Advice Please from Those Who Recovered from Tinnitus Spikes?

Ok, my tinnitus started really low in 2011. I got over it quite quickly as soon as I learnt about habituation and just becoming friends with it. But it wasn't at all bad. 12 months later it spiked and I really had to get to grips with it. It went up to moderate and at first I could hear it over the TV. Again, I struggled with sleep but got my head around it and just grew not to care which turned into habituation and eventually the perceived level dropped. I thought I'd nailed it. Any changes or colds or anything like that were swiftly dealt with by an attitude of letting it do what it wants.

Fast forward to 2017
I've actually just got through the most intense nervous breakdown. 6 months of insomnia and depression and anxiety. But my attitude about T stayed solid. My medication was upped to 40mg paroxetine and eventually I pulled myself through it. I've had a really good month living life again - till last week!

My bloody T spiked possibly because of hayfever blocking my inner ear. I shrugged it off as normal but it kept coming and going. Really loud above the TV. Now it's stuck because my brain has latched onto it. I can concentrate on the TV and it will settle, but then it goes angry again. Last night it entered into my sleep conscious and I had my first bad night since I kicked insomnia 2 months ago. Shit!

I've fought this thing before but I'm really weak on fight at the moment after only recently getting over such a big struggle.

Please can I have some positives from people whose T has got louder than the TV with a spike and have habituated again?! How long before you started to sleep again, till you hit that turn of listening to it and deciding not to care. Till you started getting on with life again.

 

Are you saying your t is actually louder than the tv or you just hear it along side? Mine is the latter and i sleep okay once i got my anxiety under control. Its hard at fast but over time the dreaded learn to live with it becomes reality. I still think my t is the upper end of mild though.

 

Tinnitus spikes for a number of reasons the most common one is exposure to loud sound. Do you listen to music through headphones, or attend venues where loud music is played? Or work in a noisy environments or use noisy power tools? Any of these can cause tinnitus to spike and become louder if they are repeatedly done. It is possible to recover and habituate to tinnitus that's increased. However, if it is headphone use or exposure to loud sounds that's causing the tinnitus to spike a person has to change their ways. I see that you are a DJ and this is the likely cause for your tinnitus to be spiking and getting worse.

Michael

 

My tinnitus is louder than a tv and i have no spikes... I'll say this much if what you are experiencing is a spike, then it can settle down on its own. It may take a bit of time, but it can settle down. The things that trigger it more are stress and anger and just raw emotions.

we need to try to remain calm and positive most of the time. Life is life and shit does happen, but we can control it, if we just remain calm and not get super pissed off. I'll share a story with you in regards to this.

My family member has had their stuff in my basement for over 5 months, I have asked for them to take their junk away. No care, no respect, nothing...The crap has been in my house for over 5 months, then all of a sudden they demand that I give their stuff to them.

No schedule coordination, nothing. So I had 2 choices, 1 was to anger myself and annoy myself and raise my tinnitus level by being pissed. 2. I gave them a spare key to enter, the area and get their shit out and not even waste a moment of thought on these people.

That's what I did, i chose to not waste my time and energy on the matter.

Spikes are not fun and all of us on this board, get them and have had them. Just protect your ears and try to not stress yourself out.

Be well.....

 

@Sam Bridge yeh I hear it alongside the tv. Only over the past week though. It was down to pretty much unnoticeable a few weeks ago.

@Michael Leigh it can flare up if I'm accidentally somewhere loud without my earplugs but I'm generally careful and any light spikes go down after a day or two. This was from waking up with a definite pressured inner ear for some reason. Possible hay fever as an antihistamine calmed it down. It's also been really hot here with high air pressure which affected it before a little. It just kept going up and down though then stuck on loud when my brain locked onto it. This week has been rough and I think I'm going to have to habituate again. Hence the questions. Oh, don't dj anymore so it's not that.

@fishbone so you've habituated to T that's louder than the TV? I can actually imagine it being possible but it taking a bit longer than I have before. How did your journey go?

 

@Fred-Bear
Please click on my "started theads" and read my articles: Tinnitus, A Personal View and Hyperacusis, As I see it. These articles will give you advice on the causes of "spikes" and treatments for self-help on how to habituaate. If you use headphones I advise you to stop listening even at low volume.

Michael

 

If you have t louder than the sound a tv makes on normal volume then that is very very loud, if you hear it along side the tv like i do its different. No way is my t louder its just a different frequency. I felt like writing this because i am never quite sure which one of the above people mean when they write that t is louder than a tv.

 

@Sam Bridge I think when people say louder than the tv they mean the tv doesn't completely mask it. But it's strange as you can watch tv and your brain can sometimes switch attention and turn off the T even when it's not masked by the TV. The brain is a funny but powerful thing.

