10 Years with Tinnitus — Major Spike 2 Months Ago — Now It's Better!

Hi all,

With fear of jinxing it I just wanted to tell you about my recent spike.

As mentioned I have had T for 10 years - very very loud in the beginning but over time it went from 9/10 to a 2/10 level. I never noticed it unless I tried to listen for it. Of course I have had spikes over the years but not really lasting longer than 14 days...

HOWEVER, 2 month ago after a very stressfull period, sinus infection and attending a concert my T went absolutely nuts. New sounds (hiiiigh pitched) and very loud. Nothing could mask it - only when taking a shower.
I was right back to sqaure one - monitoring the sound, no sleep, not able to relax, not listening when people spoke to me, not able to concentrate at work, watch a movie, go for a walk, googling the internet ALL the time etc... It also became reactive again like before :-/
I really never thought this could go back to baseline - but it did. Or nearly so to say - but "the feeling of I don't care anymore" has returned so it doesn't borther me.

I can sleeep again and are nearly back to life.

What did I do?: Took the sleeping pills so I could sleep. Sleep is SO important!!! Did some stretches 3 times a day, avoided loud noise, went for walks... The improvement came very slowly with setbacks and more setbacks.

So, there is hope if you have been habituated and T gets worse. It will go down to baseline again - or you will habituate much faster 2. or 3. time. (touchwood)

 

Good to know! There have been posts on this forum before by people worried about their spikes being permanent, and for the vast majority it always seems to return to baseline.

Can you share with us how long it took to go from 9/10 to a 2/10 level? Also, did the volume actually reduce, or just your awareness of the tinnitus?

 

It did reduce very much - took 5 years.
I also became numb to The sounds - have multiple sounds, Can hear it over anything bur shower.
It took 2 years but happened naturally - cannot be explained it just happened.

 

So it took 2 years to become numb to the sounds, or "brain hardened," as some people on this forum refer to it. And it took 5 years for the volume to reduce.

I also have multiple sounds, and on the "bad" days I hear it over everything also. I do have "good" days, though, for which I'm grateful. It allows me to work on creative endeavors that otherwise it's impossible to concentrate on.

Thanks for the feedback

 

Hello Megatron, I have had the noise now for nearly two years and I still find I am totally freaked out by it and just wish that someday I could get my peace back that I know I never will so I always am in awe of those people that say they have habituated. I try to live my life as best as I can and not let it take over but it really is hard at times, I would say my noise is probably an 8/10 virtually all of the time and is a hiss.

Can you please give me any tips on what you did initially to get you to that habituated state. i try so hard not to focus on the T but when it is noisy as mine is it is really hard to distract the mind.

Thank you for letting me share this with you and hope that you can help

Fred

 

Hi Freddie

Feel free to Call +453017721 we Can talk If you want?

 

+4530177721 that is

 

Good to hear your success story @Megatron . We need more of those around here. I am 2 months in with this loud high pitched electrical dog whistle sound. My sleep has been horrible, I wake up every hour and a half . What kind of sleeping pills did you take?

 

Take Rohipnol and you will sleep all night 100%

 

@Michael R

I only used very mild sleeping pills.... 7,5 mg.

@Freddie - hmm it is hard to give any advice because my experience is that the habituation process cannot be rushed. It comes naturally and to be honest when I was 2 years into my habituation I also had very bad days among the good days. I did not FREAK out anymore - it was more like I was sad about it (very sad).
I have tried EVERYTHING and for me the only thing that worked is SLEEP (most important), stretching and TIME. It will get better - also for you but do not focus on time. Just focus on doing the right things and when you loose faith (I did many times) remember that the only cure right now is Time, Sleep and doing good things for yourself.
Tinnitus stink - I really think so but I am also living proof of life can be exactly the same as before.

My T is LOUD - really loud. Hear it over anything! So whatever your sound is - you can habituate.

 

Megatron ....love your post ! I have had T for 13 years and got it to a 1/10 until 9 weeks ago I had a virus which caused ETD and now I have a loud hissing 24/7 and its really getting me down , im on steroids at the moment but im scared I wont habituate again or get back to how my T was before ?

 

Good to hear that! Been on the same boat as you with my spike lasting for 2 months, it was last November. I've had T since August 2009 noise induced, habituated pretty quickly. But that spike, oh man, it was like I had Un-habituated and had to start all over again with all the anxiety, insomnia, stress etc. etc. Fortunately it subsided to my base-line gradually over 2 months. Stay strong!

