disturbing thought on ear ringing

[Brucergoldberg]

Thought i would share this with the gang.   talked to a friend of mine today who has hashi's.  pretty much same boat as me.  Ear ringing, weird dizziness during the day etc.  Ear ringing mainly on one side (left)

Says her kids teacher at daycare had the same thing.  Ear ringing on left side, nausea, dizzyness etc.  Went through a battery of tests but of course no one tested her thyroid.  Told her she had horrible vertigo and left ear drum must be fractured.  They ask her if she wants to "disconnect" the left ear drum.  She says yes and basically pays to go deaf in the left ear.

For about 2 weeks the ringing is gone, she cant hear anything.  Now she is deaf in her left ear...   BUT THE RINGING IS BACK.    She cant hear anything out of the left ear now but it rings.  Which means the ringing is not in the ear, must be somewhere else...  nervous system?  brain?    Its disturbing and sad.

Bruce

[corena_sb]

Your symptoms sound like adrenal fatigue. If your adrenals are stressed, then it can affect thyroid and it's difficult to get the right thyroid doasge...or it's not even your thyroid but the adrenals.The way to correctly test cortisol imbalance (adrenal fatigue) is through a diurnal saliva test that is then correctly interpreted by an integrative or holistic doctor or a naturopath. Allopathic doctors are highly unskilled and incompetent and have not been trained to interpret thyroid and adrenal symptoms. If it is your adrenals, heavy workouts are the WORST thing you can do until you fully heal which can take 1-3 years depending on how bad the imbalance is. Drenamin, ashwaghanda, gluten free, lots of rest, lower stress is the best protocol for that. As for thyroid, Naturthroid or Armour are best, skip the Synthroid/Levo. Again synthetic meds are very outdated because docs aren't trained properly. Dosing should be done by symptoms. Go up or down slowly over several days with .25 tabs (that's dosage for natural thyroid meds). I have ringing and believe it is a hormone imbalance either from adrenals and/or hashimotos. I believe it can be cured but the underlying imbalance must be healed. Other modalities incliude acupuncture and healing inflammation...use Megafoods Tumeric Strength for Whole Body. Hope this helps!

[kanderso5]

Hi there, I never post on things like this but Coldthyroid, I'd like to give you some information because I care a lot about people with thyroid problems because I've lived with one my whole life.  There are different types of hypothyroidism. There is primary and secondary. Secondary is when underactive (hypothyroid)  occurs from another problem/ secondary problem in the body such as other organs like the pituitary or hypothalamus that signals, works with or effects the thyroid hormone levels.  It's like .... A can't get to C because A or B is having a problem...if that makes sense.    I know a lot about hypothyroidism because I was actually born with it. Thats a whole other kind of hypothyroidism (congenital) but its all treated the same, with levothyroxine a.k.a synthroid. The only difference between primary and secondary hypothyroidism is that with secondary hypothyroidism, you may require additional treatment methods  to address the secondary problem by addressing it at A or B.  

Do not ever stop taking thyroid medication without an okay from an endocrinologist. You should never stop taking it if you are hypothyroid because if you go so long you can do permanent damage to your body, bones, brain. Some people can even go into a coma in severe situations. Are you seeing an endocrinologist? If not I think you need to see one. Many other doctors think they can manage patients 'thyroids ,...just like my doctor thought they could and the reality is they don't usually know what the **** they are doing. THATS WHY YOU MUST SEE AN ENDOCRINOLOGIST! I can't stress it more.  

And the person above that commented is also right, when your adrenal glands are stressed it is called adrenal fatigue and this can also cause thyroid dysfunction and almost create a thyroid storm on an individual. This is why you should see an endocrinologist. You should also get your cortisol levels checked. You can also get your pituitary and hypothalamus checked as well to check for secondary hypothyroidism.

Don't ever trust regular doctors or primary care with hormonal problems... especially the thyroid.  

