Anybody Feel They Can’t Stop Looking for Their Tinnitus?

I feel like in certain situations I barely hear my tinnitus and could tune it out but I find myself searching for it constantly like a compulsion.

It’s like I’m looking for it so I find it even when it gets drowned by other sounds. I habituated to my previous 3/10 tinnitus to the point I didn’t hear it most of the time but since my spike started a week ago I feel so anxious about it being permanent that I only think about it and keep looking for it.

Any tips on stopping this bullshit compulsion? Sadly I’m a very anxious person so when something is wrong I tend to obsess and freak out.

 

My "treatment" for this was: sitting in a quiet room for a while and just listening to it.

Eventually I literally got bored with the listening and went on to do other things. Not to say I never search for it these days, but now they are just moments like:

"Hey, where did my tinnitus go?"
Then either:
"Ah, there it is."
Or:
"Can't find it right now, whatever."

And I'm off doing important stuff again.

Give it time, you will get to that point as well.

 

My tinnitus is pretty much gone but I'm still checking and looking for it lol.

Not as much as i used to though. Even when I had it if I could find something to keep me occupied or I was with friends my mind would be like "wow 3 hours have passed and you didn't check your tinnitus at all".

 

Your spike may subside. And of it doesn't, you will probably habituate to the new baseline like you habituated to your previous one

 

Yeah I guess but it’s pretty loud and giving me anxiety.