Does Stress Make Tinnitus Permanently Worse?

Hey everyone,

I haven't been working for the last 3 months because of kidney stones. It's been 45 days since I've got tinnitus and in a couple weeks I'm going back to work.

Thing is I work currently as a waiter and as everyone knows it's a very stressful, NON-STOP job. My tinnitus isn't sound induced, neither have I got hearing problems.

My job is very stressful and you just simply don't stop!

My question is: Can my stressful job make my tinnitus permanently worse or would it do me a lot of good because I'll have my mind off it?

I'm a bit freaked out and I don't want to make any stupid mistakes.

 

If the place you work at is noisy, your tinnitus might be stress+noise induced.

 

It came while I was one and half months being out of work. It's not noise induced, it's most likely to be stress induced after all I've been going through...

 

regardless of how you got it, you have to try and stay calm. If you can find ways to wind down and relax for a while then that's great. don't give yourself a time limit either. let your body do it's thing and go with it

 

Ok, so I guess that means give it a try and see how it goes....

 

I wouldnt say permanently just as long as youre stressed its gonna be worse. which is what i'm dealing with now. stress always makes mine worse, or when i focus or obsess about it.

 

Thanks for your advice. Let's see what happens...

 

You all should get your hearing checked. I went to a hearing aid specialist who said he knew of a woman who had stress induced hearing loss. Between then and 6 months later, she was no longer under the stress and she no longer had the hearing loss. You can call around and should be able to find a hearing aid place that will you give you a free hearing test up to 8khz. If you have hearing loss, ask them to program a hearing aid for you as a demo and put it in ans see if the tinnitus goes away. If it does, you may have found your problem was due to hearing loss.

If the hearing loss improves, that's great. If it doesn't, you at least have the option of buying a hearing aid later.

 

My ENT was convinced that the stress of my job was making my tinnitus worse. Been retired for a few years now. He was wrong. It had its ups and downs then and it has its ups and downs now. No change at all.

 

Getting a hearing test in November and a CAT scan tomorrow, so let's see.... Thanks for your advice.

 

Temporary only. Things that could make Tinnitus permanently worse are ototoxic drugs, loud noise (nightclub, loud bar, ear tests).

 

no

 

Thanks............................!

 

What do you mean ear tests can make tinnitus worse? Casual ENT tests?
@dpdx

 

I was just reffering to stress. A stupid question really. Stress doesn't make tinntus permanently worse, it just puts up the volume and then goes down when you're stress-free.

 

Never had my tinnitus worsen from stress, ever, I guess it’s a thing. I’ve been told by doctors, shrinks and tinnitus experts that steess ramps it up, definitely not for me it doesn’t.

I would like to believe people like Julian cowel (not sure if that’s spelled right) but I just don’t think that’s how it works. I’m sure stress maybe makes tinnitus seem worse for some, giving them a false reading on the volume

 

If you can get tinnitus from stress, you can get a permanent worsening from stress.

 

Well everyone else told me the contrary. Stress can cause the onset of T, but while you have it, it doesn't mean it will get permanently worse under stress. Everyone is a different story I guess...

 

I mean more stress events. Say you get tinnitus from stress from a job then ten years down the line tragedy strikes and you're dealing with the death of a loved one, one of the top most stressful events.

Arguably the stress of tinnitus could be what keeps people from improving.

 

So you believe stress can cause tinnitus, and also cause additional tinnitus? I’m not disagreeing with you at all, I honestly don’t know. Just curious.

I sometimes think that people have hearing loss with no tinnitus until one day they go insane from stress/anxiety and bam, the hearing loss is exposed, the brain goes haywire looking to complete that loss in input. Or they have a stressful noise event, and even worse.

And if you get into a vicious stress cycle (say from tinnitus) maybe you are healing slightly, but then set back again due to additional stress/damage.

 

Well, I haven't read any posts here stating that there tinnitus has improved having a stress-free life. But, I don't know much do give an opinion about this anyway. I've read posts that there are people happier being inside, than outside because they hear it more. I've read posts that there are people out there that can't mask there T. Anyway, what I meant to say, it seems that there aren't any T here that have simmilur caracteristics. That it can get worse with a stressful event, I can believe that, but I doubt it counts for everybody.

I'm 60 days in...I've been out of action for the last 3 months because of kidney stones. Had a catheter pigstail inside me and was suffering from a lot of stress. 1 month after leaving hospital (not cured yet), my T started suddenly! A bit of a coincidence. Further more before getting cured I went through a lot more stresful events, and to be honest I think my T is exactly the same. probably handling a lot better. But that doesn't mean that anybody else who got it from stress (and if it can be proved) can make it worse suffering from more stress. Everyone is a different story.

 

Yeah fair enough, stress doesn’t seem to make mine any worse either, but I’m stressed a lot, like 24 7 with the screaming tinnitus, gets on my nerves, so who knows.

I had shingles which caused me a massive amount of pain for a very long time, I guess this would be considered stress, no impact on tinnitus.

 

I don't know how bad your tinnitus is, but it's probably worse than mine. I can hear it nearly over everything, but yet i'm getting better in getting my mind off it... I hope it gets better for you

 

That's because it's not worded in exactly that manner. Let's consider, first, what stress is courtesy of google:

Every time you try to measure your tinnitus, worry about a spike, worry about getting a spike, focus on the noise you are triggering that fight or flight response. How many of us here have anxiety or worsened anxiety thanks to tinnitus? Probably most of us. If you don't have your anxiety under control, you don't have your stress under control, you don't have your tinnitus under control.

It's talked about every now and then about how worrying about a permanent spike can cause a spike in tandem with noise. In my opinion positivity won't cure you, but negativity can sure drive you into the ground.

 

Completely agree with you. You're talking about the vicious cycle that's also mentioned on Google. When you eventually manage emotionally not to react when you here the bugger, you can manage to ignore it more, therefore have better moments, be less anxious etc and slowly slowly get into a positive cycle. Another word for that is habituation...

So, being stress-free, not giving a damn about your tinnitus, helps you living a better life but doesn't mean it's getting better, and the other way around I also think it's the same issue.

When mine just started, I was going crazy, I thought this is it, my number one life ending bastard... is here. 2 months later, learning how to cope, trying to ignore it has made a big change (still got a bit to do yet).

Yet, I know I'm a moderate case, not an extreme case, so it's a different ball game. Completely agree with you.

 

Of the times I've stressed out, I can say for sure my T is audible... But only if the situation is really bad (like a friend dying)... I could hear it much louder. Normal stress like having a difficult day, no.

 

So emotional stress effect's the loudness a lot more than normal daily life stress...

 

I think everyone is different like you said, for me anything that increases my blood flow will affect my T. Coffee, soda, working out, stressing out, playing tag ...these things all impact my tinnitus. For a lot of people it does not.