 

Yeah sometimes i lose track of the t if I'm watching something interesting but it's definitrly there unless its a loud action scene or if theres like a river/ waterfall showing, or crickets.

 

I'll put it his way, My life has been hardship from day 1. It's been difficult ever since I entered this world. I am very lucky to post on this forum right now. I drowned in a pool as a 3 year old and my father saved me at the last minute. I have had a rough life and been in the thick of it from the very beginning. Tinnitus came about when i was young and it has been hell and nasty, but i seen much BIGGER demons in my life than tinnitus.

I was born a soft spoken person, but life has thicken my skin and made me not shakeable. I am still that kind soul that wants to help anyone i can. I have always told people that I am just an angel that god sent here on earth to comfort and help people and when my time comes, i'll be with god in his mansion of love and family (I am not turning this into a religious thread )

I go for a walk every morning around 7 am. I listen to my bruce lee stuff, because he motivates me to be a better human and martial artist. As I walk, there is a huge man made lake and it has 3 huge waterfalls. I look at the waterfalls and I look at the sky and i thank god that I am alive today and still can enjoy such beauty that exists before my eyes.

I had a very hard time sleeping last night and was up for probably 17 hours. It was a struggle and i even had a very rare panic attack. It was a nasty one too, I take things as they come, I don't sugar coat anything.

My point is that , tinnitus is beyond horrible and i am sorry that anyone has to deal with such a pain, but life is still worth it and worth smiling as well. I smile when I walk. I smile when i see ducks swimming. I smile that god gave me another day to live. I thank and i am grateful every morning for my walks and to still be here on this earth.

Your mentality makes such a difference in life...It really does

God bless all

 

@Sam Bridge have you habituated to that level then? You ok with it or getting there? Or is it a new spike?

 

@fishbone sorry to hear you've had a tough time. I've had years of anxiety as well. The funny thing is I've just recovered from 6 months of anxiety and depression which caused insomnia. I've had 6 great weeks living my life well again and then BOOM! T rears its ugly head to take it all away. How I survived those 6 months without my T getting crazy I don't know, I thought if I could go through that without my T being involved then I'm fully habituated, I was. But then one little blockage and that's it, it shoots up in volume and my brain latches onto it.
How long does/did it take you to get over a spike?

 

Its been like this for about 18 months. Yeah im doing fine with it these days. I had t before that was so mild you could only hear in absolute silence since about 2012.

 

@Sam Bridge got mine in 2011 where it was like that. Had to stick my fingers in my ears to hear it. Then 12 months later I had a spike which really knocked me out but that settled to a lower lever and then barely noticed it after a while. I remeber that being over the tv as well for a while.
This one is Really high pitched and I'm perceiving it loud. I'm pretty sure I'll get to learn to accept it but I'm so impatient. Once I accept the noise I recover quickly and just let it do its thing. Trying hard to accept this one. Mind you it's only been 5 days. How long was it before you started to accept your current T?

 

About 3 months, mines not high pitched though, its quite a soft sounding hum. I even posted on reddit once saying " does anyone else find their t tone soothing". That was obviously after i bad gotten used to a constant noise being in my ear. When i first got it i was like woah what is with this never ending noise

 

@Sam Bridge Haha you lucky git. Actually I don't think it matters what pitch the T is. It's your brain accepting it that matters. I've known people to habituate to the sound of a football being kicked against a garage door. This is currently quite piercing and angry, I'm sure it'll calm a little though. Did yours calm down any after it initially set in?

 

@Fred-Bear yea i guess so, its a shame we can't plug into each others ears snd compare sounds. I am sure its always been like this, I don't remember it being much louder/differe Pitch apart fromm when i get fleeting t. Also, if i am tired i think it can seem a bit louder/ more intense.

 

@Sam Bridge yeh that would be a fun exercise, not haha. I think you get used to your individual sound. There's people out there who are happy everyday with all kinds of weird shit going on.
Tired and anxious is what I am right now. But I've been way more tired and way more anxious without my t being affected. I think that was from developing a very strong 'do what the f you want' attitude to my T.

 

@Fred-Bear mine reached its current level due to many concerts with no protection. I haven't been to concert for over a year now and i beleive its stayed the same, certainly hasn't got worse. The last few i went to i did wear plugs though and i was fine, its just that i came here and read the horror stories and it put me off going to more.

 

@Sam Bridge how old are you?
I wouldn't let it bully you like that. You can protect yourself for years and it'll spike one day anyway. Look at me, I continued to dj for years, I used earplugs but occasionally let my ears hear the music. I've been absolutely fine letting my T do its thing. I gave up last year, then last week it goes crazy possibly because of bloody hayfever. So you may as well go out and enjoy yourself. Although it could possibly be cumulative with me and eventually a few more hairs died their last death last week.

 

Yea true, I think I will go to one concert next year sitting away from the speakers. I am 28 and you?