by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady asked:
What causes ringing in both ears?
There are a good number of causes of ringing in the ears—what we call tinnitus. Here are some of them.
- Exposing your ears to loud sounds
- Taking any of the 450 drugs that can cause tinnitus
- Hearing loss, especially sudden hearing loss
- Exposing your ears to various chemicals and heavy metals
- Eating certain “foods” such as alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and some spices
- Head trauma—blow to the head, head injury
- Whiplash, neck injuries
- Barotrauma (sudden pressure changes)
- Certain illnesses
- Allergies
- Colds/sinus infections
- Viral ear infections
- Middle ear infections (otitis media) or other ear problems
- Surgery
- Acoustic neuromas
- Meniere’s Disease
- Otosclerosis
- Diabetes
- Stress, anxiety, depression
- Extreme fatigue
In addition to the above, there are various somatic (body) kinds of tinnitus. Somatic tinnitus can result from such things as moving your head/neck, bending over, clenching your teeth, TMJ, moving your eyes, pulsatile tinnitus—tinnitus in unison with each heart beat and related to vascular causes. You can also get tinnitus from ear wax, or if the stapedius or tensor tympani muscle “spasms” in your middle ears.
The first three in the above list are probably the most common causes of ringing tinnitus.
I always like to find out what happened just before the tinnitus started. Often that gives a clue as to the cause of the tinnitus. For example, if you begin a new medication and 3 days later you get loud tinnitus, that could be the cause, or perhaps you are under extraordinary stress—then that could be the cause, etc.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:09 am
My noises simply started 3 months ago while I was sitting. It was a constant tone about 1K herts in right ear. A week later, whistle sounds started in my left ear. 2 months later I hear high pitch screeching noises in both ears when moving my head left/right or up/down. Also, external sounds at this same pitch enhances the amplitude of this sound in my ears. This is like doubling the sound so that I prceive it much louder than what it is.
There are times when my head/neck movement does not produce this audio condition
The only drug I take is one 500mg naproxen 3 times a week for lower back.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Hi Julius:
Interesting about your tinnitus. Naproxen (Aleve) is known to cause tinnitus in up to 9% of the people taking it. Some people don’t get tinnitus from Naproxen until they have been taking it for a few years. Others get it within a few weeks. Everyone is different.
The tinnitus you get when you move your head/neck is most likely related to problems with your neck being “out”. Chiropractic treatments should help solve this somatic kind of tinnitus.
Sometimes tinnitus reacts to sounds and makes this makes the tinnitus louder. This seems to be the case when you hear sounds of similar pitch to your tinnitus. They call this reactive tinnitus. I don’t know why some people react to tinnitus like this, and others don’t.
Regards
Neil
September 30th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Sir; you mention chiro. treatments possibly helping w/ somatic tinnitis, is it possible the opposite could be true, neck manipulation cause the Tn.?
I took 800 mgs.of bactrimds and 4 days later the miserable tn. began,but I also had neck manipl. at the chiro same day. I would appreciate your comments.
It is both pulsatile and somatic. JB
September 30th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Hi Jay:
Somatic tinnitus can be caused by your neck being “out”. When you go to a chiropractor, you assume he will put it back “in”, but there are no guarantees.
For example, your neck could quickly slip “out” again as the ligaments could be too stretched to hold things in the proper place with just one treatment.
Also, the chiropractor could have used a bit more force than necessary, or you could have relaxed more than he expected just when he went to do the adjustment and as a result, he adjusted you too far. Therefore, you could now be “out” the other way. This does happen from time to time.
As a result since your neck is still “out” your tinnitus can act up. You may need to go back for a further adjustment.
However, maybe the drugs are the culprit. Bactrim is a combination of Trimethoprim and Sulfamethoxazole. Both of these drugs are known to cause tinnitus in some people.
Therefore, it is hard to say whether your increased tinnitus is because of the drugs, because of the chiropractic treatment or in spite of the chiropractic treatment.
Neil
February 19th, 2011 at 5:59 pm
My tinnitus started slowy, in soft pitch in 1995. I was taking no drugs at the time. It has increased over the years to a roaring sound with different levels of pitch. It generally starts out almost tollerable in the a.m. but throughout the day, continues in pitch until it is almost unbearable. I do, now, takes drugs for varius autoimmune issues. I was on methotrexate for over a year and although it helped tremendously with the pustular psorisis I had, it did nothing for the AIED/bilateral Meniere’s I’d been diagonised with in 2002. I’m not allergic to foods or flora. I’m now on a program of probiotics (self-induced). Supplements like L-lysine (viral medication) and extra vitamin C have not made a difference in my symptoms. The tinnitus gets worse as I grow older. I rarely leave my house now because the noise “outside” leaves me taking zanax (prescribed) to help with the tinnitus.