Neverending Story: Tinnitus from Unknown Cause — Please Convince Me It's Going to Be OK

Hello! My name is Martyna and I’ve been suffering from tinnitus for 2,5 years now.

I didn’t have any ear injuries, I didn’t listen to loud music. At that time I was suffering from anxiety disorder, I had panic attacks, and that is when my tinnitus appeared.

For the first time I had it for a couple of hours. I was panicked, but I took sleeping pills, went to bed and fall asleep. The next morning tinnitus was gone. It was ok for a couple of weeks, but as I was still struggling a lot with my anxiety disorder, one night tinnitus appeared again. I was panicked. I didn’t have my sleeping pills, so I couldn’t take them. And from that moment my tinnitus has been with me 24/7.

At the beginning it was devastating, but as time went by I got used to my tinnitus. I wasn’t happy about having it in my life, I still heard it during the night, in silent places etc, but I wasn’t afraid of it anymore.

Two weeks ago something strange happened - I started to hear another sound in my left ear. So now I have one sound in both ears, and additional one in left ear only.

And... here we go again. Fear, tears and questions „why did it happen/why am I hearing this sound” are back. Focusing on it also makes me think about my „first” tinnitus more. Sometimes I think I’m going crazy.

So here I am, looking for some support and for someone who will convince me that it is going to be fine... because it is, right?

 

You will be fine. Relax. Do some breathing exercises. FEAR, PANIC, ANXIETY make it worse. Most likely the second sound will go away. Stay away from loud music and places.

 

Thank you! I know that fear and anxiety only make it worse, but at this moment it is some kind of vicious circle - the more I’m aware that I shouldn’t panic, the more I panic.

 

Did you go to a lot of bars, clubs, concerts, even when you were younger?

 

Tough question I’m 36 now. During my studies, when I was 19-24 I used to go to bars/clubs up to 2 times per month. Concerts up to 3-4 times each year. I would say that’s not „a lot”, but maybe it was enough for tinnitus to appear? Who knows.

 

We pay for things we did when we were younger as we age.