Has Anyone's Tinnitus Spiked Like Crazy and Never Went Away?

I got a big 30 second spike today in my other ear and it scared the hell out of me. Then another one that wasn't as big for about 20 minutes.

Now as usual I'm scared.

 

Are you taking any medications right now?

 

For many T is a constant, but for many T is a roller coaster.
If you have the "roller coaster" type of T, hold tighter to the restrain lap bar and ride it fearlessly, no matter low long it takes until it goes down again.
Being scared will increase the stress and make the spike longer.
T favourite food is your anxiety, scare and stress. Starve it and ignore it until it will learn its place.
Tell yourself that T level contains no information of any importance for you, and your trainable amygdala, a part of your brain that decides what information from a perception is important to you and what information is not, the last control gate through which T sound must pass to reach your attention, will eventually learn that T is not the protagonist of your life and it will give your T the role of a background actor/extra on the movie of your life.
I know of members whose T got it time higher levels, but each time those members toughened it up. We have to step up to the challenge.
I am a (bit/much of a) hypocrite giving lessons to newbies, cause I have the roller coaster type also, and I still get scared by my T, sometimes a lot, but, as you may have seen, I know "the theory".

 

I took ONE advil yesterday and ONE today. I had a major headache and tylenol did nothing. That's it other than birth control pills and xanax every so often like 1/2 -1 every few days and I haven't had one of those in days.

 

have you found that life is still ok now? I mean you have had it since 2008.

 

I get spikes, but they always quiet back down. The only time I ever had a spike that lasted a long time is when it was fueled by anxiety. I'm pretty sure everyone's T quiets back down eventually as long as they get it under control. The brain adapts and as long as you don't see it as a threat it will get bored with the sound and it gets quiet again. You can lose 80 percent of your hearing and it will be loud, and then the brain adapts and it gets quiet again.

Believe it or not, but when you have it that long and that is all you know, you just don't care anymore.

Be careful, as too much anxiety for too long will also give you H.

As Dana said, you must toughen up. Fear and anxiety will not help you get better and ironically they just make things a lot worst.

 

Thank you. that is exactly what i need to hear. I do have a bit of H but that is more manageable than the T. I know from experience I can be more in control of that.

 

I wouldn't sweat about the Advil. I took two a day last week to combat some really bad elbow tedonitis and it didn't affect my tinnitus at all.

I think you just have to get to a point, mentally, where you find tinnitus an annoyance rather than something worrisome. That's kind of where I'm at right now with T. It's as loud as ever but it no longer makes me shake in fear. It no longer has me in a tight grip of anxiety. Many people reach this stage of acceptance when it comes to T. It just takes time.

Hang in there Marie.

 

Hi... several years ago I took a large dose of motrin and my T absolutely exploded and never returned to its previous state. Had I known that NSAIDs were ototoxic, I would have never taken the motrin. I have researched this issue a lot and it appears that it is very unusual for salicylate-induced tinnitus (stemming from NSAIDs) to persist. Regardless, it is a stark reality for me and I am now extra-vigilant concerning what I put into my body.

For some time after the T explosion, I suffered from some depression and anxiety. It literally felt like I was going through the entire experience all over again. I could not even go to sleep without prescription meds. However.. fast-forward to today... and although my T has not gotten better, I have completely rebounded and live a normal, happy, and medication-free life. Sure... having T sucks... it's not fun... but the impact that it has in my daily life is very insignificant. There is no discernable difference in the quality of my life compared to those without T.

Whether your spike persists or not... you will be fine.

 

Mine goes up and down all day, every day. It was really quiet though for several hours and I stopped noticing it for the first time for most of last weekend, but over the past couple of days it has been quite a lot worse and has been really intrusive all day today, so I've been pretty depressed. I just have to keep telling myself that it will go down again.

I keep hoping that this is a nightmare and I'll wake up one day and it's all over - sadly, almost 2 years since it first started, that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

What do you take for pain killers? Tylenol is useless for me. I have to get my wisdom tooth extracted next week. Also is the lydocain autotoxic?

 

It depends on the source. I've seen lidocaine listed as ototoxic in some places, yet not in others. I do not consider it to be ototoxic in the same way as NSAIDs (Advil, Motrin, etc), which in my opinion, should come with a warning label and it's a crime it does not. For what it is worth, I personally have had my fair share of lidocaine and have never had a problem.

Keep in mind, the majority of drug-induced cases of tinnitus resolve after the medication is stopped. Considering your lidocaine is just a one-time thing, I personally wouldn't worry at all. Now, if you had to take lidocaine every day for 3 months, that would be a different story. As far as pain-killers go, I avoid most drugs unless it's absolutely necessary, and in that case I will either take Tylenol or tell the doctor to prescribe me something that is not ototoxic. Also, if you must take an NSAID, there are a large number of tinnitus sufferers who claim it does not affect their tinnitus. Maybe you could experiment and start with the lowest dose and gradually work your way up until you find a safe threshold....?

Not sure if this will work, but I will attempt to attach a PDF that is a pretty good resource of ototoxic medication.