Scary Spikes in the Middle of the Night — Can You Dream Your Tinnitus Is Worse?

So I had the strangest thing happen last night.

I woke up in the middle night and my tinnitus was really loud. I could hear it over my fan and my noise machines, which I really don’t usually do. I remember I got up and went to the bathroom and I could hear it really loudly. I came back to bed and I was unusually calm. And I am not calm! Not at all. Normally hearing it that loudly would send me reaching for my anti anxiety meds.

I have had this for 2 weeks. Minor shift in hearing in left ear - pure tone ring is the worst noise for me.

I’m a side sleeper, and I’ve been avoiding sleeping on the side of my bad ear for obvious reasons. But I rolled over on that side and just listened to the noise. And I remember I kept telling myself this is your new life. You’re going to have to listen to this noise all the time and you are going to have to learn to live with it. But I also remember thinking that I was really perplexed that it was so loud because although I can hear it very loudly in quiet places, it’s generally fairly well masked with lots of ambient noise. So I thought it was worsening. And I kept telling myself well you’re calm listening to this right now and it’s not bothering you that much but you are really going to be upset tomorrow morning when you’re fully awake and you realize that this is so loud. And then I thought, if I can’t mask it how will I work tomorrow?

I woke up and my tinnitus is at the same level as when I went to bed. I cannot detect it over all the sound in my room.

Has anyone ever had that happen? Could it be that I was having a spike in the middle of the night and it woke me up? Could it be that I dreamt the whole thing?

I felt so real.

Thanks in advance.

 

Yes, and I also experienced the calmness and overall dontgiveafuckery while awake. It does not happen very often though. "Fun" fact is, it happened to me to wake up with NO tinnitus, too; dead silence. I even wore earmuffs to doublecheck but I heard absolutely nothing. In both cases it goes back to baseline after sleeping through the rest of the night.

 

I am ten months into a new presentation of unilateral tinnitus with very mild SNHL and 2 weeks into a tinnitus increase following another very mild shift in my hearing. My tinnitus went from an echo /seashell sound, with a faint ring which had not changed in 10 months, to a pure tone louder ring. I think the ring is a little bit harder now to mask generally because of the actual frequency of it, tone and volume.

Although, I first got bilateral tinnitus in 2015 following a live rock concert, it went away after two years. It never changed in the years that I had it.

Anyway, within the last two weeks I’ve had two instances where I have woken up in the middle the night with my tinnitus screaming. I could hear it over all of the masking noises I went to sleep with. The first time it happened, I think I never really woke up. I was half awake but I remember just laying there listening to it. Telling myself this is my new life. Telling myself I’m going to be really upset in the morning if it is still this loud. I actually thought I was in a sort of a semi dream state. Half asleep half awake. When I woke up it was back to baseline. Baseline being how it had been for the first week. I actually posted on the forum a thread about whether or not people dreamed that the tinnitus was louder, but it happened again last night. I was much more awake. I ended up having to take 1.5 mg of Klonopin to calm myself down. I never take that much. Well except for before a hearing exam. Lol. I try to use it sparingly and at low doses otherwise.

Anyway, this morning it was back to normal. I’m sure that’s likely the anti anxiety kicking in. Although when this occurred last week I didn’t take any medication and It had gone back to baseline on its own.

I’m just wondering if any of you out there have nighttime spikes that resolved by morning. I don’t usually get any spikes during the day. Of course, it’s only been two weeks so who knows what’s going to happen. Terrified.

Thank you.

 

@buttercake, it happened again last night. This time I was fully awake. Scared the heck out me. Needed my anti anxiety meds to calm down. It was at baseline by am but may be related to the meds.

Are you still having these experiences? Thanks in advance.

 

Every now and then, yes. Usually if I wake up in the middle of the night the volume of my tinnitus (or its perception) is close to my usual baseline; seldom is a bit louder, rarely is silent. It might depend on which sleep stage you interrupt when you wake up. I also recall that a few times I experienced a short burst of extremely loud tinnitus when transitioning from sleep to awakening - probably an hypnopompic hallucination (this happened even before my onset, for a couple of seconds all the sounds surrounding me were amplified of a factor 100x).

 

@buttercake, thanks for your response. I looked at my original post and I realized that that the first time only happened Tuesday night. So it’s been twice in less than 4 nights. For some reason I thought it was longer. God I hope it’s not a sign that things are worsening. It definitely lasted longer than a few minutes last night.

