I'm Travis, My Tinnitus Is 10/10 — Please Send Good Vibes and Advice

Is there any hope for my tinnitus level to go down!? It's screaming loud and causing me a lot of distress. Here is my story. Sorry for the long ramble. Picture of my wonderful partner for fun included.

I started noticing tinnitus in October after I got the first Moderna COVID-19 vaccination in late September... maybe just a coincidence!?

As I have never been told to protect my ears, I've been to concerts and a lot of bars.

The tinnitus got worse in January after a loud noise exposure and then another loud noise exposure two weeks ago on April 10th (I wore Eargasm earplugs that didn't protect my hearing enough and there was loud music.)

My tinnitus is now such a high loud pitch that I can't mask it and can't sleep at all. It feels painful in my head and so hard to concentrate or redirect focus to anything.

I am going to go back to work in two days and see if I can power through, but any stress sends me into a panic. I feel so stupid and have lost my life I feel.

I stopped drinking and smoking when this all started and have had some really dark thoughts, but I have a wonderful girlfriend and family supporting me.

Is there hope that my tinnitus will go back down in time? The ENT said they have hope for me because I don't have any hearing loss after they did a hearing test today, even though I feel I have high pitched hearing loss.

Wish I could fast forward to 1 year out and see if it'll be tolerable.

I've been prescribed Gabapentin and Valium by an ENT to try to help me make it to the tinnitus evaluation they have setup for me on May 5th with an audiologist, but I hate taking drugs. They also tried to tell me to go to a mental hospital because they could see I was in a ton of distress.

I have a meeting with Bruce Hubbard on the 27th of this month and just running out of hope to live with this. I am currently in a huge spike that has my head ringing so bad that I don't know what to do. No sleep at all. This is killing me. I can't believe it's so loud that it's buzzing in my brain. Catastrophic feeling. I guess I have reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis.

My jaw also feels tight a lot and I'm worried I grind my teeth in my sleep so I have been wearing a mouth guard.

I feel like my life is over and scared of the panic this new level of tinnitus has brought.

Love y'all, thank you for sharing and caring. We will win this fight!

 

Hi @Travis Henry -- I would highly recommend you check out this link, and spend an hour or more watching some of the videos by the guy who's videos I linked to. All the Best...

 

I know the feeling about wishing I could travel 12 months or even a few years down the line to see how this all plays out.

I too have screaming loud intrusive tinnitus that is un-maskable and can easily be heard over everything including showers and driving my car. In fact, I don't quite understand what maskable tinnitus is because I assumed everyone who had it had it this bad.

It's been a couple of months for me so far since my noise trauma (like you, I never thought to protect my ears despite being militant about other sorts of health protections) and things are changing all the time - things like tones appearing in ears, then going away, then coming back again, then the loudness changing, then sometimes I can 'feel' the noise and sometimes it actually hurts my inner-ear and gives me 10/10 bad headaches. Just today, for example, a particular tone came back in my left ear having not been there for a few days and now my right ear is physically buzzing away again along with the screaming noise.

It's only been a few weeks for you, and a few months since January - I wouldn't assume anything is permanent just yet. I'm fairly new to this unfortunate 'club' but from what I have read, you can expect all sorts of fluctuations over the first few months/years as things settle in and your brain deals with the influx of new information coming from your ears. Hold onto that if things turn for the worse.

One thing that has helped me survive so far (and each and every hour of every day I get through is a victory at the moment) is the thought that the only time that actually exists is now. It's easy to get caught up worrying about the future but ultimately the future doesn't exists - only now does. Note: I know this is easier said that done, and I'm always worrying about the future, so pot kettle black...

For times when you do start worrying about the future, I try to remember that science is changing all the time and we are entering a new era of computing power. Who knows, perhaps in 10, 15, 20, 25 years time we'll have figured this thing out and have a treatment. You look fairly young like me, so all sorts of treatments might be available in our life and we might get to experience the beauty of silence again.

You've probably read all the stuff about protecting but not overprotecting your ears etc.

