I'm Curious, Did Most of You Have Depression or Anxiety Problems Before Tinnitus?

I had problems with depression swings and anxiety issues before tinnitus. I used to take Klonopin to lower tinnitus after I got it and then started taking it regularly. Slowly but surely after a few years my hearing worsened and my ringing became louder. Klonopin no longer lowered the ringing and I had really bad depression issues. (I would highly discourage long term Klonopin usage, though I am no doctor). Some days I accept the tinnitus and it is no big deal and other days its bad. Right now I am taking a medication that I hope will help even out some of the mood swings so I will have to see if it helps. What I am basically wondering is, if part of the problem of coping sometimes lies with either hormones or brain function where we sometimes have trouble accepting the tinnitus. I think I have definitely made progress but due to my background way before tinnitus in mood swings I think it makes it harder than the large majority of people that have tinnitus and don't let it bother them in the least (like my mom for instance).

 

Hope you start to feel more positive as your medication kicks in.
Talking therapy is good and works on regaining confidence and coping skills and they both together help in a positive move forward in coping with tinnitus......lots of love glynis

I went through depression and came out stronger and no longer a sad withdrawn person ....

 

This question kind of came up on this thread just yesterday...

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/is-tinnitus-a-psychosomatic-disease.8876/#post-165454

 

I personally didn't have those king of issues before T. I've seen some research correlating depression with T, but who knows. After talking to some doctors and researchers, I think there are a lot more thinks we don't know than we know about this condition. Just don't kick yourself too much when you're feeling down.

 

No not at all. I had everything a guy could ask for, i was very happy. Now that I have T and H I know depression quite well.

 

^^ same as above.
No depression or anxiety issues - or any other health related issue whatsoever, no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking, no acoustic trauma, pretty balanced and healthy lifestyle.
And one morning, woke up with tinnitus.
Got dealt a bad hand I suppose. Go figure.
Don't over think it. The best advice for tinnitus is that lame old ENT saying. "Live with it".
After almost 2 years of of not accepting that simple truth and trying pretty much any cure, substance and God knows what other crap out there, I've come to terms with a reality as old as the universe itself - plain old bad luck.

 

No, life was grand. T does not discriminate.
Always been a pensative, melancholic fellow, but T gave me a taste of what true anxiety/depression is like.

 

Im always curious about people where it came out of no where. I encountered some serious ear damage through barotrauma and then ototoxicity, lost a lot of hearing. Is yours bad? Do you have H as well? Hearing loss? It's hard to imagine that this can come out of no where but obviously it can. Just curious mate

 

I had MASSIVE anxiety issues. Massive. And was always a little depressed. After getting T I was really depressed. but I know for sure that my T is 100% noise induced

 

I think what you mean is, "I know my T started[or got louder] right when I heard loud noises". That does not disprove that anxiety played a significant role. If you were competely without anxiety, would you still have the same level of tinnitus in response to those same noises?
Unless you have a time machine and some meds, the only way to know that is to find out which theory of tinnitus is correct.
Noise is almost always what people point to as the cause of their tinnitus, because it started in tandem with sound X,Y, or Z, but even if you had hearing loss, that doesn't necessarily mean that the T would be raging like it is if you had no anxiety.

 

i had a major Anxiety problem for about 6 months
before T

 

No problems. Stress from trying to start a new business in addition to the one I already have, but never had a problem with anxiety. Depression about 20 years ago, but it was short-lived.

Depressed now with having to abandon the new enterprise because I couldn't concentrate, plus I'm unable to work at the audio transcription job I already had for the last 30 years.

 

@JasonP

Yes. Dude I have stressed beyond stress before my T started. Worrying about this and that. Not getting good sleep. Started vaping my ecigs like crazy and worried that my life isn't going where I want it to. So I do feel that it def contributed to my T coming back after 4 years of not having it. We got your back though. I need the encouragement just as bad as the next guy. We will get through this crap!

 

Interesting article which touches on that issue. It's also been discussed on this forum.

 

Hm, I've been wondering about this as well and to me there's a very clear connection. I suffered from ptsd a few years ago, that's when the T first showed up (albeit in a stage wäre I was getting Vetter already). After a while I tot used to it, though it never really went away. And now, throughout fall and Winter, depression kicked in again - and so did my T.
It's kinda weird, I was just not sure it it might come from the ADs I am taking and if it really was louder vor not...but I'm almost certain now that my brain just, I dunno, couldn't cope with it while it was in that state?
Now I view my T as an indicator, the more I hear it, the worse my condition is atm - but the T is not the reason for this, but rather a symptom of an underlying condition.

