Hearing multiple sounds at a time is also Tinnitus ? Please help.

[avirata]

Hello All,

I am also one among tinnitus sufferers along with hearing loss since long time (10+ years).

I have bilateral mixed hearing loss and I use hearing aid to manage my hearing

I got tinnitus in the beginning of the hearing loss in 2010 , I was also scared as usual like others but gradually I was habituated over the years .

But on 2020 post delivery of my first baby . After 10 days I started to feel strange symptoms in my head like a sever tinnitus in right ear and it was not usual as like existing one. I could not sleep or be in peaceful in the day over a week. My baby was sever collic baby and she was not sleeping at all and continuously crying all the time . So I sensed I might have got my tinnitus worse due to lack of sleep and stress I had that time.

But each day it was progressing like in each ear I had 3+ sounds so almost 6 to 7 sounds I can hear.

Those were 24*7 , hearing aid was not masking those and also I felt it is always in my brain like I am very close close to them . Those were very loud and disturbing. I was scared of them.

I met 3 ENTs within 3 months of time . None of them took it seriously said you just sleep well everything will be fine.

Along with these I felt 2 more weird symptoms like though I am sleeping from outside but I always felt in the morning that I didn't sleep and my mind was very active

My eyes were not refreshed in every morning

This made me even more Pathetic and helpless and I also got mild visual disturbances that if I close my eyes I can sense that flickering view , couldn't see moving lines. I strongly feel these are all interconnected.

Those sounds are not static , it's always dynamic I feel those have life I mean I feel that some activity is happening in the brain hence the sounds producing. In the same day they get changed to multiple patterns even if won't take any stress and all.

It's been 4+ years I am struggling I have met multiple neurologist , psychiatrist but none could figure what's happening

MRi of the Brain is normal that's the only relief I have. They just prescribe nerve relax medicines and ask me to ignore .I took minimal dose psychiatry medicine for 1+ year only for my sleep problem then stopped because doctors said you don't have any problem so withdraw medicines.

I struggle each day to overcome this.

My question is if it's tinnitus and I am already tinnitus receiver , why I couldn't habituated from last 4+ years ?

Why each day those get changed ? Why I feel those are continuously produces from neurons like some activity going on?

Why I won't feel sleepy ?

I have forgot what sleep it is ? Because my mind does make me sleepy no matter how much I try.

I would have ignored these symptoms atleast if I was sleeping in night forgetting them in the background for some hours but day and night I am struggling with these

Now I am not even scared of these sounds kinda feel habituated but that irritation will be always there .

I don't be normal like I don't feel sleepy ,I won't go into deep sleeps also.

Doctors always ignore me if I start explaining about sounds because they think easily that I have hearing loss hence it is Tinnitus .so I got a point that I can talk about these only to people who had experienced it . It's you people and get a support !

My only question for you people is does tinnitus feel this way too? Like you are very much close to those sounds and hearing aid doesn't mask? I can hear them even in traffic too . All will be punching at a time 2-3 are secondary level sound 2-3 are primary level sounds . 6 to 7 active sounds will be there and those are violent type of sounds not a dull ones and each day the pattern of the sounds changes . I do have beating ,very rhythamatic sound (not pulsatile) because it beats 3+ times per second like a some wind strongly moving inside the head not in particular place. It originates in different places in the head( this beating is more irritating like throbbing in the deep middle of the skull)I feel like I am in a different planet/ state though people are there around me very near.

I am confused whether it is psychological imbalance post delivery or due to hearing loss related tinnitus. But I strongly sense it's not Tinnitus .

I honestly need your answers here please.

I couldn't put my entire story here how my last 4+ years been but I have overcome somehow still doing . If your answers gives me little clarity like psychological or pure tinnitus then I will consult again further neurologist for help .I don't wanna live my life this way without any clarity

Apologies for my long write up.

[perlcoder]

Hello Aviata,

I am so sorry to hear of your troubles. At least you have had an MRI and the attention of more than one ENT - that is some consolation.

Obviously I can't analyse or comment on all your symptoms - I am just a fellow sufferer for many years now. What I can say is that, in my opinion and from my own experience and reading about those of others, is that if the brain can imagine a sound, or a combination of sounds, at any volume, in any location inside or outside one's head, then that sound/sounds can manifest as tinnitus, and can change in every respect at frequent intervals.

