Severe Burnout, Worsened Tinnitus, and Hyperacusis: Struggling to Break the Cycle

[lostb1t]

I will not bore everyone with my whole story, because it is long.

Either way, I got some medium and low sounds from stopping benzodiazepines during a burnout six years ago. At the same time, I developed a high-pitched sound after starting Mirtazapine. I do not think Mirtazapine itself was the cause, but rather that my body was too exhausted to handle it. I went absolutely bonkers during the initial phase.

Eventually, I habituated after a good six months, and life was decent.

Then life took a turn, and I experienced another burnout, which I have not been able to recover from. I cannot look at my phone for longer than a few minutes without getting overstimulated.

But the high-pitched sound has increased so much. It is a very loud dentist drill sound that goes over everything. A jet plane would not even drown it out. And I obviously cannot mask it because of hyperacusis.

So yes, I am forced to listen to it 24/7. If I get too overstimulated, my head explodes with pain, the kind of pain that makes you cry, and everything gets worse.

But I cannot relax. When I try, the sound is just too loud, and anxiety gets the best of me. I do not last an hour before I grab my phone for distraction, which keeps the cycle going. Yet I need complete relaxation to recover from this burnout.

I am tempted to try benzodiazepines to see if they can help with burnout recovery. But that is a big gamble.

I cannot even take Lemon Balm without massive rebound effects that make me feel like I am dying.

So yes, my life sucks right now. My only choice is to habituate, but it has become so loud that it does not seem possible.

 

[lostb1t]

Tinnitus is getting louder and louder every day. Every time I think it cannot become any louder, it does.

It is crazy that the mind can create this on its own.

Still, I am certain that my burnout, exhaustion, and anxiety cause the same type of damage to the ear as noise exposure. Multiple studies suggest that both can result in damaged hair cells. This does not seem to be coming from the brain.

 

[Nocca]

Hi @lostb1t,

I developed bilateral tinnitus and slight hyperacusis after an acoustic trauma six months ago. However, prior to that, I was already dealing with both burnout and depression, which were untreated. As you might expect, the tinnitus only made my anxiety worse, which in turn worsened the tinnitus, creating a vicious cycle.

In my case, a large part of it seems to originate in the brain. Stress and sleep definitely affect the sounds of my tinnitus. Both my ENT and psychiatrist are convinced that my poor mental health and unhealthy eating habits were, and still are, aggravating factors for the loudness of my tinnitus, likely due to neuroinflammation, brain hyperactivity, and other related mechanisms.

The first thing I worked on was improving my sleep. It was the first step in my recovery from burnout. I was too overwhelmed to tackle other aspects of my life at the time, so I focused on that one thing. Benzodiazepines definitely helped me, but as you mentioned, it is a big gamble.

I hope this doesn't sound too naive, but have you tried Melatonin? At my worst, I was taking 4 mg before sleep and could have gone up to 6 mg. I was also on other medications—benzodiazepines and antidepressants—all under the supervision of my psychiatrist. Sleeping better definitely helped reduce the intensity of my tinnitus.

I don't have a scientific article to share about burnout and auditory loss, but I can offer a personal story. A student I knew was under intense pressure while preparing for important entrance exams. She lost hearing in her right ear during that time, despite having no prior hearing issues. It was a strange case, but most likely linked to extreme stress. I also developed unilateral tinnitus a few years ago, likely from intense stress, but it went away on its own within a year.

Good luck with everything. I hope you start feeling better soon.

 

[mandyc]

I totally get what you're going through. I'm in the same place right now.

My brain won't relax enough to let me sleep, so I'm getting by on about one hour a night.

I have hyperacusis and reactive tinnitus. I just woke up on April 20th with screaming tinnitus in my left ear, which then spread to my right. It's incredibly painful and loud—even the sound of the wind sets it off.

Low-Dose Naltrexone made it worse. Zopiclone made it worse. I was going to try Pregabalin, but so many people here say it worsens things.

I feel suicidal with it. I already have ME and fibromyalgia, and this feels like the final straw.

I've ordered Magnesium Glycinate. The hearing aids I got to help me habituate just make it worse.

 

[lostb1t]

Hi @lostb1t,

I developed bilateral tinnitus and slight hyperacusis after an acoustic trauma six months ago. However, prior to that, I was already dealing with both burnout and depression, which were untreated. As you might expect, the tinnitus only made my anxiety worse, which in turn worsened the tinnitus, creating a vicious cycle.

In my case, a large part of it seems to originate in the brain. Stress and sleep definitely affect the sounds of my tinnitus. Both my ENT and psychiatrist are convinced that my poor mental health and unhealthy eating habits were, and still are, aggravating factors for the loudness of my tinnitus, likely due to neuroinflammation, brain hyperactivity, and other related mechanisms.

The first thing I worked on was improving my sleep. It was the first step in my recovery from burnout. I was too overwhelmed to tackle other aspects of my life at the time, so I focused on that one thing. Benzodiazepines definitely helped me, but as you mentioned, it is a big gamble.

I hope this doesn't sound too naive, but have you tried Melatonin? At my worst, I was taking 4 mg before sleep and could have gone up to 6 mg. I was also on other medications—benzodiazepines and antidepressants—all under the supervision of my psychiatrist. Sleeping better definitely helped reduce the intensity of my tinnitus.

I don't have a scientific article to share about burnout and auditory loss, but I can offer a personal story. A student I knew was under intense pressure while preparing for important entrance exams. She lost hearing in her right ear during that time, despite having no prior hearing issues. It was a strange case, but most likely linked to extreme stress. I also developed unilateral tinnitus a few years ago, likely from intense stress, but it went away on its own within a year.

Good luck with everything. I hope you start feeling better soon.

Yeah, I actually don't have much trouble sleeping when I'm not overstimulated. Exhaustion knocks me out. For me, it's more like I've reached a point of such extreme exhaustion that it causes tinnitus. I guess it damages my ears. I think I read somewhere that glutamate or glutamine—can't remember which—might play a role. It's also one reason you often see tinnitus in people with anxiety.

Unfortunately, my tinnitus is so loud now that I can't relax anymore. I'm also dealing with a lot of pain because of the exhaustion. I wish I could end this, but I'm too sick to even do that. Hell, I can't even make a sandwich without getting overstimulated.

I wish I could take something like an SSRI to lower the anxiety, but in my current state, it makes me manic. And honestly, even with medication, I wonder if it would help with this feeling of completely losing my mind.

Sometimes people don't get better, and I'm slowly starting to accept that.

 

[lostb1t]

Something I've always wondered is if there's a limit to how loud tinnitus can get. My volume keeps increasing every week, and every time I think, it can't get any louder… can it?, it does.

Right now, I'd say the volume is at a level that would be severely damaging if it were coming from an external source.

What are everyone's thoughts? Does a single tone have a maximum volume?