Had Tinnitus for 5 Years, Recently Worse

Hello! New to this forum and from reading everything this place seemed great to talk.

I've had tinnitus for 5 years, after a dumb decision to not wear ear plugs I developed tinnitus at 16. It's hard to remember how i felt but I know it wasn't great. Stressful and miserable but not as bad as now. After a while I got used to it and never noticed it for years(with the occasional fleeting tinnitus).

I became careful with my ears and went to concerts a couple of times a year and never had a problem. Unfortunately, about 5 weeks ago it got worse. Nothing I can think of caused it, I didn't go to a concert, listen to loud music, or get some sort of infection(that I know of). I've read a lot about it since my life has been consumed by T. I have been thinking about it so much, which makes me go crazy. I have dealt with depression and anxiety for so long and this has been the worst it's ever been.

My depression and stress has definitely gotten worse over the past year with me taking a break from school, but I don't know if it's been the worst it's ever been. I've never talked to a therapist about it and just dealt with it.

Last Monday I went to the ENT to see if they could find anything. During the hearing test I broke down in front of the Audiologist. She told me it was definitely more than the tinnitus that breaking me and I should see a therapist. The hearing test went well and had no problems with it. Once I met the ENT I told him the situation about whats going on and what I plan on doing. He said I was on the right path when it comes to my well-being(exercising more, losing weight, eating better, learning the piano, trying yoga, and just overall improving my livelihood). He also told me that it could be stress induced or worsened by my depression/anxiety. He said I should find a therapist that works on depression/anxiety and does CBT. I felt that the interaction was short lived and he didn't do enough and I will look for another ENT once I have the money for it(no insurance )

I looked for a therapist and seeing them Wednesday and very anxious for it. I've read so many stories about tinnitus. The good ones like it got better, or that it gets louder for people and that it lasted for a couple of months and went back to normal, or that it was stressed/depression/anxiety induced and got better once they also went back to normal. I also read the horror stories of it getting worse and the feeling of hopelessness that I hope I and other people never have to go through. I've always think the worst possible outcome in something and that has been eating me away.

I am working toward improving myself. It takes time and I know that but it's difficult. I am 21 and I don't what I am suppose to do if it gets worse. I don't have the money to go doctor to doctor to find something that will help. I need to stop it now, and the only way to do that is to improve myself, but god damn is it difficult.

I am not religious, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't praying. Thank you to anyone that reads this. I hope in 2 months I can say that I have a success story.

 

Have you been exposed to any loud noises within two weeks of that second onset? My T began 11 days after my acoustic trauma...

 

Sadly, nothing I can think of. All I know is that I first heard it Oct 22-26. The last time I went to to a concert was probably 2016.

 

Scary!

Mine also got worse about a week ago, out of the blue. I began hearing a tone in my formerly good ear. I Think it was caused by my ear being 10 inches from a glass plate falling 2 or 3 inches onto another glass plate several days before the onset, but your story makes me question that. It is possible that at any time it can just get louder for no reason...

All we can do is hope that this is temporary......

 

Yeah I read a bunch about random spikes caused by either stress or by nothing. They also said that it went away after a couple weeks to a couple of months. I hope that is the case for us.

 

Wonderful news! Thank you for letting me know. I began getting concerned when it didn't go away after a couple of days...

 

Yep. I developed a new tone in my good (well better) ear about a month ago. Two weeks before I was exposed to loud noise at work that had me worried. It was about 30-45 minutes of exposure and although I had earplugs in it was too loud for me. It's still there, although I don't hear the new tone much during the day unless I wear earplugs, at night and when I'm low on sleep it gets loud.

I don't know for sure if it was the noise exposure or something else.

 

Was this a new (different) tone? How loud is it?

 

Yes, it is brand new. I can hear it in the ear that was completely silent two weeks ago. It is a high pitch tone. It is moderately loud.

In the past, I would cry and get very emotional upon hearing sounds like that. Now I don't have much of an emotional reaction - just the feeling of sadness and exhaustion. The sound bothers me as much as ever. Could this what people call habituation - no energy to get upset anymore?

 

So I am posting an update for myself and for anyone else that read my story and wanted an update.

It's been about 2 weeks and some change since I posted here and I'm doing fine. The tinnitus is getting substantially better, but I feel it has improved, or I have been able to cope with it better. The thing I've done, most importantly is see a therapist.

I've had depression for awhile and talking to someone about it made me realize how bad it was. I always thought it was just "there" the past 6 years. Talking to her about the thought patterns and habits made me realize how severe it was and how it has gotten worse over the past few months. Now, I have only had 2 appointments(cost a lot with no insurance ) but being able to connect all of my problems has helped a lot with figuring out the problems I have in life. Hopefully the CBT we are working helps a lot with my life and tinnitus. I don't know if my tinnitus will get better once I my anxiety/depression, but at least I will be better able to deal with problems in life.


Other things I have been working on is some poor habits I have. I used to drink too much caffeine/soda. I have mostly cut caffeine from my diet, especially late at night. I still drink soda but definitely less(caffeine free diet Dr pepper). I also have improved my sleeping habits, going to bad around the same time and waking up around the same time. I have also been doing meditation which has made me feel better but I need to stick to it..

I have been taking some vitamins but I'm not sure if they'll help, but at least it won't harm me.

My goals for the coming weeks are to drink more water, eat better, meditate more, work with my therapist more, try to get a keyboard to learn, and to stop thinking negatively.

Long term goals are to save up and go to school(biggest stress/anxiety/depression cause in the recent months), lose weight, exercise more, work more, and be more positive.


I will be giving more updates for me, people who read this before or are just reading this in the future. I do hope I will be getting better, and that people who read this thread get better as well. I want to feel life without the chains of depression, because I don't remember what that feels like.

Thank you for reading this.

Adonnys