 

@Dante500 - Good to hear!
Yes i follow you completely...! Mine was like the brain forgot the habituation...?!?. On top I got new sounds - did you also get that?

 

Yes there was new sound, which was changing its pitch constantly from day to day - some days louder, some days quieter. I took melatonin every night and ginko pills 3 times a day for 2 months and one day the spike was gone for good. I think that I will keep having those spikes from time to time now but next time I'll know this will go back to normal again, just need to give it time.

 

@Megatron are you still here on this site? I have come across your post and it has given me hope! I am 20 years old and I had mild tinnitus for 14 months . Last month it spiked and it sent me into a world of anxiety and panic again . It feels like it's louder although it comes and goes . I never heard my tinnitus over anything before and now I hear it over TV etc, do you think it will eventually go away when the panic, anxiety and monitoring goes away? Thank you

 

Hi @Newbie

Have not been to the site for a while Got an e-mail alert from your reply.
Yes - in fact I am 100% sure it will go back to what it was.
But - I am also 100 % sure that you will Experience other spikes in the future.
The hard part is to stay calm between the good and bad times.
But the main thing here - it will return to baseline.
But - be aware it can take some time my friend.

 

@Megatron thank you very much for your reply I feel this is great news as I was starting to lose hope! I know I just hope by the time a few years pass and I get a few more spikes they will have improved some treatments that may help! it's great that you say you're 100% sure! I'm such an anxious person anyway so and slightly suffer with hypochondria so I love reassurance to get me through! I hope you didn't 'jinx' yourself after this post thanks again!

 

Megatron,

This is exactly the same thing that happened to me. I had T for 15 years. It was bad at first but after a few years I habituated to it. Now 2 months ago I had a spike and it's not going down that much. I can hear it in the shower if I listen for it.
I need some sleeping pills to help me sleep, (I didn't sleep good last night so hopefully my grammar is ok). I'm going to do what you did and hopefully it will go back to baseline.
Thanks for the write up. I feel like I have some hope again.

 

Thank you for the positivity - really needed this! Suffering from a particularly bad spike at the moment.

 

Not trying to be negative, but in this thread I see things being said like "T can always go back to baseline after a spike". I sure would love that to be the case, but I've also read lots of people who have talked about permanent increases/changes in their T as well. I mean, I still am hoping my T will GO AWAY COMPLETELY, so I guess I do believe that theres always a chance of going back to a baseline... of SILENCE, but if there are anything i've learned from this forum, it is that speaking in absolutes about how T works is very difficult.

 

Thank you for your description of your recent experience, its very helpful. I am 20 months into this condition, and considered myself very habituated. I would hear my T in several places (car, home, etc), but could ignore it completely, and had no trouble falling asleep to it. I had a "spike" recently that lasted a week. Similar to you, I could now hear my T almost constantly, and the old feelings of dread returned. I began wearing my white noise generators (WNGs) again, and getting as much sleep as possible. The worst thoughts returned .... had I damaged my hearing further by using my leave vacuum (a loud piece of equipment), even though I was wearing some hearing protection? I comforted myself by realizing that the T sounds were the same, they were just louder and poking though into my perception much more frequently. It was likely a "spike" of my condition, not something caused by more hearing loss. After 14 days, I'm not back to "baseline", but I'm much improved. Its very discouraging after making so much progress, to have a sudden relapse. These "spikes" or relapses come on just like T did the first time .... fast, with no warning. I've had about 4 over the past year. One consolation is that they seem to be occurring less frequently. My understanding from most folks who experience this after significant habituation, is that these episodes typically resolve in a matter of days or weeks. Its hard to keep the faith when its happening, but there is no other option.

My best wishes to everyone on this forum, I hope you can enjoy this Holiday season and put your T far into the background as you do. Trebor

 

I recently had a very similar experience, and I would like to relate due to its similarity. I gained so much from your written experience above. Thank you.

T was at a 1-2 out of 10 prior for say 1.5 years. I had had spikes in the past, also not lasting more than 7-14 days. My sense of T was that I was "fully habituated" or as fully as I would ever get. I think I even had a day here and there that I never thought of it.

