Can Anxiety on Its Own Cause Tinnitus or Hearing Loss?

She contacted me twice but there was no improvement, and then I stopped hearing from her. This happened two years ago. It is a familiar story I am told by people that contact me and have read in this forum. This is the reason I write about the risks a person with noise induced tinnitus is taking when using headphones. These are my opinions based on personal experience and corresponding with people that have returned to using headphones and regretted it.

 

Based on your experience and being here much longer than I am, do you believe exposure to 70 dB for 2-3 minutes can cause harm twice per week?

 

As I have said, I am not one for measuring sound levels because I don't regard them as important. People that do this can quickly become obsessed and I don't think it's healthy. More about this is explained in Hyperacusis, As I see it. In that post I mention going to a venue, where sound levels were 100 decibels and suffered no adverse effects.

Sound levels lower than 70 dB can potentially be harmful to someone with noise trauma. When I first got tinnitus in 1996, I also had severe hyperacusis. My ears were so oversensitive, when in conversation with someone I had to ask them to please lower their voice as my ears hurt so much. My advice is trust your ears and go with how you feel. Monitoring sound levels often causes harm by instilling fear.

 

Did she have hyperacusis? I think it's far fetched for my tinnitus to have permanently gotten worse just by using headphones 4 times. I hope it's temporary.

 

I don't know if she had hyperacusis. The auditory system can become very fickle after a noise trauma and will often remain this way long after habituation has been reached. Take one day at a time and try not to worry...

 

So, i cleared some wax two days ago using q-tips very carefully and Otosan's ear spray and i noticed immediately that the tinnitus level went down a bit.

I was ecstatic but alas, it wasnt meant to last. It went back to the slightly more piercing levels ithat it has been for the past two months when i went to sleep. Any ideas if earwax can worsen already existing tinnitus. I think Michael said it can.

 

Yes, a build-up of earwax can worsen tinnitus other problems can occur if it's not removed and mentioned in Tinnitus, A Personal View. I advise that you don't put q-tips in your ears as you risk pushing the wax further against the eardrum. The old adage: never place anything smaller than your elbow into the ear is said for a good reason!

Earwax should be removed by ear irrigation, microsuction or manually using a curette. Whichever method is used, apply eardrops/olive oil 3x a day to each ear for 7 to 10 days before having the wax removed. This will thoroughly loosen the wax allowing easy removal. Failure to apply olive oil in the manner described before having the wax removed, risks making the tinnitus worse.

Michael

 

I apply Otosan ear spray every day. Does that qualify?

 

I have never used Otosan so cannot advise.

 

OK thanks. I have had manual scrapping before since I got tinnitus and it didn't make it any worse. I thought it was generally considered the safest method.

 

Many people think manual removal of earwax is the safest but it's not the best, especially if the wax is hard and impacted. I asked my Audiovestibular consultant which is best method of earwax removal. She was adamant that micrsocuction is the best. She has removed wax from my ears on three occasions using microsuction and I had no problems. I followed her instructions which I have mentioned above. I have also had ear irrigation three times and had no problems.

Michael

 

Good to know. I don't think anxiety is the reason my tinnitus changed. I'm between two options, either it's wax because of the incident 4 days ago or maybe it's the neuromodulation videos I have been listening to in the past few months.

This is the track:

4 Hours of High Pitched Tinnitus...

I have been listening to it at very low volume almost every day for the past 6 months with the phone next to me. What do you guys think. Could it be the culprit?

 

I understand how you feel because my tinnitus changed in 2008, please read my post: My experience with tinnitus, in the link below. Tinnitus is an integral part of our mental and emotional wellbeing and therefore, stress and worry will tend to make it more intrusive. Try not to find the reasons for the recent change in the tinnitus. Accept it and direct your thoughts to more positive things, as this will make you feel better and I'm confident the tinnitus will improve with time. If possible see an Audiologist that specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis management and treatment.

My Experience with Tinnitus | Tinnitus Talk Support Forum

 

The reason I'm asking Michael is practical. If something I did changed my tinnitus I want to find what it was so I can stop doing it.

If it's anxiety, I will deal with anxiety. If it's the neuromodulation video, I will stop listening to it.

 

I believe the increase in tinnitus is related to sound. Either headphone use or the neuromodulation you've mentioned which I wasn't aware you were listening to before. Anxiety can cause it too as mentioned in my previous posts. My conclusions are based on corresponding with many people with noise induced tinnitus. I may not be right so it's good to be asking the opinion of others.

 

Hi everyone. A little background for me. I have had tinnitus for over a year and in last January it changed. That caused me immense anxiety and i developed generalized anxiety disorder with dizziness and some breathing problems. With sound therapy I managed to soften the sound until last week. My breathing issues also stopped but I still have light dizziness.

Last week I noticed a new tone had appeared that resembled a soft generator hUm and it's unlike my usual sound which is low but sharp. I took an audiogram yesterday and I didn't show any further damage, in fact it was better than the last one before the tone appeared. I also don't have high frequency damage since my audiogram shows an upward trajectory.

My ENT believes that my body is in constant alert mode and that can cause the new tone to appear. Is that possible? Will it go away?