The other thing is sleep, which is probably pretty impossible right now. It is for me too. However, I find that if I can get a few hours sleep the tinnitus tends to drop in volume a bit. How do you get sleep when you have a fire alarm going off in your head? I tend to try and knock myself out with sleep meds and/or Valium at the moment. Usually means I can get at least a bit of a rest from the noise. Not sure if you are able to get some strong tranquilizers that might give you at least a few hours of respite?

The final thing I will say is about your partner. Cherish that. I put my relationship under massive strain the past couple of months because I went into complete isolation and denial and as a result my wonderful girlfriend has had a really hard time of it. I wish someone had told me that I needed to put her first, even when I was feeling my absolute worst and wanted out of the world.

Good luck brother. Hang in there. Your life isn't over.

 

Thank you so much for your reply. I am going to try to take care of my lady as much as possible. This is just so brutally loud ringing. I can't understand it. It's like a fire alarm going off in my head. I don't want to take drugs at all, but man, a Valium during the day might just have to happen.

 

One day at a time man. That’s all you can do right now.

I would take the Valium if you can get a hold of some. For me, it really helps me calm down and takes some of the edge off the shear panic and claustrophobic feelings you are probably experiencing right now.

I don’t know if you can get it over in the US, but there are some antihistamines that have a fairly good sedative effect that are non-addictive and available over the counter here - might be worth exploring those too.

Hopefully that fire alarm decides to calm down soon and you see a positive change in the noise. For now though, good luck.

 

I'm not sure how long I can suffer with this. Everyone is telling me to think positive but it's so hard with a fire alarm going off in your head.

 

Weekly benzo use got me through the rough patch and still helps me maintain sanity.

 

Do what you need to do to get by and sleep. Take the Valium if you need it. This is truthfully survival mode.

It is good news you have no measurable hearing loss.

Dr. Hubbard is great. He has been there.

I have very high pitched tinnitus. I hear it over everything so I get it. It gets quieter and almost in remission for periods of time and then bam, right back to screeching like last night after a fairly quiet weekend. Go figure. So what I have is likely age related high frequency hearing loss above and beyond what is usually measured on an audiogram, and some TMJ and head and neck issues just for good measure. I have been in physical therapy and it’s helped.

Lastly, I will leave you with this. I developed tinnitus in 2015 after a very loud AC/DC concert. It lasted almost 2 years. But I didn’t have any measurable hearing loss. And it went away. It stayed away for about three years until I had, what the doctors think with an ischemic event in my left ear. I developed some mild hearing loss and associated tinnitus which ultimately resolved as my hearing recovered.

There is hope!

 

So driving makes tinnitus spike!? Jeezus this is whack. Does it make it permanently worse? I just can't believe how limiting this is.

 

Hi Travis, sounds very much like you're in tinnitus crisis, I know exactly what that feels like and how, frankly, terrifying it is.

Hopefully the ringing will subside to a more tolerable level over time and you'll adjust. Your brain will start to filter the tinnitus out bit by bit but it can take a while.

I agree with the advice about one day at a time. Don't think about the rest of your life just the here and now. I personally think taking up mindfulness meditation saved my life in the first few months.

There will hopefully be new treatments in the next year or two that could help. Look up the thread on here regarding Dr. Susan Shore.

I bought a device called LENIRE that improved my symptoms, I had 8 tinnitus sounds and now have 2, though this treatment has a lot of detractors and mileage may vary. I also have some unique sound therapy that I got from Dr. Will Sedley who is a doctor / researcher from the UK that had helped me further, there's a thread on here about that if you use the search function.

Supplements may help a little bit, I have tried all sorts and settled on Magnesium and Turmeric / Curcumin.

As for the here and now I'd force yourself to meditate just anchor your attention to your breath and when your attention wanders or is distressed by the tinnitus just nudge your attention back to your breathing. It's brutally hard in the beginning but trust me it will help if you stubbornly persist.

There's lots of good advice on here if you take the time to sift through it. You're not alone and I firmly believe you'll be ok but it can be a very tough journey.

