I didn't wear any ear protection that night, and the noise level in both places was tolerable, so I didn't think it was a mistake until the tingling started two days later. It lasted exactly 48 hours and then stopped, right when I was on the verge of contacting my doctor or going to the urgent care center.

Since then, I've had a tingling sensation that happens at random moments throughout the day. It lasts for several minutes at a time, then stops. It's always underneath my scalp, never in my face or neck.

When I told my primary care doctor that the tingling happens on both sides of my head, not just one, she was relieved to hear it because when it's one-sided, that could be a sign of an impending stroke.

But here's the kicker: when you have paresthesia (the medical term for numbness or tingling in some part of your body), that could be a sign of nerve damage or nerve irritation... OR it could be a sign of increased oxygenation or healing.

I'm pessimistic by nature, but since my tinnitus and hyperacusis are slightly better now than they were seven months ago, I'm inclined to believe that in my case, the tingling is actually a good sign, not a bad sign. Only time will tell.

If any of you have had tingling inside your head, was it a primary symptom that went hand in hand with the onset of your tinnitus or hyperacusis, or was it a secondary phenomenon that happened later? And if it happened later, did you see any correlation between that and all your other symptoms?

 

[ECP]

An update: I'm still getting tingling sensations in my head at random times nearly every day. Specifically, the sensations are under my scalp--NOT in my face or along my jaw or neck, which is what many of you experience.

And now I've noticed a correlation. When my scalp tingles, my tinnitus and hyperacusis aren't too bad. When my tinnitus and hyperacusis are bad, my scalp doesn't tingle at all. This leads me to believe that the tingling sensation is actually a sign of healing, not a new and troubling symptom.

I am also finding that my head tingles a lot after moderate exposure to safe noises. For example, on Saturday I went to an outdoor wine tasting at a winery in the countryside. I almost didn't go because I was scared of being exposed to noise in an environment I can't control, but it was a special occasion (a birthday celebration for the wife of one of his coworkers), so I decided with reluctance to attend. Both ears have tinnitus, but only the right ear has hyperacusis. I wore a foam earplug on the right and nothing on the left. I carried noise-blocking earmuffs in my purse, just in case. My husband and I agreed that if I got too loud for me that we would leave as soon as possible.

I was perfectly fine at the winery, and I had a good time. I never even felt the need to put on the earmuffs at all. But then for the next two days I had extra-loud tinnitus in both ears. But as of today, the tinnitus has quieted down a little, and the hyperacusis isn't too bad, and my head is tingling like crazy.

Has anyone had a similar experience?