Scared Tinnitus MRI

[Poppy3249]

Hoping for some reassurance, my other half seems to be unlucky with health scares lately and the stress of it all is really getting me down. Last Xmas we had investigations for cancer hanging over us and now after visiting the doctor with a tinnitus problem he’s being referred for an MRI scan. I can’t help imagining the worst even though he seems quite calm about it. Hiding the worries from the children is very difficult.

Does he have any other symptoms? My husband had tinnitus alongside other scary symptoms (they mimicked mini strokes but turned out be to vertigo episodes). He had an MRI, they were checking for an acoustic neuroma amongst other things but he eventually turned out to have Menieres Disease.

They have to rule the rarer things that require urgent treatment out first before investigating hard to diagnose conditions.

I have had one for that as I had unilateral hearing loss. Was all fine. Annoyingly I still have the symptoms- see my post below - but at least I know it’s nothing sinister.
I got the appt quickly for the scan.

@comefromaway thank you for the quick reply, I’m sorry you have had to go through a similar experience. He doesn’t seem to have any other particular symptoms. He’s in his mid 50s and can sometimes struggle to hear in a noisy room but I don’t think that’s too unusual as you age. I know I shouldn’t have, but I did google and come across acoustic neuroma so I’m guessing that’s what they’re looking for - although I havent told my husband that. Doctors always seem reluctant to go into too much detail about anything which is daft nowadays when it’s so easy for people to start looking up information for themselves.

@justdanceaddict Thank you for the reply, glad your scan was clear although must be very difficult living a constant noise. I really hope the appointment comes quickly too.

The tinnitus I can live with but the vertigo is grim! Good luck to your dh.

Dh is a professional musician which is challenging. He’s mid 40’s.

Thinking more fil developed tinnitus. He’s obviously older but they did a better safe than sorry MRI and it all came clear.

I have tinnitus too but it developed 12 months ago following a nasty ear infection and perforated ear drum that hasn’t healed.

Another Ménière’s sufferer here. Had mri of ears and head to rule out other problems before my diagnosis. Came back completely clear.

Seems to be very common so just need to try and stop imagining the worst all the time and just deal with things as they happen. We have a holiday booked for Feb and have to see if we can find a travel insurance company that will accept everything. My husband does have permanent sinus problems and uses steroid nasal drops. Wondered if this might be connected to the tinnitus, probably not.

@viennawaits4you thank you for the reply, I don’t know a great deal about Menieres other than it being very debilitating and effects balance. I didn’t realise it also caused tinnitus. I hope things aren’t too bad for you.

Do most MRI Scan appointments come through quickly?

I have annual MRI scans, usually all fine, but I did suffer really bad dizziness after the one I had last week, lasted a couple of days. Usually I don’t have any side effects.

The appts usually come through fairly quickly for the scans, but my local hospital has a 12 week wait for the results!

Good luck OP.

A 12 week wait for results seems crazy! It’s not fair to put people through that.

Dh got his results the same day. But his was an exceptional case as one of the things they were looking for only had a 6 week prognosis. It was the worst day of our life.

I had tinnitus and was sent for an MRI. I think it’s standard procedure to make sure there’s nothing underlying causing the problem. Nothing came up on my scan.

@comefromaway It sounds terrible what you went through, thank goodness they were able to give you the results on the same day. I only signed up to mumsnet today because I had nobody to talk to about these issues and it’s been taking over all my thoughts. I’m finding that it helps to discuss things on here in confidence. I know there are people suffering so many more problems so I feel silly worrying about things so much.

I have had tinnitus for last 6 years. Being sent for an MRI to rule out any physical reasons in the ears is fairly standard and nothing to be overly concerned about. They said they'd do my brain as a bonus while they were there.

Got a letter a few weeks later saying all clear, tough luck on the tinnitus 🙄 and no further investigations needed.

@brokenwing @mummagiles thank you for the replies. I guess it’s good news that no underlying cause was found but frustrating to be told there’s nothing that can be done to cure the problem.

Cognitive behavioural therapy for tinnitus and tinnitus retaining therapy both sometimes help.

I was also referred for a head MRI when I was diagnosed with unilateral tinnitus. It turns out that I have something called palatial myoclonus, where my soft palate involuntarily moves and creates an audible noise in my ear. Mine is idiopathic, but apparently my type of tinnitus can be a consequence of something else, which is why they do the MRI to rule it out, to make sure there is nothing more sinister.

Hopefully the MRI will be clear x

I have Ménière's. I've had more fun but it's manageable with tablets and steroid injections. The tinnitus is a pain but I put sleep sounds on of thunderstorms / rain at night so that helps with sleep.

Had a few falls downstairs and a drop attack where I hurt my face but it's not as bad as it was.

@Comefromaway
Could I ask how your DH manages to work? Going through it with my prof musician DH.
I’ve had it for years and no one seems bothered.

I had tinnitus when I was at uni - started after a gig and got worse and worse. GP said I'd damaged my hearing and not to go to clubs and gigs (basically killing my social life). Luckily my parents took me to a specialist who found it was totally psychosomatic - I worried I'd damaged my hearing, so I 'tuned in' to the tinnitus more and more and it seemed to get worse. And unfortunately this aspect is not something most GPs are aware of - CBT programme and white-noise emitters got rid of it.

That said, it sounds like their might be a physiological cause (though not necessarily anything worrying) for OP's husband, given he's evidently not too bothered by the tinnitus it itself.

But I would pass on the advice to anyone who has apparently had it 'triggered' by something to check out the psychosomatic angle.

@echobelly I don’t think it’s psychosomatic although I can understand how that might happen. The tinnitus is bothering him when it’s silent but oddly he dropped the bombshell of being referred for an MRI scan but doesn’t seem that worried about it. When he saw how shocked I was he said he’d get it cancelled but I said no, in case there is a problem.

Phonic - well he was off work for just over 6 months though that was mostly the vertigo. He no longer plays in pit bands but he has a pair of custom made ear plugs from the Musicians Union Hearing Service. It wasn’t just tinnitus, voices sounded robotic and occasionally his hearing dips on one side but he is coping and still plays for recitals, auditions and teaches.

It seems pretty standard to be referred for an MRI for tinnitus so I wouldn’t worry about that.

Come from away- Yes, my DH has been hardly working for 8 months now. He’s got all sorts of ear plugs. He can’t think about anything else.