your thread showed up in my search for this. Let me give you my story. I was in the us army for 14 years as an infantryman. I have fired all sizes of firearms from a rifle to a .50 bmg machine gun and different anti tank launchers. This sometimes without hearing protection due to it being in combat where we needd to hear everything. And tro top it off my armored vehicle hit an ied and i was injured bad enough to be medivac back to walter reed hospital in 38 hours from Afghanistan. So after all those years I have severe tinnitus in my left ear and moderate hearing loss in my right. Since being medically retired in 2012 my tinnitus is more, say, noticed because of normal quiet life conditions. Now the zaps, which I am betting you agree are the hardest thing to try and describe to a doctor. I have seen soo many doctors and 99% look at me like i am crazy and refer me somewhere else. i had a brain mri a few months ago and was negative but had a note of a possible sinus infection. I get these zaps any time of day, almost every day. It usually happens to me when I turn my head or my eyes and it straight up stops my thought process for a half second and i grunt a little from the pain. yeah i look really sane when it happens lol. if i ever get a real answer i will repost so maybe we all can have relief. btw i am 46/m. NC USA
hello from acrross the pond: your thread showed... - Tinnitus UK
hello from acrross the pond
and btw anyone who tells you it is anxiety is bollocks, if thats how you say it. we say full of ship here
from what many posters here say, most doctors are dismissive of tinnitus. Even though more than one in ten of us have tinnitus, they just say “nothing can be done”…. Sadly.
There is no cure as such. If you get an advertisement saying there’s a cure it’s a sure sign that someone is trying to get money out of you.
But there are many things you can do to help yourself and I would urge you to go to the website of Tinnitus UK. There are many suggestions there.
The aim is eventually to habituate yourself - in other words, get to the point where your brain eventually realises that the noise is in your mind, it’s probably there to stay (I’ve had mine for sixty years) and that it just won’t hurt you.
I hope other posters will join me in wishing you well, and give their take on the nasty thing you’ve got.
Hi, I'm American too. I've had fairly constant ear noise for 50 years, though doctors didn't believe me about it either, opposite of you, I was a troubled 17 year old girl. Would you mind describing the zaps you experience again? Sudden, intense, nerve firings, impossible to ignore? I 'm assuming. Sounds quite dreadful, I hope you find some relief.
I have also noticed the zaps get worse right after showering, you would think that would help but its the opposite. It helps a lot knowing i am not alone having this.
From my limited, layperson's understanding there are a few possibilities for symptoms like those which are being discussed in the thread.
One might be brain zaps which are neurotransmitter related and might stem from the discontinuation of anti-depressant medication (nhs.uk/mental-health/talkin...
It's not unknown for tinnitus/buzzing sensations to occur alongside these episodes and symptoms.
Another possibility are the types of sensation which people experience prior to bed or going off to sleep (these might be related to myoclonus-like involuntary muscular twitches).
As this overview from Healthline on the topic advises, 'discontinuation syndrome' is a popular term used by GPs to explain a phenomenon which is difficult to fully comprehend (healthline.com/health/brain....
i have read about all that. unfortunatly i get these zaps all times of day and have been constant on all medications i take. have you read anything about physical exertion being linked? i am at a loss, i know people get the zaps but none really line up specifically with my symptoms.
Old Musician With Tinnitus. 
Prednisolone
sleep
Advice for tinnitus and hearing aids
Last place I thought to look
