Tinnitus Got Worse Last Week — I Thought It Would Be Just a Spike...

Hello,

I've had mild tinnitus (only noticeable while trying to sleep) for a few years. When I open my jaw as wide as I can, the sound gets worse. Same thing happens when stretching/tensing my neck.

However, last week, my tinnitus started getting worse, and it's now audible at all times of the day. I thought it was temporary, because I've had days where it would suddenly get worse and then stop a few hours later, but it hasn't improved at all, it has only been getting worse.

What should I do now?

 

Hi, sorry to read this.
Did you talk to your GP about this?
Nothing particular happened before the worsening? Were you exposed to loud noise?

Do you have any temporomandibular joint dysfunction symptoms? TMJD is pretty common and can cause tinnitus.

Good luck to you

 

Thanks for the reply.

I haven't gone to my GP because of the coronavirus. I'm afraid that going now while lots of new cases are popping up would make me catch it. I'm not at risk, but I don't want to spread it to others. I don't have any loss of mobility or pain in my jaw joints. I haven't been exposed to more noise than usual. I really can't pinpoint this to a single issue.

 

Spikes can last much longer than a week, up to several months from what I've read here. Don't get too scared it hasn't gone down yet after a week.

Many people have somatic tinnitus to a degree. How is your neck motion range? After talking to a few people here whose tinnitus was heavily influenced by neck movement I found out there's a lot wrong with mine and that I probably had a whiplash in December. Have you had any neck discomfort, or perhaps made a funky movement? Slept in an awkward position? It may be worth looking into.

Good luck! Hope it settles soon.

 

Hi Jonjx,

So sorry to hear that you are experiencing this. Very familiar story to most of us here.

What was the original cause of your tinnitus?

I know it's easier said than done, but try not to panic.

You may be experiencing a spike or your perception of your tinnitus has increased.

See if you can perform an online audiogram and compare if you've had one in the past.

If there is no change (unless a hidden hearing loss), it is likely that your hearing hasn't deteriorated, but your perception (for some reason) has increased.

This has happened to me recently. I suspect in my case it to be a combination of increased stress and anxiety, a low grade infected root canaled tooth, and TMJ pain.

Make sure you don't have a physical cause, then I would move onto managing your reactions, and eventually you will manage to rehabituate.

What was going on in your life around the time that you noticed the tinnitus becoming more audible through the day?

Things I found helpful:

. support
. sleep
. anxiety management eg. meditations, massage, etc
. Back to Silence thread, including Silvene's contributions

Problem is now you and your brain are now focusing on the noise. You are probably monitoring the loudness, intensity, sound quality etc... and all of this thoughts are being sent to your amygdala (your emotional part of your brain). You don't want that. You want to shunt these messages off to your pre frontal cortex (your rational part of your brain), as this will essentially help your brain decide that it isn't an important sound. (and I know, a cure needs to come along, but until then, this is what has helped me the most!)