Is This a Spike? Or Should I Be Worried?

Hello everyone, I've been looking over this forum the past month or so and a lot of the positive comments have helped me through this. But I feel like I'm slipping again suddenly.

I haven't had my T long enough to complain about it (this I'm aware of), not even two months yet. It wasn't caused by any hearing related trauma that I'm aware of and just seemed to stick with me after I read about it online one night and got freaked out--I've been a hypochondriac my whole life and suffer from extreme anxiety so seeing something like that was terrifying.

At first, it was really bad, but only in the mild sense. It was more than likely my anxiety making it so bad but I had no idea how to fix it. I got my ears flushed, which didn't help, and just tried to distract myself as much as I could. I went through a bad case of depression back in 2012 and the way it came back scared me--all over a little noise. What helped at that point was masking with large fans and exercising and school, they all did help and provide a distraction. Plus I started taking some supplements, hoping it would help some. It took a week or two but my T actually seemed to be leveling out; I still checked it all the time but it seemed manageable. I just seemed to realize it was there but then ignored it. It's actually been okay for the past few weeks.

But since yesterday, it's gotten bad again. It sounds like static in the back of my head or like a bunch of crickets. Last night was the first night in a month I broke down on the phone with my friend because it was so bad. I don't know what caused it or what I did, but the thought of falling all the way back down this hill I've been climbing and having to look up again seems so exhausting to me. I don't want to keep doing this over and over and I'm afraid I'm not going to be strong enough. Even the positive things I've been telling myself the past few weeks doesn't seem to be helping anymore. I want to believe it will subside but it doesn't feel like it will. The only thing I could think of was that I was getting a lot of fleeting tinnitus last week that really made me focus on on it more than I would like. After that, I think the floodgates of anxiety opened up.

I went to the ENT and she didn't seem to be any help, really. She suggested perhaps grinding of my teeth could be worsening it but really just shrugged at the situation. And I understand why, there's not much that can be done.

I guess I'm just asking if anyone thinks that this is just a normal spike and I'm freaking out (again) for no reason? And just any kind of positivity would be helpful.

Just some background: I'm fairly young, only 23. I've had severe anxiety for a long time. I would classify my T as mild-to-normal range and it's easily maskable by almost any noise, especially when I'm not anxious about it. But when it's bad, sometimes it's hard to find stuff to mask it. I haven't even had it two months yet, but I have seen some positive changes already.

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

 

Anxiety/stress might be your main issue. Most tinnitus is caused by sound issues and inner ear infections. If you can control your anxiety/stress....It might fade a little and get better.

Do understand that your tinnitus is VERY new and it takes all of us, some time to adjust and figure out what is going on. take your time and try to be positive. Yes, it's hard to do, but more stress/anxiety can bother your tinnitus more.

talking things out is a great thing. Seek support and just know that it takes time to handle this ordeal and cope.....

 

Temporary spikes can last longer than a week:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-was-your-longest-spike.22099/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/poll-how-long-do-your-tinnitus-spikes-usually-last.23110/

It makes sense to conclude that you might be experiencing a permanent increase only after about two months, and even then you might be wrong.