I hope that kinda made sense

 

yes I had and have

- depressed mood
- generalized anxiety disorder
- psychosis (not anymore because i take medication for it)

 

I consider it bad.
I mean, I hear it over almost everything during the bad days, shower excluded. On good days, it's masked by everyday noises so at least that's something. Good days are in short supply though.
No H, as in no ear pain or any feeling of discomfort, but the T is quite reactive. The reactivity never bothers me.
Hearing is pretty normal for my age (39), 10-20 db loss up to 15KHz, then a progressive drop up to 40-50db towards 18KHz.

 

I did not have problems with anxiety and depression before sudden hearing loss and tinnitus changed my life. I do not suffer from anxiety or depression now. However, I was extremely anxious and sunk very low for at least a year after my ear injury. I flat out wanted to die.
It seems like you are caught in a viscous cycle....anxiety increases tinnitus and tinnitus increases anxiety. I hope things get better for you, Jason.

 

@undecided, how did you test your hearing up to 18khz?

 

ENT doctor in China told me that stress and anxiety causes circulation problems around the brain area.

when I was diagnosed with sudden hearing loss he asked me if I was stressed out.

my dog was diagnosed with devastating IVDD which has completely stressed me out over the past month. Pretty sure that has something to do with it. Also, heavy smoking constricts blood vessels. Was told to cut down or quit smoking

 

There are certain ENTs and hospitals who perform such a test (it was actually up to 16KHz, typing error).
I did a bit of research, a couple of phonecalls and found a place. Not covered by my insurance so it was a private visit (150 euros), but it turned out to be a neuro-otologist with quite a bit of knowledge so it was worth it. He also had me do a a tympanogram and a thorough videonystagmography test to rule out any inner ear damage.
Didn't find anything of interest but it was certainly money well spent.

Testing up to 8KHz is just sloppy if you ask me. We're not living in the '50s.

 

The problem i'm facing is similar to that of yours,accepting the Tinnitus is very conscious decision making.My brain however disagrees with my decision,yeah try to explain that to either an audiologist or psychiatrist.
I have mentioned this to both and they wanted to go trough the literature to find a connection while there is not much conclusive evidence of it having a connection.

 

Apparently they're,i'm still trying to figure out why an audiologist would ask me " what good would that do? " concerning high frequency testing.It sounds very dismissive to me and something they rather not do.

 

Well, testing up to 16KHz would require two times the effort and time on their part, so they would effectively be reducing their customer number by 50%.
So yeah, I guess they are going to try and avoid it. 99% of them probably don't have the necessary equipment in any case, so...

 

audiologists don't really exist to treat tinnitus - their equipment is there to assist people with hearing aids. similarly, lens crafters doesn't sell night vision glasses. audiologists that specialize in tinnitus do test that high.

 

I think this may be overstated. I had several conversations about this exact topic with an audiological researcher who has a lot of experience with animal and human models of tinnitus, including a lot of work where they induced tinnitus in animal populations. Her take was that when you subject a given group of animals to the same noise trauma, a reliable percentage of them end up with the behavioral correlates of tinnitus, and psychological/stress factors seem to play a very, very small part in that. It's mechanical/genetic.

 

Yes, I was always an anxious person, but could function well in the society and never had to take medication to keep it in check. I did go through a traumatic event just before I developed T. Also, my T brought all my anxiety out in the open and I could see it clearly that how anxious I am as a person. I am taking anti anxiety right now and it helps. I am hoping I do not have to take this long term. Mita

 

I actually had clinical anhedonia, but it didn't seem to be caused by depression (I know if you look it up it will say it's a symptom of depression). I do think I'm likely predisposed to getting tinnitus having sensitive hearing and some misophonia.

 

Yes I experienced depression and anxiety before T for sure and was very stressed before getting it
I am OCD since childhood and manage to live with it before my recent onset of T but now Im really a mess and relapse big time

 

Never had any sort of mental health issues prior to tinnitis. I did develop depression/anxiety many years afterwards & had been admitted to psychiatric hospital for a short time. My anxiety has gone & depression is medically managed daily.