Stress Induced Tinnitus

Hi Guys,

I've been reading on this forum for some weeks now and wanted to introduce myself.
My name is Chris, I'm 28 and I recently was struck with tinnitus (about 8 weeks ago).

My T has most likely been caused by stress and is a mild/moderate high pitch of around 6khz in both ears and slightly more noticeable on the left side. As a lot of us here I panicked, jumped through all the medical hoops, ended up at the ENT's office and even had an MRI. All tests came back with no direct health issues, hearing was absolutely fine however I have been diagnosed with having a burnout and accompanying panic disorder, which was mainly due to living under a lot of stress since childhood, my father passing and having become a dad myself recently, oh yeah, I also have a very stressful job.

Now since two days I noticed a low rumble (like a very distant airplane jet) sound that I did not have (or noticed) before, this one is mainly noticeable in quiet or when I lay my head on the pillow. Does anyone have experience with this? I kind of feel it might be due to increased stress and hope it will pass, who knows ...

Again this totally freaked me out and had me panicking again. Luckily I'm doing a bit better now.
Anyway, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I will need to learn to live with this and am focussing on habituation. My mental state is still very much up and down though and I get through the day with low dosages of Xanax and still sleep on Temazepam (which in my case greatly helps with the anxiety and even lowers the perceived volume of the tinnitus itself) but will try and discontinue this once habituated.

I also found Julian Hill's videos very positive and helpful at the early onset, I am planning on implementing yoga, mindfulness and self hypnosis in my recovery alongside some major changes in the stress factors in my life. I have also had some CBT counseling which does help to create a bit more of a positive perspective.
Tomorrow I will visit a psychiatrist to see if there is something that can help with my obsessive thoughts on the tinnitus, I have a naturally obsessive personality so this is definitely something I feel will help.

I am positive things will get better, actually everybody I know with tinnitus habituated to it eventually. My mom has it and was not even aware it's actually called tinnitus, a good friend of mine had it for some time and I never even knew about it, another acquaintance of mine has it (quite loud as well) and told me it took him about 6 months to habituate. Common denominator amongst them was acceptance and living positively, something I intend to do as well however challenging it may be.

Best wishes,

Chris

 

Hey Chris,

I"m a psychologist and now what terrible symptoms burn out can cause. From what i read you are doing all the right things in other to beat this condition. Excersise and meditation/yoga/relaxation are great ways to counter stress and help speed recovery.

Burn out can take a while to be over. And the tinnitus may or may not dissapear.

If i can make a few more suggestions. Be mindfull about your posture. Walk straight, don't hunch forward and dont clench your jaw. Clenching jaw and neck muscles are very common with stress and are known causes of tinnitus. If your intrested you can look up progressive relaxation. Those excersises can make you aware of that.

Nutriton can be helpfull too since stress makes your imune system weak. For more understanding you can google stress response system and thtroid functioning. Things like omega 3 fish oil and curcumin can boost your imune system.

And finally, when i hear someone has burn out i always advise them to avoid social media like facebook as much as they can by for example installing 10 minutes of whatching social media a day and no more. It has been shown that it stresses people out.

Best of luck

 

Welcome to the forum. I agree that you are doing all the right things and if you can maintain a positive frame of mind as in above quoted, then it is just a matter of time that T will become less and less of an issue in your life. I too know of many friends in my social circle who have loud T and yet live a normal life. Two church friends said their T are so loud that they sometimes can hear people clearly. One even said she couldn't hear the siren of the fire truck coming to her apartment block due to the loud ringing. And yet she said she won't get stressed out with it and thought that she would just get used to it, which she surely did. These folks never need a support forum. They must have different DNA. Lol. But their stories made me rethink why the heck I need to be so freaked out by the ringing and wasting my life. This kind of realization can start our 'D' day against T tyranny like the story below.

Here is a success story of a lady truck driver whose T is so loud that she said it can be heard above most noises, including the 800-ton truck she drives. She suffered a lot initially but then she found out that 70% of her colleagues have T and yet not suffering like her. So with that realization, she decided not to give in to T and live her life and that began her turnaround. So take it easy. Stay calm and positive and hang in there. Things will get better. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/6-months-tinnitus-still-going-strong-but-so-am-i.3226/

 

Hi Guys,

Thank you for the positive feedback!

Even though I'm having a difficult time now I believe in time things will get better, the new rumble sound is bugging the hell out of me today though but apparently just another thing to deal with, maybe it's due to my cold, maybe it's due to stress, maybe it just was there under the original tone all along, who knows? Weird thing is that it pulls my attention away from the high pitched t sound (or maybe this one diminished a bit and the rumble became more noticeable). I can only draw one conclusion, try not to focus on it and work towards habituation!

@Lebber Having a burnout definitely sucks major league, never would expect it to happen to me as I always managed to plough through, guess that was what caused it to begin with, not being aware there is only so much one can take on before breaking down. Thank you for the great advice, I've tried some progressive relaxation techniques, they are quite helpful for relaxing before sleep! Nutrition I am making sure to keep healthy and was already taking some vitamin supplements, I eat a lot of fish so I'm also getting healthy fats in. As to the social media you are 100% right about that, I actually found that Facebook and Instagram kind of irritate me so I'm not looking there to often any more, almost never actually.

@billie48 That amazed me too how some people have T but managed very quickly and do not have such a strong emotional response to it, the acquaintance I have has such loud T that sometimes he can't even hear the person he is speaking with but seems totally unfazed by it, that was really amazing to me. Unfortunately I am not one of those people that does not have a strong emotional response to it but I do aim to be one of them. Even though there are times I feel very lost I try to remain as positive as possible and keep making baby steps moving forward. Jade's story is amazing and inspiring and truly a feat of incredible will power, thank you for sharing this with me.

Warm regards,

Chris

 

My message was somehow included in the quote itself. Just to avoid confusion

 

@Lebber No worries, I figured it out haha, thank you for the kind words! How are you doing? I see you were struck with T not too long ago yourself ...

 

I can tell you have it figured out I'm doing quite fine, thanks for asking. Yeah i dont have t for long. I got it from a freak accident at home (bumped my head against a cupboard while cleaning) which resulted in post concussion syndrome. Basicly a severe concussion that can last from months to years. I had doubled vission, extreme fatigue,.... for months. Its a bit similar to burn out i guess. But I've recovered well since a few weeks (eccept for the t) and hitting the gym again so I'm very gratefull

 

@Lebber Wow, that must have been quite a shock! Good to hear your'e recovering well and going back to the gym. I really miss being able to go the gym as I trained almost 5 - 6 times a week (which probably did not help for my burnout hahaha). About 8 months ago I had vestibulair neuritis due to not taking the time to deal with a flu and was dizzy for 4 - 5 weeks and had a bout of tinnitus, hyperaccusis, extreme headaches and blurred vision accompanying this as well, this subsided once the virus was gone but was a real shocker unfortunately now the tinnitus is back due to the burnout but what can you do, that's life I guess ... I can only imagine how stressful it must have been for you these past months as I already had a very difficult time during those 5 weeks, great to hear you are recovering well and thanks again for your positive advice!

 

What hearing tests have you undergone to determine that your hearing is "absolutely fine"? As far as I know, there is no such test that exists today that can provide this answer with high confidence: even people with perfect audiograms can have hearing damage (research "hidden hearing loss").

Stress is a catch all answer that doctors (and friends/family) provide when they don't really know what the cause is. But the scientific community is pretty consistently stating that in a majority of the cases, T comes from some kind of damage to the hearing apparatus.

Everyone is stressed nowadays, so blaming stress is always a "good fit", but be careful about letting that steer you away from finding a "real" root cause that could potentially be fixed.

This is another clue that something is going on with your hearing, I think, but it could be a simple middle ear condition.

Good luck.

 

@GregCA In my case stress is the most logical thing that caused it because I have been under very high levels of it for years and am currently suffering from a burn out. That there might have been a pre-disposition for my tinnitus to emerge due to that burn out, yes that seems likely however finding that cause seems like a near impossibility as all the checks I had done by my ENT, GP, and also an MRI came up with nothing. I also do not suffer from somatic tinnitus and hidden hearing loss was something I considered but do not feel this is true in my case.

Also the connection between the central nervous system and tinnitus is one that has been overlooked for years and as more and more young people are being struck by tinnitus doctors are steadily finding out stress and depression are closely interlinked with a lot of tinnitus cases.

When looking up hidden hearing loss I found:

''
Signs of hidden hearing loss

A hidden hearing loss doesn’t normally affect a person’s ability to hear quiet sounds, but it makes it harder to hear sounds when there is competing background noise.

A hidden hearing loss cannot be measured with standard hearing tests.

Hidden hearing loss could be significantly under-diagnosed. It is likely to affect younger people, who go to loud music concerts or spend time listening to loud music through headphones. People who have a hidden hearing loss when they are younger may suffer from more severe hearing loss when they get older.''

In my case I have a very good hearing, I can easily distinguish sounds from one another in a loud environment and I do not go to concerts nor do I play loud music on headphones ... However you never know but as far as low frequency sounds go (the one I recently started hearing) my hearing is perfect, actually borderline hyperaccusis ...

I would love to find the root cause but to be honest I think that would be an exercise in futility better spent on working towards habituation, the search just causes me more stress and no answers ...

 

I have to admit that was real scary to have my life chance at the blink of an eye. I sometimes thought i would never be the same again. But thanks to my physiotherapist and some hard work im back. It takes more than a brain injury to stop me . And i gues i was kinda lucky to have some experience in neuro rehab. I found the strenght in thinking about my patients who have recovered from way more severe injuries than i have.

Man that virus must have been quite heavy. The symptoms you describe are really the same like my concussion. But the good news is that you already have beaten tinnitus. So there is a fair chance you can do it again.

yeah burn out is hard. It takes some time to recover. Just keep going and dont give in to frustration. The experience that we are going to does make you more gratefull in life, despite all the hardship don't you think? And i agree that 6 times a week at the gym is indeed a bit to intense haha.

And wow reading your last message shows that you really have a strong mindset. Most people run from doctor to doctor to get a cure. Or they at least want to know what causes it. You are the first persoon I've seen that focusses on habituation first.

Trouwens ik zie dat je van Nederland bent

 

@Lebber Sorry for not getting back at you earlier and thank you for your kind post!

I understand what you mean, I think about that a lot too, how there are many people in the world with far worse conditions that somehow also manage to cope and heal. The damn stress response from the tinnitus is quite a heavy burden though but I feel confident in time this will come down as well. It must have been quite the experience for you having gone through all of that, talk about tough luck considering it all happened with hitting your head on the cupboard, just goes to show the unpredictability of life ... Same as that stupid virus that got to me, all because of a common flu ... Luckily it subsided because many people who suffered vestibular neuritis have the risk of chronic damage to the vestibular nerve, as far as I'm aware I got away relatively well all though it might have caused a weak point which is the pre-disposition to my current tinnitus, but who knows, not even the ENT can tell.

And yes indeed, ik ben Nederlands haha, where are you from?

Warm regards,

Chris

 

No need to apologize. You're not obligated to answer me

Yes we are indeed both unlucky and lucky to have these things happenend to us. But in the end we grow stronger as a person. As for the predisposition its possible but indeed we can never tell for sure. Some people get tinnitus just from burn out. A friend of mine only gets tinnitus when he stresses. Idk how that even works.

I understand the tinnitus must make the burn out even more difficult to deal with and vice versa. Most people get used to it in time. For me it was unbearable at first. Now i can sit in a quiet room and read a book without much trouble. It has become more of an annoyance instead of a horror. If your interested there is something called poorttheorie (idk the english name). Its about how pain comes into the brain and the perception can be partially blocked by sort of a gate. And stress keeps the gate wide open. Its somewhat the same with tinnitus. Everyone with tinnitus probably knows how stress makes the perception much more worse. When the burn out gets better at least the perception of tinnitis should get better.

En ik ben van België

 

That has been my experience as well, unfortunately I still need to take Xanax daily to achieve some sort of stress relief (I literally jump out of my skin without it and feel paralysed with fear and paranoia) but hopefully in due time as I work through this I can manage my stress levels better, I believe it will get better. In the end there is always light at the end of the tunnel and I truly believe I will come out a better person when I get through this. I'm very happy for you that the tinnitus is reduced to an annoyance, maybe in due time it will be gone from your awareness all together, have you seen Julian Cowan Hill's videos? He has some great advice on how to ''get better'' with tinnitus, especially in the phase you are in it might be helpful in even further reducing the annoyance.

Are you from the French part or Dutch speaking part of Belgium?

Best,

Chris

 

I know it sucks to be on xanax. I don't think anyone wants to be on medication. But it is very helpfull to keep stress manageable untill you feel better and get more comfortable with tinnitus. I took it too for the first 2 weeks, but had to stop because of side effects.
Yes i have watched Julian videos. I found it very helpfull in the beginning. He really is an example and his voice is so calming. The fact that he has beaten tinnitus shows that he isn't just making up things.

Im glad you are able to remain a positive view on this all.

Ik ben van de Nederlandstalige kant van belgie (west vlaanderen).

 

Hey Chris,

I read you are using sleeping pils, I read long term use could lead to insomnia when quiting the pills.
When I realized I got T, I didn't sleep for 2 night because of all the heavy adrenalin response I had to it. I went to the doctor who then didn't give me any pills but told me to put some music on in the background. Then the third night... when i smoked a little weed because I thought it might help me sleep as well (It was seriously not helping btw, the opposite actually). Long story short I got 2 hours of sleep that night and that steadily has increased, and I got more habituated to it. Staying positive and relaxing is key I think indeed. You could use some valerian root or melatonin if your looking for sleeping aids. Reishi also works for me, but thats a rather unknown herb.

Best wishes en groeten,
John

 

Hi John,

Nice to meet you and thanks for your advice.

The sleeping pills can indeed cause rebound insomnia when coming off them but this can be minimised by tapering and I'm under the care of my physician who will help me with this when the time is there, for now I'm fine with it.

I know, I smoked weed for 12 years and quit cold turkey after T came up, the weed seriously enhances the T and the anxiety, not fun at all. In regards to the Valerian, I tried that but it doesn't work for me, get seriously weird dreams from it as wel and I barely notice any effect for sleep from it, same goes for melatonin.

I'm now about 10 weeks in, getting habituated to a point but still use Xanax during the day and Temazepam at night. I am seeing a psychiatrist though and am taking minimum therapeutic dosages, I'm not afraid of addiction or withdrawal these things usually only happen with higher dosages for prolonged periods of time and quitting cold turkey. I'm also not using the drugs out of craving but simply to bridge the first months of anxiety induced by the tinnitus which in my case was quite extreme. These drugs get a bad rep but this is what they were made for.

Once I habituate more or feel confident enough to continue on my own I will slowly taper off the drugs.

Best,

Chris