Do You Hear Your Tinnitus on Your Pillow?

[Penelope33]

When I try to sleep, my t is so loud and amplified on my pillow, both ears. I've got a sound pillow but crave silence. Sometimes I don't use the sound pillow, I just try to shut out the noise but can't.

Do you hear it on your pillow more? How do you deal with it?! It's driving me insane :-(

 

[Dmitry]

I know the feeling it can be extremely tough! I guess you could sleep on your back?
These might be standard things that you might have thought of already but:
- I generally leave a window open, have a fan etc
- Or take a long relaxing warm shower before you go to bed and just accept the ringing.
- If its really bad get a film on your laptop and just watch it until you feel really sleepy or actually fall asleep
- And finally sleeping pills easier in natural form or as medication

Hope this helps!

 

[LeQuack]

I bash my head into the pillow until I'm too exhausted to care.

 

[Markku]

Oh yeah I do. But I've long ago reached the point where I am able to fall asleep to the noise. I do like nature masking tracks though and play those often.

Best wishes

 

[I who love music]

Oh ya. It's terrible at night. I like to fall asleep to music or pretend the T is a campfire or crickets. I don't think you'll go insane. I worked for over 30 years in a psychiatric hospital and never had a patient with psychosis by tinnitus. Though I sure do believe you, it can be maddening.

 

[Hendre Vlad]

I usualy put music to play on the pc...and yeah....avoid sleeping with ear on pillow...but i can fall asleep even with my ear on the pillow....but best on my back

 

[Linds]

Hmm. Interesting conversation. My left ear is the loudest and I notice that when I put it on the pillow t is quieter.
I still need meds for sleep though.
Quieter does not mean gone, it is still loud.

 

[dan]

Oh ya. It's terrible at night. I like to fall asleep to music or pretend the T is a campfire or crickets. I don't think you'll go insane. I worked for over 30 years in a psychiatric hospital and never had a patient with psychosis by tinnitus. Though I sure do believe you, it can be maddening.

...but you should have seen people with tinnitus checking in and out...it happens all the time.

 

[Liesel]

It's nearly impossible for me to not sleep on my side, so I feel you. Unless I'm so exhausted that I'll fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, I sleep with a fan on. My T varies in volume a good bit so I usually end up sleeping with my "good" ear at the time to the pillow.

 

[AnneG]

I know how you feel, I sleep on my Left side and iys waaaay louder when my head's against a pillow.

 

[Hendre Vlad]

YUp...same only with my right ear...i never liked sleeping on my back..but now..i can fall asleep easy on that position )

 

[I who love music]

...but you should have seen people with tinnitus checking in and out...it happens all the time.

I don't remember tinnitus ever coming up as a health issue to be addressed. I'm sure there were silent sufferers though.

 

[mick1987]

I used to have the same problem sleeping on my right side (T in right ear)when I first got tinnitus in 2012, after about 6 months I could put my ear on the pillow and sleep fine. It increased in volume and changed pitch 3 months ago, it was so loud I couldn't bare to be in a quite room, laying on my right was unreal, now though I have no problems sleeping with my right ear on the pillow, still the same volume, even louder with my ear against the pillow, but I am not consciously aware of the noise and sleep fine now, it's the alcohol withdrawal that was keeping me awake before.

 

[baddream]

Only way for me to sleep is to use white noise on my iphone with earbuds
If i try to sleep on my side with my ear to the pillow the tinnitus is just too loud and is amplified by the pillow because of lack of outside noise

 

[Balthazar]

I've always slept with my right ear on the pillow. I stopped doing so when I got the T, but found I struggled to get to sleep. So I started sleeping on my right ear again (without masking) and despite it sounding like I have a gong going in my head I'm still able to sleep quite soundly. I don't really understand it because I'm listening to the sound and not trying to ignore it at all.

 

[applewine]

I've got noises I don't normally hear unless my head is against a pillow I think.

I like to sleep on my side, but sleeping on my back makes it harder to hear the softer noise.

Make sure you have a think pillow for back sleeping for your neck and thicker or two pillows for side sleeping.

The loudest noise I can hear during the day. There is a chance this one is somatic.

I also have some morse code noises, which I'm experimenting to see if certain neck position or can't actions make them stop.

I have a lot if cranio mandibular dysfunction pain in those muscles.

I also have some weird Neuro thing with cold water sensations I get all over, sometimes burning and stinging.

