Waking

[Pipo]

Hi Dr. Nagler,

I was wondering how can I start habituating if my tinnitus seems to wake me up after about 3or4 hours of sleep? I only have tinnitus since about 10 days, first two days i was able to sleep, third tin was gone, forth it came back and started to wake me up at night. I can ignore my tin very well during the day.. when i sit in silence and read i can hear it but it is not bothering me. What is really bothering me is being exhausted and tired… yet no matter how tired I am, I am waking up after a couple of hours a sleep.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Philippe

 

[Dr. Nagler]

I was wondering how can I start habituating if my tinnitus seems to wake me up after about 3or4 hours of sleep? I only have tinnitus since about 10 days, first two days i was able to sleep, third tin was gone, forth it came back and started to wake me up at night. I can ignore my tin very well during the day.. when i sit in silence and read i can hear it but it is not bothering me. What is really bothering me is being exhausted and tired… yet no matter how tired I am, I am waking up after a couple of hours a sleep.

Hi @Pipo -

Thank you for your question.

I think the problem lies in your concept of habituation. Habituation really has nothing to do with "ignoring" your tinnitus. It has to do with not reacting to it.

Think of it this way. When you wake up after a few hours of sleep, you are not consciously aware of the pressure of your bed against your body, right? I mean if you purposely think about it, you are. But if you do not purposely think about it, you are hardly ever aware of the pressure of the bed against your body. That's habituation!

Philippe, you are less than two weeks into tinnitus. Please realize that there's a very good chance it will just fade away on its own given a bit of time. For the fine folks on this board, that was not the case. But they are not at all representative of the tinnitus experience in general!

My suggestion? It may be a bit premature to wonder about things like habituation.

As for getting sleep, you'll get as much as your body really needs. Do try to keep some soft sounds around you at night so you won't wake up to a dead silent room. But other that, try to just give it a bit of time.

Hope this helps.

Dr. Stephen Nagler