A Good Night's Sleep Causes My Tinnitus to Rage

You would think that a really good night's sleep would lessen my tinnitus. It's just the opposite and I'm not sure why.

After a period of time (sometimes days) my tinnitus very gradually decreases but with almost 100% certainty, after getting a good nap or a good nights sleep I wake up with raging tinnitus. I believe that my tinnitus is not audiological but somehow neurological as evidenced by the fact that a really good night's sleep causes my tinnitus to DRAMATICALLY increase after waking up.

Any reccommendations as far as eliminating this dreadful ailment? Shouold I be taking any supplements or vitamins. What about the stuff I hear on repairing the Mylin? Is that just nonsence?

I am male, 57 years old and not really sure what started this.

 

What you are experiencing is very common. I have the same issue. Hearing is the first sense to start working when one awakes. The brain immediately focuses on the tinnitus sound and cranks up the gain to make it appear loud, even though the loudness is most probably the same at other times of the day, the perception of tinnitus level is greater when first waking.

Maybe try waking to a clock radio and concentrate on the radio rather than the tinnitus.

I am afraid there is very little evidence to suggest vitamins, minerals and herbs will be of benefit, but you could try zinc and magnesium.

Reducing the negative response to tinnitus and associated anxiety is the key to reducing tinnitus annoyance. Easier said than done. Good luck.

 

Usually a good deep sleep should help tinnitus. A short afternoon nap can be the opposite. If you have good sleep and yet your T screams every time, you may want to make sure you don't have sleep apnea. It can cause oxygen deprivation on the brain and the body and T can appear louder. I have sleep apnea issue. If I don't use the CPAP machine to help breathing and sleeping well, I can wake up with extra loud T, a result of oxygen deprivation. If you don't have sleep apnea, and you often wake up with louder T than the day, yieup, it may be the awakening response of the brain as the above poster mentions. But this is not always the case among T sufferers. Some members claim they usually wake up with quiet T, and then it picks up during the day. T is quite unpredictable indeed.

 

A short nap worsen my T, so weird.

 

Do you grind your teeth when you sleep? If you do, that may cause T to flare up. Too much sleep (10+ hours for many) is also not very good for the brain and can make you feel tired the next day -> T flares up in a similar way if you were tired.

 

The same to me. A short nap makes my T raise a lot. I try to avoid as much as I can.

 

I think I figured it out. My tinnitus is due to whiplash. It is called somatic tinnitus, and some people get it from the way they sleep. Do you have a desk job? Do you sleep on your stomach? Are you doing things that cause tension to your neck?

If your neck experiences muscle tension during the night, then it can cause muscle spasms in your neck that interfere with your auditory system. You do not have to experience neck pain for this to happen. Just tension in your neck is enough.

These are indicators of somatic tinnitus:
Does your tinnitus speed up or change pitch when you turn your neck?
Does the loudness fluctuate?
Does your perception of it change? Like brain to left ear? Does it favor one ear?
Is it white static noise?
Do hot showers relieve the symptoms? Or anything that relaxes your neck muscles?

If so, then you should look into:
Sleeping on your back instead of stomach. If you can not sleep on back, then sleep on side, because that is better than stomach.
Using less pillows.
Doing neck stretches and neck strengthening exercises.

If taking care of your neck improves your symptoms, then that may be your issue. If so, you may also pursue:
Physical Therapy

Anyone, this is what I am going through right now due to whiplash. It is looking promising to me. I'm having a fairly quiet day today.

 

very interesting.

When i turn my neck it gets ouder. When i take a hot long shower the sound goes way down. The sound i hear is like a high white noise. Turning on the tap it wil be masked. My sound also fluctuate. One minute its low and the next minute it can be high.

 

Yeah, mine is similar.

I had whiplash, so I feel like it's related to muscles in my neck. I am trying to stretch and strengten my neck to see if that helps.

Last night, I put ice on my the back of my neck, and my tinnitus went away (quiet) while ice was applied. I tried to sleep on my back, but found myself on my stomach during the middle of the night, and my tinnitus picked up again. This time it's in my brain/head instead of my ear. I'm just going to keep up my regimen, because stretching and strengtening is good for me, regardless if it cures me.

 

It could be your adrenal gland kicking in .I have been taking a adrenal support supplement .I think this along with melatonin and a herb called Holly Basil along w Vit B ,zinc,magnesiumand vit C and D3 has helped.

 

I'm the opposite. My T is lower during sleep. Whenever I get up at night and go to the john, it's super quiet. when I awake, it's usually low. The only time it rages, is when I awake from a vivid dream. Probably the unconscious mind stressing out. that's where this little monster resides, in the unconscious mind. I also sleep on my right side, which blocks my T ear. Could have an effect, because that ear is sort of, off duty?

I also sleep with a sound machine and take, 3mg of Melatonin, 100mg of 5-HTP, 200mg of L-Theanine and 600 mg of NAC. I sleep soundly as a result. It's my proven sleep and noise reducing formula.

 

I myself have had neck issues it has been stiff pain cracks ect .I have noticed alot of people with T have neck and Jaw issues but could this just be stress related.If the adrenal glands are stressed then they can play havoc on your body and especially our sress level.

 

sailboardman see yours is like mine .Low at sleep and after sleep.T seems to have its own way with each person.You just have to go by trial and error.What works for one might not work for someone else.Melatonin does work for me I am thinking about trying 5-HTP and L- Theanine.Mabe tryptophan.

