tinnitis: is this something we all have?
 

I developed a pretty severe case of tinnitis over the past two years. I was diagnosed with MG a few months ago. Is the tinnitus all that common with MG? It seems like ~20% of posters here are complaining of tinnitus. Is the real percentage greater? Is this a real MG side effect or is it from my invincible days of 'rock and roll' as my GP has proclaimed? He could be right. I did have some fun.

I have a terrible case of tinnitis that came on with the MG. It has not stopped for a moment for over 15 months. It gets worse as the day progresses and is worse on bad MG days. I think it is all related to MG. The doctors never paid much attention to it with all my more severe symptoms, but it drives me crazy. Sometimes it is so loud I can barely hear. And I never attended a rock concert in my life!

kathie

I get it too.. though mine is in one ear I go deaf for minutes (completely deaf it seems).. and then the hearing comes back slowly along with the ringing - this usually all lasts for about 20 minutes or so.. never had it, or at least never noticed it before I got hit with whatever this is!

Some of the symptoms of MG overlap with the symptoms of Meniere's disease, and Meniere's disease is sometimes associated with autoimmune disorders.

Abby

I get this all the time off and on. I was diagnosed in 2008 and i have had bouts of vertigo as well.

I think that I have it, but never mentioned it to my doctor. I hear a loud roaring noise and some faint high pitches that are more noticeable when the house is quiet. When I hear low noises, like a train in the distance, it's all muffled, a lot of low noises are muffled now. Lately my right ear has been twitching and making this weird noise. I wake up sometimes thinking someone is knocking on the door, but it's my ear twitching. The sound doesn't match my pulse either.

After 5 days of IVIG, my severe tinnitis that coincides with my MG onset that was unrelenting for 2 years has finally stopped. I hope it stays that way.

kathie

As I posted a while ago, I used to get this off and on. This has been more prominent for me the past 3 weeks. I hear a very high pitch sound constantly. I also feel that my hearing is hyper sensitive and I get annoyed with a lot of commotion or loud noises. I'm just weird I guess :) .

No, I had it too. It started with the MG 2 years ago and never went away, even for a second. It got worse as the day progressed and on days when my MG was bad. I also was hypersensitive to loud noises and would jump or be startled at noises that did not bother anybody else. I tried doing a lot of research on line about it. the best I could find where the following 2 scenarios and I do not know if either are correct:

1. there are small muscles in the inner ear affected by MG causing the tinnitis
2. There are ganglionic (not muscle) ACHR that affect the Autonomic nervous system including hearing, tinitus, balance and vertigo as well abdominal function, heart etc

thanks
kathie

I was just diagnosed with MG about 3 months ago. I started having Ptosis, followed by pretty severe double vision. My very alert ophthalmologist tested me for MG while trying to treat the symptoms and I tested sero positive.
60MG 2 times a dayof Mestinon had little or no affect. I delayed taking prednisone for a couple of days, with my neurologists ok, to test. The Prednisone (80 mg a day) taken in am, however had an almost immediate positive affect. My Ptosis and double vision has all but cleared up. Other symptoms however have occurred and things change almost daily. I am on a schedule to step it down, now down to 40MG a day. Things have been up and down but the vision issues remain under control.
I now realize I have had these symptoms for years and they have gotten steadily worse over time.
I have had Tinnitus for about 20 years, since I first started having hearing issues. It is there 24x7.
My other hearing issues have gotten steadily worse. I test with just a moderate high frequency hearing loss but my comprehension, particularly in my right ear is very bad.
this has been going on for about the same time as the Tinnitus.
I was around big guns during training in the Navy and have been attributing my hearing issues to that.
I have a Hiatal Hernia diagnosed for at least 15 years. It was diagnosed with contrasting xrays and with an endoscopy so I know its real but it is the failure of a muscle to close shutting off the stomach opening that causes it.
I have always tired easily and recovered quickly with rest but that to has gotten worse for over the last 15 or 20 years.
I have 'memory fog' that has also become worse over the same period. I have had a very technical career path. I read computer dumps on main frame computers. I am a CICS product specialist. I still have exceptional skills for processes I learned early in my career but find it extremely difficult to learn new products and skills. I am fortunate that in a business where products become obsolete in 3 or 4 years, the basic process of problem determination for CICS issues remained consistent enough to keep me employed for over 20 years until I reached retirement age.
My question now is could I have had MG for all of this time but did not realize it until it affected the muscle control of my eyes.
If that is so it seems like the term 'voluntary muscles' is a little more complex then it seems.
Some of the muscles I seem to have trouble with do not seem to be all that voluntary.