Been Having a Hard Time as of Late

Hello everyone,

I feel somewhat guilty posting this as I usually try to bring everyone's spirits up with my stupid memes and advice, but I am having a rather difficult time right now and I am looking for some opinions / advice / help.

Long story short, things have not been going too well for me. Outside of tinnitus I have been dealing with a lot of things that adds on top of my stress that tinnitus generously contributes to as well. This has lead my tinnitus to be more noticeable, always changing, forming new / different tones on a weekly basis. This is making it very hard for me to adjust and get used to it. It's like starting from square one again what seems like every week.

These things have been chiseling away at me over time and today I reached my breaking point. To keep it short and simple, I basically exposed myself to an environment today that was between 68-72 dB without ear plugs for 30 min. This is equivalent to me driving in my car without ear plugs which I do regularly with no issue, but maybe slightly louder. I am not going to go into detail about why I didn't have earplugs and whatnot, that was just the situation. This was very uncomfortable (emotionally stressful) to be in because I couldn't really leave, but I needed to be there for various reasons for work. I decided to take some propranolol which I take for my minor essential hand tremor, but it also has an effect to reduce your blood pressure and relax you slightly. After 30 min max I went to a different location that was more around 60 Db and wasn't an issue.

Fast-forward, my tinnitus now is a little bit louder now and has an even more high pitch ring that comes and goes without reason. I don't think this is due to being in the 68-72 dB environment because even with the revised 70 Db safe zone, I was only there for 30 min and not 8 hours which is the "limit". I think my current issue is from the propranolol that in the past has caused my tinnitus to act weird (spikes / strange moris code noises), but will subside after around a 3 days to a week. The increased stress I have been under also prob didn't help anything in this situation either, which I acknowledge as a real contributing factor.

Any thoughts on this? Do you disagree with my logic? Any advice?

Anyway, I just feel really worn down and exhausted (mentally and physically) as of late. I try to stay as positive as I can, but sometimes it just gets to be too much. Dealing with tinnitus is something a lot of people in my daily life don't understand so they can't really relate to how I am feeling. I try to not let it get me down and be positive, which people take as, "Oh his tinnitus / issues must not be so bad, because he seems fine." If only it were true.... I guess the "alone" feeling makes all this even worse.

I am hoping this spike will pass and I can bounce back somewhat soon.

I also hope everyone is well and doing better than me!

Jack

 

do not feel guilty man. this is not an easy thing. we all love and support you.

 

Hi @jack

I'm sorry to hear how difficult things are for you. Since you're asking for any thoughts/advice, I thought I'd share something that has helped me deal with my own tinnitus. -- Briefly, I've come to look at tinnitus as a spiritual crisis as much as a physical/emotional one. I use a number of spiritual techniques to help me out, especially using a "spiritual mantra" to help significantly "transmute" the sharp edges of tinnitus--and help me sleep. In case you're interested, here's a LINK I made to a post I made on how this simple technique helps me. -- Of course, if this is not your cup of tea, then feel totally free to disregard this idea altogether. But if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them as best I can.

Take Care!

 

Thank you for the advice. I will be looking into this!

 

I love you as well buddy!

 

Huh? Do most people here wear earplugs in 70db environments? I don't. That's about where our car is on an interstate and the frozen food section at the grocery store.

 

No they don't, I think it just seemed a lot louder to me than it really was.

 

I'm nine months into tinnitus, but I discovered early on that riding on the interstate for only a few miles always gave me a pretty significant spike. So I started wearing earplugs, and was able to reduce the severity of those spikes. I no longer get spikes at all with earplugs, but I haven't yet tested to see whether I would still get them w/o earplugs. Haven't quite worked up the courage yet to give that a try.

 

It most likely will. Take it easy and ride it out...

 

Hey buddy, i am very sorry you don't feel good atm. I am sure this will pass and you will feel better soon. I honestly don't believe the enviroment noise for such a short time will do anything. If you already had this experience with this medication maybe it's just that.

I second Gregs advice, maybe take a few days off work, or do something relaxing just for you that lets you cope better? Do you take any supplements, maybe some Magnesium or Melatonin at night?

 

You've always came to my rescue Jack.

I don't know your personal circumstances Jack and why noise at the decibel level you describe would damage your ears but my understanding is noise at that level is the same as conversation, so I don't know if it could damage anything (but again, I don't
know your personal circumstances).

