Tinnitus Seems Louder... Or Am I Focussing on It Again?

Hi Guys,

Been a while since I posted on the forum, this last week I had a few episodes of anxiety attacks due to my tinnitus seeming louder than usual... I have the anxiety reasonably under control due to the fact that I already habituated once and trust I will habituate to this too if it doesn't subside. Also a few drops of CBD oil greatly reduces my anxiety so either way I should be fine.

The last year I was near fully habituated and picked up life as usual. I actually still consider myself habituated considering I am nowhere near as debilitated by fear as in the early stages but the last week has been challenging...

It pretty much started after I attended a festival on Sunday the previous week, I just stayed at the festival for about 60 minutes as the music near the stage (where I stayed near to but not in front of for 10 - 15 min) was way too loud and I decided to leave because I did not have earplugs with me.

Stupid enough I decided to join my friends to a (loud) club only an hour after. I bought some foam earplugs at the door and went inside, the music was dampened a lot and it felt kind of safe (alcohol does that, make you take stupid risks). Anyway, my anxiety got the better of me and I left after 30 min. Just did not feel it was worth risking it and I went home. My tinnitus seemed a bit louder the next day but I paid it no mind as alcohol also tends to make my tinnitus a bit louder the next day and I presumed it would go down again.

Funny thing is I think it did go down a bit already (and still does for some parts of the day) but I did start noticing my tinnitus more the past 10 days or so... On top op of that the sound in my right ear which I usually barely hear is now noticeable a lot more in quit rooms and especially at night sounds loouuud, luckily this one is more of a static noise and is easily covered by ambient noise. The high pitched tone in my left ear however is more noticeable too, where I went around for the majority of my days not noticing it outside now I can pick it up outside as well. This does seem to get better ever so slowly on a day by day basis...

Anyway, I have been through fluctuations in volume before (or spikes as we call it) and it pretty much always subsided. It's just a bit scary now seeing as it is taking longer than I'm used too and I'm kind of worried about my stupid actions with the club. That being said I've been to bars, I go to the gym daily, had loud noise exposure (even had a massive firework thrown right next to me at NYE) and my baseline still remained the same or came back. I know tinnitus is unpredictable in it's nature and focusing on it or thinking about it perpetuates it so I'm going to pick up life as usual and not let it get me down.

Just curious to your thoughts and experiences on this!

Much love and appreciation to you all,

Chris