Maddening Tinnitus Spike Started in the Middle of the Night — Anything I Can Try to Stop It?

Hey guys,

I've been around the Tinnitus Talk forum for a while (I'd say 6 years) according to my improvement/increase in tinnitus.

Long story short, It started while I was 22. Probably due to a mixture of noise-induced damage/anxiety. Don't know for sure. Most likely never will. At the time, I was feeling extremely anxious, having thoughts of imminent doom and hopelessness, all that stuff anxious people usually suffer when they are living a crisis. Eventually, with the aid of antidepressive medication, I got well. Forgot about it for around two years until I decided to wean myself off the drugs in December 2019. In hindsight, that was the worst choice of my life.

I've been dealing with highs and lows. But last night, it was absolutely horrible. My spikes don't usually last very long, but I've been listening to this increased madness for about seven hours now, and honestly, I don't know what to do. Is it normal to have spikes in the middle of the night? If so, do they last very long? Finally, should I do something now that the onset is still very short, or is it something that one simply must endure and hope for the best?

Thanks in advance.

 

I went through the same thing last week. Got some new sounds that went completeeeely bananas during night. Haven't heard them in a while now and nights have been better. I would try to focus on calming down as much as possible. Reduce screen time. Try to stay away from spicy food, too much salt, sugar and saturated fat. Also, be careful with caffeine. I don't know if it's going to help but it doesn't hurt to try, or at least, I think it's good to be a little extra considerate about your health right now.

Try to do some things that calm you down. Walks in nature or meditation or something like that.

For some reason, there's been a huge increase of people who have been struggling a lot more than usual here lately. I don't know what's going on, but my spike seems to have passed, so I believe yours can too. The way I handled it was to take it day by day, really lift up the positives and try to not get too sucked into negative thinking. Once I got a quiet day again, I told myself, "ok, quiet days can happen again, you're not completely fucked, focus on that", that calmed me down and helped me get more quiet days after. Take whatever good evidence you can find and stick to it like a cross.

Sometimes I wonder if there's like a huge satellite above earth that sends out a pulse to the planet that gives some people tinnitus and this satellite is controlled by the Illuminati. They can control how much tinnitus we get by increasing the velocity of the pulse.

Nonsensical shit that wouldn't even work in a bad novel, but it makes a lot more sense than some of the "rational" explanations I've heard

 

Our only real hope is re-synapse medication. Otonomy, for a real full out fix imo.

 

It's very comforting to hear from someone who is dealing with the same crap as you are.

During my tinnitus years, I've tried lots of stuff. Most of them came to nothing, though. Guess I must blame my anxious nature. So far, the only conclusion I've come across is that genetics is a bitch.

My spike has gotten better (thank goodness!), but still quite far from baseline. The fact that it has subdued a little bit gives me hope that it is not ever-lasting, though. And your technique of taking a day-by-day approach: spot-on. But not to think about the next day/week/month/year sometimes seems impossible. Sometimes I wish my brain could be tricked into enjoying the sound using Pavlovian methods. Whenever the eeeee can't be masked, someone would give me a treat. After a few rounds, tinnitus is Godsend.

Sometimes having a big-ass human-sized brain is quite annoying

You definitely have a place on History Channel

But seriously, though. Not knowing for sure what triggers your ear is a major issue. You live in constant anxiety fearing it might go up and stay there for no good reason.

I've just heard the most recent Tinnitus Talk Podcast. If those guys can cure this mess, shall their souls live in some kind of private paradise.

 

One thing you can try is download a tone generator app for your phone and fine the tone that is bothering you usually using sliders and then play it softly - NOT super loud - just loud enough to hear it for 20 seconds. Then stop for 20 seconds.

Do this a handful of times. Sometimes this can ease a spike.

 

Hearing aids with Bluetooth has kept me sane. Anytime tinnitus gets annoying I turn on music or listen to youtube, talk shows, even audible books. You need to get your mind off of it.

 

Did your spike recover? How long did it last?