Theory of Why Tinnitus Volume Fluctuates Throughout the Day

Hi guys.

Hope you're well.

Something that really baffles me about tinnitus is how it fluctuates quite a lot throughout the day, and across different days.

I have times during the day where I can barely even hear it and other times when I can hear it about most things in the house and over the TV. Further, there are some whole days where the tinnitus is super low and I can barely and other days where it is a lot louder.

I know many of you have tinnitus like this, of course, there are others that have constant always on and never changing tinnitus but from what I've read these people seem to be a minority.

My thinking is this, the main theory is that tinnitus is a phantom sound that is created to make up for a lack of auditory input.

Well, if it was only that, then why on earth would it fluctuate so wildly?

My theory is that the tinnitus noise is actually more the sound of your internal body.

This is why peoples tinnitus gets louder with certain foods, with more or less sleep, with more or less stress...these are all things affecting your bodies internal working quite a bit.

I mean, I could be wrong. So I would love some input on this.

But to me, it seems, that if tinnitus was purely just your brains way of making up for lack of auditory input and nothing else then it wouldn't fluctuate all the time like it does, it would just be constant and always the same.

It's like people who lose their sight partially...they don't regain part of the sight part way during the day and then lose it again, that just doesnt happen. I know the ears and eyes are vastly different in functioning, but the principle is the same.

Look forward to your replies

 

mine always starts very low in the morning and gets louder as the goes on and i take a melatonin just before bed and it goes lower by 1/3 to 1/2

 

Yes. This is what I'm talking about. If tinnitus was just a phantom signal as a result of hearing loss it wouldnt fluctuate so damn much.

Good to hear the tinnitus isnt too bad for you, and that melatonin helps. Any idea why the melatonin helps so much?

Thanks,

Sonny.

 

Mine fluctuates to an absolutely bonkers degree day by day. Some days can only hear in a quiet room (rare), some I can hear it over motorway traffic, some over the tv and fan but not outside. And I can never see much of a link with anything except slightly with stress

 

sanj100 don't get me wrong t and pt are the worst things that's ever happened to me, pure torture, and i've had a lot of stuff happen to me

 

My T changes in sound type, rhythm and loudness all the time, and perhaps that is the feature that makes it really annoying and difficult to habituate. There are some patterns: About 2 days of relatively quiet, followed by one day of much louder T. My hypothesis is that whatever is damaged, it is half broken and there are all sort of random neural patterns that are changing often and causing these different T perceptions. These auditory half broken circuits are affected by external sounds (T reactivity), attention, and likely by other internal biological cycles and processes.
Each T sufferer has a different lesion behind the noise, and I am not surprised about the huge variability of the T symptoms.

 

Sorry, I wasnt trying to diminish your suffering. How old are you if you dont mind me asking?I notice you have put a lot of causes for your tinnitus. What do you reckon was the the main reason?

Thanks,

Sonny.

 

I am also looking for any correlation between better (quieter) and worse (louder) days. Maybe there is no correlation and everything is more or less random...

 

I have 3 sounds, one is stable but the other two fluctuates like crazy 24/7 from almost quiet to screaming loud levels.

Makes no sense other than brain/body activity affected by something.. but this something could be anything. Food, sleep, light, dark, smells, noise, radiation, heat, cold... and so on.

 

I have the exact same symptoms with T.

For me doctor said its due to hearing loss. I have T more than a month. I was waiting hearing to become normal it did today but I still have T. Doctor gave up

I wish I know why it fluctuates so much. I hear it more at home than at work. Moment I enter home I turn my white noise machine and exhaust fans. Evening times I feel those are enough to mask but when I go to sleep I hear my T even on top of the fan / white noise. I have to make an effort to ignore the T and focus on fan sound.

When I drink chamomile tea before sleep I hear less compared to days when I don't. I am still in the process of figuring out ways to deal with T.

 

I would like to see more studies done on the correlation between levels of BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) and tinnitus severity. It's been suggested that lower levels of BDNF in plasma are tied to higher levels of tinnitus severity. Abstract. There are ways to increase BDNF. Exercise is one of the best ways.