Tinnitus Spike After Static Shock from Headphones

Hey everyone. I hope you're all doing okay. I've been doing pretty well dealing with my tinnitus these past few weeks after a big spike and some decreased hearing left me extremely anxious (both the spike and hearing decrease had resolved completely prior to last night). Unfortunately I'm now having another spike and my anxiety is through the roof.

Last night, I was laying in bed before going to sleep and decided to listen to some calming music with my over ear headphones. These headphones are made like earmuffs, with lots of padding on each ear and an NRR of 32 (I live in NYC and never leave home without these headphones on and foam plugs under them). I was a few songs into my listening session when I felt a shock-like sensation in my right ear. It felt like the kind of shock you get when you're taking laundry out of the dryer, but directly on my right ear. It didn't really hurt at all, and it wasn't a powerful shock by any means. Honestly I didn't really think much of it at the time, but this morning I woke to my tinnitus being much louder than usual in my right ear (I've been monitoring in the same room of my house at the same time each day, so I know for sure the tinnitus in my right ear is a bit louder than usual).

I'm so frustrated that I allowed this to happen. I had basically re-habituated to my tinnitus and hadn't heard it unless I listened for it since my last spike. Now I'm right back to hearing it constantly and being extremely anxious about it. I'm terrified that this spike will never resolve and that I'm going to be stuck with this increase just because I wanted to listen to some music.

Can any of you help me think more rationally and more positive about this? Anytime I try to think "that shock wasn't powerful enough to do any damage and this spike will resolve" or "this spike is likely unrelated to the shock", my worst case scenario thinking takes over and crushes those would be positive thoughts. I really appreciate any help you all can provide.

 

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