Tinnitus

This might work for some people with tinnitus and sounds a bit painful, but it's ok.

There is a nerve that runs down from the back of your head, along your spine. Stimulating this nerve can help in some cases. It's at the point where your spine joins the back of the head and is in line with your ears.

I actually use a massager down that nerve!! While I'm at it, I also massage my temples (being very careful with the massager), down the side of my cheek and down to below my ear. (On my neck) it really makes tension in those areas obvious (like a headache) at those points.

It's quite brutal with a massager and I am very careful how much pressure I use.

For some reason, the noises are still there afterwards but when I wake up in the morning, they are often completely gone and gives relief for a while.

In my case, the noises might be a combination of high blood pressure and tension in my neck and jaw but it is quite strange how the noise can completely disappear to the point that I'm actually 'trying' to hear it because I'm so used to it.

Later on in the day, it might creep back, but because of ambient noise, I am unaware of it until it's quiet. Not sure yet what actually sets it off.

If I tense my jaw, I can hear the same noise at very low level so I started to think that it might be something to do with 'tension' around my head and jaw.

I might help Joe. There are all kinds of fixes for tinnitus but I think a lot depends on what the root cause is and it isn't always the same for everyone.

Mine did in fact creep back today and I haven't even been using headphones so it'll be another session with the massager tonight and maybe tomorrow, I'll wake up with it gone again....

Even having dental treatment can set it off.......

So I ruled out supplements like Zinc and vit B are of any help here.
Shortages of these minerals and vitamins are almost always found with Tinnitus complaints.
Well.. ruled it out myself, didn't have my blood checked for it.

Did see the GP. She said she couldn't do much but still saw some earwax.
Had that rinsed out (or attempted to) and she flushed out some more from my ear but still saw 'some' left.
She said that that could not cause Tinnitus.
I respectfully disagreed and left.

No change in ear measurements afterwards ... bummer.

Then I saw an audiologist.
Had a long (and interesting) talk with him.
He said my left ear performed worse (measured it but only up to 8kHz) and told me I had Tinnitus at 6kHz.
He based that on a low he measured there.
Told him it was at 13kHz... he questioned that.
After explaining more (and him not measuring that high and I did) he still questioned my line of thinking.

Then out of the blue he proposed to measure my hearing again but using bone conduction.
This bypasses the eardrum and hearing bones and feeds testtones directly to the cochlea.
Did the test again and passed.
My hearing left and right was equally good when using bone conduction.

From that moment on he changed his song and concluded as the only thing that was bypassed was the eardrum that I probably was right.

The problem the doc and audiologist have is that my ear canal is quite thin and a bit more warped than usual.
So they cannot see the entire eardrum.
He could see some gunk adhered to the edges which they can't remove.

Still think this is my problem (other ear clean and good HF response).
Now armed with more proof I can see the doc again and ask her to refer me to the hospital.

Then comes the daunting task to convince that doc to clean what they probably don't think will help.
That's for later.

Waiting period will be months...

Will be trying something using the Kameleon which will compensate L and R ear differently and make the sounds enter my brain as if everything was O.K. in the meantime...

to be continued..

Great detective work Frans. At the least you have ruled out cochlear damage. Sometimes things don't follow the usual patterns and doctors have to think outside the box. Good luck with your next steps.

Something like this:



It doesn't hold much water and you can't push water in too fast but probably isn't as effictive as what the doc uses.
It came with some ear wax softening materials.

The problem seems to be that syringing only helps when the wax isn't near the eardrum.
In my case the wax seems to adhere to the edges of the eardrum.
The middle is squeeky clean.
My left ear thus hears equally loud as the right one.
But for the highest frequencies (above what docters measure, usually only up to 4kHz or 8kHz) that edge seems to be important.

A bit like how the tone of a drum changes when you push (damp) at the edge of the drum. The sound changes and has less 'attack' and dies out faster.

I don't think syringing will help me now that I have seen what the problem appears to be.
It may come in handy when the ear canal fills up again (and it will).

Yep, that's what my GP uses.
Those things are massive.

I had the strangest experience the last few times.
When the water hit my eardrum it felt like my eyeball became cold and wet ?
When I told her she looked at me strangely.
She never heard that before.

Must be some wrong wiring in my brain ?