Stress wise...I've taken to regular deep breathing wherever I am plus lots of chamomile tea. Whilst deep breathing I just talk myself down. Haven't meditated yet. Do you deep breath as a minimum Jack...at least to keep your physical stress level down.

 

Sorry to hear you're having a bad time with the evil Mr Tinnitus @Jack Straw.
Some time ago I spoke with someone who also used Propranolol as a relaxant and he too was having changeable tinnitus.
Turns out it constantly changes blood pressure and also blood sugar so you end up with pressure and sugar levels all over the place.
I think both these factors can affect tinnitus and so that may be why its changeable?
Just a thought...
Hope today is a better one for you tinnitus buddy

 

Try to keep in mind that in the worst case scenario, if your T doesn't fade enough for you to habituate, what you are hearing now will likely Not be what you will end up being stuck with. After a shock that causes a spike, it is natural to panic and think that the spike is there to stay. Most of those spikes go away, and your T ought to change for the better over time (if you can avoid the serious shocks)...

 

Hey @Jack Straw . Here's the way I'm calming myself when going through a spike.

Suppose there's a bucket of water.
If you kick it hard enough so that it gets misshapen/leaky, the water level in it will be different when it settles.
However if the kick wasn't very powerful and the bucket itself is undamaged, the water will slosh around for a while but then settle down to the same level it was previously.

This is how I see tinnitus. I've been reading a great deal of research articles and most of them say that tinnitus is caused by neurons trying, but failing to connect to hair cells. Thus, the state of your hair cells determines the equilibrium state your tinnitus - it is the "bucket". If something happens that excites your neurons but doesn't damage the hair cells, you can count on the system eventually settling back to the same equilibrium state. There's only cause for alarm if you can suspect that hair cells were actually harmed, which changes the equilibrium state.

Based on what you've written I don't think there is any fresh damage to your hair cells. So I think you can expect this spike to settle back to the baseline you're used to.

In the meantime you should try and chillax somehow. I've recently discovered L-Theanine (an amino acid isolated from green tea) which has anxiolytic properties WITHOUT causing sedation, or risk of dependence/tolerance. Also zero reports of worsening T. I'm actually on it right now and I'm feeling this warm fuzzy calm. Recommend you try it.

 

Hey my dude, I think you're gonna be fine. You had mentioned taking propranolol causes spikes for up to a week. So I think your logic is spot on and it should calm down in the next 3-7 days. Savvy?

I looked up propranolol, seems kinda intense. I'd try finding other options to relax with if possible and the spikes don't help either. For the hand tremors, I can understand. I know Anx is a biotch. But there are lots of options to reduce it. Have you tried all my suggestions and just none of them had any effect on you? I just triggered mine during a walk and barely made it home and took my holy trinity anxiety combo, pharmaGABA, Passion flower drops and Magnesium, and it knocked those palpitations out of the ball park in 15 minutes.

You play any other games besides WoW that I can join in with my 1337 hax0r skills?

 

I had been using L theanine with some success but forgot about it. I think I will try to use it more often.

What doses do you take for it? When is the best time to take it during the day?

 

I have been taking my regular stack with Theanine hopping in and out every once in a while. I think I might try to reintroduce theanine a little more often.

WoW is my one true love! Lol jk! I got a couple of games on steam and such. I’ll PM you later for your steam name!

 

I'm very new to L-Theanine, I've discovered it only a few days ago. I'm currently taking 3x200mg a day. Previously I've used Valerian which is also good but causes sedation and has some addiction liability. Before that I used Xanax which is very risky. I keep researching

 

Jack, don’t underestimate how much of an effect our emotional state can have on our tinnitus. There is a link between how stressed out we are and how our tinnitus behaves. For sound to be dangerous it has to be louder than what you were exposed to, so it’s most likely an emotional wobble. We all have them. There have been many points in my life where I’ve been on the verge of a complete breakdown, but I’ve always bounced back in the end. The secret (as easy as this sounds) is to not let everything get on top of you. Talk about your feelings with someone you are close to and unpack all of your mental baggage. When you nervous system settles, the tinnitus should settle with it.

If you can, book a small break for yourself and get away from life for a bit. Try not to think about anything, rather just do a bunch of stuff instead. Just let your tinnitus be, no matter what it’s doing. I think you’ll be fine buddy. We’ve all got your back here so don’t be afraid to say it how it is.

 

Yeah, I think I need a long holiday to just unwind properly.