I was born with hypothyroidism and after being diagnosed at the children's hospital and going there annually for a checkup,.... my regular doctor tried to tell me that he can manage it. Boy was he wrong...... So many years of my life I can't even get back because my mom trusted my primary and he really made it sound like an endocrinologist was not necessary. That is until I had enough and I literally knew he was an idiot after I actually started having my period for 3 months straight and my thyroid levels had gone to 3.78. I kept telling them its my thyroid because (this can happen to hypothyroid women if they get hypothyroid) and what did they do? they sent me for a pelvic ultrasound when I told them like 50 times I'm having tiredness, my hair was falling out more and my skin was dry and my levels are never that high! They didn't listen to me. But well ....what do you know--- my ultrasound comes out normal. So I told them, screw you guys ....I'm going to an endocrinologist because you guys don't know wtf your doing. So I go to an endocrinologist,....took about 6 months or so to get my levels back on track but the overloaded period stopped the first month she increased my levothyroxine. I was right all along. My primary doctor was a ******* idiot.  I can't stress it enough. You need to see an endocrinologist.

Remember when your TSH levels are on the high end numerically ,...this means your hypo (under active). This means your thyroid hormones are not producing enough so your Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) is working harder on overload  to try and compensate/stimulate it and bring out the other hormones that are supposed to be active. When your levels are on the low end numerically ....this means you are hyper (overactive)---Meaning the thyroid is producing too much hormones and the low number is representative of the thyroid stimulating hormone  (TSH) trying to slow down hormone  production because as an endocrine gland, its trying to create homeostasis and stop activating your other thyroid hormones it signals.    Regular doctors think its okay for peoples' thyroid levels to be anywhere in "the normal range" which for some labs the "normal range" goes all the way up to 5.o which is absolutely absurd....Especially for a hypothyroid patient.  Most Endocrinologists will say optimum thyroid level function is when your TSH is no higher than 3.0 or 4.0.   Most endocrinologists also recommend specifically for hypothyroid  patients that they be in the 0.5-1.5 range to feel fully like themselves and for symptoms to stop. But endocrinologists usually sort of listen to their patients based on how they are feeling. If someone feels better at 2.5 then thats okay too. They usually don't want patients to go below 0.5 because then you can start having hyperthyroid symptoms which can include protruding eye problems, hot flashes and shakes.  They just usually want to make sure your not over medicated and not under-medicated to avoid damage to the body or lingering symptoms or opposite symptoms. You don't want to become hyperthyroid, though sometimes through treatment it can happen periodically but its best to keep checking in with them every few months until they find your proper dosage. It can take a while sometimes.    

Also,... the lack of appetite actually occurs in hypothyroid patients because your metabolism is no longer working as well and you are holding onto food instead of breaking it down. Therefor you don't feel  hungry as much, but you will look regular weight or heavy since you burn things off slower.  Hyperthyroid patients tend to be more hungry because their metabolism Is working faster due to the overactive thyroid but they remain skinny or too skinny and underweight. TSH helps with metabolism so when your meds are increased you may find yourself more hungry because your metabolism is actually working.  

Never take more or less than an Endocrinologist prescribes. do not self medicate or adjust medication without an endocrinologist instruction. I really hope you are seeing an endocrinologist. This is your endocrine system! You need to see a specialist.

[kanderso5]

oh and as far as ear ringing.... yes thyroid can effect the ears. Some people born with (congenital )hypothyroidism are actually born deaf.  I'm not sure why but I'm assuming its because of damage to tissues or nerves  that can occur most in the body as a whole and in the brain when your thyroid is to working properly. The thyroid is one of the biggest powerhouses of the body and many people underestimate how it effects everything.

[kl42]

i was told by an ear doc it the brain. it's from the imbalances of the thyroid hormones and the damage it has  done on your nervous sytem. they don't understand it fully thats why they'll say there is no cure. but  its like fired connections in the brain that have to reboot or reroute.  but the good thing is that if its not your ear then it can and does heal. !!

[Brucergoldberg]

That's debatable.

[Barb135]

I've had ringing in my ears all my life and I've only been dx'd hypo, since 2008; I'm sure my ear ringing is not thyroid related, at all.

[toworryornottoworry]

Ear ringing has NOTHING to do with the thyroid, once again the typical thyroid patient relating every symptom to their thyroid. Everyone gets the ringing sensation in their ear from time to time, very common.

