Tinnitus Louder Because of Stress?

Hello there,

My tinnitus began 2 years ago through a loud new years eve fireworks and party night and during these 2 years, I habituated pretty well to my tinnitus to the point I wasn't listening to it anymore, even when going to bed. I had almost completely forgotten I had tinnitus. However during the last few months it became louder again. I had a lot of stress during the last months, it was the most stressful time of my life so far. Then, 2 days ago at New Years Eve, a friend of mine shot with a gun and it was extremely loud and my ears were ringing after each shot (it were 2 shots). However that night nothing worse happened and I wore earplugs from that moment on.

My T now is louder than ever and I can hear it over everyday-noises. I'm scared the shots might have worsen my tinnitus but I can't compare it 100% because it was pretty loud even before New Years Eve.

Can stress make T caused by ear damage louder? Will my T be ever as quiet as it was before all this stress started?

During the last few months, I wasn't really paying attention to it because I always had other things on my mind, I just now realize how loud it is compared to like a year ago.

Best greetings.

 

Stress can make tinnitus louder also the gun shots.
Your doctor might prescribe Prednisalone that might help lower the tinnitus from the gun shots ...lots of love glynis
..

 

Hi @r_ve
Stress can make tinnitus worse. However, if there is no other underlying medical condition causing the increase in your tinnitus the usual reason is exposure to loud noise. Do you listen to music through headphones even at low volume? Do you attend clubs or concerts where loud music is played? If yes to any of these questions it's like they could be responsible for the increase in your tinnitus. Try not to sleep in a quiet room at night and use a sound machine. Please click on the link below and read my post: Tinnitus, A Personal View. It covers treatments and coping methods that you might find helpful.
All the best
Michael
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/

 

Hello,

Do you have also hyperacousis ?

Apparently, yes the stress can increase the tinnitus...

Best,

Christophe

 

@Christophe_85 No, I don't have hyperacousis at least now that I know of...

 

Michael Leigh, WONDERFUL ARTICLE! TY SO MUCH!

 

Hi @r_ve, sorry to hear you're having a tough time.

Stress absolutely can worsen tinnitus for some people, and there's reasonable scientific data about various reasons this may be the case. However, I think blaming stress for your current spike is probably incorrect if you were exposed to multiple gunshots 2 days ago -- especially if you didn't wear hearing protection. Guns are really loud; even a .22lr is sufficient to cause immediate hearing damage (if you're not wearing plugs; if you are, then smaller caliber guns are probably "fine" for most people).

The best thing you can do is to avoid all loud noises for a while, try to rest and eat well, get as much sleep as you can and have faith that you've just had an acute injury and that your body will repair itself to some extent over the next days/weeks/months. It's possible that your tinnitus will return to its usual level at some point, but no one in the world can tell you when that might happen.