Tinnitus Constantly Changing

Hi all,

My T seems to be changing so much.

One minute it will be silent and I'll think it's going. Then something will move/pop/click in my ear and it will get really loud.

This used to happen occasionally and it would go back to its normal level within a minute. This seems to be happening more frequently and stays loud for s really long time.

I understand fleeting tinnitus, but this seems to be different as its lasting longer and more frequent. Anyone experience similar?

 

For what its worth we are all guessing here as to whats going on. How is the H doing? For me its the anxiety, panic attacks, or negative thoughts that will trigger it to be loud, sometimes for a minute, sometimes an hour or sometimes the entire next day. I find that if I can control my emotions and stay calm, I can have more days of lower T than loud T. The fact that it fluctuates I think is a good thing because it means that you can eventually get it down down to silent if you can figure out what is wrong with you. If it was constantly loud, then I would worry more that something had happened and you cant get the volume back down.

 

My T is doing the same thing also. I've had my T going on 4 months now. Over the last 3 weeks, I noticed my H has gotten much more sensitive, and certain sounds seem to make my T louder. Also, like you, one day my T is very low in some cases almost non-existent, and the next day the level of loudness is higher. I've been keeping a journal to try and see if I see any trends on what makes my T fluctuate so much, but to be honest with you, I can't see any trends right now. It's very hard to habituate when one day my T is low, and the next it seems higher (and I don't know what triggers it). It also changes now during the day. I can wake up and my T is very low, then by mid day, it starts to get louder for some reason. Before, if it was low when I woke up, it would stay at that level for the entire day, no changes. But now, it's no guarantee. Someone told me it should level off and this is probably a result of my H getting more sensitive, and both should level off soon, and get back to a normal baseline. But honestly, I have no idea what causes all these changes in our T. I guess what RB2014 said may be true. The fact that it fluctuates with low and high days may be an indicator that it could change for the better and possibly go back to silence. We can only pray that will happen for us.

 

Thanks very much for your support RB, it's really helped me! Yeah, I think anxiety can play a major part, my H is slightly better now just from going to work, keeping positive etc. It's still there, but not as bad as it was. I may look at going to a specialist but will wait until the end of the week once I've settled down a bit to see how it is. Yeah that's very true, good point!

 

Thank you for your input, much appreciated.

I agree, let's just keep positive. Over time I'm sure we can work out what gets us back our low T and stick to it!

 

Are you doing any Sound Therapy, or any other type of Therapies (ie. TRT, CBT, etc.)? I've been using Widex Zen Therapy, and also listening to Audionotch Sound Therapy at night when I sleep. I've been on it for about a month, but it usually takes a few months before they say you see results. Results meaning habituation and perceived lower volumes. Is it working? We'll it's kind of hard to say since my T goes up and down in volume daily, so hard to establish a base line to work with. But, I'm hoping it will level off very soon.

How are you handling your T overall? How are your sleep patterns? Is your T levels normally lower or higher in volume during the day?

My T levels were usually lower during the day, which made it easier for me to cope during the day. But at night when I slept the T volume ramped up for some reason, which made it harder for me to sleep at night, However, now my T volume varies during the day, making it a little harder to cope or concentrate like before. But I'm finding my sleep is slowly getting better. Starting to sleep longer intervals (4 to 5 hours), where before I would sleep in intervals of 2 hours. My goal is to eventually be able to sleep the entire night. People tell me that this will eventually come with more time. Same with or H and T, it will level off with time and more normal exposure to sound.

 

Not at the moment. By going to work and getting out the H has settled down a bit which is good. Hoping by the end of the week it will be much better. IF not I will make an appointment with a specialist and consider TRT.

Not heard of Widex Zen Therapy!

My T really got to me a couple of days ago due to the increase, and seems to be more reactive now. Every other night it gets so loud it wake me up and I just lay there with the loudest T I've ever experienced. It seems to go after 20 mins or so. I think the T going up at night may just be due to being in a quiet place and panicking that it may increase, in turn increasing the brain's perception of it.

 

I have had days of low T in the morning followed by higher T during the day. I have also had days where it is constant. I think T starts soft and then life's pressures start to take hold and it gets worst. I have stayed in bed for 4 hours on a low T day and zone out and not have it get worst until I get up and start my day. To me this means that when my mind was clear I could control the T. On my bad days I can always attribute it to a bad day the day before.

 

The H is a bastard too. I was having my worst T days when I had H. It wasn't until I calmed down for a while that the H went away and I could find the pattern of my T. I'm not sure but I think the H amplifies the T. So a good H day means a better T day but maybe not a great T day. When you have both H and T it's a lot harder to figure out the pattern.

 

I bet once you guys both get you H under control, you will find that the T is almost non-existent. Now that my H is gone, I'm having better T days. Less volume and less time that I notice it. I did have 15 seconds of a hopeless thought today and my T came back from baseline. Instead of getting scared, which I'm sure releases all the bad chemicals into your body, I took control, got mad at myself, talked to my T and told it to go away and that I was mad. In about 15 minutes it went away. It was crazy. It has been gone for the rest of the day. With T you must confront it, get mad. If you act scared it will take control and keep bothering you. Again though for any of this to work, you guys need to get the H under control first. I think anxiety causes adrenaline with no release and decreases seratonin levels to your brain. I think this is what feeds the T.