tinnitus

Weeks of Tinnitus

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Part VIII

I wonder how I slept with the roar of pulsitile tinnitus surging with my blood pressure, heart rate, and anxiety. Somehow I managed to take the sleep vacation every night. The intratympanic corticosteroids injections only initially quieted the tinnitus. After a few hours after the treatment, the cochlea did seem to revive and the tinnitus signal increased in strength. I thought this might be a sign of healing. For the next three weeks I would see my Doctor, he would ask if wanted to continue the treatments, and then would proceed to inject the drugs through the ear drum. Some time before, on the same day, the Doctor of Audiology would give me a robust hearing screening to document any changes to my hearing thresholds.

After the 1st week of treatment, my speech discrimination improved at amplification from 60% to 88%. The 2nd week I achieved a 92% score, my best to date. Sadly, the tinnitus increased so much, it felt at times that was the only think I could hear. On my final cycle of Audiology to Otolaryngology, I asked if blood circulation could be a factor in the tinnitus. My Doctor thought it was a stretch, but agreed to refer me to get a computed tomography (CT) of the head and neck. My doctor wanted to see me for the last time to check if my eardrum had healed after the multiple last bore injections. I decided to postpone that final encounter well after the CT and at least 30 days after my last corticosteroid middle ear injection.

After my near simulated deafening from the MRI, I wondered if the CT would have a similar debilitating effect. The CT is an altogether different machine than MRI. Instead of using power electromagnets, the CT is a computer aided x-ray machine. A contrast agent would aid in distinguishing tissues, blood flow, and abnormalities. I would only wait 1 week before my scheduled CT, in the medical imaging department of my local hospital.

Telling the End of the Story First

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Colophon
Like any good tale, sometimes the destination or perhaps the journey where lies the adventure. I have some important pulsatile tinnitus information, that could not wait for the story installments.

I’ve been suffering from pulsatile tinnitus for around a year. My one year anniversary just passed on 8 February 2015. Problems of the brain, nerves, ears, and perception are complicated. I’ve been kicked from various curbs of medical departments: internal medicine, otolaryngology, audiology, and psychiatry. None have been able to proffer suggestions much less treatments for my ailments. The ringing continues unabated.

Sounds very miserable, and just in the last 45 have I have been suffering from a linkage to the tinnitus: insomnia. No medical solutions to that either. I’ve had to forage for my own answers. Last week I became an advocate for myself, and hopefully for the next sudden sensorineural hearing loss victim. We are a small group but we don’t get an “ice bucket challenge.” We suffer in silence, but I choose to not “surrender to the silence.”

I found an inexpensive therapy which silences or masks the tinnitus, but also maintaining the little hearing I have on my left side. My hearing center and Phonak audiologist programmed my instrument together. After the adjustments, I can now wear the unit 24/7, which I plan to do to help in sleeping. I even made my very 1st phone call yesterday, using exclusively my left ear!

A much more detailed analysis of my hearing regiment to follow, but as a summary: Back in December 2014, I got a pair of over-ear headphones in another attempt to silence the tinnitus. My hearing damage makes traditional amplification impractical, as the audio becomes loud, certain frequencies that I do respond normally above 6,000 Hz strain the ear and they start to hurt. I need selective amplification over a wide 70dB cookie-bite range. The Phonak WhistleBlock feature failed when cupped inside an external headphone. I tried a NOiZFREE induction headphone. This worked well, but if I turned my head it would loose contact with the telecoil, and I would loose the signal. A consistent volume also proved troublesome, since I could not alway hit the sweet spot on the hearing aid.

I remembered the wireless Phonak solutions, the ComPilot series, which work with the Spice and now Venture lines of hearing instruments. My hearing center currently only offers the Spice platform, so I decided to spend a little more to give it try. My favorite tinnitus mask is a very low volume DJ Hardwell EDM. His mixes go for hours, so there is alway variety. I want to try Apple Logic Pro X drum loops, but that may be as mind numbing as the natural pulsatile tinnitus. Listening the electronic dance music (EDM) signal, it completely masks the tinnitus. I am using an ancient Apple iPod Touch via bluetooth to feed the tinnitus signal to the Phonak ComPilot. The ComPilot currently runs for 11 hours between charges, so that gives my brain a rest.

The theory is after a time, the stimulus will not be necessary, but as of now it’s refreshing to not hear anything, or at the very least a recognizable tune.

Alien Abduction or Medical Treatment?

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Part V
Before any major medical procedure, one signs a consent form. Before you get a large bore needle filled with corticosteroids injected directly through the eardrum without any anesthesia, you get a very stern lecture that this treatment may leave a permanent hole in the eardrum, cause horrible scaring and possibly exacerbate the deafness. I thought, “What choice to I have? My hearing is already irreparably damaged. Could it really get more destroyed?”

A trackpad and pen recorded my digital signature on a long form stating, “To try to recover the hearing.” If successful, I would undergo three injections of corticosteroids spaced out over three weeks. Each week the doctor would ask me if I wanted to continue or stop the protocol. While lying on an exam table, with my head slightly below my waist and turned to one side, the doctor prepared the solution. He warmed it up to not be too shocking when passed through the eardrum. The high gauge needle burned and stung without any anesthesia. The doctor did offer a topical anesthetic, but said if I could take the pain and not flinch, my eardrum would heal better.

I almost suggested I bite on my belt, but concentrated on pleasant thoughts while the otolaryngologist, using a specialized telescope, passed the needle through the round window membrane into my middle ear. As the anticipation of the agony of the needle passed, the warming sensation of the medicine led to a euphoria and dizziness, but quickly passed. I stayed in the supine position for 20 minutes alone. The most amazing thing happened as I waited, the horrible pulsatile tinnitus quieted for just a time, as my middle ear lay flooded in the brine of medicine.