 

@Greg Castiglione -- My tinnitus is louder upon awakening every morning. I just proceed with the day--make coffee (decaf), take a shower, get ready for work, etc. It usually lowers to baseline by the time I leave the house. This is very common and doesn't bother me too much anymore. Some days it will stay low and others it will ramp up during the day. I used to get frustrated but not so much anymore. I do as @I who love music suggests and only measure my reaction--not my tinnitus. You might want to look up his posts. Naps are difficult--even on low T days I will wake up with louder T from a nap.

I've had a setback recently but I think I am once again on the path to habituation.

Good luck and we are here for you.

 

All this sounds so familiar, naps makes the T worse. Any rubbing of the back of the head, it skyrockets. Some am's are better than others. Today is a bad day. My neck feels all tingly, can't wait until I get into therapy. I have ambien to sleep and works like a charm. Do you think the extra vitamins help your T or just makes you sleep?

 

What setbacks are you referring?

 

With habituation to tinnitus there can be setbacks if one hits a patch of stress/anxiety or illness...or many other factors--like not getting good sleep. It seems sometimes that for every two steps forward there will be a step backward but it's worth it because one is still ahead if one can habituate--and nearly all of us will habituate our reaction. Whether or not we still hear tinnitus (but don't care) depends upon how much we habituate the perception of tinnitus. My emotional reaction is no where near what it was --I couldn't bear to hear my tinnitus even over my ear buds--it would send me into a panic at onset. I fried my laptop by playing white noise on a pillow over my head in the first month! These days I don't react. I still mask sometimes because I work in a quiet office--but it's no longer out of desperation--it's just a bit of relief at the end of a long day. I expect that this too, will get better with time. If it doesn't, well, I'm fine now--I can live with my tinnitus, whereas before I didn't think I could. I also have times when in conversation or engrossed in an activity that I don't notice my tinnitus. All of a sudden I'll hear it and realize that I haven't heard it for a period of time.

 

Hi Mike,

Any updates on your condition?

 

Well, it's still a tough nut to crack.

I rode my bike to gym last Friday, and did some light weight training. This seems to be helping me, and the headaches seem to have disappeared.

I then went to my first PT appointment.

Then on Saturday and Sunday, my tinnitus was practically non-existent during the day. I almost felt cured, and called up my family members with the happy news. I was ready to give my PT a hug and celebrate after just one visit.

However, there's a catch. For some strange reason, my T would pick up in the middle of the night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. However, it disappeared by Saturday and Sunday morning, and was just a mild hum in my left ear on Monday morning. I used to sleep on my stomach, which is not good for the neck, so I've been trying to learn how to sleep on my side or back. During my sleep state, I caught myself sleeping on my stomach when the T picked up.

On Monday morning, I woke up with mild tinnitus in my left ear. I went to my PT, and felt a bit better afterwards. Then I went home and took a nap. I went to sleep on my side, and I seemed to stick to the proper position. But for some reason, I woke up from my nap with my T spiking again. Frustrating!

The PT recommended that I use an upright position when riding my bike, and not to do any upper body weight-lifting right now. However, I truly felt the bicycle riding and light weight-lifting were making things better. I wonder if my relapse on Monday is due to the lack of bicycle riding and weights over the weekend. I was kind of a couch potato on Monday, because I was frustrated over the return of my T.

Anyway, experiencing T today. The doctor appointments have interrupted my rode biking schedule, so I plan on using the exercise bike at the gym tonight. I'll avoid the weights for now, but I plan on talking to my PT about it again if things don't get better this week with therapy. In the meantime, I'm going to stick with neck stretching and strengthening. My next PT appointment is tomorrow.

The fact that my tinnitus was silent over the weekend (minus the middle of night experiences) is a sign of hope, and the most improvement that I have seen in this 3 month ordeal, even if today feels like a set-back.

 

Has anyone tried a sound pillow at night? I have never tried one. What I use is an MP3 player with a soothing masking track. Volume is low and it helps with your sleep. I use the ear bud type headphones that tuck inside my ears and you don't even realize you are wearing them. Works pretty good.

This is what I use. Very good sound if you listen to your MP3 player.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EZUQ5E/ref=psdc_172541_t3_B001EZYMF4

 

Can you tell me what stretches you use?

 

If i sleep for several hours and wake up my tinnitus is almost zero.If i try to nap it comes back louder.So now as soon as i wake up I get up and have a good day. I just hope i do not wake up 3 o clock in the morning.

 

This is very interesting. I had it since onset, that my T has any kind of characteristics and loudness no matter how long I sleep. Sometimes I can go to sleep with raging T and wake up with lower T, and the opposite too. A good long sleep can result in absolutely crazy T.

 

If I have a good sleep, then when I wake, up at any time 3.30, 6.00. or any other time , often my T is low almost noticeable If I get up then it stays quiet all day long. If I try to get even an extra 5 minutes of sleep instead, it starts ringing again.The same happens when I take a five minute nap in the afternoon.Very peculiar situation.I wish I knew the answer.I manage for 3 days running to get up as soon as I woke up and I had a good day.On the fourth day I woke up at 2 am and could not possibly get up so early. So the answer is to find a way to sleep for 6 hours or longer continually.