How Do I Lower Stress So My Tinnitus Isn't as Bad, When Tinnitus Is CAUSING the Stress?

It's such a catch-22 and I'm going crazy trying to get a hold of this whole situation.

The more I try try to relax, the more I think "I need to lower this tinnitus spike! Will it go down this time? Did I mess myself up somehow and make it worse???"

What REALLY sucks is that a LOT of my stress comes from noise at work. Not loud noise, but annoying things. Like the guy that taps on his keyboard like he's trying to break it, or the woman cackling on the phone across the cubicle farm. I've gotten to the point where hearing almost ANYTHING coming from a human being at work stresses me out and brings out anger (that I keep inside). It might be because of this that I got the tinnitus in the first place. I was listening to white noise all day long. I didn't think it was too loud, but not I have tinnitus. Although my ENT thinks the tinnitus comes from slight hearing loss in my left ear that comes from a viral infection.

So I don't want to hurt my ears further by playing white noise to drown people out, but then I'm stressed hearing them and the STRESS spikes my tinnitus.

I'm just at a loss.

Thanks for any advice.

 

I first got tinnitus while working. What helped at work and at home was listening to music via a music app such as Spotify or Pandora. I was never into New Age but found it quite comforting at the time.

 

I just tell myself that someday I will die and tinnitus will go with it (this particular part I really like , that I don't want my last moments to be about regrets. I don't want to look back with the realization that I didn't spend enough time doing things I enjoy but rather stressing over things I can't control.That always makes me feel instantly better.

 

I know what you mean about the anger of other noises and things not helping. It's extremely annoying to get worked up by stuff like that and then have to deal with your own tinnitus and things. Best thing you can do is figure out why it bothers you and then build a mentality where it doesn't affect you anymore, guess that goes the same for tinnitus, but it's easier with external sound I think. Learning to build peace of mind through the need to have peace of mind is kind of a bitch but that's how it seems to go.

If you're not sure if the white noise was part of the problem, I'd say use it and whatever masking helps you feel calmer and deal with whatever. I thought for sure my tinnitus came from loud music and headphones, maybe it was part of the problem, but I can still use them from time to time at lower volumes and I'm fine. But I sure as shit know that stress, anxiety and trauma magnifies the problem a ton.

 

Unfortunately, I have to say that my patience has declined since getting tinnitus.

 

If you have hearing loss, I would suggest to go to a hearing aid place and have them program a demo hearing aid for you based on your audiogram and see if you can't hear your tinnitus or if it "reduces" it.

 

Good suggestion. I'll try this if the injections or MRI don't pan out. I'm also going to look into some type of massage therapy and counseling.

UPDATE

After the last few days I'm certain a LOT of this is connected to my stress levels.


When I was practicing my piano, I was SO tired of wearing ear protection. I just took it out and played my heart out. My ringing did NOT spike.


Then I started talking to my wife about a stressful subject, and my T DID spike.


Another example: I played piano at church and it spiked a bit during practice, because I was nervous about a complicated part. And it continued to spike in an overwhelming group social setting. But later I had a really fun conversation with a friend I feel very at ease with, and laughed really hard. Afterwords I noticed my T was at it’s very lowest.


This this morning I’m not going to overthink it and just listen to some good music at work. I’m not going to beat myself up. It’s normal to block out noise at work. People in the office can be stressful, and it’s OK to protect myself from it when I can.