Things Are Worse After I Tried to Make Changes to Help Myself Improve

In an effort to help myself improve, I've made some changes lately. Unfortunately, it has only made things worse and I feel lost. I've gone from a somewhat manageable situation to slowly losing my mind again. I need to go through things step by step to give a good picture of what has happened.

1) About 14 months ago, I was in the middle of that insane worsening I've mentioned several times. In a last ditch effort to get some sleep, I decided to put on a fan in the night. There's a very important reason why I did that - it was NOT to mask the tinnitus, but to have something interfere with my fridge which makes an electrical shrill noise from hell. This noise directly interfered with my tinnitus in the worst possible manner, making them both constantly yank each other up in a perfect storm. It helped and I decided to keep the fan so it's been running 24/7 since then - day and night. I recently realized that the reason I got Blepharitis was because the fan was drying my eyes. I turned it off in the day and forgot to put it back on at night one day. I noticed i had slept better and the tinnitus felt better too. I decided to try sleeping without the fan for some time.

About a week later, I seem to have acquired a "hyperacusis" level of reaction to the fridge, it's again begun to cause my tinnitus to go bananas and it's not going down again. Sleeping doesn't "reset" anything anymore. I turned the fan back on of course, but I pointed it away from my face.

2) I started jogging to lose weight. After I did that I seem to sleep significantly less.

3) Melatonin seems to do 0% to my sleep anymore. Not taking Melatonin seems to do more, actually. It has literally no effect on me now. This was my lifeline so I don't know.

4) I now wake up with bad tinnitus that gets worse throughout the day. I got to bed with a racket I'd prefer to be without. I sleep little or nothing. I used to get 3-5 hours. Now I maybe get 1 or 2 hours. I took a Zolpidem yesterday and that made me sleep throughout the night but it gave me CRAZY, soul-crushing anxiety in the afternoon and the tinnitus went right up to a 10. So I'm not touching that again.

5) Lenire doesn't seem to do jack anymore either.

6) I also cut Aspartame completely (Pepsi Max). However, I realized quickly what the positive effect of caffeine had been on my life. After I cut that stuff, I'm noticeably more tired and I feel prone to lay down and take these power naps from time to time. Because of that I'm not so tired when I need to sleep for the night anymore, especially if these naps happen after dinnertime. I try not to take them, but sometimes I just feel wasted from sleeping 1-2 hours a night. I didn't have that problem before.

I'm about to change my diet completely and I'm afraid if I make any more changes, things will get even worse. I don't know what's going to happen and I'm seriously scared of something more permanent. Every time I try to make a serious effort to help myself, things always just get a lot worse...

What did I do to deserve this?

 

You did not do anything to deserve this, it just is. 1 billion people have tinnitus, it's very common. As far as some attempts at improvements causing new problems, it's an adventure and some trial and error is normal. I am glad that you want to improve, that's great. Eventually you will need to make peace with this and accept it, then figure out what works for you to make it better. Let's break this down:

You need sleep and so that's a priority because everything starts to go to shit when you're sleep deprived. Get that straightened out and you will feel better. Some people do better with masking especially at night. I don't myself because of my pain hyperacusis so I turn off all fans, even the air conditioning is off at night.

You need to deal with the fridge. There are many options. May just be a simple cleaning of the fan to reduce noise. If not, then it may need a fan or compressor replacement. If not, a different room? If not, a new fridge? If not, maybe a timer to turn it off for sleep. Most refrigerators keep everything plenty cold during a power outage for a few hours if you don't open the doors.

Cutting out chemicals like Aspartame is never a bad thing. Eating healthy is always a good thing. You need to go slow and keep notes. If something makes things worse, go back. I just added garlic this week because it's supposed to be good for you but I felt horrible so that's off the list for now. It took three days and now I am better. If it helps or is just healthy with no change for now, then keep it. We are all individual so some trial and error will be required.

Exercise may need some experimenting and again note taking. Go slow. If jogging is too much for now, start with walking, stretching or yoga, or other relaxation techniques.

Your number one priority after getting sleep is your mind, your emotional reaction to and relationship with this. Learning to relax to get centered again. As we age we all get new problems. Tinnitus, arthritis, eyesight, energy, etc. It's natural and expected to have these challenges show up. We have to accept them, make peace with it and then figure out what makes it the best it can be, make adjustments and then go have some good days.

I know how hard this can be. I have it too and I also know that in a very small percentage of people there will be no relief. I am sorry for the suffering of the 1% club; that's horrible, but for the vast majority of us not only can it get better, it will get better.

George

 

If nothing else, definitely do something about that fridge.

 

GeorgeLG gives great advice. As far as supplements go, I can assure you that Magnesium (as much as 8-10 mg per lb. of bodyweight) and B12 (40.000% RDI ones) has improved my own tinnitus frequency a lot. I take a variety of other supplements, such as fish oils with Q10 enzyme and crushed ginger/turmeric tablets. Both are known to alleviate blood pressure, which can be a major factor in your tinnitus. You'd be surprised what the right supplements can do for you, if you're not already taking them.