I've had tinnitus for over three years now and was in absolute misery for a year. Yesterday I'll barely noticed my tinnitus at all, that's not to say it's not there or that I don't have bad days but I do experience relief which three years ago I just couldn't fathom I thought my life was destroyed, I'm still here and I'm ok, you will be to.

Hang on brother.

 

I had mentioned before that someone very close to me oversaw medical complaints for a large COVID-19 vaccine program. The first shot didn't cause many to experience hearing loss or tinnitus, but the second shot and booster did. Government statistics on this are not truthful - our opinion.

All had a few things in common. Inactivity - most of all, those that do a lot of sitting, history of stress and anxiety and previous noise exposure.

What might help is to be a little more active, protect from loud noise and see a MD for physical examination and well-being.

Hug.

 

The sounds in this video blocks the tinnitus sound for me and helps me concentrate or get a little reprieve.

Some people hate it, and it takes getting used to, but it may work for you like it does me.

Just be sure to turn your speaker volume to zero, then click the link, turn the video volume to zero, then turn your speaker volume up one notch, then very slowly adjust the video volume up just to the point where it overtakes the tinnitus volume.

4 Hours of High Pitched Tinnitus...

 

Ya, driving for some is a no go. I can't drive even with earplugs.

 

That’s pretty common and no it’s not permanent, just a spike.

 

How do you get anywhere?

I got a job and a house and car to pay for. Eeek. If my hyperacusis persists much longer, I will lose my job and have to sell my house to pay all my debts. Thankfully it's worth more than what I owe so I could maybe go buy some land out far away from everyone. Ugh. Or I'll just finish building my 40 ft bus home I got out back and rent my master bedroom out.

Seems like all sounds hurt at the moment.

 

Thank you for the kind words. This has been so hard and it seems to have only gotten worse. My life is on hold at the moment. I'm not giving up and trying hard to avoid the dark thoughts but this is such a high pitched noise that it is almost vibrating in my head today. Having a hard time finding anything that doesn't spike it.

 

Thank you all for talking to me.

You all have a friend and brother in me to the end and beyond.

 

Pretty much only do short trips to the store and back. How I made a living was driving so it's been tough.

 

@Travis Henry, sorry to hear about your struggle. I am in a similar situation. Trying TRT but it is hard to get going with reactive tinnitus. At least I can do sound enrichment for some hours a day. Hope for our best recovery!

 

@BigNick, thanks for your inspiring story!

What sounds were you able to treat? Pure tone or unstable? High frequency? Reactive?

Could you treat sounds that you could hear over TV and outdoor environments?

Which sounds were the hardest to treat?

 

Driving spikes me as well (although pretty much everything does at this point).

I drive 2 hours each way to work so have no choice but to do it. How? I wear in-ear foam earplugs PLUS earmuffs.

The good news is that it means I get get to work without a spike (usually).

The bad news is that I am trapped with nothing but the tinnitus to listen to for 4 hours a day. Brutal.

In terms of spikes settling back down, mine is fairly reactive. By that I mean that it starts the day relatively low (if I sleep) and then ramps up over the day in response to all noise.

Most bothersome are things like laptop fans, artificial sounds from things like the TV or my phone, and consistent rumbling noises like from my car.

So long as I can get at least a few hours sleep during the night, it does seem to return to 'baseline'. It might just be that I have spent a few hours in a quiet room rather than the sleep itself... not sure at this point. But you should find that yours settles back down after a few hours of quiet.

When my tinnitus first started a couple of months ago it would react and spike to people speaking, including the sound of my own voice. That does seem to be settling a bit now and my ears don't seem to flutter like they used to every time I hear someone speak.

I think you might find the 'spikiness' to settle over time. Get yourself some plugs and ear muffs and ride it out whilst your head figures things out.

 

Hi David.

I used to have a cluster of sounds, high frequency, reactive, pulsatile and ear spasms. Nothing masked or helped them. I still a have a pitch sound that fluctuates and moves from side to side, but I have some days when I'm less aware of it. So I can watch TV or walk my dog and not really notice it. So a chunk of the high pitch or reactive stuff has either gone or decreased.

