This is far enough afield of the other tinnitus threads that I thought a new thread was warranted. Mods feel free to move.
I’m a 65 year old male with severe tinnitus. I also have Peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy (PN) will cause numbness or tingling in feet and or hands. My mother also had PN. I do not know how common it is.
We balance ourselves on a three legged stool.
The inner ear, the vestibular system
Touch or sensation in our feet or a hand on a wall.
Sight.
The vestibular system handles balance and spatial orientation.
The hearing and balance organs sit close together and share nerve pathways to the brain. This pinged my spidey sense. The brain has to disseminate between the BS (tinnitus) and important info (balance) all being fed down the same nerve. This is the best way I can describe it.
Sensory input (touch) is also important. For instance, handrails. Or simply to ground/orientate yourself with a hand on a wall. I do it all the time. And very importantly your feet. I’m always having to look down at my feet.
Sight input allows us to boost and back up the inner ear and touch. A dark room hinders this. Or not having any stationary object to use as a ‘light house’ to orientate you.
This all really hit home to me when on a recent vacation. There was a lot of dark rooms in exhibitions and such. I HAD to touch a wall or railing or I would be flat on my face. That I was on a ship in the North Sea didn’t help much.
Also did a lot of airports. People moving hither and yon doesn’t help with the sight leg of the stool.
I’m not happy about this at all of course, but at least I understand it better. I may get a fancy cane. I have walking sticks that I only used once on a hike.
I’m just ‘happy’ that I have a better understanding of this three legged stool, and hope that this will make others understand what might be going on.
Nothing can be done for tinnitus. Well at least for now. There is a shit ton of snake oil salesmen though.
Re the Peripheral neuropathy, I talked to my doc about it, and the cure seemed worse than the ailment. And no guarantees (Gabapenton). The side effects are not fun - drowsiness, dizziness, unsteadiness, and swelling in the hands or feet. Thanks, but I’ve already got all that covered.
I do walk my dogs, drive a car, play Pickle Ball and ride my bike, so it’s not that bad. I don’t want to make it worse thank you very much.
I started this thread because I think balance and tinnitus have a link.
She swears it works really well. She’s ‘trialed’ stopping/starting it more than once over the last few years. Each time she stops, the tinnitus returns. Each time she restarts … it slowly improves.
FWIW …
My balance is/can be variably compromised due to low cardiac output. Whatever the reason … having questionable balance rather sucks.
Glad you’re still able to be active and travel … limitations/challenges or not.
Oh yeah. Three simple steps and you’re looking for a handrail.
A ship in the North Sea after a couple of drinks ups the ante. 4 stitches.
As said, I’m staying active. Shit, I gotta mow the grass tomorrow. But that keeps me moving. Then I really want to get back on my electric bike. Just a few miles, but it does challenge the old balance system. Yeah, it’s electric, but you have to help. My wife the IronMan also bought one.
If standing is an issue, you might want to learn about Orthostatic hypotension - Wikipedia. Nobody has good balance, or good anything, while their brain is half fainted for lack of blood flow.
And that problem has nothing whatever to do with inner ears, tinnitus, etc.
I should have said “If balance shortly after standing up is an issue …”.
I have naturally low BP, and over the years have been put on meds for other things which incrementally lowered it further. Into the trouble zone where standing up could provoke a near-faint. I quit those meds right quick. And yes, informed the docs and we chose a different regimen.
Bottom line: As a general matter falling down sure sounds to a layperson like a balance problem, but the more complete story is that the balance system itself isn’t always the primary cause of a fall. Or even any cause.
More accurately, tinnitus is a hearing issue. A portion of your brain is dedicated to deciphering the sounds that enter your ear. When you have hearing loss, your brain compensates for that loss by over-focusing on what it can hear. The more it focuses, the louder the noise gets. That’s likely an incomplete analysis, and there is a lot of research on it.
I’m sure they are working on it. A solution would be a God send to millions, and a gold mine for anyone that can help.
I had a hairdresser once, and she said “You have tinnitus? Wow, I had a friend that killed themselves because of it.” … Thanks a bunch for that little tidbit of info.