Variability of Your Tinnitus

[Ann C.]

I know tinnitus affects each of us differently, but I notice how variable my tinnitus is from day to day and I wondered whether others experience this.

My tinnitus usually is high-pitched, but some days it's a lower pitch. Sometimes the noise clearly is focused in my left ear, other times I can't place where it's coming from. Yesterday, the volume was low; today, it seems to be louder. I have no idea what causes the changes in pitch and volume.

I've gotten a referral to an ENT (no appointment yet), but I'm cautiously hopeful that they'll be able to identify a cause and provide treatment, but I know that it's possible they won't find a thing. I recently did one of the online hearing tests; it tested your hearing against background noise. My husband did much worse than me; he got a 74, and I got a 94. It was no surprise to him since he's aware of his hearing loss. Luckily, he does not have tinnitus in spite of his hearing loss.

 

[Richard zurowski]

The symptoms you are describing are common in many people who suffer from tinnitus including me. So you are not the only one.

 

[linearb]

the way I think about my tinnitus changes it more than anything else. Pretty bizarre. This effect is especially pronounced after consuming cannabis, I can turn sounds up and down and on and off just by making various conscious efforts.

 

[Ann C.]

I wish I could figure out a way to manage it better. Right now, it's stuck on high.

 

[Joe Cuber]

I wanted to describe my experience to see if many have the same experience as I do.

My tinnitus is variable in a particular way.

Extremely often, what I hear when I wake up is pretty much what I hear for the rest of the day. It appears that my tinnitus is set on the sleep boundary.

For instance, yesterday, I woke up and could barely hear it. It was pretty reactive, but that was about it for the entire day no matter what I was up to for the day. Today, I woke up to it being loud, hissy, high-pitched, and non-reactive. And that's how it's been the whole day.

Does anyone have a similar experience with their tinnitus? It's just bizarre to me that it seems that it's established sometime in the night while I'm sleeping, like a roll of the dice.

 

[Joe Cuber]

@Michael Leigh - I read your introductory and your view on tinnitus posts, and was hoping you'd be willing to chime in here about the peculiar intermittent pattern I've been experiencing (I wrote about it above). You mentioned intermittent tinnitus briefly in your posts, and, given your broad experience, I was hoping you could speak about the types of intermittent experiences you've heard about and whether my type is common or odd. Thanks!