[kanderso5]

I was born with (congenital) hypothyroidism. Many babies  born with hypothyroidism are actually born deaf if you would like to look up this information. Many are also born with brain damage.  So do you think it's a coincidence that many hypothyroid people acquire ringing in the ears before or after they get diagnosed with hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism?  and if you knew anything about how the thyroid effects tissues and the brain and pretty much every aspect of the body including your bones,  nerves,  metabolism and cellular activity , you'd realize there is a connection. Unfortunately you happen to be an ignorant person that doesn't know what tinnitus is,...which is constant ringing in the ears. You also are even more ignorant because you classify thyroid patients to not be real patients when you obviously know absolutely nothing about the thyroid organ and its function. Did you know without a thyroid or replacement therapy, people would die? This is not an exaggeration at all. This is real.

[Brucergoldberg]

I think each person is different.   We can go on and on and debate this til the cows come home.    My ear ringing did not start until i had the joint pain, the cold intolerance, the throat pain, the anxiety, it all came on at the same time.

My left ear only, and I happen to know about 6 people that are in the same boat.   YOUR ear ringing may not be related to the thyroid, but MY ear ringing is.  

My ear ringing is not time to time.  My ear ringing is so intense sometimes that i have to take xanex and sleep it off.   My ear ringing happens to come on mainly when im fatigued, and comes on with brain fog, poor memory, shaky, elevated anxiety etc.

[toworryornottoworry]

Your ear ringing came on at the same time as the anxiety? Well that's funny because that is a very common and medically accepted sign of anxiety. Your ear ringing is a side affect from your anxiety and your anxiety was brought on by your thyroid, that is the only way you can relate them. What I am saying is that your ear ringing is a symptom of a symptom and not actually directly affected by the thyroid, perhaps if you learnt ways to calm the anxiety you would do better with the ear ringing. Have you made any attempts either than thyroid medication to take care of the problem?

[kl42]

no IT definitely is!! (ear Ringing) i had never had any problems with my ears til the thyroid went bad and the ear ringing hyper=sensativity came on full blast. after the tt and regulated thyroid levels it went away 90 percent very common ask othe thyroid people  ear ringing is definitely  a thyroid symptom!!! not from your ears from thyroid imbalance causing brain  connection problems!!!  many docs have told me this.

[kl42]

bruce get your numbers right and let your body heal you'llsee how alot of that will go away. stop bouncing doses .and drugs!!!

[Red_Star]

I read a story a few years ago of a man who had brain surgery (deep brain stimulation) for Parkinson's disease. Not only did his tremors vanish but his decades of tinnitus vanished as well.  

There is a new therapy called Acoustic Coordinated Reset and trials have shown that it reduces the loudness and annoyance caused by tinnitus in 7 out of 10 patients. Scientists found that playing the same tone to match the sound frequency of the tinnitus reduces the overactivity of auditory nerve cells in the part of the brain responsible for hearing.

***

"For a long time it was reasoned that the sounds of tinnitus arose from ear structures since they transmit important hearing information to the brain and can be damaged by triggers of the condition, such as a booming noise. However completely severing the auditory nerve, which passes sound information from the ear to the brain, failed to stop the ringing of tinnitus in some patients.

This shows that the sounds can also originate in the brain. Imaging studies that detail brain activity highlight a variety of suspect areas. Results indicate that tinnitus is linked to abnormal activity in the inferior colliculus, the auditory cortex and other related parts of the sound processing pathway, termed auditory association areas.

Additional areas, including those that process emotion and may underlie a person´s annoyance with the ringing, also appear to be involved. These findings prompt new therapeutic options, since all these structures represent potential targets for treatment."

Tinnitus Research - "Tinnitus And The Brain"

[Red_Star]

"Metabolic causes also play an important role in tinnitus etiology. Hyperthyroidism may cause tinnitus by increasing cardiac debit, and hypothyroidism may cause tinnitus by increasing inner-ear pressure. Reports in the literature cite the use of otoneurological evaluation in cases of tinnitus related to metabolic disorders, mainly hypothyroidism [21,22]."

21. Bhatia PL, Gupta OP, Agrawal MK, Mishr SK. Audiological and vestibular function tests in hypothyroidism. Laryngoscope 87(12):2082-2089,1977.