It is hard to cope with three medical conditions.

 

[Asian]

Though my T is mostly in my left ear/head, it often switches the side in my head and seems to be coming from right side if I put my right ear on the pillow. Not sure if it actually happens or my perception but when I stick my finger in my ears while sleeping, the sound is on the left side if I am putting my left ear on the pillow and vice versa. I feel my neck position while sleeping is somehow affecting the loudness and the pitch and the volume dramatically reduces when I get up.

Getting an indoor water fountain tomorrow. I hope it will mask this nasty thing somewhat

 

[TwinGlocks]

Every night....

 

[jewellanne1010]

Ughhh yea I take klonopin to help me sleep if I do wake up I pretend its the 4th of july anf I hear the little sounds of fire crackers going off in my head

 

[Penelope33]

I wish I were a back sleeper but I like to lay on my side with my ears tithe pillow. It's so loud though. I hate hearing the noise and I wake up with it and then the anxiety on top.

 

[Maddy]

I wish I were a back sleeper but I like to lay on my side with my ears tithe pillow. It's so loud though. I hate hearing the noise and I wake up with it and then the anxiety on top.

Penelope I totally agree! I used to always sleep on the side with my head on the pillow, however now since my T developed in that ear I can no longer sleep properly on that side as the T seems SUPER loud! I only have T in one ear so I am adjusting to sleeping on the other side or on my back! I really believe that we just have to accept the noise is there instead of thinking "why is it always there!" "It's so annoying" "why me?!", "I wish it would just go away!" I know that this sounds so ridiculous as I sit there for most of the day thinking these thoughts but they just make me so anxious and depressed where as if I stop thinking about it for a few moments and just accept that it's there when I hear it again I feel much better

 

[Sound Wave]

It used to bother me a lot. However, nowadays my T ear (left) is sometimes relativelly quiet against the pillow. It changes from night to night. When it's louder, it irritates me yes, but I can usually fall back asleep. I use rainfall sounds every night through my iPad + quality active speaker.

If this is big problem for you, then I would explore getting a custom molded in-ear headphones, which you could use comfortably sleeping against pillow. Some manufacturers are for example Ultimate Ears and Shure. The forum for these is Head-Fi.

 

[Nathaniel Teposo]

all the time i hear it.

 

[nogood]

For me sleep = xanax

 

[slc]

Or use the sound machine with the ocean sound . I also play about an hour music on my iPod that includes a hypnosis tape by Kevin Hogan specifically created to address tinnitus .

Before bed, about 9 PM I take 10 mg of melatonin, good night sleep Tea available from the Ayurvedic institute in New Mexico, 30 mg of Celexa , 1.5 mg of Klonopin , and use Jatamamsi oil on my forehead and nostrils. That combination does the trick and I am able to sleep usually through the night. Although I sometimes wake up feeling tired which might indicate my sleep quality is not the best . I also was seeing a hypnotist for several years and learned some simple self hypnosis techniques that seemed to help. ( for some reason I found that including some really depressed type music made me feel better . But all the music is very mellow and some more positive .)

 

[Song interpreter]

Laying down does not change my ringing. If I play 15 minutes of a podcast that is just loud enough for me to hear and what is being said, I can escape by listening and and concentrating on hearing the speaker. I'll be asleep before it stops. What used to keep me awake, now helps me sleep. Thinking through problems. Designing: clothes, sewing projects, room make over etc. Or, if I just stay up late enough, when I get to bed, I'm asleep!

Nothing changes for me by hitting the pillow.

 

[Telis]

It's so loud that when I put my ear to the pillow the pain of the piercing sound bothers me more than the actual noise. It's feels like the high tones and screaching are splitting my ear drums open. Having said this, I do sleep very well. I can't hear my T when I'm asleep so bed time and sleep are my only get a way from the torture.

 

[Sgguy46]

sleeping is not a problem. it is being awake that is tough

 

[AnxiousJon]

Taking b6 or something else to help you remember your dreams more vividly can increase your time away from tinnitus. Otherwise you close your eyes, and the next thing you know you're awake, and it's back to T.

 

[daniel1111]

It's exactly like this for me. Whichever ear is on the pillow has amplified tinnitus. I am not really bothered by my tinnitus at the moment, but when I was, I tried putting the pillow in such a way that my head was on it but my eat wasn't. And then sometimes using a sound masker behind my head.

Yes this was awkward but, I had to do it.