I'm Freaking Out, Barely Slept — Tinnitus Became Louder

I don't know why. Please help me figure out why.

I think my tinnitus became louder. Yesterday I drove my car for a little bit.

Tried on noise canceling headphones without earplugs underneath for a half hour while doing some driving and some running on exercise machines.

The tinnitus is in my right ear but I had a headphone around my left ear.

I'm maybe a week or two in and I've never had trouble sleeping really.

I take anti-anxiety meds and there is a chance that when they wore off I just woke right up, but I don't know.

It feels louder. I'm scared. I just want to hide at home and never do anything again.

 

Sometime exercise can increase tinnitus. I noticed that when I went to the gym for a week and I've seen others say the same. Anti anxiety meds might also cause it and I'd stay the f**k away from headphones [except Neuromod ones perhaps]

 

I fell asleep at 4 and woke up at 7. Now I can’t get back. What if the rest of my life is like this?

I used an over ear headphone on my non tinnitus ear.

I also take Alprazolam. Last night I took extra. Maybe that’s bad.

 

@SecretDoubleCat, I don’t want to sound like I’m stating the obvious but you are being crippled by anxiety. It’s early days for you and this is the time when tinnitus can be all over the place as well as one’s thoughts and emotions.

 

I take Depakote every night (valproic acid). As a mood stabilizer. Have been doing that for over a decade. I don’t want to change but what if it is a problem?

How do you fall back to sleep?

 

I use a sound machine and a fan. When mine spikes at night I walk around my house doing breathing exercises to calm me down. After a while I'm tired and I go back to bed. I do it when my sleep is disturbed. I hope it helps you.

 

Hi. After a couple hours I fell back to sleep. I’m okay. I just want the T to be more quiet.

 

If you're in a heightened state of anxiety and not sleeping well, then your sensory system is being amped up by your fight-or-flight wiring. This will make all unpleasant stimuli (pain, tinnitus, whatever) seem worse.

You need to find a way to be calmer inside your own body, which in turn will allow you to return to more normal sleep, which ought to go some ways towards making you feel better.

 

@linearb Hug. Thank you. It's so scary.

 

Do you guys know anything about when your T ear feels like "full" or stuffed up? sometimes, like right now, it feels that way. I don't know what it does or mean or anything.

 

I got some ear fullness when I first got my tinnitus. I haven't felt it since the first few weeks. As far as I know it's a result of losing some hearing. Since some sounds aren't as loud as they used to be, your brain figures there must be something muffling the sound. Hence it feels like a piece of cotton is in there.

 

Yep, the stuffy feeling is what I have too. Feels like my right ear is completely plugged. Of course it's not. Like others have said, your T is in early stages. Don't think that this is it from here on out. When I got mine a few weeks ago it was horrible and I thought no way can I live like this. I literally broke down. Three weeks into it I am already learning to live with it (which has the effect that it is not as bad as it was). Your mental attitude going forward is paramount. It's way too early to panic.

 

when this happens to me it usually relates to muscle tension in the muscles around the ear and jaw. You might want to get assessed for TMJ?