I've Recently Developed Tinnitus

Hello guys. My name is Carlo and I'm 17. Since 7th Grade (now Freshmen in College) I have been listening to loud music from my IPod and using earphones. Since September 3, I've been hearing a ringing in my ears and it's gotten worse. First started where I can only hear it at night. And it wasn't loud enough to keep me awake or to affect my sleeping at all. Then 2 weeks later it became reactive tinnitus I think. Whenever I listened to a sound my ringing would increase. So if I heard an air conditioner or my mom washing the dishes the noise would get louder. But again, it wasn't that bad. I wasn't sad or anything, just a bit bothered. But I didn't affect me much. Still slept well. But then last Thursday is when I got bad. That when a loud buzzing started happening after lunch. The first night wasn't that bad when this happened. But ever since last Friday, I have not had a good night's sleep. I slept only 2 hours on Monday and it was a LONG night. My nights have been a lot longer. Getting to sleep is not the hard part. Staying asleep is. I fall asleep and in about 1 hour I wake up and that is when my night is ruined. When I finally do fall asleep, which takes 45 minutes to an hour, I'll wake up again in 30 minutes. Happens 3-4 times a night. I now have a reactive tinnitus AND a buzzing in my ears. NOW I am sad. Since Friday I don't think there hasn't been a day where I haven't cried. I've cried mainly because I think my life will soon be over because the tinnitus will get worse, or I cry when I read habituation stories because it either touches me or I think I will never be those people who habituate. I'm assuming only people with very mild tinnitus habituate. I don't know if mine is severe or mild. I'm scared that it will continue to get worse and I will get suicidal. I hear it most of the time. I always hear it when I watch TV, or at home really. Little quieter when I'm in the car. Also quieter when I'm in college. Only time its ever been masked is when I'm at outdoors at college and I hear the crickets. Forgot mention that I also have what I think is very mild hyperacusis. Didn't happen until Saturday. I'm just sensitive to some sounds. But nothing painful or concerning. Only when I hear like a mop falling to the floor or when I hear plates hitting each other or something. I say mild because the sounds just bother me a for like half a second. They don't sound louder. Don't even know if it counts as hyperacusis. I'm sorry for the long post but I'm trying my best to be detailed as possible. The only hope I have is that studies that show most people habituate when they have tinnitus but like I said, I'm afraid my will get worse and worse each passing week.
Please, I'm very scared. And extremely exhausted. One thing that worries me is the amount I'm sleeping. Thankfully I'm still eating somewhat regularly. That hasn't really been affected.

 

It's early so it might still go away. It is very hard to deal with this. If I had to do it over again I would get the sleeping pills and anti-anxiety meds asap instead of waiting like i did trying to tough it out. You need to get sleep and control anxiety and the medications will help with that. Then find something like white noise or ocean waves or something that will mask or at least cover your tinnitus partially, load onto an ipod and sleep with that. I have to mask mine 24/7 or I'd go insane. If my earbud falls out I wake and just put it back in. I didn't start doing this until 2 years ago and it has helped me a lot. Before I did this 24/7 masking my life was a total nightmare. Hyperacusis usually will subside even if T doesn't. Also I think there is a drug called am101 or something like that that helps people with new tinnitus. High frequency tinnitus is not for the faint of heart. Hang in there.