Stress-Induced Tinnitus

The idea that stress can cause tinnitus is a little confusing to me, first of all how can an emotional state cause a perception of ringing?

Secondly, if stress causes tinnitus to occur, why is it that if you reduce your stress levels, your tinnitus doesn't simply just go away?

 

The link between stress and Tinnitus is not known in detail. It´s more that stress is sometimes reported as the cause of Tinnitus. Now, it is possible that it is not stress itself that causes the Tinnitus, but rather makes one vulnerable to "open up" the paths in the brain. Once T is experienced, and the brain has learned it, it does not matter if stress is removed. Another factor is that according to several studies, majority of Tinnitus patients are suffering from some level of stress because of the T itself, making it even harder to tell if the stress is really gone or just replaced by a new kind of stress.

This is where habituation comes in to play.

 

Interesting, it seems the issue with tinnitus is that thinking about it positively reinforces the pathway in the brain, but it's also impossible to not think about. I've talked to loads of people who have experienced tinnitus for a few weeks, but because they've not been bothered by it, it's just gone. I think the fact that i've stressed so much about it has made the potential for it to fade away slimmer. You'd think if it was simply about opening up pathways in the brain, eventually it'd fade away once you've habituated, sort of like a memory- if you don't think about it for a while it becomes forgotten.

 

Yes I agree.. This theory that the more focus T gets, the louder it is experienced is indeed interesting. I have times where I just dont think about it but it screams from the top of its lungs, making it impossible not to think about. So, what came first, the thought of T or the spike? Other times I can think of my T as much as I want, and nothing happens in regards of volume or pitch.

The problem with 100% habituation (as I see it) is that it is nearly impossible to un-learn what the brain has learned. Try to un-learn biking or tie your shoe laces? Its probably possible in some way, but it means you have to erase that specific memory. Hypnotherapy maybe? Would be interesting to hear from a person with a memory loss that had T before the memory loss.. This could strengthen the theory that it is indeed something thats learned in the brain.

 

Tinnitus and emotions come from the limbic part of your brain so easy to see that our stress and anxiety can cause missfiring signals and overacting brain signals and start you hearing inward sounds .
There are lots of other causes too!
Love glynis

 

Thats right @glynis
And the recent discovery that many SSRi meds causes T to flare up in some cases further strengthens this connection between anxiety/emotions and Tinnitus.

 

I have thought about hypnotherapy, but from what i've read it seems to be inaffective for tinnitus-which seems strange! Many have said this is because the physical nerve damage can't be treated psychologically, however there are many cases where people have hearing loss/nerve damage without experiencing tinnitus, so it doesn't seem logical to suggest tinnitus is inevitable with nerve damage present.

 

@glynis isn't it strange that tinnitus occurs in the limbic system and not in the auditory cortex where sound is processed!

 

All though I have had Tinnitus for more than 20 years I have not tried many things like hypnotherapy, yoga, qui gong, acupuncture etc. I might try it some day if I feel the need... I guess it comes down to the therapist and the quality of the therapy given. It probably helps if we as a patient has an open mind towards the treatment...

It´s like people with mental illness.. Some of them says the meds saved their life, other say that they finally got cured once they stopped taking the meds. Not everything works for everybody I guess.

 

I used to be skeptical about these kinds of treatments, but after studying neuroscience in my degree I've learnt we really do know very little about the brain. If these things work for others there's no reason why they couldn't work for us I suppose. The brain is a powerful thing.

 

Stress means increased cortisol levels which affects hearing. It heightens our senses. In stressful situations we have a fear and flight response.

 

I started doing daily meditation 1 month ago.. I could never see myself doing this just a year a go. Now I love how it makes me feel and the impact it has on my mental health and wellbeing. And I agree with you @lucluc, the brain is indeed very powerful, we just have to learn more about how to control it more conscious.

 

That makes sense, however if it were that simple wouldn't reducing stress and therefore cortisol levels cause T to disappear..

