Smoking cigarettes making my tinnitus worse?

I started smoking after my tinnitus started due to anxiety. Not the brightest move I know. I have had an increases in volume over the time I started, not sure if this is from the cigarette toxins. I realize there are chemicals that are ototoxic in ciggerttes but was wondering if anyone has noticed a big difference in their T, either way, after starting or quiting ?

 

I smoked for years before, and then on and off for about a year after getting tinnitus, I would sometimes get temporary spikes if I had too much nicotine but it was pretty rare.

Seriously though, starting smoking to deal with anxiety is the worst idea ever. Stop immediately and find other (healthier) ways to deal with your anxiety. Exercise is the best thing you can do, trust me. Run, walk, lift weights, go on a bike ride, swim, hike, whatever you want. You will be amazed how much better you will feel when you push your body to the limit on a regular basis.

 

I am or was a huge athlete. Played all sports. Bodybuilding was my thing for the last few years. I was in tip top shape 7 months ago before this happened. Drinking and smokes dominate my life now. My workouts are lame as I am spent from fighting this day and night. Thought it might get me over the hump, few smokes here and there. Now I am a chain smoker. The more anxious the tinnitus makes me the more I smoke. I smoke 3 or 4 in a row first thing when I get up. I thought I could be habituated by now and get back on track. Just keep digging deeper and deeper with this thing!

 

I have smoked for years before even getting t, and I have smoked pretty much throughout the 11 years of having it. I did give up for a few months some years ago and found it had no effect whatsoever on my t. Smoking is bad, I know that, we all know that...but for me it's one of the only things I feel helps a little with the anxiety of having to deal with this bs....in fact I would go as far as to say that without smoking I would probably need to look into getting some anti anxiety meds.

Part of me desperately wants to stop as I know what a silly unhealthy act it is to smoke (not to mention expensive) Another part of me feels that I deserve to be able to smoke as some sort of justification for having t, also it's one of the few things left I can enjoy! Anyway, no plans to stop anytime soon here :|

Rhea x

 

Yeah I totally agree...me too, it's one of the few things I enjoy now with this tinnitus. Def calms me when the anxiety gets bad. And I believe it is less damaging than taking meds constantly. I'm sure lots would disagree here. However, If I knew for a fact my T would lower, I would quit in a second.

 

I feel you @Telis. I have been quite of a athlete myself all my life, running marathons even lately etc. But when the T started I turned to smokes. I woke up at night, got up as quietly as I could with my T, but my jacket and off I went to freezing Finnish winter night secretly and smoked. Although I was doing sports I needed that "smoke" to comfort me. I KNOW HOW YOU FEEL! I had this "need" to smoke more and more. I was smoking secretly - that was the only thing that prevented me for smoking all the time (I managed to smoke "only" 5 cicarettes a day, but always wanted more). But Telis - we both know its is not good for you or me - it prevents us from heeling and getting better. I was too ashamed to tell that even here because nobody seemed to have this problem. I read that smoking kills your ears - but this stupid thing was the "comfort" I had. "Walk with me Telis" and let's turn to the thing we know and once where so exited about: SPORT.
Hang in there! One day at the time! I haven't smoked today!

 

I recall seeing a program on a guy who was a little schizophrenic, basically he heard children voices and whenever and whereever he went out his door he would put on his earbuds on loud vol with music or go to his concerts to be calmed.
It's definitely understandable that one want to escape from anxieties, in his case listening to such music just isn't an escape, its rather the most direct route to potentially getting t or/and a hearing loss.
You know it's your choice whether you want to smoke or not, and I understand it may help on your anxieties in the moment you lit the smoke, knowing anxiety I just think the question and considerations you raise about smoking to escape t, shows the exact irrationality of anxiety. It's more easily said than done, bottomline is you're asking the wrong question imo, speaking from one with anxiety as well. It's the pattern of your question and the answer you're seeking which needs to be changed in order for it to get better

To try to break down the irrational part of your question let's clarify here;
you know it's a bad moove, you know there are chemicals in it which are if not ototoxic for your tinnitus, momentarily good for your anxiety while the worst thing you can do for every part of your body in the long run, including your anxiety.
I'm not saying you're the guy from my first example, but I want to point out having t does in no way justify you doing further harm to yourself! Detoxing and stopping is quite a hurdle but necessary, secondly you need to find a replacement (drugs, alcohol..^^ well thats the next step down, it's still hard but thankfully you're not quite there). So what you need is something you actually like doing, to divert your attention and to replace the soothing you get from a cigarette. The side effect of this is your t will be there all the time and the odds of being able to enjoy what you like while having t, will greatly increase. At a point I remember a guy in here who drank a Lot to calm his anxieties and problems with t, many suggested he replaced it with doing what he liked, be it running, some kind of exercise and I remember seeing posts of him doing so and things taking a turn for the better
You might not have gotten the answer to your question you think you wanted, but as this is a support section you'll get exactly that!

 

I would strongly advise quitting smoking. For a start, smoking DOES cause hearing loss. Copy and paste this link: https://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Smoking+causes+hearing+loss And since we know that T can usually be due to some form of hearing loss, it is likely that a prolonged period of smoking could make your T worse.

