Shower Makes My Tinnitus Hardly Noticeable for a While

So, after I take a shower when I get out I can hardly hear the tinnitus for a while. Then, it ramps back up again. Does this make any sense? Anyone else have this experience? What could be causing this?

 

Yes, it makes a lot of sense. Look up "residual inhibition" on the internet and it may be the reason for this phenomenon. I could be wrong so be sure get a second or third opinion.

 

What I read said that this phenomena lasts for a few seconds up to a few minutes. I actually get way longer than that, maybe an hour or so. I guess I'll consider myself lucky, if any of is with this dreaded curse can actually ever think of ourselves as lucky

 

Yup. I have the same experience.

I wake up to blaringly loud tinnitus when I wake up, then have a shower and the tinnitus:
- On good days will become a negligible minor light hiss for the remainder of the day.
- On bad days the tinnitus will drop to a minor light hiss but will ramp up over 10-15 minutes to maximum loudness.

I also have to be in the shower for it to work.

Sounds like you guys have the same variation of tinnitus as me. If you are not getting any 'good' days, give vitamin B6 a try. 300 mg on the bad day and wait 24-36 hours for the effect. Take considerable care not to take too much B6 though.

Are you guys taking any chemical compounds that's helping with your tinnitus?

 

Ok. I’ll jump on board here. I decided to take a shower with my high pressure shower head today. Sure enough, it was much lower after the shower. All pitch was gone - just some hiss. But it’s slowly ramping up.

How do I make this happen all day... the million dollar question.

Tom

 

On myNoise.com you can tweak white noise and other sounds with sliders to adjust the frequency bands. Find out what works best for you. What you're experiencing is residual inhibition. With a bit of experimenting, you might be one of the lucky people that can achieve lasting suppression (up to a couple of minutes). Some studies found that this effect is cumulative to a degree, but flattens out after a while. Once you've found the optimal length of exposure to the sound that gives you residual inhibition, you could have a protocol where you listen to that sound at various intervals throughout the day.

You could start with 30 seconds, then time how long it takes to come back, then 1 minute, then 90 seconds, etc... If it works for you, you'll be able to work out the optimal balance of exposure/relief. Make sure you don't overcook it on the volume, although I doubt I have to warn you of that. Let us know how you fare!

 

Ok. Day 2 of high pressure shower. Definitely lowered my tinnitus again. Right ear was silent and left ear was way lower. Doesn’t last though. 5-10 minutes and it creeps back in. But still nice.

 

This happens for me also and after thinking about it, here's my opinion:
I think it's because of the water in your ears affecting the sound waves/frequency or whatever (I'm not sure of the terminology). There have been multiple posts about immediate relief after putting garlic oil in their ears so I think it's the same concept except garlic oil probably lasts longer than water would. And there was yet another post about someone coating the inside of his ears with some sort of aluminum substance and he reported relief.

But it's weird because a lot of people say showering makes their T worse; I wonder if just putting water in their ears without the exposure to sound would give temporary relief? That might verify some of what I said above.

 

Interesting. I’ve tried the garlic oil out of desperation. Unfortunately, it did nothing for me. Felt nice though. I’m think the shower is doing something else, at least for me. I’m not sure what yet.