 

You have no reason to believe that things are worsening. This monster seems to behave unpredictably, but not all the "new" patterns/phenomena imply worsening. Keep us posted, and try to stay calm

 

A lot of times it is just our perception of the noise. Especially during nighttime when all we really want to do is sleep. The tone seems to become amplified because of the lack of distraction in my case. I've become pretty good at just being ok with it and falling back to sleep for the last few weeks though. I take about 1/4mg of Lorazepam about 20 minutes before bedtime though. So that may be helping me not care so much when I wake up.

 

I had another episode like this, last night. I fell asleep for 30 minutes or so and some external noise suddenly woke me up; I went to the bathroom and the tinnitus was definitely louder than my usual baseline. It stayed that way for 10-15 minutes and then it slowly settled; in particular it settled when I started being fully awake. I thus went back to sleep and when I woke up it was back to its usual baseline. Are you still having these episodes, @Forever hopeful? It must have something to do with the brain activity during the sleep.

 

I'm so sorry that's happening to you! I have had, in the last few months, bouts of noticing that, as I settle in, the tinnitus, just as casual as you please, gets louder as I'm lying there on the way to sleep. I guess this happens during the day, too, but I don't notice it. I just notice that it's louder and more annoying. It changes all the time: loud in the morning, not as loud in the morning, louder at night, after meals - there's hardly any discernible pattern, that might give a clue as to how to change it. I can definitely relate to the fear about the future, and that fear probably adds to the volume, at times! I hope you have had improvement since you last posted, and that we all get a break sooner rather than later!

 

I haven’t had it happen very much since but I now sleep with the tv on low in addition to my other sound machines. And I knock myself out to sleep. Recently, I am preoccupied with the fact that I have redeveloped this ultra high pitched tinnitus in my right ear. The one with no HL. I had it for several months last year. Started a month after I experienced mild HL in my left ear last spring. Continued for several months and then it went away for many months. Starting in March, it came back and it seems worse. Ironically, it came back a month after I had some mild worsening of my HL in my left year. It has always fluctuated but now it feels more steady. And it can get louder than ever now and last a few hours. ENT thinks it is obviously not HL so hypothesis are TMJ, neck issues, allergies or all of the above. I feel like I can it get a break.

 

I've dreamt that my tinnitus has been extremely loud, so loud I actually woke up from the dream lol. And no, it wasn't loud or anything when I woke up, it was all in the dream.

 

@Forever hopeful, I know the feeling! I hope you get some help soon. Having a lot of noise this morning, louder and more "pressure-y" in right ear.

Just went to ENT this last week, to check on what I thought could be Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, and he said if I had ETD, it was a very mild case, and everything looked alright (I was complaining of hearing a lot of noise with swallowing sometimes, plus crackling). At one point, he stuck his fingers in my ears and pulled downwards. This caused discomfort, and he said that indicated inflammation. I have also been told I have allergic rhinitis. And TMJ. The hits just keep on coming!

Am thinking of looking into CBD to deal with how upsetting this is, but some people have reported higher tinnitus with CBD use! Have you heard anything along those lines?

 

Chiming in as I think this fits here.

I sometimes dream of and while waking have intense seashell tinnitus all over me.

I used to wake up to silence at onset.

Now I wake up to droning into the middle of the night but the most particular thing by far has been bilateral random or sometimes going off together in stereo exploding head like sounds. I'll hear a ZoooooOOOOMMM! from one ear, then from the other, then as I'm juuuust on the cusp of sleep... zoooOOOOMMMMM!!!!! In both ears at the exact same time and pitch.

Drives me fucking insane and wakes me up at 4 am almost every night. This is when I try to wear earplugs to sleep and hope it helps.

Other than masking at epic volumes nothing seems to touch this. Not even Zopiclone; the drones might get quieter or even turn to static but I WILL have the epic zooms in maybe one ear or the other or both.

WTF?

 

Same thing here yesterday night. I actually felt pretty calm about my situation when going to sleep. After a couple of hours I woke up having everything turned up really loud in my head.

 

CBD was an epic disaster for me and triggered new and worse tinnitus, so I don't recommend it, but you gotta go with your gut. We all seem to have different triggers.

Casual observation: it seems like people whose tinnitus goes away with alcohol have problems with CBD and people who get spikes from alcohol seem to do better with CBD.

