A Request for Techniques/Tools to Reduce Anxiety Reaction to Tinnitus

I am posting this because I have a very specific problem relating to my tinnitus, which I have been struggling with for almost 6 years now, and have still not managed to properly deal with it.

Description of the problem:

When I hear my tinnitus, which is sharp, high pitched, and erratic, I start to get anxiety. It’s that simple. I hear the tinnitus, anxiety builds up, my muscles start to tighten, particularly around my neck and jaw, as well as a sinking feeling in my gut, and other anxiety related symptoms and problems.

Techniques/tools I am doing that help (but do not remedy the problem):

Anti-anxiety medication
Masking with crickets
Distraction with activities
Belly breathing

Effects of the problem:

This seriously affects my quality of life. Every single day I struggle with trying to keep my anxiety levels down. Once anxiety starts to build, it basically lingers there for long periods and it is difficult to calm myself down.

My sleep is seriously impacted, I am currently unable to sleep without the help of anti-anxiety medication, sleep medication, and masking.

I am lucky that I have flexible work hours, otherwise I would not be able to hold down my job. If at any time I am required to take a job without flexible hours, or if I lose my access to prescription anti-anxiety medication, my sleeping problems alone would make practically any employment impossible.

My concentration is also impacted, and my tolerance for stressful situations in general has been greatly reduced.

All of my symptoms and problems associated with my anxiety reaction to my tinnitus are getting gradually worse with time, not better.

It makes it very difficult in a very competitive world where I am forced to compete with healthy people, and the same expectations that are placed on healthy people are placed on me.

I see the prospect of getting disability for this condition as being slim, since it is mostly “subjective” and therefore I may not be able to provide enough “medical evidence”.

What I am asking you:

Do you have any specific techniques or tools that can be used to reduce or remove my anxiety reaction to my tinnitus?

What I am NOT interested in:

I am not interested in what I will call “vague delegation”. Vague delegation involves not providing any practical solution that can be followed, but rather delegating the problem to someone else, or directing me to some other source, often a vague one which will require more additional research on my part, research that likely will not lead me to a solution anyway.

Examples of vague delegation include:

1] Go see a therapist

No therapist I have been to has been able to provide any techniques.

I have already been to psychiatrists and psychologists, they provide no meaningful help other than prescription medication.

I have already been to audiologists, they provide no meaningful help beyond providing masking devices (which has helped, but masking only goes so far, and I cannot have it on all the time).

If there is some other type of professional you insist I must see, please be specific, and it must be outside the realm of Freudian psychiatry.

2] Go read this book

If you insist that I read a book, provide at least one example of a technique outlined in the book AND a clear description that I allows me to try the technique first, without opening the book.

3] Go do CBT

I have done a lot of research on CBT, and my opinion is that once you break down the confusing descriptions of it, it boils down to forcing yourself to think positively, which has done nothing to fix my problem, and has often backfired and resulted only in frustration.

If you insist that I do CBT, you have to explain to me in very specific terms what I have to do, please do not tell me to go study some vague article about it.

4] Go do diet and exercise

Be specific about what type of diet I should be on, or what type of exercises I should be doing. I already do moderate exercise and have made adjustments to my diet.

Other things I am NOT interested in:

1] Platitudes

Phrases like “it will get better”, “be grateful”, “others have it worse”.

2] Empathy

Please don’t feel the need to feel sorry for me. It’s my problem I have to deal with it. I don’t want sympathy or empathy, I just want a real solution to my problem.

3] Victim blaming

This might take the form of “you need to change your attitude”, “you need to be more positive”, “you need to keep trying the things you’ve already tried and try harder this time”

4] Arguments regarding “vague delegation”

I am not interested in a philosophical discussion or debate on how my refusal to accept “vague delegation” as an appropriate solution to my problem is unfair or unreasonable. If you think I am being unreasonable, then please move on to another thread, thank you.

What I AM interested in:

1] A clear description of a technique or device that I can attempt within a reasonable time frame to reduce or remove my anxiety reaction to my tinnitus.

2] Having a technique that might not work.

It is perfectly fine if the technique doesn’t work. Actually, it can be extremely bizarre, as long the description is clear enough that I can follow it within a reasonable time frame. As long as it doesn’t fit the description of “vague delegation”, then I am interested in hearing it.

Summary:

My experiences in the past with both tinnitus forums and professionals require me to provide a lengthy description of the types of responses I don’t want to hear. I want to get better, I am want to get help, but it has to be something concrete that I can actually try, not something vague or philosophical. Thank you for understanding.

 

One very specific thing that has greatly improved my anxiety (general and tinnitus-related both) was going on Testosterone Replacement Therapy. Because of your username I guess you identify as a male, so it might be relevant for you as well. If not, apologies.

