Setback

[Robert P]

Hello,

I've never seen this site before. I've had (noise-induced) tinnitus for 18 years. After so long you'd think I would be perfectly habituated. Most of the time I have been fine. Last Friday I took my boy to school and there was a builder using some kind of small pneumatic drill by the entrance. Stupidly I didn't put earplugs in. On the way back I went into a panic attack ... and I'm still knotted up with anxiety. The tinnitus has become obtrusively loud, and I don't know what to do. I feel almost as bad as I was when I first got it. Any thoughts or advice would be welcome. I hope I can offer some help to others here if/when I get back to some kind of normality.

 

[Karen]

Hi, Robert,

Welcome! We're glad you found this site; it's a great place to come to discuss our mutual condition with others. I'm sorry you're having a setback right now. I certainly understand how it is; I've had tinnitus for many years, too. Mine got worse back in 2010 after taking an ototoxic drug. Before that, I had habituated to my tinnitus so that I hardly noticed it.

I know how difficult it is to deal with the increased noise, and especially the anxiety, when tinnitus gets suddenly worse, no matter what the cause. Since this spike has recently occurred for you, it may be that it will go back down to baseline level. In the meantime, the best thing you can do is try to stay calm (I know, I know --- it's not easy!), try to get some sleep, and distract yourself with activities and things you love to do. Also, it's possible you would benefit from a short course of anti-anxiety drugs, to get over the panic/anxiety that this has caused. I'd give it a couple more days to see if it settles down, and if not, try going to a doctor for a prescription. Others on this site have had more recent bouts of anxiety, and may offer additional suggestions.

Please do keep us posted on how you're doing!!

 

[Robert P]

Thanks Karen. The anxiety is easing. T still intrusive but not quite so bad. The doctor gave me a leaflet for CBT treatment for anxiety so I think I'll go and see if it can give me some ideas for relieving it. This is such a hard condition sometimes, isn't it. I can go months (sometimes years) without problem and then suddenly everything crumples for a while.