Poll: The Longest Tinnitus Spike You Have Had?

Roughly 2 weeks.

But this is with the fact that I extensively protect my ears from harsh sound, taken into consideration.

I don't often let myself be exposed to uncomfortable noises, and most of my spikes have been as a result of trying to listen to music; because, like a couple of other sufferers here, my ears cannot tolerate much in the way of digital audio.

I think if I were perhaps to suffer a moderate noise event, I might experience something longer. But to date temporary spikes have been restricted to irritating increases triggered mostly by music on YouTube.

Which brings me to my next point. There are several other polls enquiring as to the duration of longest spikes suffered, but I chose to share my experience in this one; because @Sound Wave correctly distinguished the vital difference between a spike (temporary) and a spike (permanent).

Simply put, once you've had tinnitus for 5+ years, it's unlikely you won't have experienced a spike that didn't recede, making the inclusion of an option like "spike has not resolved to date" alongside other durations of time, somewhat redundant for the majority, and thus the poll also.

 

It took me 8 years to get my first spike. It's been 6 weeks and not resolved as of yet. So I can have no input on this poll at present.

 

I'm 13 months into my "spike" lol, still holding out hope it'll eventually lessen, even if it takes years gotta hold onto that hope!

 

I have been meaning to ask you about your tinnitus, since you too came from a long period of stability and mildness. Have you experienced the reactiveness in the sense of winding up with your new tinnitus?

 

I think it occasionally reacts to things like white noise, the toilet flushing, kettle boiling. I hear a random mad beep accompanying the sounds. I'm not sure if it's dysacusis or reactivity or something like that. If I've been in the car, it ramps up for a while too. My hyperacusis has gradually gotten better too. I can tolerate louder sounds, like busy traffic, busy shopping centres etc. For the majority of time in the beginning I used nothing but musician's filtered earplugs as foam earplugs did not fit and I couldn't stand listening to my tinnitus. It allowed me to hear without depriving myself of sounds. Not completely how I used to be as my old tinnitus was so low, but it is what it is

You too will get there @Hardwell

 

Viewed through that lens, I am currently in the midst of a 14 year spike. Where do you place my chances?

The way I see it, once it's over a year, you may as well chalk it up as a permanent worsening, and thank the heavens if by some miracle it diminishes (in volume).

Unfortunately wires too often get crossed because of a difference of perspective where definitions are concerned. But personally I think confusing a long term worsening with a spike, renders the latter entirely obsolete as a concept.

Likewise, I view tinnitus and tinnitus as completely different conditions. Like at the top of this post, if a stable mild case were the same thing as what I have now, then I must have gone 6 years without a spike; contrary to my life as it is now, where I suffer at least one every two months. Do these sound like the same illness to anyone? (Rhetorical)

All they have in common is a noise in the head/ears. Which sounds fair enough, until you consider that a migraine and a subdural haematoma both share headaches as a symptom...

But now I'm going off topic.

To sum up, I did not know what a spike was until I developed tinnitus in 2009. And being on the other side, I would not expect those who experience tinnitus to, either. But as it stands, once you know you know. And those horrible things can last days/weeks/months. The not knowing if they're going to become the other thing (permanent worsening) is the scary part.