Buddy of mine shoots a marine flare gun off while we are on his boat to test his new kit. I've done this before, pre- T and never had considered it loud. It was f-ing loud. Ears rang ... but I wasn't worried. Seriously ... I didn't freak out, I wasn't anxious. Slept fine that night, wasn't worried or overly anxious the next day. My T crept up on me gradually later that next day, and over the next few days .... and I could swear I heard a change in it. A little higher pitch maybe? Maybe I could hear it more in certain environments? (...aha the slippery slope) Did I do some hearing damage? Man that f*cker was loud. Before you know it I could hear it everywhere. Over conversation, while driving, over my masking devices, etc. Just like your experience, my T seemed EXTREMELY REACTIVE. It would buzz and react to whatever I tried to mask it with. I kept calm. But it was perceivable everywhere. I wasn't worried. I have had spikes before. But it was louder now. In a way, my calmness scared me even more. If I had been anxious, this would at least be an explanation why it sounded louder due to perception. If I was calm, then maybe this was my new baseline. That scared the crap out of me. After 1.5 years of no-problemo sleep, I woke at 2 AM, heard my T, and couldn't sleep for 4 hours. (to folks reading this with current sleep trouble, I'm not crying about this; I had my share of sleep issues early on with T, and this was nothing in comparison. I'm just mentioning this as a data point)

It hit a bit of a crescendo after about two to three weeks. I kind of got pissed about my inability to mask it, my inability to affect it in any way, and just sat back and listened to it for awhile. I went back to basics; limit alcohol, limit caffeine, nurture good sleep, went back on AD, regular exercise, mask during work to be able to concentrate. I had hit the point where my faith was deteriorating, and that sucks.

About week 4 it started to go back into its hole again. A good day, a not so good day, medium days, then all good days.

What worked me out of this? To hell if I know. There is nothing I can point to that I can say that had any immediate affect on it. We all know the things that make T worse, but limiting them doesn't automatically streamline us back into habituation. There is no control level than we directly employ.

When I first got T, it came on rapidly after a night of listening to some loud music. {the next morning}
After moderate habituation, I've noticed that most spikes also come on "rapidly". Over a day or two.
I have a feeling of loss and despair when this (a spike) happens. Didn't I work hard to achieve this habituation? How can it be taken away so rapidly? Every day of the spike wears down on me.
Initially, after the first several spikes, my habituation was noticeably better afterwards. That was good. (one step backwards, two steps forwards)
This spike was different. It was longer and louder, but habituation afterwards is about the same (not complaining, its good)

Here's what I take away from this and from my experiences in the past 2.5 years:

• Even after significant habituation, spikes occur, whether from noise events or not (I've had several spikes with no perceptible noise event)
• Obviously protect your ears (marine flare gun = STUPID NOISE EXPOSURE FOR ME)
• As the long timers say, perhaps habituation occurs faster on repeat or subsequent times. Took me 4-5 weeks this time to get back. Tested my faith for sure. Previous spikes were 1-2 weeks.
  
• We are not in control of this condition. I could have written a book about habituation several times (LOL), only to be right back into despair a few days later, with no way out. There is no simple prescription for regaining habituation even if you have very recently experienced it, or regaining it with speed. It is not a switch. Its not well understood. Some folks like to say its like riding a bike, but having a spike is like forgetting how to ride a bike and not being sure if you will ever be able to get back up on two wheels again.
  
• A 20 year vet ended his email to me 'HEAD UP'. Yeah, we must. Whatever brain functions that are involved here, I'm only convinced that they work better when they are bathed in the most positive attitude possible, whether that requires ADs or otherwise. Eat well, try to sleep well (yeah, that's tough), exercise, mask and ignore, engage life, talk to survivors (wow that helped me gain perspective), and compare your condition to others that are unfortunately worse off (no need to list ... there are many).

Best wishes to my bothers and sisters "in T": Trebor




















It's back to a 1 to 2 out of 10.

 

Thanks for sharing your story @Megatron - so good to read success stories from past members who then quietly drifted away from the site, happy and healed. God bless!

 

I love the "Head Up" saying. I'm going to start using that.

I'm going on 2 years and was doing pretty good until a week and a 1/2 ago when I went to a fest with a cover band. I didn't think it was that loud and didn't use my plug (right ear only for me).

Man, was I wrong major spike for me now. Instead of a dentist drill in the room next door, it is now in my head!

Thankfully, I can still sleep, work, etc but really hope to get back to baseline which was half this loud.

Your post gives me hope. Thanks for giving us all an update!

 

Alison try 600mg of pregabalin. You won't look back your be amazed.

 

Sorry I meant Megatron.

 

Great to hear Things will be better.

 

Is your tinnitus acoustic trauma related?