Sleeping on Your Tinnitus Ear

Just curious whether there are any of you who can sleep on the ear(s) where you have loud tinnitus and still fall asleep normally? Is there anything you do to achieve this or has it just become something you can do without trying?

I'm worried if I sleep on my tinnitus ear, my brain will "memorize" or "imprint" the sound further.

 

I have tinnitus in my left ear. You can go crazy thinking about what ifs. Apart from avoiding loud environments I try to keep things as normal as possible. But I do now use a pillow speaker. I love it. Even if my tinnitus was to go, I'd still use it every night.
I'm no expert but I say sleep in any position you like, and don't worry about things that aren't proven.

 

Hey! I was indeed thinking of getting a pillow speaker. Which one do you use?

 

I have T in both ears. Sleeping on one side vs. the other causes no difference in T volumes the next day in either ear. I wouldn't worry about it.

 

have you gotten used to sleeping on your side with the T?

 

Don't be put off by the price. I usually only buy the best stuff (if i can afford it). But because of the great reviews i thought i'd give this one a try. It's really cheap so you may as well but two. It took a while to arrive but it was worth it. You can use your phone or tablet etc. I use it to listen to a programme called QI on youtube every night.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00GH89T42/?tag=tinntalk-21

 

Thanks - I'll check it out !!

 

The effects of anxiety, not t
Try keeping a tv on in the bagground or something to keep yourself distracted, that was what I did my insomnious first 2 months. I never ever thought putting them against my pillow to be dangerous and I'd dare saying for 95% of those with tinnitus, sleeping on their ears doesnt render them spiked nor with a permanent increase, you just got to work slowly on the anxiety component

 

Hey Tenna! So are you reaching the habituation stage now? For the last 4 years I have fallen asleep with some TV series on in the background every night. It's funny how I know that tinnitus can't hurt me yet sometimes I struggle with the anxiety. So you weren't scared of putting your ears against the pillow - why do you think you were insomnious for the first 2 months? Is it just because it was uncomfortable to sleep with or you were anxious about something else?

 

Hello,

Yes, interestingly most of the time, I sleep on my ear which has tinnitus.
I think you will find my reason insteresting.

When I sleep like that, I try to convince my mind that I do not have a tinnitus, but sleeping like that creates "sea shell" effect on my ear and for this reason I hear that sound.

I mean, with trick is I persuade my mind that the sound is not coming from my ear but from the "sea shell" !
This eases my mind.

Strange it may seems, it works most of the time, although tinnitus sound increases when I sleep on my ear.

 

Well I was pretty much in shock back then, and I'd hardly say I've reached habituation at this stage, but things tinnitus wise are definitely better than in the start. When I lie down on my pillow the first thing I think isn't that the pillow will pierce through my ears to imprint my sount, when I go to sleep all I know is it'll help me restitute in every good way. I couldnt sleep at first due to the sound the sounds on both ears, not because I was afraid of putting my ears against the pillow

 

Hey @Ozzy - yes those types of tricks definitely help and I will try yours next time I am struggling with sleep. Sometimes I make myself believe that it's the laptop next to my head causing the sound that I hear and together with the laptop fan that this is all normal.

@Tenna - yes actually the thing that bothers me most during a spike or relapse etc is the actual sound that I hear because it's just uncomfortable at the beginning. Whether it will imprint in my brain is just an additional thought resulting from my initial anxiety. Do you have any "tricks or tips" that help you with your sleep?

 

http://www.soundpillow.com/

Excellent product. Very reliable company.

Discounts to military and ATA members.

Stephen Nagler

 

Hey Dr. Nagler !!! Glad to see you posting!! Thank you this looks awesome (and so comfy)!!

 

Glad to help. I know the product and the president of the company well. They are both First Class.

And I guess I should say this by way of disclosure: I have no financial interest in the product or the company.

Stephen Nagler
Atlanta, Georgia

 

Yes, it is a good idea to imagine a laptop. Thanks for the tip.
And yeah I should put the laptop next to us to make it more convincing!
(Another possibility: we can imagine a refrigerator or an air condition)

 

There are several pillow options with a vary in price. Which is recommended?

 

I put my iPhone under my pillow playing a "white noise" and it works like a sound pillow. I use an app called tmsoft and it has over 100 sounds plus you can mix them to make a custom sound that works best for you.

 

I have slept on my affected ear for years and it hasn't made a difference in my tinnitus I do use a fan at night to help me fall asleep

 

I have T in both ears and sleep however I choose. I also use rain tracks to sleep, though.

 

I think factors go into play for me i have bad h and t.. I try not to sleep right on my ears when i do sometimes i wake up with a little pain maybe from blocking them from air for hours..

 

The only ways that I've noticed sleep position impacting my T, is if I sleep on my jaw or with my jaw locked and mess up my TMJ muscles, which will cause worse ringing and ear pain. As a result of that I usually attempt to either sleep on my back, or on my side with a pillow under my ear but not under my jaw.

In general, if you're sleeping in a position that's doing something bad to your body, you will shift and reposition yourself in your sleep. That's what it's very, very uncommon for people to inadvertently cut off circulation to a limb long enough to do any real damage as a result of sleeping on it.

 

It's gets loud and starts to hurt so I roll over and give the other ear a go. I do this until I crash, It doesn't bother me as much anymore, I used to be horrified at how loud it would get, now I just crash. About 10 min per ear, flip and repeat until I go to sleep.

 

I have also T in both ear and sleep on both of them..sometimes it is very loud but the longer I hear it to more I it fades to the background...like my brain says "This is so loud it is impossible that this is real"...than my brain shuts it off.

I normaly sleep within 10 minutes...it is very rare that I am awake longer than 10 minutes. I thought everybody slept that quick until other people told me the sometimes lay in bed for 2 hours without falling a sleep.

 

I sleep on my T ear. Even before I had tinnitus I was a terrible sleeper. I'm a constant worrier, even if i don't have worries, I think there is some thing wrong, like its a lull before the storm. So T just made things worse. The first time I got it, I did not sleep for two weeks. I would do all sorts of things to make me tired. I got into such a frenzied state. I went to the local A&E. I begged the doctor to knock me out or give me sleeping tablets, they were not allowed. I feinted and collapsed on the way out of hospital, hit head on the concrete floor. I was revived on the gurney. Hell of a dramatic way to get admitted. When it gets bad now I log on to spotify on my iPhone. Find some meditation music. Put the phone under the pole and put rest my t ear on it. Word of warning, if you use sleep music with babbling brook and running water sounds. You may be taking a few trips to the bathroom during the night.

 

I don't pay much attention to my tinnitus when I'm falling asleep, or let it dictate much about how I sleep, other than to try and avoid positions that put needless stress on my TMJ. Obviously I hear it, especially since I've taken to sleeping with no white noise, it can seem absolutely deafening if I try to think about how loud it is.

When one of my ears is acting worse than usual, I'm definitely aware of that if I am laying on that ear. My goal in life at this point is to be aware of as many things as possible and accepting of them, so, no problem there.