22. Pulec JL, Pulec MB, Mendoza I. Progressive sensorineural hearing loss, subjective tinnitus and vertigo caused by elevated blood lipids. Ear Nose Throat J 76(10):716-720,1997.

Excerpt from: The International Tinnitus Journal - Vol. 10 no 1 - Jan 2004 - "The Contribution of Otoneurological Evaluation to Tinnitus Diagnosis"

[Brucergoldberg]

THANK YOU.   AMEN.

[Brucergoldberg]

Anthony is very frustrated as I.  He has been through the ringer on this thing just like I have.   Its very frustrating when other members say things like  "one dose doesnt cause any difference"    or   "the ringing cant be from the thyroid or the meds"   or  "maybe its just anxiety".

Do your homework.  There are tons of articles all over the internet of people who were perfectly fine before thyroid issues and taking meds, and now are fighting anxiety, have the ear ringing, and even depression (from low t3).

I wanted to reiterate that anthony has played with his meds.  On the days he doesnt take anything (experimenting) he gets very little ear ringing.   Anthony is lucky enough he still has his thyroid so he can play around if he wants to.

I was just talking to him at 6 pm tonight and was telling him how now its 18 hours since my last dose (i took my meds last night before bed) I I finally feel like the dose has worn off enough that i can head out of the house to enjoy my day.  

The ringing isnt just a ringing.   The following things occur at the same time:

ringing
buzzing in head
anxiety
fatigue
and when i had a thyroid, i also got horrible pain in my neck.  

This all happened in concert.  It all hit at the same time.  It all went away at the same time.   If the ringing was from the anxiety, then why would i get such horrible pain in my trachea at the same time?  Pain so bad that a cotton t-shirt touching my neck would cause me to be uncomfortable?

[Barb135]

It really sounds to me like you might have more than one thing going on, but to address the medication part of your issue........... don't just stop the synthroid unless you are going to start something else or you will get extremely ill.  

Not everyone does well on synthroid.  I actually did better on generic levo than I did on synthroid.  You could be reacting to fillers/binders in the pills. You might want to do some research and talk to your doctor about Tirosint, which is a gel cap and is virtually hypoallergenic. All it contains is water, levothyroxine (active ingredient), gelatin and glycerin.  

As for the dosage -- I can't imagine jumping from 175 mcg to 88 mcg all at once...... that's cutting your dose in 1/2 all at one time. There's very possibly a dosage between 88 mcg and 175 mcg, that will help you. You should always increase/decrease by the smallest increment you can, stay at a level for a few weeks, then retest prior to increasing again.  ALWAYS make sure you get both Free T3 and Free T4 tested every time you test and keep in mind that simply being in range, isn't good enough; you have to find a level that's right for you.

"I want to believe and try everything everyone says out here but there are no true answers on the other end."  No, that doesn't work.  If you talk to 10 different people, you're going to get 10 different ideas and if you try them all, you're going to have your body so messed up, you won't know whether you're coming or going.

I might ask if you've been tested for vitamin B12, D, iron, calcium, magnesium........ deficiency in these vitamins, often goes hand in hand with hypo and many of them can cause hypo-like symptoms.  

[blsdnsvvd]

You know that i agree with you. Every illness that i have came after the TT and i know for a fact that not having a thyroid will surely cause problems in other areas. I also have ringing in one ear but not all the time and it only lasts for a little while. I have anxiety and began taking med's a year after my surgery because it became uncontrollable. It's bothersome when your doctor tells you that these illnesses aren't related to a thyroid condition but what they fail to realize is that, we have not thyroid, therefore every organ in the body will become affected, especially if the thyroid med's aren't doing the job that the thyroid gland once did. I certainly believe that no pill in anyway shape or form can replace the fuction of a thyroid gland.

[Brucergoldberg]

My favorite is when they tell me its not from the thyroid but no one can tell me what it is from....  

[blsdnsvvd]

In my experience, if i tell them that i'm always tired or having pains, i am told to talk to my gp and a neurologist, which i did, however the issues stemmed from somewhere. I'm praying that patients in the far future will have doctors who are more opened to listen and treat accordingly because we are all left on a limb.