 

Hi @Lurius, about fridge which makes an electrical shrill noise.

24" hairnet disposable Bouffant caps - Amazon. Breathable and filtered. Will cut down reactive shrill from fridge, fan, heater and air conditioner. Hairnets will stop blowing dust from a fan, heater and air conditioner from entering ears. Dust causes ear wax.

Glycinate Magnesium - talk to your doctor and if approved, try small amounts three or four times a day and one hour before going to bed. 400 to 600 total milligrams within 24 hours. Taking a Magnesium pill once a day may be less effective with tinnitus.

Consider taking one full pill of Magnesium one hour before going into an environment where there may be noise - such as going to a store or dentist.

Take supplements first thing in the morning, but don't over consume. MSM power may help.

@DebInAustralia has a list of supplements that can help.

Cut 8 inch strips - almost one half inch wide from a surgical laparotomy sponge and place one behind lower front teeth and let the rest hang out sides of mouth. Use before going to bed. I established a study with this and many find they wake up with softer tinnitus. They do sleep better. This cut sponge method appears to give security, maybe like a baby pacifier.

Another surgical laparotomy benefit may be with TMJ. Told this to a dentist with TMJ who made use of a mouth splint and he found this works better. So have many of his patients. I have cut nerves in mouth from dental (very painful during the day) that also caused a lots of other oral problems, but this method cured my severe TMJ in four months.

Practice good posture when using a computer, more so with use early in the morning.

I have a medical friend with tinnitus that's now a hospice care giver and some of his patients have tinnitus. In the hospitals where we both worked, he was employed as a medical psychologist. He also aided parents who have newborns who have hearing loss. He is unable to post on Tinnitus Talk at this time, but he has read a few messages per emotions with tinnitus. He likes our caring. The first part of this post is his words:

Hairnet:



Surgical laparotomy sponge:

 

You have mentioned several times that people experience health problems with age, that it is inevitable. You're right.

The only question is, to what extent is this type of comforting (telling yourself that it's normal) likely to work when someone lost their health at a young age? When the peers are healthy? Then what?

Now I try not to think about how old I am. But when it started, I just turned 22 (and surrounded myself with people 2-3 years younger). I tried to explain to myself that others were also sick, but I quickly realized that the people around me were healthy and energetic. For example, I saw that they were worried about their studies, a failed exam, or a failed relationship - and that didn't concern me anymore. That I'm trying to kid myself.

It got to the point where I had a problem staying next to them / entering the classroom from which I could hear laughter and conversations. Remote lessons came to the rescue (COVID-19), but until the end of my studies I had a problem with, for example, looking at groups on the Messenger of students in my year. Fortunately, I don't react that way to my peers I met elsewhere than in college. Immediately after graduation, I cut off all relationships from that period and I was relieved.

P.S. Yes, I know some of the people on this forum got sick much younger.

 

@KotaDomowa thank you for your perspective, I will think more about this aspect of suffering and healing. My first set of significant problems came in my 20s and 30s so I will think more about those experiences.

George

 

I have been thinking about this a lot. I have noticed I am rather bad at this, the making peace part, not just with tinnitus, with all ailments I have started getting with age, bad genes etc. Pains, symptoms that are not lethal or 'dangerous' but that affect my quality of life, that need to be 'handled' in some way, practically but above all, psychologically. I always have a hard time accepting stuff like this and I wish I were better at it, because I do realise more and more stuff is gonna come with age, and many more are gonna go (hearing, sight, muscle strength, health in general). I've recently started having issues with my feet aching and burning at night. Together with the racket in my head from tinnitus, I've been feeling fairly down.

If anyone has tips on how to get better at the accepting and making peace part, I'd be happy for any advice.

 

@shrimp, I just wrote some thoughts on acceptance in another thread. You can search my recent posts.

Mindfulness stirs up a lot of discussion here but it is a perfect tool for this subject, shedding the past, not obsessing about the future and living in the present moment. In the 80’s when I would get sick I would latch on to the whole thing like a junk yard dog and not let go. This caused many problems to become much bigger than they needed to be and last much longer. Severe panic attacks is an example. I have been able to face many challenges with more grace and less suffering by mastering this. Maybe search Amazon for a high rated Kindle read. I don’t have a recent recommendation but I should probably find one to update my references to help people. Another approach is thread searches here on the subject. The inability to let go and stay obsessed with the past and fear of the future has its roots in other things, other unresolved issues.

George

 

I read your post, thanks for the comforting words.

 

My case is pretty much the same, like everything I try, it seems to make it only worse.

Sleep is important and staying calm. Anxiety, stress and obsessive behaviour do more harm than alcohol or aspartame.

Too much prevention can work against you. And you can turn out paranoid, thinking everything is a possible danger.

First of all, look at the things (beside tinnitus) that cause stress and pressure. Minimize that. Like certain people, diets, worrying about using ear protection.

If I could turn back time, I think after a few weeks of my tinnitus onset I should have had been more assertive (borders, people, work, etc), drink my beers and coffee again and stop worrying.