I have sleep apnea and sleep with a CPAP machine so my wife doesn't complain. I also have tinnitus and it's quite noticable.
If I take a nap without the machine, I can wake up an hour later with bad tinnitus.
Internet searches show I'm not alone. For example these two comments.
In my case, I have a complete relief about one day in a week (two days is I am lucky). On such occasions, if I dose off --even for 20 min.-- in an afternoon -say--, the tinnitus comes back. Also, tinnitus is most felt upon arising in the morning. (see http://www.sleepnet.com/diag2/messages/269.html).
I have both sleep apnea and tinnitus. I sleep with a cpap machine (8 years now). If I take a nap on sunday afternoons, in a chair without the machine, I usually wake up with much stronger tinnitus, and probably a headache. (You'd think I'd learn by now!) Just started to look for a connection between the two.
Also, if my cpap mask is adjusted to reduce the outgoing ventilation , the tinnitus is quite bad when I wake up. Normally i peel up the tab on my breeze mask so it isn't fully engaged in the slot; When I fully engage it and go to sleep, I wake up with loud tinnitus.
So that can explain why tinnitus gets WORSE with some people using CPAP and better with others...it all depends on the pressure and mask used. If you use too low a pressure on certain masks, you'll increase re-breathing and make your tinnitus worse. If the mask, etc. is working, it should make it better.
I've had this happen way too many times to be a coincidence. It seems very much a cause and effect.
Has this happened to you? Contact me using the contact info on my home page and I'll post your story here.
Steve,
I am fairly certain there is a relationship between tinnitus and sleep apnea for me. I don't use a mask, but I do go to some lengths to prevent myself from sleeping on my back. On ~10 occasions, I have woken up to find myself on my back (despite my precautions) and with both a headache and pronounced tinnitus, which slowly improves over the next 4-5 days.
Interestingly, I have also noticed that intense exercise near max heart rate exacerbates my tinnitus. Both sleep apnea and intense exercise cause blood oxygen saturation to decrease. Brain in general, and auditory hair cells in particular, are highly metabolically active tissues and require a lot of oxygen. So, it makes sense to me that sleep apnea could cause tinnitus.
I'm having surgery in a few weeks. If it is successful in treating my sleep apnea, it will be interesting to see whether it also improves my tinnitus.
Regards, Dan Pierce