Author Topic: Varying Levels of Tinnitus  (Read 3641 times)

wcrimi

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Varying Levels of Tinnitus
« on: July 10, 2009, 07:27:02 am »
I know that people with tinnitus in the AN ear sometimes have varying levels of sound, but does anyone else have a predictable pattern to it?

I have a high pitched tone that is always there, but for most of the day I don't even notice it because it's low enough that background noise, the TV, rado, conversation etc.. drowns it out.  The only time I usually hear it is when I rest my head against a pillow with that ear down at night, when I'm in my car alone before I start it, or when I purposely close that ear with my hand to see if it's there (LOL).

There are occasional days it gets worse for a few hours and can get very annoying, but fortunately those are few and far between. I'm guessing it has something to do with diet because it tends to get worse after I have a lot of junk food (pizza, pototo chips, etc..) At least that's a possible pattern that I will continue to monitor.

However, there are two times each day that it gets slightly worse that I can predict.

1. When I first wake up in the morning it's always worse, but it's a slightly different sound than just the high pitch. It's a kind of hissing noise over the high pitch.  It slowly usually gets better in an hour or two. 

2. When I lie down at night to watch TV.

This leads me to believe that I'm experiencing something slightly different than the actual high pitch tinnitus. I'm thinking it's related to small amounts of fluid on that side that perhaps accumualte somewhere when I am lying down and dissapate a little as I go about my business during the day.  It was much worse right after surgery than it is now, but then it went away for awhile. Now for the last few months it's back.   

I do sometimes feel like I have a bit of fluid in that ear (just a tad) and I'm wondering if I have some kind of post nasal drip that is now getting into the ear area at times that never got there before.

Anyone else have this experience?

1 cm, 6mm, 4mm on Left side. Surgery performed 11/6/2008 by Dr. Kalmon Post and Eric Smouha at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.
Normal hearing before, 85%-90% now, dizziness when walking or turning head, annoying hissing and high pitched tinnitus on and off, eyes have trouble adjusting to rapid head move

CHD63

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Re: Varying Levels of Tinnitus
« Reply #1 on: July 10, 2009, 10:08:47 am »
Wayne .....

Unfortunately tinnitus seems to be a universal issue post AN treatment.  I cannot speak for anyone else but I also have the high-pitched constant tone that I can ignore most of the time, like you.  However, I also have all kinds of other annoying sounds that come and go ..... some pulsate like a bell ringing, some hiss like white noise, etc.  When I am really bored (or can't go to sleep at night) I try to analyze how many different ones there are!   ::)  I cannot connect the differences to anything specific other than any time I am in a loud environment like a restaurant, it kicks up to a most distracting level and makes hearing conversation much more difficult.  Also, I am 16 months post-op and it is much worse now than immediately post surgery (I had virtually none pre surgery.).

Staying busy definitely helps ..... but with the fatigue factor that is not always possible.

Good luck.  Clarice
Right MVD for trigeminal neuralgia, 1994, Pittsburgh, PA
Left retrosigmoid 2.6 cm AN removal, February, 2008, Duke U
Tumor regrew to 1.3 cm in February, 2011
Translab AN removal, May, 2011 at HEI, Friedman & Schwartz
Oticon Ponto Pro abutment implant at same time; processor added August, 2011

wcrimi

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Re: Varying Levels of Tinnitus
« Reply #2 on: July 10, 2009, 07:11:10 pm »
I had the high pitched tone pre surgery and it's approximately the same now (other than the occasional flare up).  I also hear all kinds of distorted sounds in loud environments, but that seems to be improving with time. This crazy hissing pattern is strange though, because it does come and go when I'm lying down or standing up over a period of time. It's not even immediate.  hmmmnn
1 cm, 6mm, 4mm on Left side. Surgery performed 11/6/2008 by Dr. Kalmon Post and Eric Smouha at Mt. Sinai Hospital in NYC.
Normal hearing before, 85%-90% now, dizziness when walking or turning head, annoying hissing and high pitched tinnitus on and off, eyes have trouble adjusting to rapid head move