This constant humming in my head has been going on for four days now and I’m now sound intolerant, on top of feeling woozy. Feels like I’m inside a seashell; it’s driving me crazy!
My GP just started me on 10 mg of propranolol on Friday and I’m wondering if it’s going to help with this. He also prescribed Cymbalta (which I still don’t have 'cause it requires pre-authorization). I missed work on Friday and don’t think I can go back feeling this way:(!
Is this related to my MAV? Is it something different? I did mention it to him, but do I need to call him back? Go see another specialist? Is there anything that can stop this?
This just makes me feel so helpless and sad; how pitiful!
Yeah, could definitely be MAV-related. My MAV (at least this round) kicked off in Feb. 2011 and my ears have been ringing since April of 2011 (but who’s counting? ). I also have pressure in my ears (mostly my left, which also rings loudest), where they feel like they need to pop. It’s quite maddening! The only plus about going to work these days is that between the air conditioning in the building and all the computerish things in my office that hum all the time, I’m less likely to notice the constant noise in my head while I’m there. It’s only when I’m home and it’s really quiet that it starts to make me crazy. (Fortunately I use an air purifier in my bedroom - for allergy issues and for the “white” noise - so that helps drown it out a bit when I’m trying to sleep…) I’m still trying to find the right med, but I have found when testing them that some make the ringing louder and some quieter. I’d like to think that given the right med I will once again be able to hear the silence in my head. Hopefully.
It sounds like tinnitus. Have you been suffering MAV for a while? Many people seem to get tinnitus with this condition. I know at least one person for whom it started about 9 months in so it doesn’t always start straight away. Sometimes it can be caused or made worse by certain medications so you may want to check on that x
Erika, silence would truly be golden. I hope we all find the right treatment and can become a success story:)! Jem, I started struggling with this 9 months ago, and after several tests and visits to specialists, I finally figured it out pretty much on my own after an ENT suggested migraine (not MAV). I just saw my GP on Friday and after going over all I’d been through and telling him what I’d learned, he suggested a treatment for MAV. I guess I need to talk to him, though this symptom had started before the Propranalol. Is the Tinitus treated separately? I kind of hope so…
I am not sure if they can cure tinnitus. My mum has it, although she does not have any vestibular disorder or dizziness. Hers started about 18 months ago after a period of extreme stress. I think it varies, for some it goes away by itself and for others it is intermittent and then quite a lot of people get used to it and are able to live with it and ignore it most of the time. My mum said hers is worse when she is stressed and she hears it loudest at night time when it’s quiet. Other noises and talking etc can drown it out so you don’t notice it she says. I have heard about sound therapy for tinnitus but don’t know how effective it is. My mum went to her GP who referred her to an ENT. Once they did a hearing test and established it was not Menieres and she had no hearing loss then they discharged her and left her to get on with it. Not very helpful. However for you, if it is MAV related, then it may improve as the MAV is brought under control. Hope so x
Thanks; living with symptoms that have no clear treatments certainly causes stress. I think I’ll call my GP…and get a white noise machine. My toilet started running and I haven’t gone to jiggle it 'cause right now the sound feels better than the silence:).
Sorry you have this but you will adapt to it mines got worse in one ear over time but its partly because Im pregnant its increased.
Its a pain when I first got it I got so upset and scared I thought it was awful but it did get better and I tuned it out which your brain will do.
I only notice it now at night really x
I’ve had tinnitus for ages, got worse when this acute episode hit me in January. But what you describe, along with the noise sensitivity, I got after starting my Topamax. I don’t recall if Propanolol did it to me or not, just made me feel terrible is all I really remember, and too tired to get out of bed. So it may go away once you adapt to your meds.
Hope so!!
If not, Gingko Biloba did help me right before this all started, and I will be adding it into my regimen again. If yours doesn’t go away, perhaps it will help you also.
Thanks for your encouragement and wisdom ladies. First I sighed and thought, “great, another thing with no cure to deal with!” Then I thought, “it could be worse.” Now I’m believing that it’s something you become accustomed to and learn to LIVE with after a while. The tinnitus started a few days before I went on 10 mg. of Propranalol, so I can rule that out and learn to accept it as a new normal. I missed two days of work because noise is right now intolerable, but I plan to return and figure how to make it tolerable. I spent a couple of hundred out of budget dollars and got a white sound machine, B2 and Magnesium, another doctor’s visit, and further blood work. I also cleaned out my fridge and pantry and got rid of some favorites (green tea, olives, parmesan cheese, etc.) to replace with some newbies (herbal fruity tea, pumpkin seeds, American cheese-OMG!). Thanks to this forum, I’m realizing that as terrifying and overwhelming as this all is at first, there is certainly hope…reminds me of Emily Dickinson poem:
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,
And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.
I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
I have had just about every sound you can think of in my ears, but now that I’m on Topamax I dont have nearly as many. Seems to be just the high pitched ringing in my left ear which gets down fairly low on good days, so my hope is once all of this is resolved it will be gone for good, and a hum, a lot like you were talking about, when I get a lot of pressure in my ears. That comes and goes though, so maybe yours will do the same. I’ve found valium helps alot as its a vestibular suppressant…it sort of makes your ears relax a bit. Perhaps you could ask your doctors about that. Its a very low dose…not even enough to make me sleepy.
I have a post blood work follow up appointment with my GP on Monday and will definitely ask him. Just started first treatment and seeing where it goes…it’s encouraging to read success stories:)!
). I also have pressure in my ears (mostly my left, which also rings loudest), where they feel like they need to pop. It’s quite maddening! The only plus about going to work these days is that between the air conditioning in the building and all the computerish things in my office that hum all the time, I’m less likely to notice the constant noise in my head while I’m there. It’s only when I’m home and it’s really quiet that it starts to make me crazy. (Fortunately I use an air purifier in my bedroom - for allergy issues and for the “white” noise - so that helps drown it out a bit when I’m trying to sleep…) I’m still trying to find the right med, but I have found when testing them that some make the ringing louder and some quieter. I’d like to think that given the right med I will once again be able to hear the silence in my head. Hopefully.