Sleep and Tinnitus — How Does Everyone Cope?

How does everyone cope? I have sound pillows, sound machine .. antihistamines, melatonin... but seems like sleep is just getting worse and worse... what else can I do?

 

I use a sound machine on my nightstand as well as a pillow speaker for when I sleep on my bad (tinnitus) side. I'm surrounded by the sounds of crickets. Needless to say I sleep better on the days I'm active and work out. Sounds like you're doing something similar for yourself? Sorry that sleep is difficult for you.

 

Sleep has been tough for me as well. I had to get a sleeping aid prescribed by my doctor. I'm trying to not let myself be reliant on meds to sleep. I hope you see better days ahead so you can sleep.

 

Download the HeadSpace app on your cell or tablet... Meditation helps some people relax a little.

 

I maintain good sleep hygiene and it mostly works. I actually sleep with earplugs, don't even try to mask my T. Meeting it head on.

If I have a real bad night (which is thankfully quite rare now) I either use Xanax to soothe the anxiety, or use modafinil the next day to negate the effects of bad sleep. Both are basically psychological crutches to remove the fear of not sleeping.

 

That's exactly what's happiness to me I'm scared I won't be able to sleep. And sure enough, I don't sleep.

 

I know the struggle @Jake007 ... good sleep hygiene really truly does help a lot, and I don't think using meds for a few weeks or months is so bad. We need sleep. There are many med names floating around the forum: mirtazapine, amitriptyline, Xanax, Ambien... have you tried some of these?

 

I've taken lorazepam, but I don't wanna keep taking them and get addicted. And I don't wanna take something that is gonna make t worse, there's no way I can handle a worsening no way. It's super bad now. I just want something to knock me out and keep me out.

 

I mostly put in earplugs and relax into the ridiculous cacophony in my head, and fall asleep pretty well. But, it took years of effort to figure out how to do that.

Things I recommend include: 30+ mins of vigorous exercise 3-7 times a week, yoga every morning, guided body scan meditations (free on youtube) every night right before bed. Get into a routine, sleep the same hours every night, sleep in perfect darkness.

Things I am conflicted about and don't really recommend: drugs, sleep restriction protocols.

Things I do not recommend at all: holding your breath until you pass out.

 

I use a pillow speaker with nature sounds. Couldn't sleep at all in the first weeks but now I have gone back to work and using a sleep meditation aid on YouTube is definitely helping me to drop off.

 

Pillowspeaker and the app Pillow Speaker.

 

I did a meditation technique 1 year before T onset which I believe it helped me greatly for when I was lying in bed trying to sleep...

That technique gets you to just "observe" your sensations, good or bad that they may be, without "attaching" emotions to them, either good or bad...

It took me 9 months, but while laying in bed I started to learn to "observe" the sound without attaching to it an emotion, and slowly I was able to do that, and by doing that being able to sleep... Kind of "embracing" the sound and therefore cancel the fear attached to it...

I don't know if it makes sense, but that is how I did it... and some masking from time to time of course

 

I've been going to acupuncture and I'm convinced it has greatly helped improve my sleep since T onset. It has not, so far, cured my T (at all), however it has made me more relaxed, less anxious, and as a result, sleep like a baby. I do use a fan and the Naturespace app on my phone (which is fantastic!).

 

I'm only 2 weeks into T. My T is an 8/10 all the time. So loud it competes in conversations.
My sleep wasn't always good, but now it is consistently worse/bad.
But I am getting sleep (but not deep sleep).

I'm doing a combination of what @linearb and @Lorenzo74 do which is what I used to do before, but with some new added things.

• I wear the orange roll-up foam ear plugs at night (it's because I snore and my snoring wakes me up)
• When I first lay down, I try to relax and let myself be overwhelmed with the sound for a minute.
  
• Then I do a progressive relaxation technique I learned somewhere.
  • I start thinking/focusing my mind on my toes and repeat 3-5 times "my toes are falling asleep" and then I don't move my toes.
  • Then I go to my arches and say the same thing (and then don't move my arches), then go back and repeat what I did with my toes.
    
