Re: Rushing sound in ears

[Guest guest]

Malcolm wrote:

> Going back to your " Tornado " experiences that you mentioned a couple of

> weeks ago.

>

> My uncle gets a sound like wind or rushing water, deep inside his ears

> periodically, after an accident he had about 10 years ago.

>

> Our doctors seem to think that its something like " tinitis " (tintinitis?).

Thanks for writing. I've been away a couple of weeks .. and got a new

computer, which has taken me ages to figure out how to get everything

working again!!!

I do have tinnitis (also called " ringing in the ears " ). Mine is a high

pitched squeal, quite faint except when I'm trying to hear something quiet.

The 'tornedo' I was writing about is something totally different - I can't

explain. It's like a roar inside my head. Like something other than external

sound is causing it, but it doesn't sound like it's in my ears. Don't know

if that makes sense - sounds seem to be heard and the location of the hearing

'feels' like the ears. But this roaring 'feels' like it is in the center of

my head, not my ears. ???!!! Strange, but I don't know how to explain it.

--

kjg@...

Canberra, ACT Australia

[Guest guest]

Since my original post on this, I've been giving this a lot of

thought - like when it occurs and what else is going on.

I'm reasonably sure that the 'rushing' sound is not tinnitis.

I do have a bit of tinnitis, like I said, I have a high pitched

ringing, faint most of the time but there. With stress or

physical effort, I sometimes get the pulsing sounds as well -

blood pressure I'm sure.

But, the 'rushing' sound I get is very different. It's not

there all the time, even most of the time. I only get it when

I'm feeling very unwell, particularly when my neck is very tight

and stiff. In fact, nearly all the times that it occurs is

I wake up with the feeling that my whole body has been in

a small boat on a stormy ocean all night - or a tornedo, as

my original analogy. I feel battered, the bed feels like it

is rocking, when I stand, I can't hold my balance, I just tip

and slide over sideways and I have no sense of where the

floor is, I can't tell if I'm standing up or leaning over.

It's like all my senses are stunned. Usually, I can't feel

my feet, not just numb, I can't feel them at all, in fact,

I can't feel from about mid-thigh down and I have that numb,

tingling from about mid-thoracic down. Arms are usually ok

but muscles are tense and painful. Even my eyes hurt and looking

around makes me dizzy. And, my neck hurts like h..l.

When I wake like this, there is this roaring in my head, not

just my ears, it feels like my head is roaring/vibrating as

well. Once I'm up and move around, take pain meds, stretch

a bit, most symptoms gradually subside over 1-3 hours, I get

my feet back, etc. But, my balance stays tentative and the

roar takes longer, 6 or more hours and sometimes a day or two.

But, I can go days, weeks without any roaring at all.

So,... I've seen my eye doctor recently and he says the type

of eye pain and dizziness with moving my eyes are symptoms of

compression of a vertebral artery in the neck. My physio and

doctor say the numbness, loss of sensation and balance, are

probably caused by the very bad disk at level C3-C4 in the neck

and almost as bad disk at level C4-C5. Also, the vertebrae at

those levels are worn and slide slightly too much with movement.

One of my first warnings of how bad I was getting was that I

started falling down for no apparent reason. I do mean, I'd

be standing one second and be lying on the floor the next second

with absolutely no warning or idea that I was going down.

After brain scans and neuro tests that all proved negative, and

nearly 3 years after this started, my rheumy got an MRI of my

neck and found the bad vertebrae and disks. She then went 'aha',

that's why I fell down. If I turn my head to the left more than

about 30% and also tip my head back just a bit - as in looking at

the shelf above eye level, the vertebrae slides just a bit, the

bad disk bulges just a bit more and compresses my spinal cord and

boom everything stops working from C3-C4 down. Once down, my head

naturally straightens and everything comes back.

I've known this awhile and have become very careful about turning

my head and tilting it. I wear a neck brace if I know I'm facing

a situation where I'll be tempted to look around too far. And,

those problems have greatly decreased. Ie, I haven't found myself

on the floor unexpectedly for nearly 4 years now.

