Suddenly Hypersensitive to Every Noise + Auditory Hallucinations

Hello,

Roughly a month after I first became exposed to tinnitus, I had an issue with my computer; after I'd shut it off, I would still hear it running for a while afterwards. Wasn't in my head, I knew, because it was way too sudden and I had never had an issue with it before. I decided to turn off my PC for a week or so an immediately noticed that my tinnitus had returned to normal ringing.

Now, again (after several loud noise exposures on 3/29) I am having a similar issue, but much worse. Not only does my tinnitus seem to be mimicking the sound of a computer for hours afterwards (far more closely now, and it's absolutely devastating) but it's like my brain has suddenly lost all ability to filter noise. It's like I've gone mad; I can't tell what's in my head anymore or on the outside. The sound of my fan going is driving me up a wall; and I keep checking periodically to see if the noise is actually just tinnitus. The fridge and water cooler in the hall somehow reach me in my bedroom, and the shriek of demonic cicadas (we don't have cicadas that sound anything like that) keeps me up at night. What fucks with me the hardest is the sound of a computer that keeps running even when it is shutdown and in another room.

I don't know how to classify it any other way; it's like my brain has completely forgotten what normal sounds are and I feel threatened by every single noise. I make sure to plug my ears whenever I hear something because now, after a year and a half of getting used to tinnitus, suddenly I'm terrified it's something new.

Since Friday night I've barely been able to sleep - on Sunday night/Monday morning I had a massive panic attack around 7 AM when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to sleep and the inside of my head sounded like a circus. Only an hour walk to exhaustion, a heavy dose of klonopin, ambien, and gabapentin finally put me to a terrified sleep. Every day since has been fucking bad, and as the clock closes in on midnight I'm going to have to possibly face another 10 hour "event".

I have no idea what to do, other than stop taking the relatively small course of prednisone that I started just before the noise exposure began. My doctor tells me that this is likely contributing to my general anxiety and making the situation worse (even though pred has done nothing but help me deal with spikes in the past) and shotgun anti-anxiety meds. I can barely sleep. Hearing the combined noises makes me panic, and the renewed tinnitus spike makes ear plugs or sitting in a completely silent room a non-starter. My old tinnitus was a fucking breeze compared to this. Please help me.

 

Tinnitus invokes a threat response in the brain. This can cause it to "search" for threats.

I have a similar thing with fans where I'm not sure if my tinnitus is ringing or the fan.

It's worth trying to emotionally detach yourself from the sounds, you are only upset by them if you care. I know this is way harder said than done.

Personally I would try and limit any drug intakes like steroids.

 

Hey @RichardGuy, how are you holding up now? I'm having a similar issue, mine is sort of a reverse reactive tinnitus, like if I'm listening to music, or if I go to loud fair, the loud noises will be stuck in my head. Fans sometimes trigger it too. I feel so alone and scared bro.