[LazyMoose]

Doctors today back medical "proof" by repeatable data - test results. On another note many Drs don't have time to think out or diagnose today, they relie on test data to do this for them.

If there is no specific test (none exist for symptoms of many diseases), they should just say we have no studies on that instead of saying your symptoms are not related. Yet many chose to say your symptoms are not related.

Cross data related similarities should be enough in some cases of medical studies where specific tests do not exist. This is how many puzzles of science and engineering are solved in labs. Medicine want to be exact, but we are not built that way.

As somewhat of a data geek myself, I have shown and PROVEN to doctors how some of my symptoms are related to my thyroid health. Funny when you show them show related patterns, how thyroid data can correlate and  with other organ data and symptoms, they sometimes get the picture. As one example in my case, all lipid cholesterol results were obviously related to thyroid levels, yet I had to show them this with their own data! We all know the related health patterns and thyroid body symptoms are somewhat different for everyone, but there are also some that are to common for modern medical doctors to continually miss or ignore.

On the subject of ears and thyroid. When my thyroid hormone levels were way low back in 09 during the Armour med shortage my ears didn't ring but did "buzz", accompanied by a more dominant pulsing , beating sound in my left ear. The ear Dr would not throw out my thyroid as a cause but did say the pulsing sound was greater in my left ear since it was closer tied to the heart arteries. So yes, when my thyroid is "off", I can hear my heart beat though the left artery up into my ear, its very annoying and cant lay on my left side. The Dr could not explain the buzzing. My hearing test was excellent. When my thyroid is optimally health, all this becomes minimal and usually non-existent.

[Brucergoldberg]

Moosie,

Yes that exactly what i have.   And my hearing tests have been excellent despite the fact that i have to tell me 11 year old all the time "speak louder please I cannot understand what you are trying to say".

Moosie,  coach me on this and tell me how you got the ear ringing to settle down.  How long did it take?   How is it now?  Im on 220 t4 and its still horrible.   Been on t4 now for about 4 months and have had 3 increases thus far.  Blood work tomorrow and results will be on tuesday.  Its like waiting for the second coming..

[LazyMoose]

Ear ringing , buzzing and pulses are all different things. I didnt have constant ringing. Just buzzing and the pulses  were in time with my heart beat. I had no trouble hearing. As with many of my symptoms, ear issues mostly diminished after 3 months with Erfa natural thyroid at correct levels for me - FT 3 in the upper third of the range.

I respond really well to T3 in the upper third, and specifically to Erfa. This is not the case with everyone. We need to find out by trial and error what our bodies like. Took me 10 years to figure out thyroid med is not all the same for everyone, Drs were of no help at all. Did I dis the medical community again? Shame on me.

[coldthyroid]

Yes, I have been tested for all the vitmin and mineral deficiciencs.  Everything comes up normal.  I do have a simple question though.  I haven't stopped taking my thyroid.  I"m taking a .88, and then another half of a .88 each night at 10:00PM on an emtpy stomach, having last eaten between 5:30 and 7:00.  My question is, when you say that I'm going to get extremely ill if I stop taking my synthroid, what do you exactly mean?  Because there are times, that I feel like I'm already there!  What can happen?  Why wouldn't I want to bump back up to the .175 the Mayo docs originally had me on back in late 2010, early 2011?  Remember, it was my doc here, not Mayo, who tested me when I first started having these symptoms and my TSH was 0.02, and therefore had me start taking half a dose.  Is it possible this one outlier event of low TSH was a mere blip, and I should have stayed on .175 all along and rode it out?  I'm beginning to feel that way a lot.  As I write this, my left ear is ringing something fierce (no pain though), both ears feel full, sinuses feel mostly clear.  And I'm a bit anxious.  Not unbearable.  I do have Xanax, which I just don't like to take, but will if needed.  I'm really wondering if I may just be under-medicated and have been for some time.  I have no swelling in my neck area, no pain, have had it physically examined on more than one occasion, etc.  

