Stress as a Causal Factor

Has anyone ever had Tinnitus caused purely by stress?

 

I would think that stress can only exacerbate what is already there as far as T. Not sure.

 

I have been to see several supposed experts on T and although each one had his own theory and bxxlsxxt to say - each and everyone agreed that stress was a causal factor plus the gp too said the same. Recently spoke to a retired police woman who had it for over thirty years. She told me that once she got rid of the erring husband and then retired from her stressful police job, it suddenly went down loads in volume. So seems that stress is indeed very much associated with this condition.

 

All the more reason to not sweat the small stuff.

 

ah well I was clutching at straws again. was hoping it could all be stress so I could be rid of this. guess not.

 

Stress is just a cop-out excuse doctors use when they can't offer any other explaination. Same with coffee and alcohol.

 

I'm not convinced stress can actually cause it, but I think if at the time one of the other loads of reasons you get it you are under a lot of stress that is probably what holds it into you. Once you have it stress and anxiety seem to be a bit of a given

 

Stress definitely caused my T.

 

Do you have no hearing loss ?

I've been told I haven't but I suspect the equipment the English ENT's use doesn't measure all the frequencies

 

Hearing tests only go up to 8 kHz normally - because speech area is there.
But the outer hair cells are the high frequency ones. So those are destroyed first, by noise, concerts, clubs etc.
Means that more or less everyone has some hearing/frequency loss there. Unfortunately T screams on those frequencies, at least that is in many cases.

I have a "ski slope" audiogram, after 6 kHz it goes down. My T is even much higher, at 15 kHz or higher.
So at the end, an ENT can tell you where you have hearing loss (up to 8 kHz). But he can tell you NOTHING about your T, just the standard "you have to live with it". T is a brain thing.

 

Can you post a picture of you're audio gram?

 

Sorry, have none here at the moment. I am on vacation.
It is flat up to 6 kHz, then goes down. Range is 0 to 8 kHz (where I have 50 db loss).
But I don't care. In speech area I hear absolutely fine.

 

That's good , but probably is the cause for youre tinnitus ? Hearing loss

 

Well mine screams so what you are saying makes sense, I have probably lost my outer hair cells

 

My T started right after a horrible panic attack where - not knowing it was a panic attack - I thought I was dying. I was actually with my husband and dad and started saying my goodbyes. I was on vacation, having a beer with my dad and husband when all of the sudden I could not breath. I thought I was going to die in front of them. After that, my heart that usually beats 55 times a minute, went up to 100 per minute. That caused me so much anxiety and I was constantly afraid I was going to stop breathing again. For weeks I kept seeing doctors and doctors trying to figure out why my heart was acting up and why I felt out of breath. Of course, everything would come back normal. So finally my doctor diagnosed me with an anxiety disorder. I had to sit down and reflect about the diagnosis. I always felt like I dealt with stress in a very good way. I am super laid back! However, the 18 months preceding the panic attack were pretty hard professionally. I pushed myself really hard. The way my psychologist explained to me was this: "You were under great stress for 18 months and your body was on automatic mode. It had no time to rebel. Then you go on vacation to Brazil and you finally let your guard down. Your brain took that as, 'alright, we act now.' Hence, the panic attack." About a month after the panic attack, the T started and it has not gone away since then. Again, went to two ENTs and there is nothing wrong with my ears and no hearing loss. My hearing is actually better than ever since I have been so sensitive to noises. I am a firm believer stress caused my T and once my brain releases the threat is gone, it will probably go away. The good news is, even if it doesn't, I got used to it after a week. Not by my own abilities of course. The first week I was so desperate a skipped a whole week of work and stayed in bed. It was a great time to get really close God and understand His ways better. But He blessed me in a amazing way by allowing me to go back to normal life so fast. It is awesome to know that even when doctors don't give you hope, you have a friend in HEAVEN that is HOPE!

 

Met an audiologist who said that she would get T when she was stressed. A friend of mine knew a couple people who developed T through stress and eventually they recovered.