As for the night tinnitus, for a while I was waking up to what sounded like a casino or carnival and different melodies. I really just thought my brain was short circuiting, but thankfully that calmed down. I have theories about what triggered it, but will never know. The takeaway was it was temporary and lasted about 6 weeks.

My pattern now is I'll watch TV and be fine. TV goes off, light goes out and the crickets start up. The crickets are fine I pretend I'm camping. But then I wake up a few hours later to a whining tone or a dental drill. I can change it back to crickets by putting in my hearing aid and playing the Welcome Back Kotter theme song through the blue tooth. Other songs don't work as well, go figure.

 

Definitely. I'd say that I've experienced it a few times. I've woken up in the middle of the night hearing significant increases in volume. Most times it has been to baseline in the morning, but; not to scare anyone, 2 of those times it has been permanent(or at least prolonged) spikes which had not receded till the morning.

My tinnitus onset took effect during a nights sleep, so I guess things happen in the auditory system during the night.

Rather scary stuff.

 

Well I had a hearing test yesterday. Very interesting! Hearing tests are hard when you have tinnitus. My brain can’t help but focus on the tinnitus and thus not focused on listening for the beeps.

Anyway, I was concerned that a recent brain MRI had worsened my hearing, as my tinnitus has been louder.

My last test was in March. My test prior to that was in February when my tinnitus in my left ear worsened and that’s when they discovered that I had another shift in my hearing in that ear. One frequency had dropped from 30 dB to 35 dB. It was an initial drop to 30 dB in the left ear at that frequency last year that kicked off my tinnitus to begin with. I also had another frequency drop from 10 dB to 25 dB. No hearing loss in my right ear and all other frequencies in my left ear well within the normal range.

I took Prednisone and by the time they retested my hearing in March, the frequency that was at 25 dB had gone back up to 10 dB. Unfortunately the other frequency remained at 35 dB.

Fast forward to yesterday. All frequencies in my left ear or now within normal limits. Based on that exam I no longer even have mild hearing loss in my left ear. My right ear remains fine with all frequencies in the 10 dB range. Yet the tinnitus persists. Different sounds, different ears. It’s just so maddening.

The one thing I did was I’ve tried adjusting my at home workstation to hopefully provide better support for my neck. But they don’t know. I mean why did the tinnitus in my right ear go away to begin with last year and then restart?

I have read a lot on this site about people who have had worsening of their tinnitus with CBD. I’ve taken some CBD along the way and haven’t noticed any impact on my tinnitus but it’s not something I do regularly.

 

Masking at night is noise exposure. I did not find this useful, and made my tinnitus worse. Ear plugs at night for me worked out much better, and my tinnitus is better by morning.

I find my tinnitus is particularly sensitive to noise exposure when I sleep.

 

I've heard tinnitus in my dreams before and wondered what it was before waking up to it. I wouldn't wish that sinking feeling on my worst enemy.

Trying to sleep in silence now though.

 

I've been trying. Like really trying to do this as I used to and think it really helps. Those days were the days I'd get static in the morning by using ear plugs religiously at night.

But since worsening, it is simply too loud. The times I do get to sleep I wake up at stupidoclock hearing Exploding Head Syndrome type sounds in both ears. A VROOOOOOOOM like a drive by motorcycle in one ear. Then in a few second the other ear. Then literally as I'm falling back asleep Bam both ears at the same time. Same sound. Same everything just alternating stereo.

At that point. It is suicidal to not mask it.

Trying Amitriptyline to sleep lately. Definitely noticing changes in my sound distortion on it, and packing on carbs. I'm not any better or worse. It's just changing dysacusis crap. At least it's enough that it knocks me out faster than taking nothing even through blaring tinnitus in earplugs. Even Zopiclone isn't letting me sleep through the whole night. The vrooms punch through. They were happening before trying the antidepressant to sleep.

Honestly I don't think it's Exploding Head Syndrome. I've never heard of it happening over and over until I mask it, nor that it occurs every single night at 4 am now. It's a recent development this month, because normal laser blast beep thumping humming tinnitus wasn't quite fun enough.

It's like wear earplugs and get a free mental breakdown alarm clock always set to 4 am.

 

I tried CBD out. Seemed to cut my carnival noises a bit but I needed a pretty high dose for it to do anything at all.