Aside from the hearing loss, smoking is really bad for you. Out of all the people that smoke, half will die from a smoking-related disease e.g. lung cancer. A lot of people who smoke will have some health issued caused/related to the smoking. My mother's friend smoked for years and even though he did something to his blood flow, and he needed a paste-maker put in. He had been okay for a while but recently the paste-maker is giving him problems.

Smoking is an issue that I particularly feel strongly about as just this year my uncle died from lung cancer. It is certain that smoking caused this as he started smoking when he was a teenager and couldn't stop. He felt exhausted for a good year before he was diagnosed, and he didn't go to the doctor until he absolutely had to because he knew it was cancer, but he didn't want to face it. Our Christmas was tinged with his illness. Even though he hadn't been diagnosed, he was coughing so much he had to go out of the room. You could hear him from the other end of the house. He was my dad's twin brother, and watching my dad deal with his illness has been heart breaking. He still hasn't gotten over it. Not a merry Christmas at all.

Even before the cancer, for a good ten years my uncle also had problems with ulcers in his legs. This WAS related to the smoking, because the ulcers were caused by the lack of oxygen in his blood/the blood flow. His legs were very painful and he used a lot of antibiotics to help them, to no avail. They got infected a lot of the time too. For ten years, perhaps more, he had these ulcers, and the doctors could not do much to help at all, because he wouldn't quit smoking.

My uncle was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He was only diagnosed in late February/March, but he died in early April. That was how fast he went downhill. He could not leave the hospital because he couldn't breathe properly. He would wake up in the night terrified because he couldn't breathe. Imagine that: waking up and not being able to breathe. How scared would you be? And how awful would you feel watching someone you loved suffer like that? He was also very confused because the amount of medication he was given to help with the pain.

Thankfully my uncle did not have any children, but he did have a long-term girlfriend, a brother and sister-in-law, and a niece and nephew, who he has left behind. He also left behind many people who admired him. The funeral was really lovely because we realised how many people he had actually helped in his career. And though I miss him so much, a part of me is so MAD at him: he could have avoided all of the pain he went through, all the pain that we have gone through, by quitting.

I am not trying to scare you, but this is the reality. I have not even talked about how smoking effects your teeth and skin, how much money you will save, how passive smoking is dangerous to other people, how smoking actually kills more people than HIV, alcohol use, drug use, car accidents and firearms accidents in the USA combined (http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/health_effects/effects_cig_smoking/). I understand that smoking is a very hard thing to quit, but the benefits of quitting outweigh the difficulty. If you are thinking of quitting, I would suggest:

• Talking to your doctor about quitting and what can be done to help
• Try to find a support group to help you go through it
• Try electronic cigarettes. These help when you have the urge to smoke and that "my hands need to be doing something" problem. One of my friends has actually stopped smoking using these.
• Don't be afraid to treat yourself. If you've gone a week without smoking, use the money you would have spent on them to do something fun e.g. have a nice meal with some friends, go to the cinema, buy something you have wanted for ages but never had the money to buy it.

It seems to most people are smoking because of the anxiety caused by T. The thing is, smoking or taking meds will not keep away the anxiety - it takes it away temporarily, but of course it comes back. If you are struggling, the best thing to do is take some anti-anxiety meds TEMPORARILY, while seeing a therapist who can teach you to cope with stress/anxiety.

I don't know whether smoking will make the T worse. I believe that if it does, it will do it temporarily. And as shown before, smoking can cause hearing loss, so the sooner you quit the better. I won't say quitting is easy - far from it - but when you do it you will feel so much better.

Good luck.

 

A last thing to consider is the economical aspect of smoking. The average consumer spends thousand of dollars a year. Go travel with your loved ones instead, buy experiences, maybe even help for getting better.

 

Im afraid when i eventually quit it will spike my T... Who knows.

 

And the sad thing is these killers are legal.

 

Y'know I was watching the news (only half watching so I wasn't particularly paying attention) but I saw something about somewhere in American banning electric cigarettes because they weren't sure how damaging they were. I remember thinking, "So you are banning the electric cigarettes because they COULD be bad for you, but you won't ban normal cigarettes even though they ARE bad for you".

Sometimes this world is even stranger than you can believe.

 

Please quit smoking my friends, that is terrible for your body. T is bad enough, but doesn't damage your body and we can hope for a solution. I've never seen our cats smoke. What I'm saying is, I would sooner kiss my cat!

 

I'm also a smoker, 5-6 cigs a day! No effect on my T.

 

Ototoxic to my already messed up ears, not good. As far as the rest, not concerned. All the other health issues don't worry me at this point. I have been so careful with my health pre T, I always took care of myself, from diet to excersice, even careful in the sun. Before T, I would NEVER consider smoking, thought people were insane doing it! All that careful living i have done in the past, none of it matters now, this is where i end up, with severe tinnitus and every day being a battle. Meanwhile all my buddies that were reckless with their bodies and their health in general are out having a great life. Tough to make sense of this all. All the smart rational thinking in the past, and I'm still here, screwed out of my life that I worked so so hard to get!! Definitely a mind f""k!! Gotta go for a smoke!

 

I hear you!

 

Same to you my friend.