Tinnitus Worse After Waking Up, Now Higher Pitched — Maybe Triggered by Going to Sleep Late?

Hi all. I’m nearly 2 months in from my tinnitus onset and am not sure if I’m having a spike or (god forbid) if my tinnitus is evolving. Only one time before I got what I thought was fleeting tinnitus which was super loud, but it persisted until I woke up the next day. No idea why it happened.

Fast forward to yesterday. I awoke with a higher pitch ringing that’s louder than my base tinnitus (unilateral, right ear) in my ear.

Today’s the second day of this worsening and I haven’t noticed any change in volume. Am I experiencing a spike?

I’m trying my best to ignore/mask it and stay calm but I’m scared this may be the new normal.

Could this be due to the fact that I stayed up until 6-7 am that night? I woke up to this afterwards.

Any advice or support would be appreciated, thank you!

 

What caused your tinnitus? It should get better with time. It should calm down. When I first got tinnitus, it kept changing. But after a while it just got quiet and stopped changing.

 

We are all different and some level of trial and error is required to understand what will work best for you. I find that if I don’t sleep enough and get overly tired my tinnitus really spikes. Mine also spikes from sound exposure, salt, caffeine, etc. other people report sensitivity to foods containing Glutamate, certain spices and so forth. Don’t listen to your tinnitus but pay attention to what hurts and what helps and listen to your body.

I know it’s hard to do and fear and anxiety are natural when such an unusual and scary thing shows up but you have to relax. You’ve got tinnitus for now, that’s history and there’s nothing you could do about having gotten it. Now you need to accept it, try to relax, stop worrying about how bad it might get and start working the problem. For a great many people it gets better or goes away. I know a number of people with tinnitus and they all lead perfectly normal lives. As a matter of fact I didn’t even know they had it until I mention that I have it. My brother-in-law calls it his old friend, he’s had it for 25 years from major sound exposure in helicopters, tanks, and M-16 rifle fire. I’ve known him for 20 years and just found out he had it last week. I believe that for the vast majority of people it goes away or is manageable. There are 35,000 members here but 50 million people in the United States have tinnitus.

George

 

@ALindo10, tinnitus can be quite unpredictable, particularly in the early stages. Many people find that their tinnitus is all over the place during the initial months. Certain things can cause spikes: exposure to noise, meds, lack of sleep and certain foods. I’d suggest going to bed earlier if you can - granted, I understand some people work night shifts. If you are struggling to sleep then you may want to lean on sleeping pills in the short term as insomnia tends to make any situation worse.

May I ask what caused your tinnitus? For most people it either tends to go away or reduce to a much lower volume, but it appears this can take up to a year or two. In the meantime you need to do the best you can to look after yourself - good sleep, food, protecting your ears and getting exercise. My volume is much reduced after 7 months and I hope you find some relief soon.

 

Hi, thanks for your reply! Thankfully I woke up today and it was back to normal so I believe it was a 2 day-spike. I’m 90% certain my tinnitus was caused by my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine, so I’m hoping that as the vaccine runs its course and eventually fades over time, so will my tinnitus. I’ve read that it may take 6-12 months and is likely responsible for an off-target inflammatory response in the brain. Thanks again so much for your response, it was very detailed and educational for me. I appreciate it very much.

 

Did you have multi tone reactive tinnitus? I’m on month 2 and it just morphed again.

 

Yeah, I have like 6 or 7 noises in my ears. It’s such a good time lol. I only had mild ringing for years, but then from deadlifting heavy I developed distortions and a beeping in my right ear. Then I got in a car accident, my hyperacusis became terrible and now I have ringing and fluttering in my good ear. The distortions are the worst. And yeah, mine is extremely reactive. Most noises will cause my tinnitus to spike like crazy. So unless your ears keep taking damage like mine, the reactivity should die down after a while.

In my first time dealing with tinnitus and mild hyperacusis, it got much better. Mine stopped reacting to noise after about a year. It was a while but it was worth protecting my ears for a while.

 

Yes, I have talked to so many people getting tinnitus from the COVID-19 vaccine, it is a symptom most people are getting. For some it goes away, for some not yet. Give it time.

 

Wow sounds like you have great luck. How are you dealing with it now?

 

I know I was lucky with my ears until this year. 2020 was amazing compared to 2021 for me. And to be honest, I feel horrible, really depressed, but I feel so much better when I workout, even though it hurts my ears it helps the depression a lot. I go to the chiropractor. It helps a little, and Lipoflavonoid, with vitamin C, D, Magnesium and Zinc. Just trying to get better man.

 

I’m sure you’ll get there again. Hang in there.

 

I feel the same about my Moderna vaccine.

 

Mine got higher pitched but more faint. Is that normal?