I wanted to alert the forum members to something that happened to me recently. I'd posted last year in a response to another member who stated they could change the pitch of their tinnitus by moving their eyes, which I can do, too. They described it like a tuning fork. Other posties could change the pitch and volume of their tinnitus by moving their head or clenching their jaw. Well I've gotten used to my tinnitus since my surgery. It hasn't changed or if it has, it's not been noticeable or distracting, except recently. I recently changed eye lubricant. I thought I would try something new during the day and found a different brand that was also preservative-free in the eye. I started using it. I had used it for perhaps one full day, maybe two at most. I was getting ready for bed when my tinnitus got really loud suddenly (This isn't to say it doesn't mildly get more annoying if I drink too much caffeine or don't get enough sleep. It does. But this was much worse.). I was very upset and had to turn on the tv to drown it out. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night. The following day, I was still dealing with louder than usual tinnitus. I thought, this is my new normal and I'm just going to have to get used to it. That day, I was putting in the new eye drops when the tinnitus volume changed! I stopped, called out to my husband that I believe I just discovered why my tinnitus changed the previous night! He said, you know, I thought of that. The drops were the only thing you changed recently. I have since stopped using the new drops, went back to my old ones, and my tinnitus is back to where it was before.
So, this is just a friendly caution that if your tinnitus has changed and you've changed eye lubricants, there may be a connection.
