Hello from Hudson

Well, I'll give you a backstory.

I first got tinnitus from a rock concert (maybe several, but it was one where I really noticed it). When I was 17, I attended a Staind concert. We were decently close to the speaker on the left side. Anyway, I had tinnitus for about 3 days after in my left ear. It rang in a pretty solid and annoying way. After that, it kind of dissipated and became this static noise inside my head that was fairly quite. It bothered me for a while, and I eventually habituated to it and it did not bother me anymore. Recently, (I'm 27 now) I went to Nashville, TN with my girlfriend and a couple friends. We went to a few live music shows (I wore ear plugs) and none of them were very loud anyway. We did go to the Coyote Ugly bar they have there in Nashville and there was no live band, but there was some relatively loud music in there. I didn't think we'd be in there long and I did not put in my ear plugs even though now in retrospect I should have. When we left I did notice my ears sounded a tiny bit muffled, but that went away pretty quick. For the next week or so I wasn't bothered by my tinnitus, it didn't seem like it was any louder or that anything was wrong.

Anyway, the last couple nights before I moved out of my old place I started worrying about my ears. Then I moved and I've been having the lovely terrible tinnitus anxiety ever since, about a month now. I don't know if the sound is a bit louder, or if my worrying has made me more aware of it. Either way, I've entered into the cycle of worrying about the tinnitus, which makes me more aware of it, which makes me convinced in my mind that I may have indeed made it louder... and on and on. I've been habitually checking up on Tinnitus research and forums which I'm sure doesn't make things any better. I have taken a half of my sister's clonazepam pills a couple nights... which either calms me down and makes me aware of it less or lessens the tinnitus. I don't know.

I went to the doctor and he prescribed me buspirone which is a GAD anxiety med. I specifically asked for something that was not ototoxic. I've got an appointment with a psychotherapist, and several more scheduled I think, and he says he's treated tinnitus patients before. I keep telling myself that even if I have worsened it a bit (it just seems a bit more high pitched, slightly more noticeable I guess) that I will have to accept it and I will habituate to it in time like I did before. I've got an appointment with the ENT tomorrow. I had an audiogram in January done because my tinnitus spiked over night (couldn't figure out why, I freaked out and went to the ENT) and my hearing was between +0-10 for all frequencies up to 8 khz, where it was at about +15 maybe for my left ear. They claim that's "normal" hearing, so I hope I haven't worsened that in any way. I suppose I'll see.

Either way I hate this panicking. It's a return to the year of panic that I had when I was 17 when I originally got my tinnitus. I can feel it all flooding back to me. When I had gotten over the tinnitus after the first year, I remember thinking "God, what was I freaking out about so much, I should have just chilled out." Now I know how stupid looking back on a state of anxiety like that is. I had no control (or very little control) over it then, as I do now. No matter how much I keep telling myself A) The stress you're putting yourself under is either making it worse or making it seem worse and you'll feel better after a while, or B) You indeed made it a little bit worse, but you'll habituate to a slightly higher pitched sound too.

I started taking Vit E, Magnesium, Revesterol, Ginko Bilboa, some Ear Health circulation pill from Walgreens, Acetl-l-Carintine, Alpha-Lipolic acid, and some conezyme q- 10 or whatever.

I had picked up smoking cigars/cigarettes a bit since my dad died last April, and I've cut back to just puffing on a cigar in the morning and when I get back from work now because of what I've read regarding it's affects on inner ear circulation. I'm going to quit smoking for good because it's not going to help me in any way, it's just a comforting thing when I'm having a panic attack. :/

tl;dr

Can a severe stress attack spike your tinnitus? Can tinnitus go back to it's old "low" level after a month or two or three? Anyone ever had that happen? I know everyone is different. The one comforting thing though now is that there's actually some real clinical research being done on human patients regarding tinnitus these days. I'm sure I don't have it as bad as some people, from what I read. So I should count my blessings on that end. But at the end of the day, reading those things just makes me thing "this is just going to get worse for the rest of my life".

p.s. I'm also prone to anxiety lol

 

Hello Hudson,

I have experienced the exact same thing as you did few times now and I'm quite sure it's exclusively caused by stress and anxiety. Since my T started I tended to avoid loud places but due to my occupation it's rather impossible so I had to expose myself to loud noises again eventually.

One of the louder experiences was a large gig in august last year. Even though I had ear monitors (something like earplugs) AND earmuffs I was still very afraid I might make my tinnitus worse and guess what, it appeared to be louder for a week or so. I would listen to my tinnitus every 15 minutes to test if it's gotten louder or not. In the end, it didn't.

Then there was Muse concert in november. I had hearing protection again and still can tell you, it was ridiculously loud. Probably the loudest gig I've experienced. Can't imagine people could survive this without earplugs. And again, did my tinnitus get worse? No. Was I worried it did get worse? Yes!

As hard as it sounds, you need to calm down, your tinnitus did not get worse. Human brain is a very strong weapon we can turn against ourselves... IF you convince yourself your tinnitus has gotten worse, you will indeed experience more stress and anxiety related to it. Tinnitus, after all, is not the bothersome noise. It's our negative perception of it. Once you change your attitude towards it, it will stop bothering you and you will also stop noticing it. That's what habituation is. And I'm well on my way towards it personally. I wish you the same

Stay strong

 

I'm not an expert, but I think there is no question that stress can make tinnitus worse. That has been my experience and that of so many people I've communicated with on the subject. Recognize also, and I don't want scare you, that severe stress (should be called distress) can indeed cause permanant tinnitus. As theories go, this can be due to damage to the cochlea from blood flow changes (stress clearly can increase blood pressure), or brain changes. My point is that taking care of your mental health is as important as physical health. Allow yourself what you need to relieve anxiety. Since anxiety over health issues is particularly tough, it is a good idea to find a doctor that you can talk to, who recognizes the damage that distress can cause, and can provide you the information you need about medical issues when you need it so you can avoid getted distressed by the absence of good information. this for you may mean finding the right ENT. That's a tall order, I know. I keep looking for that right physician for myself, and have yet to find him or her.