If you have any period of time when you're not aware of your tinnitus, I mean even a minute, might be during a conversation or walking outside and the sound of birds or the crunch of leaves under your feet give some relief, that's the start of habituation BUT it's a very long process for some people. You might have a good hour or two and then it ramps back up but try not to get too down because next time you might get three good hours.

My own experience has been that meditation, sound therapy, stretching, supplements (long term consistent use) in addition to the two treatments I've had have all helped.

However, I do have bad days or at least bad parts of days but when I compare it to 'tinnitus hell' I'm in a different place.

Couple of other things, I do take Mirtazapine. I understand people react to drugs differently but it help me sleep pretty much normally and is good for my anxiety.

The other thing is that I have gone back to making music (home studio). I did this bit by bit, at first I just said to myself let's do 30 minutes and go from there. When I'm engrossed in it, the tinnitus has on occasions almost gone away or at least filtered out that I'm not hearing it much. Obviously be careful with sound exposure but be mindful of being afraid of everyday sounds.

Just my personal experience, hope that helps.

 

Thanks for your kind reply.

I have a similar type of tinnitus. The worst part of my tinnitus is the high pitched pulses without any rhythm or pattern. Very intrusive and pretty much nothing masks it. And my tinnitus is quite reactive to sound for now.

What type of supplements do you take for the long term? What kind of treatments did you try?

 

I took Tizanidine and Valium to try and sleep last night and it didn't change a thing, still no consistent sleep, no deep sleep. Both were low dose... and now today it feels higher pitch and more piercing than ever after going and seeing the audiologist this AM who did nothing other than talk to me and try to make sure I wasn't gonna hurt myself.

She wanted me to go to the emergency room or to Green Oak which is a mental hospital... fuck man. It's so loud, there is no way to ignore it now. Like in front of my head almost vibrating kind of feedback sound. I guess the drugs and traffic noise and driving in the car today have made it an all time high?! How does anyone habituate to this... I can't sleep without drugs. I want some tranquilizers or something. Jeezus this is a nightmare.

 

Take a higher dose Valium. It will help. Don't be a baby about the drug when you're in crisis, that's what the drug is for!

 

Magnesium and Opti-Turmeric both from the brand HealthSpan, Zinc also from time to time. Magnesium might help a little with sleep but it's a combination of things.

I'd like to get into NAD, it's just expensive to maintain. There's a guy named Gregory Scott who is known in PRO AUDIO circles for his company KUSH AUDIO (makes recording equipment) and he did a video on hearing loss and tinnitus in the music industry. He mentions that he had a dip in his hearing that he's had since he was pretty young (he's 50 now) and that he's got some that back having taken NAD for 18 months. Worth a watch.

F**K SECRECY: Hearing Loss and Music...

 

You'll habituate because the tinnitus will hopefully subside over time. The problem is that it's very distressing in the first months and beyond (was for me). I don't necessarily subscribe to the view that stress 'causes' tinnitus but I've found chronic anxiety and fear can drive the volume and intensity i.e. make it worse.

Also, your brain and auditory system is in chaos, I remember waking up in the night in the early stages and my tinnitus was just insane, it was like someone had put a baseball bat through big 1980s TV set. You gotta try and get through each day as best you can. If that's too much, break it down to one hour at a time. Hopefully there will be some natural healing and your brain will very slowly figure things out to help you. I really believe you'll recover to the same extent I have but you gotta deal with the here and now.

There are positive recovery stories, lots of them, hold on to that. You'll get there.

 

Treatments were Lenire (my take on it is that it 'might' be of 'some' help to 'some' people. I've talked about this before but, just to reiterate, I had 8 tinnitus sounds pre-treatment, 2 tinnitus sounds post-treatment. It also stopped my ear spasms almost immediately.

I've found mindfulness meditation to be helpful as have others.

I also know two people personally who've gone from savage tinnitus to almost silence. One of them is my Aunt, the other a girl I worked with who got it from whiplash.

Beyond all this we might have new treatments / trials in the next two years.

 

I'm afraid the drugs have now made my tinnitus reactive.

 

I haven’t heard this about benzos before but who knows. Maybe try the Valium only at a proper dose?