But, after talking to my eye doc and others recently, I realized that

I've been less cautious about how I sleep. For a long time, I've

had to use pillows to prop myself because of the back, neck and

hip pain that results if I turn too much. I mean, for at least

4 years now, I have only been able to sleep on my left side

in one position with legs, arms supported by pillows. If I even

moved slightly out of position, I'd wake immediately with

excruciating pain. But, the past 6 months or so, I've been able

to sleep on my back and even a bit on my right side. Consequently,

I've managed to twist my neck in my sleep. And I think this

is the source of the roaring and other problems - I'm pinching

my spinal cord and probably pinching the vertebral artery in my

sleep.

So, I started sleeping with my neck brace and haven't had a problem

since. So, I have to train myself and find ways of not allowing

my neck to twist in my sleep.

My physio has been trying to find some exercises for my neck that

will help this problem. But, so far, every thing she does only

results in a massive headache that lasts for days.

--

kjg@...

Canberra, ACT Australia

[Guest guest]

Connie,

Ah, well,... The neurologist (not sure if he was a surgeon also)

was not able to diagnose this after 4 visits over two years, xrays,

various tests and an MRI (of my brain, only), so ..... I'm not

convinced that he would be much help. Given my experiences with

the medical system and doctors here (originally from the US, been here

about 17 years), I'm not very keen on trusting it. It took 13 years

to convince someone (my current rheumy) that there is a problem with

my back and that it's serious.

My rheumy originally thought that I would be paralyzed and bedridden

within 18 months - that was 4 years ago. She is actually very

happy and thrilled with how I take care of myself and manage

difficulties - I have had lots of experience with it, like

40 years. She is conservative regarding surgery because,

while it can help and is necessary in some cases, my case is

marginal and surgery could result in more problems than it would

fix. So, she - and I concur - that taking it easy and waiting

is best.

I try to be very careful about my neck. It's funny (odd), that

after learning the precarious condition of my neck, I found ways

and habits of holding my head straight, using my brace and exercising.

I learned this in late 2000, and really hadn't had much problem

until maybe September or so when I started having these 'tornedo'

dreams/spells. But, in hindsight, it was about August or so when

I began being more relaxed about my sleeping position. That is,

since I had such a bad spell in 2000, I was only able to sleep

on my left side and braced myself with pillows so that I couldn't

move very much and thus get out of position. I stopped doing

that over last July/August and started allowing myself to sleep

on my right side and back. Since I started this thread, I've

realized that the 'tornedo' spells have occurred when I woke

twisted in bed and my neck kinked. For about a month now, I've

been using my foam collar when I sleep and lately progressed to

using pillows to prevent me from moving too much. And, I haven't

had a 'tornedo' episode since - nor any of those horrible 'can't

feel my feet' stuff either.

No, no one should have to live 'this way', but I do and I'm

not the only one. We all live with problems more or less

severe in similar and differing ways. Whatever much can

be done to help, there are some times/things that one simply

does have to learn to live with it. I'll never again be

able to run, jump, skip (even walk faster than a snail), tilt

my head back and look at the sky, lift anything heavier than

10 pounds, bend, stoop, etc, etc, etc. But, I can go faster

in my cart than my 6'2 " husband can walk (very fast walker),

I can sit in my high back reclining lawn chair and see the sky,

and I have a good excuse to not clean house (yeah!!!!!!!!)

And, I have this group. Who could ask for anything more???

Connie wrote:

> spinal cord nerve to be damaged over and over again...has any of

> your doctors considered a consult with an neorsurgeion or orthopeudic

> surgeon? I have heard that sometimes a mechanical fusion has to be done.

--

kjg@...

Canberra, ACT Australia

[Guest guest]

Why, thank you Connie. I do have my moments. Some days

I really feel like it is just ALL too hard. But, life

goes on regardless of what I think or feel ... and so

do I. One day at a time, or one hour or one minute...

It helps that my hubby is so supportive and helpful ..

and makes enough money to pay for what I need. I

really think I'd have completely lost it in 2000 and

several times since if it weren't for him.

--

kjg@...

Canberra, ACT Australia