How to Manage Reactive Tinnitus Setback?

[Paulie87]

Hi All,

I've been dealing with tinnitus for almost 16 years now. The first six months were hell, but I eventually habituated to it. Since then, I've had a few flare-ups, but nothing that lasted more than a month or so.

I was diagnosed with Ménière's in 2016 after experiencing dizziness, and I developed a new low-frequency tinnitus that reacted to sounds. Thankfully, this low-frequency tinnitus eventually settled down a lot.

For about seven years, I wasn't overly bothered by tinnitus until this May. I went to a concert wearing musicians' earplugs and took them out for a few songs, but I didn't think it was a big deal at the time. Afterwards, I struggled with bad tinnitus for about a month and also developed a Lorazepam addiction, which was very hard to stop.

The tinnitus returned to baseline about a month ago and I assumed things were better. I hadn't done anything reckless or exposed myself to very loud noise, but last Sunday, out of nowhere, my tinnitus became loud again and started reacting to external sounds. I got extremely stressed, and it triggered some kind of fight or flight response. Each day I woke up wanting to die, and I noticed my tinnitus was low in the morning but would get significantly worse as the day went on.

I'm reaching out to ask how others manage reactive tinnitus, since the usual masking techniques don't work for me and instead make the tinnitus ramp up. The stress is unbearable, and I know it isn't helping. A few days ago, I got so overwhelmed that I attempted an overdose on Orphenadrine (a muscle relaxer) and ended up in the hospital. I'm now dealing with the withdrawals from that, 48 hours later.

I have a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids, and I don't want to lose them. But I feel my anxiety around this condition is pulling me into a very dark place, especially when the tinnitus is reactive and even ramps up with something as ordinary as traffic noise. I just can't seem to escape it.

 

[mandyc]

I hear you. I'm sorry to hear you took an overdose. I get how you feel. My reactive tinnitus is triggered by traffic noise, wind, bird calls, and aeroplanes flying overhead, and you're right, there's no escape or peace from it. I also experience a burning sensation on my scalp, and I struggle to sleep. People do a lot of DIY near me, and my nerves are on edge all the time with lawnmowers going, dogs barking, and saws going. It's relentless. All medications seem to exacerbate the tinnitus. I don't know what to do either, as I feel suicidal too.

 

[RattleKat]

When you say reactive, do you mean your baseline tinnitus jumps up to compete with external sounds, stays elevated after, or a different sound is generated on top of external sounds? If it's the last one, you may have dysacusis.

After 20 years of stable tinnitus whilst still playing in rock bands, mine became reactive after playing a very loud gig 2 years ago, but it also triggered dysacusis, so all white noise, such as fans, water, traffic, wind, etc, produces tonal beeps and whistles in addition to my regular tinnitus.

No one seems to understand the mechanism for reactive tinnitus/dysacusis very well. However, as you pointed out, stress appears to play a significant role.

Is your Meniere's unilateral, as is most often the case? And does this reactive tinnitus affect one or both ears?

 

[BuzzyBee]

I hear you. I'm sorry to hear you took an overdose. I get how you feel. My reactive tinnitus is triggered by traffic noise, wind, bird calls, and aeroplanes flying overhead, and you're right, there's no escape or peace from it. I also experience a burning sensation on my scalp, and I struggle to sleep. People do a lot of DIY near me, and my nerves are on edge all the time with lawnmowers going, dogs barking, and saws going. It's relentless. All medications seem to exacerbate the tinnitus. I don't know what to do either, as I feel suicidal too.

Ditto. My neighbors just love their leaf blowers, too. Can't even walk in the neighborhood anymore.

No one seems to understand the mechanism for reactive tinnitus/dysacusis very well. However, as you pointed out, stress appears to play a significant role.

Honestly, my tinnitus will react to something like going into a store (not stressful) and then stay elevated until the next day. Or maybe the stressor is just the hearing loss I have, but sometimes I can be completely "un-stressed" and it will just start out of nowhere. But mostly it is reactive to fans, sizzling, running water, HVAC.

 

[Jupiterman]

I think reactive tinnitus is caused by damage-beyond-damage.

Your brain hears a lot of different frequencies from 'traffic-noise'. The brain is perhaps filling in the spaces for the numerous frequencies you have lost hearing, hence the reaction.

This is similar to how the blindspot in your eye works.

 

[Paulie87]

No one seems to understand the mechanism for reactive tinnitus/dysacusis very well. However, as you pointed out, stress appears to play a significant role.

Is your Meniere's unilateral, as is most often the case? And does this reactive tinnitus affect one or both ears?

The stress certainly made it a lot worse. It sounds to me like the tinnitus increases with external sounds and then returns to normal soon after they stop. The Meniere's is unilateral in my left ear only, and it appears the reactive tinnitus affects my left ear. I've considered wearing an earplug in that ear permanently; however, I'd still likely experience the base tinnitus.

I used to experience whistling and other noises, as you mentioned; however, those have mostly gone away.

 

[Paulie87]

I think reactive tinnitus is caused by damage-beyond-damage.

Your brain hears a lot of different frequencies from 'traffic-noise'. The brain is perhaps filling in the spaces for the numerous frequencies you have lost hearing, hence the reaction.

This is similar to how the blindspot in your eye works.

This is exactly what my ENT has told me. He said that even though my hearing isn't poor, it's not perfect due to Meniere's, & he believes it's the reason why I refer to it as reactive tinnitus & hyperacusis fluctuates a lot, as my brain is filling in frequencies.

Interestingly, yesterday I couldn't even listen to music without my tinnitus reacting, and today I was able to listen to the same music with no issues, so I'm sure there is fluctuation happening in my hearing.