 

I know what you mean about the tinnitus taking away from a hearing test. When I went in for the ear congestion, they gave me a hearing test first, and I wanted her to do the first part over, because I felt that I'd been too distracted to notice the first sounds. But she said the results were about the same as a year ago, which was kind of normal hearing. That is really good news about your hearing test! But I understand your frustration at trying to make sense of what causes what. If I could just get a bead on what makes a difference, I'd feel that that was at least a foothold. But that, and the other hormonal symptoms I've mentioned before, defy tracking/logic/intervention to an insidious degree.

Trying to get ready for a trip to see my grandson for his seventh birthday. Missed it last year due to all this health mess. I really wish you, me, and all of us well in our ongoing health battles! It's weird to make all this effort, and not have things work out. It's like living in an episode of the Twilight Zone sometimes! Thanks for sharing about the CBD. I've ordered some and will try and let you know how it goes.

 

Thank you for this comprehensive answer.

Did you recover from what the CBD did? Did it ever go back to your normal baseline tinnitus?

 

Yes, I recovered in 24 hours from the kind of CBD from the topical. Honestly, I have doubts about topical CBD in general, but it did seem to do something and it helps a lot of people with other problems. Suffice it to say, the spike didn't stop me from trying more.

The other CBD was the kind you have to get at a dispensary, and I was able to buy it legally in my city. I spoke with employees at different dispensaries and all of them were skeptical as to whether it could help tinnitus because they'd seen more people acquire temporary tinnitus from their product -- but mainly the THC kind. So most of the people I worked with steered me toward the CBD strains. I've forgotten all the names, but Harlequin is the one I remember doing a real number. It brought on a spike that came and went, but it also brought on another kind of tinnitus I have to this day.

That's probably too much information for you, but maybe it will help someone else. I spent a lot of time and money on the CBD project and in the end it just didn't work for me. Based on the conversations I had, medical marijuana was helpful for people who with severe anxiety who didn't really care about the tinnitus. Basically, they used the THC kind and it put them in the mindset of not caring (kind of like alcohol and benzos).

All of the negatives here only apply to tinnitus. The dispensary experience was a real eye opener, as it seemed people of all ages and walks of life were finding benefit from medical marijuana. So I'm a proponent of it, but I think it's best to do it under a doctor's care and legally.

 

I just reread our exchange from August of last year. I had dropped off this site for a while because, as I noted previously, it had in fact gone away. And I had forgotten that you had mentioned that tinnitus can be a symptom of menopause. I am on HRT. But I don’t feel like that has made any difference one way or the other because I was on it when it started last year, I was on it when my tinnitus stopped and I’m currently still on it when my tinnitus restarted.

My otologist at Mass. Eye and Ear said to me that there are many, many, many things that can cause tinnitus. And many things that can cause it to improve, worsen change etc. apart from hearing loss, it is very very difficult to discern what is causing tinnitus is an any one patient. Both My ENT and otologist said you cannot change the tinnitus because it’s not in your control. Bitter pill to swallow. All you can do is change how you react to it. Easier said than done when you have a constant hiss in your ear that sometimes sounds like breaks squealing. It got so loud yesterday while I was on a phone call with one of my staff that I was distracted and kept stopping mid-sentence. Fortunately my staff know what’s going on so they’re very understanding. It only lasted a minute or so but still awful. Those are the moments of fighting me the worst. Because I wonder oh my god what would I do if it stayed at this level. As I’m sitting here typing this and preparing for a meeting at work I have a hiss going on in my left and right ears. An hour ago it was fairly quiet. The worst part is it’s really interrupting my sleep. Ugh!

Enjoy your trip to see your grandson.

Best,
Danielle

 

Yes, it is certainly a lot to deal with, and a mystery to boot!

I wish you the very best going forward. It is, no doubt, building our characters and making us stronger! I have a hard time even typing that, as I sit here with it hissing in my ears, too. Btw, your name is my younger daughter's middle name.

 

Just the right amount of information - thanks!

So you're saying CBD with THC, from Harlequin, gave you a spike that never went back to normal? Would you mind elaborating on what the change was, if you don't mind?

 

I had another one last night; nasty dentist drilling + feeling. It kept me awake for a while, it eventually baselined. I would be really curious to know what the fuck goes on in the brain. I am pissed because I had two good weeks and now I am scared again.

 

Permanently?