For most sufferers this wild, ever changing, combination of sounds does not occur, and I have never personally come across a combination as severe as yours seems to be, but I have read about some that are very like it. Habituation will often help, but it is so very difficult to habituate to a changing pattern, and sometimes it is impossible to do so.

My own T can vary by the hour, and, like yours, it cannot be masked by external sound. It varies greatly from day to day in loudness, location and volume. It can produce exhaustion through sleep deprivation as well as dizzyness when there are different sounds in different perceived locations.

None of the above may help with your own T, but if there is no other cause for it, if there is nothing that MRIs, other tests and the opinions of good doctors can find, then in my opinion your symptoms can be entirely due to T.

Sorry I can't be of greater assistance to you.

Best wishes.

[avirata in reply to perlcoder]

That's so kind of you to give a quicker reply for my concern. All the symptoms what I facing started at a single night so I always try to correlate with them and looks for root cause :/

My Tinnitus is very much bothersome and it is worsening because of I have sleep related disorders and medications for insomnia also not helping much

Anyways atleast somedays it goes little down that I have control on it and my life so I am grateful to God and I just pray him to give me the same strength to overcome this in future too.

I came across Tinnitus forums first time and it reduced my anxiety little bit and I am much relieved that I am not alone .

Thanks for all the help you poured through your words

[Vic24]

Hi! I’m sorry to hear that your T has been bothering you so much.

Have you ever checked your blood pressure when T gets worse ? High or even low blood pressure can trigger T.

I suggest you have relaxation techniques.

Even guts inflammation can trigger T. Try a little bit of diet. Only food made home, not take away.

Good health!

[avirata in reply to Vic24]

Thanks for the kind response !

My blood pressure is in control. I am into healthy eating for most of my life .I have sleep related disorders that causing this weird Tinnitus

[Jimbob7]

Have you been examined for potential TMJD? - your Tinnitus seems like mine - which is referred to as Soma-sensory - emanting from physical disorders - mine came after recieving a cervical injury in a fall. If you are able to manipulate and change the T by head movements and pressure to jaw, neck, scalp, etc - then it is worth asking for a referral to MSK clinic or Maxillofacial clinic for examination as to cause.

[avirata]

For me pregnancy is culprit. I was absolutely fine till delivery. All these started within initial weeks of post delivery and there is no turn back from there . If I lay down I feel Tinnitus intensity gets increased and also the pressure in the head.

The only impression in the MRI was 7th facial nerve had slight demyelinatination (kind of upper cover of nerve was damaged) but it is not specific to my symptoms I mean this can happen in general when you have deficiencies and mainly during pregnancy also it can happen

In the second MRI after 1 year ,this myelin sheath was seen in recovery phase.

Other than this I have lower back nerve compression problem .

More than Tinnitus what bothers me I don't get solid sleep . Even I wake up in night I feel like I kept my eyes closed for sometime. I will not be waking up from the middle of sleep sedation. I got floaters in the eyes, dry eyes , sensitive to light all these occured same time when Tinnitus got worse and weird sleep symptoms.

I am not afraid of these sounds like I dont wear hearing aid for whole day and I can bear Tinnitus still.

Then if my mind is not scared of these , I don't know what else keeps my brain awake from the sleep .

Doctors not helping so I just do meditation or if I don't get sleep also I accept and try not to bother about that so much

When some days are out of my emotional control, I break down into tears and helplessness and I get back to new day with all my strength and same hopes .

Hopefully one day my sleep problem get resolved and this weird Tinnitus gets into manageable way.

Sorry if it sounds little dramatic.

But I feel good that there are certain people who are still hearing what I wanted to say . Thank you!

[cheapo]

Hi Avirata. I've had tinnitus for around 30 years, so I'm very sorry to know you have been hearing it for a long time too. Yes I hear multiple sounds, and they vary a bit in a slightly random way. But it does depend on my environment. If it's noisy I don't hear the bass sounds in my tinnitus, but the high pitched sounds are always there!

So you are not alone in hearing multiple sounds in your tinnitus!

10 years ago I managed to construct a sort of copy of what I was hearing. I used an audio editing program called Audacity

freesound.org/people/hear-n...

I've added your online name just to prove that it genuinely is my account. I'll remove your name after one week, or if you reply before then.

Best regards Cheapo