It only helps if your testosterone level is low, which can be determined via a blood test. (Mine was in the bottom 5% of the population, truly abysmal.)

It also comes with significant risks which must be carefully considered with your healthcare provider.

For me, however, the benefits greatly outweigh the risks, and the main benefit was the eradication of the depressive and anxious symptoms I've had all my life. They have been replaced with a general sense of wellbeing and confidence.

I still get flashes of anxiety (especially when my tinnitus is acting up), but it goes away a lot quicker and is no longer accompanied by serious suicidal ideation, so TRT might very well be lifesaving in my case.

Another very specific thing that has helped is Buddhist practice. I don't mean the feel-good "sit in silence for 10 minutes and smile", which is a misunderstanding and neutering of the original teachings and will likely achieve nothing. I mean hardcore study of the Buddhist path and a serious commitment to meditation as a tool to achieve radical transformation of mental processes. I'm just a humble beginner but based on the experiences I've already had I'm completely convinced this is the way out of this whole mass of suffering (tinnitus and otherwise).

Yes, this is heavy religious stuff, but it was you who asked for specific tips no matter how bizarre they might be.

 

As a so called veteran now I can tell you to try and listen to white noise around the same volume of your tinnitus...get used to hearing this watered down version of it... over time your reaction to it will get better especially once your tinnitus normalizes... in the beginning mine fluctuated a lot... it seemed once in silence the volume level would go from 3 to 10.... it eventually stops doing that but part of it is also coming to the realization this is how you hear now and that it cannot harm you.

 

Try CBD oil...make sure it is good quality.
Get Valerian complex by a company called "Medi Herb" (one of the best).
Both are good to calm anxiety naturally without the side effects of prescription meds.

For sleep:
Drink a glass of tart cherry juice (do not cheap out get the best one you can find)
Product by company named FLORA, I believe it is called "Deep sleep"
Good quality magnesium (that one is very important)
You can top it all off by over the counter sleep aid such as Zee-quil ,which is basicaly just antihistamine...pretty safe and non addictive, yet surprisingly effective even at half the dose.

The above combination should be able to calm you and restore sleep better than any antidepressants out there with the exceptions of Benzos, but that is one door you do not want to walk through, unless the alternative is certain death.

 

Why benzos are bad? Only because of addiction? I use benzos...

 

In your description of the problem you mentioned, “When I hear my tinnitus . . .”

Are there times when you do not hear it? It may be helpful to know if your tinnitus fluctuates or is not always audible in particular sound situations.

 

The problem with benzos is the fact that over time your body will adjust and you will require bigger dosage to achieve the same effect.

I would assume that at some point you will hit the upper safe limit and be no different off than if you didn't take them in the first place.

The way back is very difficult, because if you try to taper off Benzos, your Tinnitus will become louder....

If you are taking them to tame your Timnitus in the first place, then tapering off would put you in a very bad situation...

Most likely even worse than before you started taking them.

 

Thank you all for the responses, I appreciate that you took my lengthy requests into consideration. I am very happy that you all tried to just offer solutions, and not burden me with the things that tend to trigger me

I will look into some of the ideas you all have mentioned. I am hoping that by asking this every once in awhile there might be some new tricks / devices / tech that just might help me get to a point where I stop reacting with anxiety to my tinnitus, because unfortunately for me despite all my efforts, that just never happened.

I have been on a fairly low dose of xanax for about 5 years (0.75 mg in the evening for sleep). If I try to taper off it, do you think it will be a major problem? It's not guaranteed that my tinnitus will get severely worse right? It's only a possibility?

I am hopeful that I've kept the dose low enough that it shouldn't be all that bad tapering off of it.

It was either that or stay awake all night with anxiety, and get maybe a few hours of sleep if I was lucky. I would not be able to function at my job under those conditions.

Other life problems and stressors have became worse, so I am considering stopping work for awhile and trying to taper off the benzos. If I'm not working there isn't as much pressure to sleep at night so if all I get is an hour or two plus some naps for awhile I should be able to get through that. Noway I could do a job like that, but if unemployed I am hoping it shouldn't be a problem and maybe without the work stress I will eventually be able to sleep without benzos. Will eventually run out of money though and disability prospects seem slim (unless someone has another opinion on that?), so I've kinda been stuck.

 

Maybe you will get lucky, but from what I was able to gather on these boards, increase in Tinnitus is almost always present when tapering.

 

Does it increase permanently?

 

From what I'm able to gather there are some permanent Tinnitus cases, that were actually caused by Benzo withdrawal when no Tinnitus was present before, but I'm not aware of any permanent increases....
That alone does not mean it can't happen, so whatever you do, proceed with caution.