I know it is generated by the brain but what actually is the cause? Stress, anxiety or the brain sending a warning any way it can that something is amiss with the body.
I seem to get it more when I sit down to relax and particularly after I have had vertigo. I notice it increases with my computer use as well. My vertigo is not from the hairs in the ear forming crystals, but it appears to be prescription drug induced.
I have an ear pod jambed into my left ear to over come the noise and get tired of having to do so in order to retrain the brain to block the noise it is generating itself. The only alternative I have discovered so far is to keep busy working and don't relax. Move the concentration elsewhere.
That's a very good question. I've struggled with T for decades but over the past couple of years, it has gotten much worse. I'd always thought it was related or caused by my degenerative spine at c-5 c-6. My MRIs show my spinal cord to look like a crimped garden hose, bone spurs pushing in, no room for spinal fluid to pass through. Multiple neurosurgeons have told me it's not the cause of the T and discouraged surgery. Recently I've had a low pulsing hum added to the screeching constant hissing sound. I get a thumping that I can feel which I can somehow mentally shut off. This all points to nerve damage to me rather than hearing loss. As far as I can see, the science hasn't changed on this. It's my brain searching for sound that is no longer coming from the cochlear.
Still, while I work frantically all day, and challenge my brain with projects while trying to sleep, I mull over all the possible causes that may be causing T. : loud noise, neck injury(stenosis), cell phones, ear buds, 5G microwaves, stress, caffeine, alcohol, sugar, medications,..........
There must be someone who knows and isn't telling us the truth, or the experts haven't really figured it out yet.
After all of the specialists visits, theoropies, and reading things like this forum, I can see, we as humans are still lost in more ways than one.
Keep working. Keep your mind busy. You probably are the state of the art on this. If not, please.......anyone........speak up.
I was severely struck down with what we thought was vertigo around the time I suffered kidneys stop working and subsequent medication of a large dose of vitamin D and eventually a monthly dose. Fortunately the kidneys were kick started and although damaged keep me going without medical intervention. I recently had another large amount of vitamin D3 and was struck down with vertigo symptoms again. This stirred the brain/ me to look closer into the circumstances of what is happening to me. The vertigo symptoms and tinnitus both coincide around the taking of vitamin D, sadly not something the body can do without. I know I can retrain the brain to ignore the screeching static sound in the ear, but I still have periods when I have to flood the left ear with more noise than the tinnitus gives me.
My next step when I'm clear of duties of driving my partner around and the vitamin D has depleted in the body to natural levels is to take another dose of vitamin D3. Some may say it is a crazy idea but I need to be sure if it is vitamin D the cause, trigger or not at all. Once is not enough to be conclusive, just coincidence.
I know the brain is affected by the chemistry around the brain, so, are the symptoms of dizziness, tinnitus, migraines, headaches, forgetfulness, lack of comprehension and poor hand eye coordination at times possibly caused by the brain. That is, is the brain incorrectly interpreting signals this way and causing these symptoms. Now is it the brain warning of something or reacting to something. That is the question. No medical reason has been found that could cause these problems, but that does not suppose everything has been seen. Drs are all too ready to tell me what it isn't, but short on actually looking to see what could be responsible. I guess you have to be looking for a needle in a hay stack before you can find one in a hay stack.
Heavens forbid it should turn out to be some brain disease that has gone undetected and the brain has been trying to warn me for years.
I have had the same problems and my neurologist want to do Botox injection because she said it is silent migraines. I'm not to sure I want to go that route. I do find certain foods like bread and sweets tend to make mine worse. I also have found that if my digestion is off then the T is worse. Can't figure this stuff out for nothing. My T is loud all the time.
What causes it? .... well I don’t think anyone knows. I thought I had developed it about fifteen or twenty years ago, with no cause. Now I believe I’ve had it since childhood. And because I was so used to it (it wasn’t very loud) it’s just part of my life.
I’m 74 now and the T is very much louder than it was ten years ago. But I don’t need to distract myself with external noise. Having hearing aids helps, so that the real world is a bit louder, but otherwise I just ignore the T.
I’m am fortunate that I have a happy life. I dont sit around worrying about things. I do sit around - but I’m reading or whatever (or replying to posts). I had cancer, but am in remission, and have hypertension and arthritis both of which I control, with diet, lifestyle and medication.
I have had it for many years at a very low level and seldom, which like you was manageable. But for the last 7 years it has been intense interfering with my life and sanity. There is no amount of ignoring it, only blasting it with a greater noise with something I prefer to listen to other than noise. Very occasionally I get it in both ears at the same time but fortunately these are very rare occasions and I hope they remain so. If I'm able to find what makes it low level or intense then I'm half way there to finding the cause. I would think that it may well be different causes for others, who knows. As I'm used to working in absolute silence this makes it worse. Were I used to working in an environment with daily back ground noise it may well shrink into the back ground, but that is not the case. I suspect thinking about it prolongs it as well, which would hint at anxiety having a hand in it.
I know many just live with it. What is the alternative, there is none for the moment, just ways to deal with it.
My nature is not to put up with something I dislike, nor is it to do nothing. I'll beaver away until I have an answer, regardless if there is a solution or not. The answer is getting closer with each severe bout and a better understanding of how/when this is happening to me.
Although a decade old, the book Living with Tinnitus and Hyperacusis by Dr L. McKenna, Dr D. Baguley and Dr D. McFerran seems to offer a fundamental explanation - g.co/kgs/Xtm5zg. Of course, later research may prove or disprove this in part. I can personally related this to my journey with Tinnitus and Hyperacusis, so might have some bias. Still I highly recommend the book.
It explains (p. 11-14) that a primordial function of the Auditory System alerts us to danger. This includes a filtering mechanism for sounds, so we habituated to noise we learn/know do not present a danger or may not take priority in what we might be doing at that moment in time. Tinnitus, or the sounds we percieve are a malfunction of this filtering system. In turn, this raises our awareness of neural activity. Furthermore, as the Auditory System is linked to the Limbic System, which deals which emotions, it can make us (Tinnitus suffers) particularly more anxious.
The above explains Tinnitus due to hearing loss but there are many reason and few categories of tinnitus. I came across an peer-reviewed article recently that concluded that the limited categories of tinnitus and limited number of experts studying tinnitus have meant that our understanding of Tinnitus maybe not as advanced as it should be.
Unfortuntely, being aware of danger is a natural process; in biology and for "natural selection", it is fundamental to the existence of many living organisms - fight or flight. I find it fascinating. Or maybe it's just me.
Hi cheyne13
Sorry to hear you too have tinnitus
I had it since my early 30's - 71 now, after very noisy discos in the 70's
Did fine with it, till 4 years ago, when it ramped up to a level that stopped me sleeping - so took Benzos
However, 6 months ago, I had success with my Redefining the T, as NOT a NOISE or SOUND at all (which it isn't) but an ILLUSION/DELUSION that the brain has created, for whatever reason
Worked for me and I haven't needed Benzos for 6 months now!
If interested, please see my Post
All the Best!
Alps
Begs the question.
If you have been able to fool the brain into thinking T is not what it really is, why not just tell the brain to stop making T. So much easier.
I don't think anybody is fooled into believing it is actual sound/noise. Certainly the brain can cause many things, real or not. I know of one occasion where it has shut down vision in one eye without any actual physical problem, a mental issue.
But at the end of the day what ever works for you, go with it.
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