@Dizzylady Glad your neurologist at least tried to do something by thinking out of the box! Mine is convinced everything is just somatic symptoms and the only way to treat it is by drugging me. Those cocky youngsters in the health sector… (disclaimer: not all the youngsters are cocky, and not all cockies are youngsters).
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Did you get any relief with regard to your tinnitus? I discovered that my external carotids are touching my styloids on both sides, could that be the cause of my tv static-like tinnitus?
Tinnitus is often caused by internal jugular vein compression because it causes high blood pressure in the brain which then can affect the ears. Compressed carotid arteries causes the opposite problem - low blood pressure in the brain. I suppose anything that keeps the blood pressure in the brain from being normal might have tinnitus as a side effect. Some people have had complete recovery from tinnitus after having their styloids removed & the vascular compression decompressed, but some people continue to have tinnitus. It seems very individual as to how a body responds to ES surgery.
Carotid compression is a bit more concerning than jugular vein compression because of the remote possibility of a blood clot forming that could cause a stroke. Usually there are symptoms like TIAs (transient ischemic attacks which are like mini-strokes) or short-term facial paralysis, arm/leg tingling or weakness on one side of the body as warning signs.
Hopefully @vdm will see this post & let you know how his tinnitus is doing now.
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My high pitch/static/water sprinkler type tinnitus is worse, and it seems to be related to something compressed in the neck, but it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly might be the culprit. Perhaps a blood vessel, but I also don’t rule out some nerve irritation and/or spinal cord compression causing CSF fluid obstruction.
@vdm - I went back & looked at the image you posted in the beginning of this thread & reread your earlier thoughts about what might be causing your tinnitus. It’s very interesting that you have/had that tiny blood vessel coming right through the middle of your styloid. Did Dr. Hackman say anything about that when you had your revision surgery? I would think it would have been eliminated when your styloid was removed at the skull base or worked around so it’s freed up with the result that any effect it was having on tinnitus or other symptoms would have resolved. What are your thoughts?
I think it’s more complicated than that, that would be more unilateral tinnitus. That single miniature blood vessel would cause, in my opinion, less noise than I’m experiencing.
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I also have bilateral tinnitus, but it’s been there since I was very young. Since I’m nearly deaf in my left ear now, it’s curious that the tinnitus is so much louder in that one. I’ve read that in cases like mine, a hearing aid can help distract from the tinnitus so it’s not so annoying. A recent hearing test revealed I’m not a candidate for a hearing aid so I’m exploring cochlear implants. I really don’t want to have another surgery but being able to hear w/ both ears again would be very AMAZING!!
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So how exactly your tinnitus sounds?
Some of the examples are here:
Mine is closest to numbers 5 and 9. But even more close to this one…
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I still have bilateral tinnitus. High pitched ringing, always on. Sometimes it’ll change frequency for a second in one ear, like as if my ear just went under water but that doesn’t usually last long.
Few times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night to what I thought was the sound of a train whistle.
I don’t have pulsatile tinnitus and I noticed that I can actually make the ringing worse if I clench my jaw or when I yawn. It’s the one symptom that has not resolved and I honestly have just let it be and don’t expect it to.
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I’ve experienced 1 & 2 as over tones to 9 or 10. For now its more like the water hose sound in my left ear. I grew up in the era where TVs made a hissing/staticky sound when you turned them off. Mine is like that - in the mid pitch range but occasionally becomes high. Sometimes I hear an “electrical” crackling sound when I first wake up in the morning. Periodically I hear an irregular pulsing (not pulsatile tinnitus). Mine’s kind of all over the map in my left ear. My right ear is a pretty constant mid-range hiss but is quieter.
@elijah - I also notice significant increase in the volume of my tinnitus after clenching my teeth (which I do when sleeping & thus the crackling some mornings). I have grown up in a “noisy world” 
as I’ve lived w/ this for nearly my whole life so have also accepted it, however, w/ my left ear deafness & chronic loud tinnitus in that ear, it’s harder to ignore now than it used to be.
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Before the rev.surgery I used to have this too.
Now, my jaw isn’t that “high” anymore so I usually barely can touch my back teeth (for one, I used to grind them a lot and the height is lost, but also now my jaw is much more relaxed and tends to “hang” in a neutral position unlike before the op, so I don’t even have that stiffness and strength in the jaw muscles.)
I don’t have any proof yet, but I started carefully suspect this could be related to some, get ready, tension in the temporalis muscle (among the others).
It’s just a personal observation based on occasional reduction in intensity of the tinnitus after vigorously massaging (using fingers and palms) the area where this muscle originates from.
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Interesting observation @vdm. I actually feel tension in my right temporalis muscle at times which leads me to massage it w/ my fingers. I can barely hear the tinnitus in that ear because the left side is so loud, but I’ll have to pay attention to changes there. I’ll start massaging the left intentionally to see if that helps calm the noise.
Thank you for sharing this great suggestion.
Try, and if it helps, that’s great! There is one artery going nearby, so it’s a good idea not to be too aggressive in that area, but I guess YouTube should have plenty of videos by physiotherapists demonstrating “safe” technique, just in case.
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Well there’s a good chance I’ll be getting Botox in my temples which will be a good time to see if reduction in tension in that area reduces tinnitus.
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My initial symptom that sent me down this road was tinittus in the left ear only (which the ENT’s say is not tinittus as tinnitus presents in both ears along with other reasons). Mine is a high pitch, sometimes a full sound, sometimes a thin sound, like if a kid was playing with the mouth of a ballon, letting air out by pulling the opening apart. It gets worse when i touch my left face and jaw. Its horrible to sleep on because anytouch to that side of the face brings it louder. It has been noticed as of late that turning my head may also bring it up high. I wake up loud, I taper off, and then the volume comes on like a bomb just went off next to me for no apparent reason that I can pinpoint in the moment.
I had botox in my macesseters a few x already, not sure if it helping but im sure its expensive!
How did the botox in temple do for you? What kind of dr recommended that btw? thx!
I did not have them yet, only in my masseters by an oral surgeon.
I have a different Dr who is a pain neurologist who will do the Botox in my face and scalp. Usually it’s indicated for migraines but we might be able to get insurance to make an exception for atypical facial pain.
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I would love any update you have going fwd on those temple shots. I saw a pain manaagment neuro who felt my face for 2 seconds, told me i had cancer, and sent me to the cancer doc, which is the same surgeon who diagnosed Eagle.
Hold up, your pain Dr misdiagnosed eagles as cancer? If so you may want to find another pain management Dr.
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