Tinnitus Coming Back After Years of Silence. Utterly Devastated.

Hello folks. My name is Pietro,I'm from Italy.
Never thought I would be joining this forum but here I am.
I first got T in 2011 after a night out with friends, loud music, you know the drill. I was 18.
I went through the motions, ENT, audiologist (is that even a word in english?), got medication, tested my hearing. No hearing loss whatsoever. If anything, I was hearing far too much, especially high pitched sounds.
After maybe 5 months, I was back
to normal again. It took time to even realize the T had gone away. Maybe through Habituation, maybe it had just gone. Will never know. Anyways, 4 years of silence. So much so that T had become a nightmarish memory and nothing more.

Then right after my graduation, not even two months ago (I swear it feels like 10 years ago now) one
morning I woke up and there the tinnitus was.
I spent days in denial but there was no denying it. I panicked, started
paying attention to every little sound, desperately went back to the very same doctor as years ago. He told me my ears seemed fine but I had spectacular TMJ problems since
my teeth are consumed by bruxism (again, not sure that is even a word in english). He gave me benzodiazepines, which scared me
shitless. I'm supposed to be starting to wear a night guard in a week, which my dentist says will help. I am still reeling from the shock, seriously, I can't believe it has come back.
Perhaps the stress of graduation played a part, perhaps not. The doctor said that 4 years of silence is huge and shows I have good chances to kill tinnitus again, but honestly in the state I'm in now that seems hard to believe. I have decided to see a therapist. Sorry for the rant, but I know you know what it feels like. Friends and girlfriend try to help but obviously can't REALLY understand what I.m going through. The doctor said that joining a forum can only deepen my anxiety, but then again, he has never had tinnitus, so that particular piece of advice is hilarious.
On a side note, thanks for existing and making me feel like I'm in good and quality company.
I will be fighting to get rid of it again. Peace and love

 

A warm welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
So sorry to hear your tinnitus has come back after a few years of silence.
TMJ can cause tinnitus and wearing a mouth guard will help take the presure of your jaw joint and over a few months your tinnitus should settle so don't give up in wearing it.
Try to stay calm and not let the unwanted emotions with tinnitus take hold as anxiety will make the Tinnitus seem worse.
Tinnitus talk is a great support for you around the clock and make a few friends too.
Keep posting on the main forums and have a read of members posts....
Lots of love glynis

 

Hi Pietro, my situation is similar with yours, but the cause for my T is noise and hearing loss. I first noticed it in 2012 then I found out that I had hearing loss. I work in the military and I used to shoot a lot without protection. However, just as you, I habituated easily to the point that I wasn't sure if I had it or not. Last year I started going to loud events such as weddings without protection and after those events I used to check if something happened but I never noticed it coming back. Until 3 months ago when a truck horn was blown near my ear when I was crossing a street. I immediately started to check if something happened and noticed it but could not tell if it was louder or not. I was convinced that if I had stopped to shoot unprotected there was nothing that could harm my ears again. Wrong. In the first week after the new acoustic trauma I would constantly hear it from time to time but I was still OK until one night when I panicked and I realized that it had gone louder. What followed was a nightmare. Now, after 3 months and lots of pills, it is still the same but I have made strong steps toward habituation. I can sleep without problems and during the day I practice Back to silence technique described in this forum. Believe me, you should try it if anything else doesn't cure you. You will find it in the success stories section.

 

Have you been eating a lot of Fast Food ? ..or Chinese Food ..stuff with MSG

That will do it.

 

My name is Rose. I came down with T six years ago. For the first two years I had it then It started fading. I would get a few spikes here in there but no big deal. Just two months ago it came back louder than before. I was under a lot of stress plus I had a bad flu. This is the first time I am on this web site.

 

Hi Pietro, So sorry this has come back. I've been so caught up in wanting to get rid of it that I never thought of it coming back! If it's a TMJ issue there is a good chance it will go again. I have heard that physiotherapy can help if it's associated to to TJM, maybe you could try that?