Tinnitus and Emotions

Hi, I have had tinnitus for the last 11 months now, I believe mine is stress related ( so do doctors ). I've had it ever since my dad got sick. I think it was the stress of going in and out of hospital to see him. Anyways, I have read am article that says people with tinnitus deal with their emotions differently than people who do not experience it. I would love to know peoples opinions on this.

I believe its true, ever since my dad died, my whole family have been crying, I was only upset directly after. I don't know if that's to do with this. However, I have anxiety since my dad passed away due to stress. I'm not sure if it just hasn't hit me yet, or it's just the way I am.

I would love to see peoples opinions, Jack

 

Hi Jack,
I am not sure but my husband seems to think it is related. I had sudden onset vertigo and tinnitus January 2015. I have had the vertigo on a recurring basis off and on but the tinnitus has been there every day. The day before it all started I had a huge argument with my son, my husband said he thought I was going to explode I was so upset. It was very stressful for me and the next day, there it was the vertigo and the constant tinnitus. Now whenever I get upset or stressed the tinnitus seems worse. It is constant every day and loud every day but when I am stressed it seems to spike louder, so you could be right.

 

My tinnitus also spikes after being stressed. It has been through the roof the last few days.

 

So I take it yours is constant, daily?

 

It could be, but it usually dies down to around 2/10 during the day. It is usually covered up by background sound. It is usually worse at night, ranging from 6-8/10. It was worse when I first got it, it was constantly just a really loud ringing..

 

The few times I have been really upset, crying or anxiety, my T has gone insane. So emotions and T are related in my opinion, as soon as I calm myself down, the T goes back to normal baseline.

 

I think emotions and tinnitus are related, but in a very complex way - far more so than most specialists would have you believe. Oddly, I have experienced 2 extremes. My tinnitus has gone mad when getting really upset, but equally, I have been really upset and angry and frustrated with my tinnitus and suddenly the amplitude collapses to almost nothing?!?!?

 

Here some strange reactions of T and emotions too. For me when I cry, tinnitus quiets down. So crying helps. I can be very very depressed and tinnitus is almost gone and I can be ok and tinnitus goes through the roof. Go figure that out.

My T did get this bad after a extremely stressful (health wise) year and the anxiety T gave me made the sound much much worse. The depression I got after that made it unbearable. Xanax really saved my life at that point.

 

Me too. Weird. I tried to find out what chemicals are released in the brain when we cry that would explain it. Didnt really find any literature about it!

 

Well, T did affect my emotions quite a bit.

I don't feel anything anymore! Hearing is the one sense that connects us to other people - the pitch and timbre of one's voice is as important as the words that they say. When you're struggling to hear how someone is speaking, not just what they're saying, through a mess of screeching, you get less emotional information and can't respond with proper emotion.

 

I've read crying reduces stress hormones in the body. It releases bottled up stress plus it reduces pain. Too much crying though isn't good though for it can cause (worsen) depression.

 

I can be raging mad or sitting calmly watching a movie, nothing like this effects my T at all. Emotion does not come into play for me. I damaged my ears, if getting happy would fix them or reduce symptoms that would be great, but it ain't happening for me. I think 99 percent of people here just have some kind of anxiety issue, and not real T.

 

Exactly.

Guess I'm not in the same boat as any of you. I have ridiculously bad ear symptoms including one-sided pain, burning, jaw numbness and bilateral (but different-sounding in each ear) tinnitus. These symptoms are disproportionate to the amount of hearing damage I have (0-15dB thresholds up to 16kHz, WELL within normal range), - so I come to this forum to help find out what else is at play - not to resolve my anxiety, but to help me reduce my symptoms. I personally think forums like this promote anxiety in the anxiety-prone people out there, and that if you have anxiety, you should get off this site, RIGHT now.

For more on my personal experiences with anxiety, open the spoiler. I'm pretty verbose...

Spoiler

I just felt REAL anxiety 30 minutes ago as I was trying to be sneaky about something embarrassing. In a dangerous or embarrassing situation, your face flushes, your heart races, you panic and can't speak coherently. THAT'S anxiety, and it's a normal emotion that happens in the face of danger.

Most people (including myself) DEFINITELY don't get those feelings spontaneously or pathologically, and haven't ever had them without a good reason, so I guess I'm the 1% here that's only depressed/dissociated because of T. I don't think many people have anxiety issues... docs just like to describe any kind of emotional arousal or intense feeling as "anxiety" so they can prescribe you a tranquilizer.

The ONE time I had an anxiety attack was when I was held in a mental hospital due to T - the combination of being caged up like an animal, drugged with unsafe meds, and knowing it won't make me better sent me over the edge. Outside, at home, I never panic or feel anxious. I'm just unable to "get over" the fact that I'm in constant pain.

To bash the medical perception of anxiety further, I know a girl who has been sexually assaulted multiple times. She has flashbacks constantly and, her being 22 and kinda cute, people continue to be sexually aggressive around her. Naturally, this makes her nervous. She goes to doctors asking for help resolving the chronic emotional problem so she can be normal again, and what do they do? The only thing they CAN do - they prescribe benzos... short acting addictive drugs that sedate you to all hell.

 

Stress takes a physical toll on the body in many ways. It can effect blood pressure, hormones, the central nervous system, the immune system, etc. Not surprising that stress can mess with the body in a way that increases tinnitus for some. I have tinnitus because of fried nerves in my ear. I keep stress management right there in the toolbox with noise reduction and caffeine reduction.

 

Tinnitus can wear on you so badly that it creates constant state of irritability....

 

Grate,

This isn't much of a documented piece of work, but it talks about what you had trouble locating!

Link: http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/mind-and-body/your-brain-crying

 

Thank you!
There was several interesting comments here:

....crying seems to stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system (PN). Vingerhoets says the PN plays a big role in recovery and relaxation (it's essentially the opposite of your fight-or-flight response).
T is known for enabeling the fight or flight respons! Seems like crying gives us a break

...Your tears may also stimulate the release of brain chemicals like oxytocin and endogenous opioids..
...If that's the case, that would imply that crying would also have a positive effect on pain perception and pain tolerance..
Where can I get oxytocin?.

It´s a shame it´s so hard to cray as an adolt then. A crying shame I tell you!
Only happens to me when the terror of T. sends me to the abyss of suicidal thought and I think about my family. Lately, even that isnt enough to elicit tears.

 

Not sure if any of you guys have read the article about how people with tinnitus process emotions differently?

My belief: The ringing you hear, is what once allowed you to receive emotions from your hearing. Neurotransmitters. The damage has caused your brain to switch it's emotional processing to the frontal lobe where it logically processes information along with whatever emotional side of processing your brain still somewhat holds. Our hearing can be a very emotional sense, but only if the correct mechanisms are in place.