Tinnitus from Night Club / Stress Response Getting Worse Over Time for Unknown Reason

In October 2018 I went to a loud nightclub and didn't wear any earplugs. When I went home, nothing seemed wrong but lying down in my bed that night I heard a very minor tinnitus that I could barely hear. I fell asleep and the next day I didn't check if I could hear it and I forgot about it for like 7 days. It was either gone or I totally forgot about it and didn't notice it since it was so quiet.

About a week later I got a phone call that something bad had happened to a friend of mine and I got a little bit in a shock. Later that night when I went to sleep I heard a very minor tinnitus, this time it was more noticeable than week before after the nightclub.

My theory is that I got my tinnitus from the nightclub and it was super quiet so I didn't notice it, but after that little stress response (aweek later) my tinnitus got permanently louder?

Since then it's only gotten worse. I never noticed a sudden increase in my tinnitus because it seems to be increasing gradually and I don't know what causes it to increase.

I don't use headphones, no antibiotics, no noisy environment, no physical or mental problems, no nothing really..

My tinnitus is a high pitched ringing sound and it's non-reactive. No matter what I do (e.g., healthier diet, supplements, using drugs/alcohol, better sleep etc) it's always the same sound except that it's getting louder over time.

I've been to 2 GPs and they couldn't help me. Around a year ago I also went to an ENT and a hearing loss test was done which showed that I had slight hearing loss at the higher frequencies. The ENT also cleaned my ears and that was basically it.

I now hear it sometimes when I'm outside. When I just got it (approx 3.5 years ago), literally every little sound (even hearing myself breathe when I lay in bed) would mask the tinnitus.

I just don't understand why it keeps gradually getting louder for no known reason.

Any kind of recommendations are appreciated.

 

It seems that hearing loss can increase over time without any additional adverse noise exposure, and that will lead to an increased perception of tinnitus. Some people have good results by using hearing aids to correct any hearing loss and find that that reduces the tinnitus or even eliminates it. You might feel that you are hearing just fine, but that could just be because the IHCs are preserved while the OHCs have been damaged. The IHCs are more responsible for clarity of sound perception whereas damage to the OHCs can lead to tinnitus. So, just because you feel like you can hear fine doesn't mean that hearing aids wouldn't work for you. Hearing damage can also occur that is simple insufficient to be detected in an audiogram but still sufficient to cause tinnitus.

Otherwise, you are just one of the millions of people who live with tinnitus. If you find that the tinnitus itself is too annoying then habituation therapy would be appropriate, and that would be guided by an audiologist who has experience with treating tinnitus patients.