My Tinnitus Recently Increased After 10 Years of Being Manageable

A little about my situation:
About 12 years ago I developed a mild case of tinnitus out of nowhere. To this day, I'm not too sure what exactly caused it; however, at the time it came on I was having some issues with anxiety. I'v read that a lot of people have had it appear for the first time while going through a stressful period in their lives. I asked my doctor at the time about this strange new noise that I was hearing, and the only advice he gave me was that there was no cure and to try not to think about it. The first six months were hell even though it really wasn't that bad. I just became obsessed with the mild ringing in my ears instead of moving on like the doc told me to. Eventually, I finally did stop thinking about it, and it was at that point that it actually seemed to almost go away.

Fast forward to last month present day:
I recently decided to cut back on my drinking. While I've never been a drunk, I've always been one of those guys that would have a couple glasses of wine or a few bears in the evenings as a night cap, with moderate drinking on my days off. The reason I decided to cut back was for fitness reasons. I've always had a lean muscular build and at almost 40 years old, I was starting to develop a little belly. Cutting back on my drinking was easy, but since I was so used to having that night cap, I was finding it extremely hard to get to sleep. I decided to try some over the counter sleeping medication (Diphenhydramine). It seemed to do the trick, but after taking it for about a week, I woke up one morning with my ears ringing much louder than normal. I wasn't to worried at first because I can think of many times that I've had my T get temporarily louder, but I'm going on about two weeks now and starting to really worry. The level my T is at is unacceptable for me. I can here it over people's voices, the TV, and even music at moderate levels. It's driving me mad.

My question is if antihistamines have ever cause T for anyone on here, and if it went away or not? I have been under a ton of stress from both work and school (I'm a non-traditional student), so I'm hoping that has more to do with it, as that's an easy fix once I'm done with school in the spring.

 

Hi. I've never had any issues with antihistamines. I'm guessing only, but stress can really do a number on our T and it seems you are under some stress lately. I've had mine for about 5 years now and as of late, my high pitch EEE is now being accompanied by a loud vibrational hum. The hum is much harder to get used to and I'm trying to habituate, again. I'm hoping the hum isn't permanent, but in the back of my mind, I feel like I know the answer to that already and it's depressing.
I wish you and others all the best.