It's Changed for the Worst, But Why?

I got tinnitus in march 2016 and I went through a hellish 6 months. Finally I started to pick myself up and accept it and was sleeping with the noise, having times (albeit short) where my t would be quiet.
Last Monday I was really upset and since that evening I've developed a hissing, dentist drill type sound that is constant. It's like air but high. I am stressing out so much. It's pushed the tone sound to a quieter level which is strange because now it's the overall one pitch noise.

Our heating makes a noise and it sounds like that but it's not. It's inside my ear. I'm so stressed. I want to just sleep.

 

The intensity of tinnitus can vary a lot, and just when a person thinks they’ve turned a corner and things are looking brighter they can be brought back to stark reality and feel like they’re back at square one. This can be particularly difficult for newbies to get used to, although some people that are more seasoned to the condition can experience a similar effect.

If this roller coaster effect becomes more frequent in the tinnitus, then a mild antidepressant can sometimes be helpful. It can help prevent a person from becoming too down and stressed when tinnitus decides to “act up”. An alternative to prescription medication is herbal St John’s Wort, which can be quite helpful. Once habituation has been achieved, spikes in tinnitus don’t usually cause too much concern.

Michael

 

Hey,

I read something on a thread here that helped me A LOT, although I thought it would be useless. But it's worked for many, so I gave it a try.

As crazy as it may seem, DO NOT direct your brain to the level of your T or how it sounds. When you hear it and it brings you down, say to yourself how you FEEL about it.
Say it out loud, or to yourself, in your head, but do not express any indication on :
- type of sound
- noise level
- variations in frequency

Let me give you an example :

-" My T is getting on my nerves, I feel really annoyed about it".

And maybe a couple of hours later :

-" I feel a bit anxious, but I feel better than yesterday".

Say to yourself how you feel about it, but not HOW IT SOUNDS. I wouldn't be able to explain the psychological mecanism involved in this technique, but please give it a try and stop analyzing your T. This just makes it worse.
Our brain is a marvelous machine, and it can do a lot to heal you, or at least drive you apart from what you think can hurt you, but doesn't.

If I can find the thread, I'll post it here, the person mentionning this technique explains it in a much clearer way than I do.

I've had Ts since 10 years, and I had an horrible spike recently after being exposed to loud sounds.
Went to the ENT, doctor, etc.
Then I read about this technique here, and it does seem to work as a kind of miracle.
I can only recommend you try it

 

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

Hey Vicki,

It sounds like your are in the midst of a spike.

In my case, I get a spike either when I don't get adequate sleep or I get stressed/anxious over something. Last one was a week or so ago. The remedy for me was a good night's sleep (I mean 7-8 hrs of sleep without tossing in bed). Sleep is very, very important.

 

Hi Mike.

It's been 7 days of a new noise. Surly that's not a spike?

 

My heating makes noise too and lots of other irritating noises in my home. Im getting crazy figuring out whats T and whats not.

 

I plug my ears and try and hear if it's the radiators or if it's inside my ear. It's distressing

 

Which is exactly what you should not be doing right now Vicki
Having had intense Ts in 10 years, this is the best advise I can give you Do not plug your ears, do not listen to them, say out loud how you feel about it.
Analyzing your T is very much likely to make it worse. Your brain can be a very nasty friend.

 

VickiD, I can relate to what you are going through - it is just unbearable that just when you think you can somehow almost tolerate the noise, it changes or a new one arrives. Was there anything special about that Monday, was there anything that could trigger this? Or did it just start out of nowhere, could you actually notice it starting?

 

Hi.
Yea I had an argument with someone. The conversation got quite heated. I was upset and I noticed that evening I had a high pitched dentist drill sound and I hadn't had that before
It can't be a spike because it's been since week?

 

VickiD,

I have had tinnitus for a very long time. I remember the "hiss" effect very well in the beginning stages. It was a noise/vibration feeling inside my ear/brain. One reason for my experience back then was grinding my teeth while sleeping and stress. I had a mouth guard made a very thin plastic one because the first one felt like cement in my mouth and hurt my jaw. The hiss symptom went away. On occasion when I have had a dental issue with a tooth the first sign was the hiss symptom added to the noise in my brain.

I really was distressed in the early stages with the hissing sound. I likened it to having a teeny hole in the ear drum and air escaping or entering. It was a cause for high distress back then.

The hissing went away. Noise remained though.

 

Spikes can last way longer than a week.
I've had a spike during one year, than it calmed down ^^ There's no general rule on how each one of us reacts to our Ts, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't worry after 7 days

 

Is the sound fluctuating or has it been steady ever since? After this argument, has there been high stress levels that could be keeping the new sound up? As everyone keeps saying, it is important you keep distracting yourself and trying not to focus on the sound. You need to tell the brain that this sound is not important and should be ignored (since you don't want to strenghten the brain connections which are causing the noise). I know it is really incredibly hard and then again, making too big of a deal of NOT listening to it can be stressing as well. I am still working on this myself and haven't quite managed, so I'm no expert and it is a daily struggle.

Good news is that a week could still be a spike. I had a huge spike from going to see Star Wars movie (even with earplugs on) in December and it took weeks before I had a more tolerable day again. I was sure it would be permanent, since it didn't feel like regular spike rather than just going back to worst and staying that way. I'm still not out of it, since I had another triggering situation just yesterday, but I want (and need) to believe we can overcome these situations when T gets aggravated for a reason that shouldn't do actual damage to ears.

 

Thank you for your replies. I really appreciate it.

It was very quiet last night so I woke up very chipper and thought I'd go to yoga to keep up with the relaxing momentum. Got back from yoga and it was hissing at me.


I have found my jaw aches sometimes so I could well be grinding in my sleep. I'll see what I can do about this. It started last Monday - so a week today. The noise sounds like when you've got your radiator on and with the tones in between that, it's very hard to switch off.
Last night I did some deep breathing exercises and the noise went very quiet. The hiss wasn't really there. It was lovely to go to bed with a quieter t. Now I have hope.....

 

@VickiD - a very good sign that you had a quiet night! It might indeed indicate that the new sound is going away, but don't get disheartened if it keeps coming back again. And it is very possible that you are suffering from bruxism and it can in itself cause tinnitus. I had the same symptom of jaw ache and then also dullness on that side of the face. It continued for a long time before a dentist noticed my teeth are getting worn out. I have a nightguard to protect my teeth, but still clench my jaw when sleeping and it does affect my T. Some people get a huge relief from a nightguard and may stop clenching, so it might make a big difference - so do indeed set up a dentist appointment to see if you could benefit from one.

 

Thanks for your insight NimQ. So few co-relate the grinding factor. This usually happens at night when you are unaware of it. And the tight sore jaw is one symptom. Then when the dentist can see the wearing down of the teeth. In my case it was bad in the back lower molars. This area has many nerves connected to the ear area.

Hope this may help you Vicki. But if you decide to go get a mouth guard made by the dentist I would ask for the very thin one. It runs here in the US without insurance about 400 dollars. He had made the first one which was like concrete in my mouth and I hated it.

In stressful situations like you had sometime wear the guard during the day.

When the jaw is so tight....tinnitus is much louder for me.

(just learning how to give those agree and other rating thingys)