  • Then to my heals, then back to my arches and then back to my toes.
  • I do this working my way up my body making sure that once I focus on a part of my body and repeat, I don't move that part of the body.
  • Before T, this definitely took practice, focus and discipline to do.
• NEW since T: I've eliminated caffeine from my diet.
• NEW since T: Go to bed every night at 10pm
• NEW since T: Sleep alone. My wife sleeps in a different room.
• NEW since T: Don't eat for 3 hours before bedtime (used to be hard, but not now with T)

I hope this might help you some.
I'm interested in what others are doing.

Years ago, I started occasionally using Melatonin. Now 3mg of Melatonin helps to knock me out. But it wears off in the middle of the night and I wake up as usual. It also seems I'm building a resistance to Melatonin.

 

I keep music of water (either rainfall or ocean waves crashing) on when I go to sleep. I dont know why, but I always found that sound very relaxing. As long as I can remember. It does job in masking T due to sound and it relaxes me and makes me fall asleep well.

Perhaps you may want to search for the sound that relaxes. Everyone has one or another.

This was recommended to me by one old ENT doc. He said its about attaching emotion to T and also hence why the external sound should be below sound of T. If for long enough you are attaching your sleeping pattern with sound of something relaxing, it should reflect into your brain and make you both fall asleep better and also better coping with T. Well, but I guess different things work for different people.

 

I have T for a little more than a month. It was really hard first 2 weeks. I woke up 20-30times in middle of sleep.
I was panicking and had a lot of crying going on because of T I used to wake up from sleep.

I thought what am I going to do without sleep. I hardly slept 3hrs straight for 1st 2weeks. This is 7th week with T. I have to try for 20-30mins on normal day. On bad days for more than an hour /two to fall asleep and once I fall asleep I wake up max 2-3times.

I increased my bed time as suggested many members in this group.
I use fan and white noise as masking. Yet I hear T sometimes on top of those during sleep but I try to focus on fan noise.
I decreased caffeine intake and salt intake. I stopped eating junk food.

Recently I kept trying different methods to calm my T before bedtime. Like drinking chamomile mint tea reduces T sound for me. Applying a warm pack https://www.pharmapacks.com/product...uKHlxH1VcHLXAb5iFhCU6Nrm8EBnJMvsaAmTXEALw_wcB before sleeping on eyes and under my ear area reduces T noise.

My mom has T since 10years she mentions doing pranayama (breathing exerices in yoga) reduces her T sounds very much. So, I am doing those and a little massage near neck area is decreasing noises / reduces my anxiety when I hear to T during bedtime. Also, I make sure I don't rest at all during the day. I make sure I am very tired end of the day so my body needs sleep and has no patience to hear to the noise.

I can say 4/7 days I am sleeping better. That's an improvement from 1st 2 weeks.

 

Each night I drink Sleep Tea from Bigelow about an hour before bed. I make sure there are no super bright lights on and I turn on my Lectrofan sound machine. If I’m using my tablet before bed I turn the brightness all the way down and I sit in bed for a bit just relaxing, playing my tablet games. Usually I start to nod off thanks to the tea. Once I’m really ready for bed I settle in and am usually snoozing within 15 mins. My Lectrofan is on all night. Usually, like clockwork, I wake up between 2-3 am likely due to my bladder wanting to be emptied. I take care of that and lay back down for my final couple hours of sleep. This usually isn’t as deep but it’s usually pretty good.


I of course have nights where I don’t sleep as well but that’s usually because I was more involved with something just before bed, so my mind was more active. If I stick to what I noted above though I almost always get a pretty good sleep and thankfully *knocks on wood* T doesn’t really seem to keep me awake or wake me up. My body seems to be able to ignore it even if the nerves in my brain can’t.

 

I've had enough of this screaming... time for bed.

 

Hello everyone...

What are your best advice for sleeping with loud tinnitus... currently am taking melatonin, only one... every night... but mum told me I need to stop taking it as in the long run it is not good for health...

May God bless you all and gives us courage.

Kind regards
Dilshaad

 

It's a natural chemical so don't worry and not like getting hooked on sleeping tablets....
Play soft music if that helps but see your doctor if have trouble sleeping and impacts on your day and mood.
Love glynis x

 

Sleep hygiene is good but in the early days of T I found phenergan very useful. Now I find walking by the sea very useful.