Exercise related Tinnitus

[Tal-r789T]

Hi, I've always struggled a bit with Tinnitus all my life, sometimes worse than others. On the whole I coped with it. However recently I have found that intense exercise (weights or HIIT type exercise) seems to make the tinnitus worse, and this remains this way for an extended period and is really loud ring in ears. I have to admit I exercise every day, my general routine is weight lifting/resistance training followed by cardio (usually later in the day as a second session due to work). Given that exercise is good for you, I'm bemused as to why my tinnitus has now got considerably worse when I do exercise.

I have always exercised, and it's only been in recent years that I have had Tinnitus getting worse and now a permanent issue (i.e. it doesn't go away). The only thing that has changed is that a few years ago I started resistance training (weights) again (not done seen teen years), and do some different HIIT/cardio classes at the gym.

I'm bemused as to what's causing this, has anyone any similar experiences please, and anything you did to alleviate please would be really useful for me to try.

Thanks in advance.

SW.

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

Hi Tal-r789T

One explanation for this change is very understandable - when we exercise, we experience greater blood flow throughout our body to aid in muscle function.

This can be described a generalised increase of blood flow - blood flowing more quickly makes more noise than blood flow when we're at rest.

The general advice on tinnitus is to be mindful of changes which strike you as uncharacteristic - if it seems different to you and it's connected to an activity which hasn't yielded changes before, there's no harm in getting some medical advice.

Exercise generally is good for us, but not all exercises are helpful to us all the time - are there fitness options which are perhaps not as intense but yield health benefits as well?

[Tal-r789T in reply to TinnitusUKPat]

Hi BTAPat,

Thanks for the response. I have always exercised, in fact I teach in gyms. I have always had a very good level of fitness, and always exercised a lot - have I changed things? Yes, in the base exercises in the programs, and yes perhaps I've been doing more resistence training with more weight.

But I have notcied this now with other exercises I have done in the past without issue; which is odd. I'm now due hearing aids, and TRT, but I'm just wondering if anyoen has experience similar, maybe with resistance trianing?

[Fridays_Child_62]

I am not one for sport or physical activity beyond the necessary, but I have experienced something similar in recent months. I find that my T often (but not always) increases when I get up and start to move around. My T generally stepped up around the start of this year. I suspect that this effect of increased T with physical activity has always been there but I have only started to notice it since my T has been more active. As indicated above, increased blood flow could be responsible.

[Beagleears]

Hi....I'm not sure if this is relevant but I will tell you what my NHS ear nurse told me....I have many problems with my ears and have microsuction 3/4 times a year. I asked my nurse if it was normal to have this problem and she said it was and she often sees the same clients 3/4 times a year. She said a lot of her clients are weight training/body builders and its straining to lift the weights that causes the problem with blocked ears and ultimately tinnitus aswell in her experience. I thought this was a bit strange but its stuck in my mind so thats why I'm passing it on. Take care.

[Bellyboo]

hi Tall. I completely agree with you. Your case mirrors my experience . I used to blame the onset for my tinnitus at various human beings ..vicars step dad.. teachers assaults in my primary years ( slaps to the side of the head sucking out air within the inner ear was common 60 yrs ago. However when I was working my tinnitus spiked more when I was exhausted from a hard days graft. I used to have a couple of v large whisky’s in the evening to sleep and did this all my life until 4 months ago when I stopped (cold Turkey) my T is the same but im in a safer mental state to cope with it. When I brush my teeth of a morning my T is now only just raised louder than my philips electrical tooth brush…when I was drinking it was far worse. I hold the toothbrush against my front teeth and monitor the pitch of the T to evaluate the pitch. This morning for example was on a parr so that’s a positive .

[1966366]

Hi Tal, I am definitely with you totally on this point. I have exercised all of my life (Had T for the last 8 years) and never had any problems with my T spiking. However, approximately a year ago after my Sunday morning cycling I had the most awful T which lasted for days. At first I, like you, was flummoxed by this but then it occurred after a swim. In fact now I am getting spikes after the morning cold shower! I don't know what else to say but I am sure that you will be OK just go a little easier on your self? Best of luck 👍

[Tal-r789T in reply to 1966366]

Thanks for your input and sharing experience. I’m glad you got to some of the triggers on your problems, I know some have specific triggers. I suspect mine may be heavy weights, although given I have now been diagnosed with hearing loss in both ears, and being fitted for hearing aids, I’m hoping this will bring some relief if there is an underlying issue. I know I have been doing a lot in the gym, but am working to reduce that now. I’m hopeful that building in a ‘proper’ recovery day, and reducing some of what I do I can get some relief. I just don’t know what else to correlate this increase in the last few years against. The only thing I have done in the last few years is add more weight training and kept up everything else I did.

[Balkees]

Hello Tal.

I am totally with you on this. About 1 year go I experienced a spike in T after doing some intense cardio training. T lasted for approximately 4 months. I normally have consistent ringing but this was on another level that was new to me. It wasn’t easy to manage initially but the high pitched ringing did subside to a tolerable level.

I find that sometimes when my heart rate increases it can increases the intensity of my Tinnitus.