Unilateral tinnitus :(

First of all, sorry for posting so much lately :(

For a while now, I've experienced tinnitus on my left ear. It's there every day, more noticeable at night when I'm lying in bed. It's a low noise, it sounds like it's coming from deep inside my head... if that makes sense. Even when I'm not hearing it, if I press a hand to my ear I can still hear it, it just sounds very distant... The fact that it's only on one side worries me. I know two people with unilateral tinnitus and both of them were referred for an MRI because apparently it's a bad sign when it's only on one side. However, when I mentioned it to my doctor, he wasn't concerned at all.

My biggest fear is neurological disease - any neurological disease, but mainly brain tumors - especially gliomas. I had an eye exam last week, they took pictures of my eyes and told me my optic nerves looked perfectly healthy. If I had a brain tumor, this would not be the case, right? I've read that an eye exam can pick up signs of a brain tumor. I also have headaches, usually every day, it comes and goes throughout the day and I know that I have a lot of neck tension and grind my teeth in my sleep... I also get bouts of nausea throughout the day.
I also went to an ENT a few days ago, she removed earwax from both ears and told me to stop using cotton buds. I thought maybe removing the earwax would fix the problem, but no. It's still there and I'm a bit worried to say the least.

Would the eye test have picked up signs of a brain tumor? And has anyone else had unilateral tinnitus that turned out to be nothing or at least nothing serious? I'm starting to freak out a little and could really use some reassurance.

My left ear has this too!! For like 3 weeks now off and on.

My tinnitus was in my left ear only for years and it's only just started to affect the right ear, and only occasionally. I had tests, but it was only because I have pulsatile tinnitus as well as the 'old fashioned dial up internet sounds', and all they found was a defect (probably from birth) deep inside my ear. That said, I wear a hearing aid (or I should do - too sensory for me) in my left ear.

I also get intermittent very low pitched tinnitus which seems to coincide with vertigo, but my mother had Meniere's, so maybe I've inherited that from her as well as her premature menopause. Thanks Ma!:yesyes:

Lots of people have unilateral tinnitus, and is can be a simple matter of ear wax so I would give it a few weeks to settle down, but my policy is to always get things checked out that don't bugger off in a few weeks.

I'll let you into another secret too - stress makes my tinnitus a LOT worse, and terrifying yourself on Google won't help you. I had left-sided pulsatile tinnitus - which Doc Google would have an absolute field day with - but I don't have anything sinister going on - so do yourself a favour and save Google for cute cat vids, or in my case, Tom Hardy in various states of undress.:winks: