The Shower Reset

Hi all

I just wanted to share a recent discovery. The past few months I’ve noticed taking a shower first thing in the morning can reset a spike to a low stable level. So, while I may wake up sometimes with intrusive tinnitus, this can reduce it and hyperacusis, reactivity, TTTS and give me a much more pleasant day that would otherwise have been spent listening to reactive tinnitus over everything, with more sound sensitivity.

What I do is get into the shower as soon as I wake up, while still half asleep. I make it hot and just let the water flow around my head, neck, shoulders, ears, face and just enjoy the sensation whilst listening to the sound.

It works maybe 7/10 times. Sometimes it just doesn’t work, or it’s effects wear off after a while. I do still get some ear fullness here and there throughout the day, but that’s ok.

In a way, I’ve been thinking it’s a bit like a kind of neuromodulation - sound plus physical sensation. The nerves like the trigeminal in the face and around ears, and others in the neck must get stimulated. I do have neck issues and trigeminal nerves that get activated and cramping style TTTS (currently in remission), so theres a lot of nerve and muscle issues going on.

@PDodge gets the same thing happen. Has anyone else noticed it?

 

do you believe reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis are the same thing?

 

In my experience I feel they are intrinsically linked but that’s all I know.

 

Maybe the relaxation of a warm shower de-stresses you and therefore reduces your tinnitus.

 

I'd agree but in the same sense that normal tinnitus and some form of hyperacusis are linked.

 

Could be, but it doesn’t work at night for me if it’s been a spike day. Has to be first thing in the morning.

 

@Gman
I notice the same thing. Something about the shower lowers the tinnitus first thing in the morning.

 

This morning I had a spike as I woke up during the wrong sleep stage at around 5am. Later when I got up and attempted a shower reset, it seemed to take but not completely. Later in the morning it unravelled and I sat and listened to the T gradually increase to an intrusive volume at an unmaskably ultra high frequency. The H (loudness and some ear pain) plus reactivity followed with it. Yet yesterday it was so low and stable as anything with minimal discomfort.

Would love to know what’s going on, why a shower can often change it so drastically. Split personality? One with worse T&H and the other milder? I want one without this crap.

 

I've had no luck with a shower reset. I will say if the t is high I look forward to sleep because it usually cuts the edge off the t by morning.

I once woke up around 4 am and it was screaming loud. I went back to bed and things were near normal by 8 am.

 

Nice. I like when that happens too. Sometimes it’s hard to get back to sleep though.

 

Yes, there is a definite variation in the T during the day, and always for me louder at night around bedtime, and quieter after sleeping.

I wonder of this is just related to auditory thresholds diurnal variation, accumulating noise damage during the day, or related to daily stress as the day progresses, or some combination, or really something totally else.

The quieter in the morning is a consistent pattern for me, and find that when I can sleep with ear plugs the T reduction in the morning is quite a bit more than without (however cannot sleep with them when going to work as will sleep through the alarm clock).

Anyone else try this or notice the enhanced sleep effect with the ear plugs?

 

@Gman , have you tried taking a second (or a third!) shower when you feel like the reset is not holding?

 

Hrm, well if it doesn’t hold in the morning and I get a spike, then the evening shower will not reset it. Once it’s spikes only thing to help is either sleep, or failing that, the morning shower.

 

Sorry no, wearing earplugs to sleep would be too claustrophic for me... just me and the T. You don’t find wearing them to sleep makes your ears too sensitive?

 

Things might be different if you take a shower early in the spike, or if you feel like it is about to spike. You could also try being in the shower Until it resets.

I can't do anything to change my spikes. If, under certain circumstances, you can, then you might want to keep looking for other circumstances when you can do it.

 

It never ceases to amaze me how unpredictable, yet predictable at the same time, t can be.

For most noise increases t, duh. However in some people noise even with ear muffs increases it (that's me right now). Stress and lack of sleep increase it.

I've learned on the forum for most it's quietest in the morning. Sleep usually helps. Now showers immediately after waking up help at least one person.

Perhaps since t isn't linear the solution isn't linear. I'm going to try totally uncorrelated things and see if they have an effect. Perhaps I'll hit one of my toes with a hammer, jump into ice cold water, after that a fruit smoothie with fruit I've never eaten before. Why not acupuncture?

 

Nope, I put them in when I can, and in about 5 mins, my brain seems to tune out the T and the volume is about half. I know plenty of folks around here recommend not to sleep with them, but I tried it out of desperation one night when my H had gotten bad after a stressful day at work. I noticed the immediate improvement, and it was durable the next day.

When I sleep plugged for a week when off from work, my T was getting much better in that week, than the 3 months before. Unfortunately, I had to go to work, slept without them, and the alarm blared into my worse ear as it was way too close, and I got set back by over a month of the progress made. Had TTS for half a day after, and increased T and H since.

 

Yes, that’s precisely what the shower reset does - when I wake up with a spike it can make it go away. I like a long shower but don’t have all day lol. If it’s going to stay spiked or come undone later it will.
A day time nap can also either be beneficial or make it worse, so I don’t nap too often as it’s like Russian roulette.

 

I’ve read on here that a coffee enema will stimulate the vagus nerve. Maybe worth a try? J/k

 

If it was confirmed I'd consider it.

 

Supposedly any distension of the colon will stimulate the vagus nerve. Then again, I will stick to drinking the coffee!