[Barb135]

"Remember, it was my doc here, not Mayo, who tested me when I first started having these symptoms and my TSH was 0.02, and therefore had me start taking half a dose.  Is it possible this one outlier event of low TSH was a mere blip, and I should have stayed on .175 all along and rode it out?"

Absolutely, that 0.02 TSH could have been an isolated event, since TSH is very volatile and fluctuates greatly, even intraday.  In my opinion, it was rather irresponsible of your doctor to 1/2 your dosage based on one TSH result.

I could see maybe decreasing your dosage a little bit, but it's never wise to make drastic changes with thyroid medication.  That only keeps you on a roller coaster.  Changes, should only ever be made by the smallest increment possible. That goes for both increasing and decreasing.

What, if any, symptoms were you having when your TSH was 0.02?  While TSH does not cause or alleviate symptoms, or even correlate with them, that's all we have to go by, which is most unfortunate. Many doctors don't realize (or care) that once a person is on replacement medication, TSH stops being an indicator of actual thyroid hormone status.

In my opinion, jumping all the way from your current 88 mcg to 175, would be a mistake, because you would once again be flooding your body with hormones, which would put you right back on the roller coaster.  You might not need to go that high.  You could try going from 88 mcg to 100, stay there for a few weeks, then move on up to 125 mcg; or even alternate some dosages for a while to get even smaller increases, in order to allow your body to get used to each one.

I've been all the way from 25 mcg to 125 mcg over the course of a few years, and finally, within the past year, I've settled in at 88 mcg Tirosint, with 7.5 generic T3. I've alternated various dosages to get as little as 5-6 mcg change.  It doesn't come easy and it doesn't come fast.

One problem you have is that without regular FT3 tests, you don't know if you are converting adequately, and without adequate conversion you'll never feel like yourself.

If you're taking your medication at 10 PM every night, but eating as late as 7:00, you can't be sure your stomach is empty enough.  I've read different opinions on how long it takes for the stomach to empty, but it does depend on what you ate.  High fiber inhibits absorption of thyroid med.

Some vitamins/minerals are like thyroid hormones - simply being "normal" isn't good enough.  B12 is an easy one for me to use as an example, because I have to take weekly shots in order to keep my levels high enough to feel good.  The range my lab uses is 200-1100; I have to keep my levels at the very top (or over).

"My question is, when you say that I'm going to get extremely ill if I stop taking my synthroid, what do you exactly mean?"  All of your hypo symptoms would return with a vengeance; dropping down to the 88 mcg proves that.  The fact that you still have some of them, indicates that your levels aren't high enough yet. GERD is a classic symptom of being hypo.  I had it horribly bad when I was hypo and was on very strong medication for it, which often didn't touch it.  Once my thyroid levels got high enough, the GERD stopped and I no longer take medication for it, except an occasional Gaviscon when I eat something I shouldn't.

I've read that zinc can, sometimes, help alleviate ear ringing.  Anything is worth a try.  

Selenium has been linked to better conversion of FT4 to FT3; you could try that and see if it helps.

[coldthyroid]

Well, my true problem is that when I was originally diagnosed with low thyroid, I wasn't having any symptoms.  It only came up in a routine physical and so they put me on .25.  I wasn't tired, sore, brittle nails, hair falling out, etc.  I was normal.  It does truly seem that once I had been on the thyroid for about 2 years or so, maybe three, that I started noticing issues.  I've never had what I would refer to as the obvious signs of a thyroid problem.  Basically my head feels like it is clogged....pressure......ear ringing, and at times, I've got some blurry vision.  Today, I don't seem to have any vision issues.  But it goes from day to day.....but I always do seem to have a nice headache going on....

[sassyonesotrue]

hello my name is leanne ive had ringing in the ear for years and still have it i had a total tyroidectomy in december 2011  and thought it would subside  after the operation was over ahhh wrong!!!!!!!!!  i still have it andf it hasnt gone away im on a fifty and a 25 of L tthyroxine i take a 25 microgram and a 50 microgram together b/c i found the 75 microgram was what i was allergic to my hands felt like they were on fire and my blood pressure went sky high so yeah i got  very sick for this medicine but what i was saying i thought it was  my throid and it still is happening i get it every day ringing in the ears and dizziness