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I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

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Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#161
post #157
post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amputees have phantom limb sensations including pain. I believe this is more than theory. Certainly medical science has collected at least some case studies over the past century about people who have had their auditory nerve severed for one reason or another. And, as I recall, the auditory system actually does behave unlike other parts of the nervous system like vision which is more mechanical and less dependent on…

Well, perhaps some but I don't think it's the usual cause. Phantom limb isn't just loss of sensation, it's also having part of the body chopped off. Just having part of your body go numb doesn't usually cause that.

It does and it is called neuropathic pain. Phantom limb is just an extreme case of it, but malfunction or damage to nerves can cause all kinds of phantom “pain”. Experiencing phantom sensations due to nerve damage is well known and widely documented, so phantom sound in the ear due to nerve damage is well in line with that.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#162

Tinitus is misfiring nerves firing along the path somewhere from ear cochlea to cortex. From your description there is pain and discomfort for high frequencies also, it's not just a pure ringing that might even favor 1 ear? I did some research for a novel ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtxgpaXp9vA&t=4697s ) and learned that hearing is not too hard to understand, but it's mysterious in its perfection and a Job Well…

>Tinitus is misfiring nerves firing along the path somewhere from ear cochlea to cortex

I've had tinnitus in both my ears for 25 years.

Knowing that tidbit you mention, I've always wo dered if it would be possible to invent a "switch" that completely "cuts" the communication between the ears and the brain (making you temporarily deaf . So that you can turn it on at nights while in bed, and turn it on in the morning.

That would be a huge relief. And can be "rougher" than trying to stop the specific misfiring nerves

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#163

Can it somehow be related to having tight neck / jaw muscles?

When I got tinnitus after months of high stress, the ENT told me that all of my jaw clenching may have changed the pressure on the muscle that's connected to the inner ear, and that could be the cause. I never got a definitive answer about the cause, and that seems pretty common.

I've heard that TMJ can cause it as well.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#164
post #49

I feel terrible because I never did anything wrong. I never went to a concert. I never worked around loud things for prolonged periods. I never listened to music too loud. I have tinnitus. It seems to go up in intensity when my TMD acts up, but it never goes completely away. Mine isn't nearly debilitating, but I worry that it's going to get worse with time.

I have had tinnitus for as long as I have been forming memories. As a child I called it "the sound of silence" and thought everyone heard it. Never bothered me much. Its much worse now at times. Still doesnt bother me much

Its the same for me. Its always been there. I've also done a lot of activities over my life that make it worse, like playing the drums, attending very loud electronic music parties, and motorcycling without earplugs. It's just a low-level background sound that is part of my life, and I'm lucky enough to be able to tune it out most times. But reading this post and going through this thread has made it a lot worse.

Interestingly, my five-year-old was complaining about ringing in her ears being distracting at bed time, so I wonder if it is genetic too.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#165

I also have tinnitus, as well as hearing loss related to loud music from nightclubs and concerts, and of course natural aging. AirPods Pro and the ability to adjust the audio to be personalised to my audiogram (hearing test results) is a huge quality of life increase. All done on device, no need to go anywhere or see any specialists.

Interestingly, I've noticed that when using my AirPods, it can change the sound of my tinnitus and make it sound like nothing I've ever heard. Its more of a fluttery sound.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#166
post #120

I get a weird transient tinnitus where my hearing drops out in one ear or the other for about 15 seconds, and is replace by a tone, which slowly fades as my hearing comes back. It sometimes happens multiple times per day, and sometimes not for weeks at a time. I've seen a couple specialists about it, but no known cause. I also notice a low-level tinnitus when I'm in very quiet places. I keep white noise machines arou…

I have permanent tinnitus and have this too, though it very rarely happens on its own. When it happens, for me, this sound is usually a signal to immediately change my posture when sitting in a chair. When I reach flow, I tend to not notice until later that I'd now be sitting cross-legged, or that I've tucked one leg under myself. That pressure tends to trigger the sound you describe after a while. I imagine because…

Same with me. It usually happens when I've been reading in bed for long and I unconsciouly get in a bad posture (neck). Correcting it, doing some shoulder and neck light exercices help but I've never associated it with pressure caused by lower body, mainly legs. Which it might as it also happens when I'm cross legged (and somewhat torso twisted) at the computer desk for too long.

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#167
post #124

Think you mean plugging, not plucking, your ears, unless sirens make you remove hair, in which case they did you a favor. I got some nice ear plugs designed for concerts (Loop) because I go to a concert and I already have mild tinnitus and don't want it to get worse. I do not know why concerts have to be SO LOUD. Loud, sure. Permanent ear damage loud, why? It should tell you something that the guys on stage wear ear…

Concerts have to be so loud because audiences are loud. As in the band members on stage wouldn't hear anything but the audience levels of loudness.

99% of concert performers use Monitors to hear their own performance over the crowds and have nothing to do with the loudness of the audience speakers. Stage Monitors can be just speakers at the front edge of the stage pointed directly at the band [1] or they can be sound isolating earpieces so artists can hear exactly the sound mix they want [2].

[1] https://audioinstallations.co.uk/blog/stage-monitors-how-do-... [2] https://www.newsweek.com/taylor-swift-eras-tour-cruel-summer...

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#168
post #49

I feel terrible because I never did anything wrong. I never went to a concert. I never worked around loud things for prolonged periods. I never listened to music too loud. I have tinnitus. It seems to go up in intensity when my TMD acts up, but it never goes completely away. Mine isn't nearly debilitating, but I worry that it's going to get worse with time.

you could have gotten tinnitus from medication. some medications (quite a few of the stronger antibiotics) are known as being ototoxic. my tinnitus started while taking antibiotics for a bad infection. I cant prove it was my antibiotic, but the antibiotic was ototoxic

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#169
For those who have tinnitus there are two sites i like to visit. one is a site that tracks new/experimental treatments for tinnitus (gives me a little hope on bad days) https://www.tinnitustreatmentreport.com/

the other is tinnitustalk support https://www.tinnitustalk.com/. it also covers upcoming possible tinnitus treatments and ways of coping with it

Re: I have tinnitus. I don't recommend it

#170
post #18

Both my wife and I started experiencing tinnitus days after the first covid shots. I will never be able to prove the shots were the cause but there was really nothing else happening in our lives back then. In my case it was never severe but I've heard of people woken up by their tinnitus. Thankfully it has mostly subsided. These days I barely notice it unless I'm in a very quiet environment.

I got mine from Covid. I’ve read that some medicines may have a side effect of tinnitus and stopping them can make it disappear.

Some medicines cause permanent tinnitus too by killing of hearing cells. Stopping them medicines then does not make the tinnitus disappear; it is permanent. One such medicine is valproate.
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