 

The mind body connection is very strong and so our emotions affect our physical health by actually changing chemistry, tension, blood supply, oxygen levels, etc. I have had many personal experiences with this mechanism. There are practitioners who have significantly helped tinnitus and hyperacusis sufferers by addressing this area.

A panic attack is a classic example of entering into a destructive feedback loop causing real physical suffering. Once you understand that this process will not hurt you they get better or go away. I believe that a similar hypervigilant focus on our tinnitus and fear of how bad it will get or how long it will last and so forth can at least delay healing or inhibit whatever healing is possible. When mine first showed up it’s shocking and hyper focus and worry is a natural reaction as it was for me but I think it can only help us to break that cycle.

I believe that there also many other things that can help some people that are discussed throughout this forum like correcting deficiencies, masking, etc. It’s not a one size fits all problem.

I make comments about this and reference some help in my story.

All the best,
George

 

The thing is that a low hum can't be masked as easily as my other sound, that's why it scares me. I don't know what to do.

 

I feel your pain brother. I’m working through a spike from the COVID-19 vaccine. I know how much of a challenge this is. Advice I gave in another thread, maybe something in here can help you:

Try a high quality Magnesium in the Citrate or Glycinate form.

Eliminate salt, caffeine and sugar.

If you have a B12 deficiency, correct it.

Try NAC and if that doesn’t work, then B2, Alpha-Lipoic Acid slowly over time.

Try Melatonin.

Some report relief with Ginkgo Biloba.

Try a relaxation technique like yoga, tai chi, meditation, etc.

Get as many breaks during the day as possible doing activities with just the right amount of background noise to forget about it for a while each day. When it’s back, then “oh there you are, whatever”.

As hard as it is to do, start looking at your tinnitus not as an enemy or to be feared but as a simple affliction that you will deal with like a pulled muscle. Assume that it will get better or go away. My brother was successful and calls it his old friend. Do not focus on why or changes and spikes or be angry or fearful about it.

Consider the possibility the the mind body connection may be limiting improvement. There are some video and book resources if your interested.

On all of the above listen to your body and let it guide you.

All the best,
George

 

Vaccine-induced worsening may not be a temporary spike unfortunately. It may have done some damage permanently. I’m at 2+ months (getting slowly worse?) and others I know are 4-6 months into this with no relief.

 

I was trying to relate to the OP, showing that we are facing these challenges together.

Risks of bad outcomes exist everywhere in life. Do we sell our cars because 40,000 people a year die of vehicle crashes in the US? Is a fear of flying rational when only a few planes ever fall out of the sky in a year making it the safest mode of travel on a passenger mile basis?

We all had to make our decisions about the vaccine. I held off while I did research and talked with my cancer doctors and other cancer survivors. The reported cases of tinnitus in the US side effect data base are 0.03%. Assuming a 10x underreporting rate that's still less than 1%. I read about it here where some of the worst cases reside and saw a mixed report so I decided to get the vaccine.

The chances of tinnitus from getting COVID-19 is also reported in catastrophic terms, I will refrain from those stories. All three possibilities are on the table: no effect, permanent increase, and temporary increase. Many here speak in terms of years for recovery so someone a few months in with a spike may not know the outcome yet. Once we make informed decisions it does us no good to focus on the slice that turns out bad or is bad so far, it just stands to makes us sicker to decide that the worst of the what ifs will be us.

Some paraphrased quotes from a survey thread on this forum on this subject:

Injection at 2 PM, spike by 5 PM, back to baseline by 8 PM.

Didn't notice any difference.

I did not notice any change.

He woke up free from tinnitus after the vaccine.
[...]

That's just partially down the first page.

This is a serious and debilitating condition which like most pain conditions is impacted by our emotions and attitudes about it. We are better served by doing our research, being content with our informed decisions and improving our outlook on our future.

I am happy about being vaccinated and now look forward to ending my year of isolation able to see my grandkids again after getting cancer and losing my wife to the same horrible disease. As far as my tinnitus is concerned, that's going to get better because there is no reason why I can't be in the group that either manages it successfully or has it disappear completely. I have decided that I have no better approach than to believe that, believe that I deserve that outcome as much as the next guy and learn how to attain that outcome.

One can focus on many catastrophic outcomes but to what end? Hell, in the US , 150,000 deaths a year are the result of medical error or drug reactions but I see people here taking all kinds of powerful medicines which is good if that's what is right for them and I support their decision but there are risks everywhere. All we can do is get informed, decide what trade-offs are best for us and then be satisfied with our decisions visualizing the best outcome possible. I have read 100s of stories of people coming back from the impossible while having an unwavering positive attitude. I just read a story about Stevie Wonder who went blind after a premature birth and too much oxygen in the incubator. He told his mother as a young boy not to cry because being blind did not make him sad and was not a problem. He went on to write some of the best songs in pop music history. Some might see his story as having gotten royally _____ed but he chose not to see it that way.

I once talked to a heart surgeon that told me that doctors hold great power and the wrong words can actually kill someone once that fear is implanted in them. Powerful words. He also told me that the opposite is true.

All the best to you brother, I hope you get better. I hope we get better together. We have to work together to get our heads right, so to speak. The brain is after all, connected to the ears. Or is it the hip bone ...? LOL.

George