Cycling Tinnitus with Good and Bad (Severe Reactive Tinnitus) Days — What's My Outlook Like?

Hello,

As some may know I've been dealing with my second bout of tinnitus, first one was from gunshots in 2016 and recently in January, a 120 dB car alarm went off in my ear. I could only hear it in super quiet rooms or when I smoked weed.

First week I noticed my tinnitus was heightened, and it started to react to fans, which it did when I first got tinnitus. Nonetheless the first week wasn't bad, definitely spiked but nothing severe.

Long story short, I had a freakout a week later and I woke up with raging loud tinnitus. Went to bed the next night and it was back to normal, maybe a little heightened like the first week.

Ever since then it's been 1 day of fairly mild tinnitus where I can't hear it outside and 1 day of reactive tinnitus that ramps up to extremely severe levels throughout the day. Around 2-3 pm I am nearly debilitated. In the beginning the pattern was 1 day on, 1-2 days off. Then 3 days on, 1 day off.

Finally, this month, for the first time in 6 MONTHS, I got 2.5 good days, then 3.5 good days, then last week 5 days of mild tinnitus in a row. It was so blissful. A couple of those times I had to shower it away or run my ear near the faucet.

Unfortunately, on the bad days, it is just as severe as in the beginning, as it immediately ramps up to compete with any outside noise, not just fans or cars etc. I can walk outside in the morning and it rides over any noise.

My bad day tinnitus is much higher pitched and electrical sounding, sometimes centralized, but mostly in my left ear.

It's been almost 7 months now, and I guess my question is, what are the chances I can get back to normal mild tinnitus days? Anyone have any similar experiences?

The only thing I have changed is trying to relax more (very difficult), and diet. I have not had a single carb or gram of sugar since June 1st.

Thanks.

 

Mine just started in December but I have a similar pattern. As we’ve talked about before, weed really affects me. Last week I was having some rough days out of seemingly nowhere, my wife pointed out that for the previous 3 nights I’d eaten giant cupcakes. Which is atypical for me anyway, but sure enough, one night without sugar and bam, back to mild.

I am open to the possibility that it’s related but not totally convinced. My anxiety has been ramped about other life stressors thankfully not driven primarily by tinnitus. So it could’ve been that.

Anyway. Hope to hear what others have to say. I just never expect to get good news here, it’s a very specific user base after all.

 

Tinnitus is very individual so probably no one can tell you what the future holds. But it's a very good sign that you have experienced improvement. So there is no reason why it shouldn't continue to improve if you relax and protect your ears.

 

Wow @BrysonKingMe, you pretty much nailed my current experience. Completely on for 1-2 days, then completely off/mild for 1-2 days. Rinse and repeat. When it's on, it's on full blast, an electrical hiss in my right ear, rising above all outside noise, sometimes competing with the shower.

This has been happening to me for 4 months. Very slowly getting more good days than bad.

I'm heartened to here your mild consecutive mild days are getting longer. Hopefully that keeps extending. I'm wondering, like you're probably wondering, whether the intensity on the bad days will lessen over time.

 

I'm jealous of those that say their tinnitus has improved over time. For me the best thing I can scrape up to say is that I'm doing my best to mentally get used to it which isn't all that encouraging. I was hoping the reactivity component of my tinnitus would settle down over time but unfortunately it's not changed. I believe the reactivity component of tinnitus is not simply what is typically referred to as hyperacusis by some. I have reactive tinnitus plus some degree of hyperacusis. They are still both the same since the onset.

 

Do you believe you're coping a little better with the severe unmaskable intrusive reactive tinnitus than before? Is your reaction to it better at times?

 

When I get a good night's sleep, then I'm able to cope with it better. But that doesn't always equate to a better day as that depends on many factors - mentally, emotionally & physically. Just knowing what triggers it & learning to not over react to it was a learning process over months & still an ongoing process. I'm still very frustrated with it as I have to limit or sometimes avoid doing things I love to do such as playing piano/keyboards or watching sports on TV/YouTube. I also am very stressed because I'm not working at present time & want to be able to find a job in the near future that won't greatly affect my very reactive form of tinnitus. Wish these perceived sounds would take a holiday, but that's asking a lot.

 

I understand. I hope and pray there are treatments for us in the future.

If you think reactive tinnitus isn't hyperacusis, then what could it be?

I agree good sleep can help me react to it better emotionally too.

 

Hyperacusis in general is an umbrella term for sensitivity to sounds. Usually external sounds seem much louder then they actually are to healthy ears. It's some form of amplification that happens in the auditory system or even perhaps certain areas in the brain for whatever reason. It's commonly referred to as low sound tolerance. Some have the type where they can even hear their eyes move. That somatic form can be corrected with surgery. I hear a loud tone sound when my fridge compressor is running. Nobody else hears it. Sometimes I hear the lights above my vanity in the washroom. Those are examples of hyperacusis.

Reactive tinnitus is where an external sound spikes your tinnitus for a duration of time but eventually goes back to 'baseline'. It's like an irritation. My tinnitus will compete & outperform the external sound i.e. TV, radio, music instrument, etc. Hence why it's not possible for me to mask my reactive tinnitus.

There is no professional acoustic test for reactive tinnitus but there is one for hyperacusis: the loudness discomfort level.

Some like to include coffee, salt, sugar, and certain foods that they say spike their tinnitus. But those aren't included in the definition as Dr. Neil Bauman has defined it in his article on reactive tinnitus, which I think is the proper way to define it.

 

I have one more question if you don’t mind me asking. What quiet activities do you do when you’re spiking so bad that you can’t listen to anything? What do you do when spikes get unbearable?

 

Depending on time of day - I will do my chores i.e cooking, cleaning, laundry or get involved in political discussion online (as long as I don't feel to stressed by the subject) or watch talk videos on different subjects or go on Twitter or Facebook.