 

That's great, I started meditating a few weeks before my T began, but I found that after my T started, sitting in silence was the last thing I wanted to do! Maybe after a few months, when i've become a bit less anxious about my T I may start again.
It's crazy what the mind can accomplish, there are people that have trained their mind to no longer sense pain. When I read about things like that I can't help but be hopeful that my brain will find a way to be less preoccupied with tinnitus.

 

Relaxation can at least reduce tinnitus for some people. Tinnitus causation is probably not linked purely to stress so not likely to disappear altogether. When on hols my t usually improves. A stressful day at work and it will worsen for sure.

 

Yeah its actually very fascinating.
I have Tinnitus to thank for opening up a new world to me regarding how to cope and find inner peace. Before I suffered from severe T I never really took the time to pause like I do with meditation.

There are probably a ton of literature out there on how to train your brain into like i.e not feeling pain etc.
I have to dive into that stuff after you mentioning it

 

I never heard stress can give you T. As a matter of fact I never heard of T to begin with, I wish there was awareness, I would have changed my stress. At first I thought it was dental then realize it was not ? Then I thought about it and realized stress it was. I have no other answer for it. I did reduce my stress thinking T would go away, but that was not it. To train the mind to ignore is like climbing mount Everest. I see were some people can do it. But in my opinion it is few than more. I think suffers learn to go with their lives as best they can, I believe most cope with cards they are dealt with, and all levels T.

 

I’ve been wondering about stress induced T and the most logical direction to look for a cure. I could not find a thread dealing with the stress-component in a very detailed way, so I chose to continue in this one.

I wonder if there has been some research specifically on the stress / anxiety related T.

Apologies for the long post

As stated above, just relaxing is not enough to make stress-induced T go away.

So what do we know or presume about stress and T?

- sometimes stress combined with moderate or loud noise makes T kicks in
- sometimes stress or anxiety seems to trigger T. by itself
- sometimes stress-induced T is temporary, sometimes it’s there to stay
- sometimes anxiety / stress can also cause tonic tensor tympani syndrome
- hyperacusis is in part caused or worsened by stressing / fearing (loud) sound
- sometimes even our balance system blows a fuse after extended periods of stress
- we all know stress has an impact on the perceived volume of T

It’s clear there’s a relationship, but no one seems to know what it is exactly. That makes it very hard to look for a cure specifically for stress-induced T.

One T. theory seems plausible, at least where hearing loss is involved:

Your brain loses input from the ears, turns up the volume and there it is: T! Succesful regeneration of hair cells restores the audio input and the brain picks up a signal and turns down the dial again. That’s of course what every noise induced T patient with hearing loss is hoping for. And it may just work.

For stress induced misfiring in the brain and ttts I doubt the same approach can / will work.

For those of us where stress / anxiety played an important role, I have most faith in Susan Shore’s therapy of resetting the brain with impulses. Without actual damage to our hearing, there’s no lack of input from our auditory system. It may just be our brain which is stuck or triggering TTTS.

But that also makes me wonder... if we do not eliminate the sources of stress and radically change our lifestyle or at least our outlook on life... I fear that even Susan’s cure will only be a temporary solution for us.

Even if Susan succesfully hits the reset button in our brain, if we do not change our habits / the way we approach life... it will only be a matter of time before TTTS and even T kick in again. At least that’s my theory.

Another theory is that stress / anxiety makes our hearing temporarily more sensitive and therefore easier to break or damage. In that case, there may actually be noise damage involved and we may benefit from regenerating our damaged hearing after all.

In my case it was:
Extended period of stress + loud noise = mild threshold shift + panic attack over threshold shift = T. + anxiety over loud sounds = TTTS

I have no clue whether I would have gotten my T from stress alone or if it was actually the noise and accumulated damage or hypersensitive ears that made it stick.

I guess in the end we’ll just have to wait and hear... see what works for whom.

In the meantime, what are your takes on cause and effect of stress? I wonder if there has been some research specifically on the stress / anxiety related T.