Unilateral Tinnitus Caused by Unmanaged Anxiety/Insomnia?

I'm a relative newbie to this. I have had a quiet chime/ringing in my right ear for a couple of years.
However, following a period of extreme stress/anxiety/insomnia in October this year, my tinnitus has reached new heights.

I've had the battery of tests: MRI, audiogram, and tympanography, all of which have revealed normal findings.

Since then, my sleep has only deteriorated, and it appears to be having a cumulative negative effect on my tinnitus.

Is it quite plausible that all of this is due to the mental health component in absence of any physical abnormality? Sometimes that feels hard to believe.

Thanks for taking your time to read and reply. The support on this forum means so much to me.

 

Mine is due to acoustic trauma but there's lots of instances where stress seems to have triggered tinnitus. It's crazy how the body will produce something that causes more stress as a result of stress. If you're fairly sure that it wasn't caused by other factors, then the first thing to do is try to get your stress under control as much as you can (I know this isn't easy especially with the new sound in your ear).

 

In my experience, anxiety, mental stress, and insomnia can definitely exacerbate tinnitus. About 9 months after my father died, I went through a very difficult period where I was offering tons of emotional support to my mother and sister but not really getting enough sleep myself, feeling very stressed and sometimes almost overwhelmed. What had previously been the slightest of sounds that I only heard in very peaceful environments such as walking across a salt marsh became catastrophic hyperacusis and tinnitus. (By catastrophic I mean that air conditioners sounded like Boeing 747s, I was unable to drive, sleep became a series of short desperate catnaps, I lost perhaps 20 pounds as I lost my appetite...)

11 or so years later, the tinnitus has ranged from moderate to severe (after exposure to an alarm a year back). I have little hyperacusis (super sensitivity to sound) but I vacuum using headphones, avoid very loud environments...

The problem is putting the genie back in the bottle once tinnitus gets to that point.

Sounds like your nervous system is in overdrive. In Western medicine, as well as Chinese and subcontinental Indian medicine called Ayurveda, having an amped up sympathetic nervous system and an overwhelmed parasympathetic nervous system is related to both emotions and physical state.

One can try to calm the body which may help with the tinnitus and will hopefully at least reduce the anxiety. It's possible the tinnitus will lessen on its own. And you are in early days which are both overwhelming in certain cases, but also a situation which is not yet chronic and sometimes resolves on its own. Most ENTs are not really experts at addressing tinnitus. You might find an audiologist that does TRT, Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, but that's aimed at habituation. Admittedly, if one copes better with the tinnitus, perhaps there is an argument that for some folks, the sound intensity also diminishes. For others, TRT does reduce anxiety about the situation, but it's not a cure.

I would try the following (all of which I try to do):

• Get to bed early. If sleep is a problem, consider Valerian and/or 6 mg Melatonin an hour or two before bedtime. Or try warm milk with nutmeg, cardamom, or turmeric before bed.
• Favor warm soothing foods in the winter such as hot cereals, soups... Avoid too much caffeine, sugar, etc. that hypes up the nervous system.
• Try self-massage with Vata oil available from Banyan Botanicals (sesame oil with a blend of herbs that calms the body). You can just do the scalp and behind the ear on the mastoid process if you wish. This is really soothing. As soon as I massage my scalp (sometimes while taking a shower), my whole body relaxes. Certainly, take a warm shower after to wash off the oil.
• Use sound enrichment such as an ocean machine. If you are having a really difficult time, one can get "maskers" that fit like hearing aids and produce pink or white noise, plus include Bluetooth to play soothing water type sounds, etc. Many hearing aids now have built in maskers. Unfortunately these are pricey, but you may be able to find a deal out there. (Avoid playing music through earbuds, although some people are OK, playing very soft music. The maskers leave the ear canal open.)
• Maybe see a craniosacral therapist.
• For a bit of optimism, read the Research News thread on the Michigan Susan Shore device which has good scientific basis for treatment that shows reduction of tinnitus for many of the test subjects. Right now, we're waiting to learn about approval of "Auricle" and when it might be available clinically.

There's lots more, but those are some immediate suggestions.

In terms of Western drugs, there are some threads on this site about Gabapentin and Clonazepam, both of which I find helpful in reducing the decibel level of tinnitus. Some folks are adamantly opposed to any benzos such as Clonazepam and others have found them useful. Clonazepam is considered very habit forming. However, I myself titrated down fairly easily from 1.5 mg to zero, 1/4 mg each week. The tinnitus at that point was moderate and then increased after 2 months or so. I now take 1 mg before bed.

Others have found benzo use to be a nightmare. I would hold off looking at drugs unless you are unable to sleep, having panic attacks, and other approaches don't alleviate the anxiety.

 

The research I've read about this indicates that this is unlikely and that tinnitus has a physiological root cause. Unfortunately, the root cause can be difficult to pinpoint for tinnitus. You can use this flowchart and work with your doctor to try and find your own.

Good luck!