My Tinnitus Started to Flare Up This Past February from Slamming an Old Mailbox — Need Hope

Hey All,

This is my first time posting after lurking for quite some time. I'm having a very hard time dealing with tinnitus, and I need some positivity. Please only comment something positive because I just can't deal with any more negativity.

Tinnitus has always been a fear ever of mine since I was 18. In 2012, I watched an interview that William Shatner did about his tinnitus, and I remember thinking how miserable and terrifying of condition tinnitus could be. After watching that interview, I changed a lot of my bad habits. I limited the time and volume of headphone usage, and always wore ear plugs at concerts.

One night, I went out with some friends to go dancing. I stayed later than I wanted, and developed slight tinnitus from the music. This was very manageable, I only heard it very quiet rooms or right before bed. I doubled down on taking care of my ears, wearing ear plugs at bars, movies, etc.

I was able to accept my tinnitus and was confident that if I stayed the course I would be fine, but was I wrong.

My tinnitus started to flare up this past February, not because of a concert or gunshot, but a mailbox, yeah that's right a mailbox. My GF has and old mailbox that's heavy and very dense, and in rushing to grab the mail one night I slammed it in an archway. My ears screamed and my tinnitus got worse. It wasn't super loud but I was able to hear it over everything now. After seeing and ENT (who removed wax) and going to therapy for a month I was able to cope. The volume and tone became quieter, and I was feeling confident that I was going to live a fulfilling life, until last week.

Last Wednesday, I dropped a porcelain bowl on dish that was close to my ear and my tinnitus spiked, and 5 days later the volume is louder and the tone is worse.

I don't know what to do anymore. I've always been so careful and I hate how a bowl and a mailbox have flipped my life upside down.

I hope the volume goes down, but that's not a guaranteed. The only thing I can do is habituate, but I don't know if I want to habituate to this.