ringing noise in ears

[Robert987]

hi, I’d like to introduce myself to this amazing forum and I look forward to being apart of the community.

for the past 8 months I’ve had a pulsing metallic ringing in my right ear. Sometimes it moves to my left ear too. Sometimes it feels further away.

I also have a constant higher pitch sound in both ears which gets louder now and again.

Finally a deeper rumbling/hum sound which comes 3 times a month and lasts a few days.

It all started when I tried a new pillow, I used it for a few days and felt a shooting pain at the back of my head and top. The pain is now gone but sound still remains.

I’ve been trying tmj exercises for the past month and this has helped me loads. The pain pressure behind my noise, eyes, top and sides of head is mostly gone and comes back sometimes but the tinnitus is still there.

I’ve noticed if I put my index finger in my ears and wiggle it about loads for about 20 seconds all the tinnitus disappears and it’s very peaceful. But then it slowly comes back after 15 seconds,

I’ve also noticed the sounds change if I fully open my jaw.

My gp says it tinnitus and the audiologist reported no hearing loss.

any help would be greatly appreciated

Kind regards

Rob

[Threeminuteboy]

Hi Robert , I'd look into craniosacral therapy , you have nothing to loose in trying it , it won't make things worse . It might make no difference but then again if you can alter your T by openning your jaw or putting a finger in your ear craniosacral massage may help . I saw a private Neuro Physio therapist who helped me with some of my tinnitus related problems when it began 2 years ago , i'd recomend that as well as they see people with head and brain injuries all the time and have a vast range of physical exercises that can help . My local Neuro physio was £80 for an hour with about a two week wait .

[Robert987 in reply to Threeminuteboy]

thanks I’ve had look around locally for a neuro physio centre and found a few, I’ll call them tomorrow to get an appointment booked in. My main worry is if it’s early signs of a tumour but my gp said there’s no red flags yet so they can’t do an MRI.

[Threeminuteboy in reply to Robert987]

A tumour gives a whole range of other symptoms that you don't have , so many people have said " it might be a brain tumour" when i've told them i have tinnitus . Tinnitus doesn't increase the odds of developing a tumour once you have tinnitus , 1in7 people get tinnitus of some kind and i've not seen figures or research of how many of those get or have a brain tumour related to the tinnitus .A friend of ours had a massive brain surgery to remove a tumour 2 years ago , he also has tinnitus and was hoping as the tumour could have been there for years having it out would see it go away . But the tinnitus remained the same after the op so was totally unrelated to the tumour .

[Robert987 in reply to Threeminuteboy]

Thank you, such a relief to hear someone say that it’s not related, feels like a weight has been lifted, the tinnitus feels slightly better today and knowing that it’s not a tumour has reduced my stress and worry alot, i can’t thank you enough for your advice 🙏 

[Threeminuteboy in reply to Robert987]

Well that tells you something about your tinnitus , its lower if you're less stressed , tinnitus i believe is caused by stress in many of the people who have tinnitus . If someone's tinnitus was being caused by something physical like a tumour pushing against something or causing pressure in the brain whether that person felt less stress or not it wouldn't make much difference to the noise level .

[Robert987 in reply to Threeminuteboy]

Yes that’s true thanks for explaining it in more detail, I’m starting to think more positively and hopefully about my symptoms now, I do worry alot so that could be causing it as well at some level,

[PABLR]

More concerning for a tumour is unilateral hearing loss. If you just have tinnitus - sorry the 'just' comes from over twenty years of both, it's unlikely, as others have said, to be a tumour. I have had a couple of MRIs for the hearing loss, first for unilateral loss and then a sudden loss in the other ear, and one came up with a vascular loop (harmless) and the other with nothing else. I suspect most MRIs don't come up with tumours, but it is of course important to rule them out. At this point, don't worry too much, follow up on some of the other suggestions, and good luck.

[Robert987 in reply to PABLR]

that’s very reassuring makes me feel more at ease, An mri would rule it out for me as well but for now I’ll follow up on your advice. Hopefully will get better.  It’s good to know that I can contact someone for advice so I’m not feeling like I’m on own. thanks for the help,

[Bob2a]

I have had a loud constant ringing tinnitus as well as a ringing in time with my pulse for the last 8 years and can also change the volume by moving my jaw. I was diagnosed with Somatic Tinnitus with a pulsatile element which can be caused by a neck injury. Tinnitus UK has more information about different types of Tinnitus that might help you.

[Robert987]

thanks for sharing your experience in living with tinnitus, I really didn’t know there were different types of tinnitus, I’ll be sure to look through the info here,