Are Tinnitus and Epilepsy Related?

[John-Forrest]

I would like to post a query and subject for research here. All my life, I have had ringing in my right ear, which is Tinnitus. I have a neurological hearing loss, which the MDs say was probably the result of a very severe illness I had when I was a young child. My mother told me I was completely deaf at that time. My hearing loss is in both ears, but the right ear is more severe and that is where I always hear the ringing.

When I am really stressed out, very tired or drinking too much coffee, this right ear ringing is far more acute. This is also the time when I am more likely to have a grand mal seizure.

I only have these seizures once in a blue moon, every couple of months, usually when I am stressed. (I seem to get them duing holidays for some reason, pushes my buttons.) They ALWAYS start with a loud high-pitched ringing in my right ear, and it feels like the ringing is "drilling" down my auditory nerve into my brain. Partial seizures are also a high pitched ringing where I feel momentarily incapacitated.

I was hitting on "epilepsy and tinnitus" on the net. One page I got said tinnitus is actually a seizure in the auditory nerve. So it makes sense that this tinnitus I have is where the focal point of my seizure is. One post I saw in a tinnitus forum said the person noted the ringing was reduced when taking anti-seizure meds.

This seems like a very significant connection. If I could learn to control the tinnitus, perhaps that will also control the grand mals that are such a huge inconvenience in my life (where I get captured by the ambulance and have to spend hours in a hospital until they let me go!).

Has anyone else noticed anything like this?

John-Forrest

[DayDreamer]

I remember being asked about anything I heard when I participated in a study with Columbia for Autosomal dominant partial epilepsy with auditory features.
I myself do find a pattern between the ringing I hear and my seizures. I do not track the ringings I hear. They don't last long and don't bother me. Hopefully it continues this way. Maybe my seizures will learn to take less time and not bother me also.

The page below mentions tinnitus.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1537/

[um-adam]

Could it be that the things that increase your tinnitus are also the things that lower your seizure threshhold? My husband often has tinnitus as part of a chronic ear problem he has. Caffeine definitely makes it worse, so he does not drink coffee or tea.

I joined the forum because two of my sons were recently diagnosed with epilepsy. I am new to epilepsy and don't know very much about it. However, I once experienced an attack of "something" that I now suspect may have been a seizure. Basically, I felt incapacitated...could not talk or move although I was conscious at the time. Near the end of the attack, I heard a very loud sound in my ear that was like a gushing waterfall. At the time, I was concerned that one of the kids had left the bathroom faucet on. Later, I realized that this was a form of tinnitus...and I still have very mild tinnitus to this day. Not sure if that type of noise is common with seizures.

[um-adam]

Forgot to mention that, besides caffeine, many medications exacerbate tinnitus as well.

[rory]

i have tinnitus in my left ear and left temporal lobe epilepsy so maybe. i developed constant tinnitus about 2 years ago it has never stopped since, its gets louder or quieter for no reason but its always there.

[Endless]

Hi, John,

I have tinnitus, both a very loud ringing, and a heartbeat/whooshing sound when I lay down. Mine are due to different causes - migraine aura, and intracranial hypertension (IH). Epilepsy and Migraines are highly comorbid. In other words, if you have one of them you are more likely to get the other. My seizures are pretty much under control now (with a few notable exceptions over the last few months). So I'm thinking it isn't that.

Q: does your water sound go in time to your heartbeat?