Why Does My Tinnitus Never Stabilize? Constanty Changing — Having Trouble Habituating

Hi guys!

It's been a month and a half now and I must say that this is a really special journey.

Each day my tinnitus changes. One day it's quieter, another day loud, some day electrical, another day pure tone, some day in one ear, other days in both ears, sometimes in my brain + 1 ear, other times in my brain + 2 ears.

Yesterday I had something totally new; reactive tinnitus.

Sometimes my tinnitus is changing every 30 minutes. For example, 30 minutes ago, it was an electrical sound in my right ear, and now it's a pure tone that changes frequencies every 5 minutes in my left ear.

I can't habituate to noises that never stabilize. However it does not bother me like before, I don't have anxiety, not anymore. Actually, I accepted that it could stay for life. But I can't stop listening. I really need some monotony in my head to habituate and forget it!

Oh, and now as I'm writing this it's coming back in my right ear haha.

If this is my new silence, well, I'm really in trouble haha. Wish me luck, but I'm okay for now. I do not wish it to be gone anymore (okay, maybe a bit...), just that it would stabilize..

Does anyone have the same problem?

Thanks and take care!

 

Even when the noise never changes, people often take over a year and a half before they report habituation. So don't worry about not habituating - it is way to early for that.

You are very fortunate that your tinnitus has been changing. It is a lot scarier (and is indicative of it ending up not fading) when it is always at the same volume level and frequency.

 

Eventually it will likely fade and stabilize. You need to give it time (as in "a year or two").

 

Welcome to my world, my tinnitus is also haywire, having multiple spikes a day, some days are worse than others. I think this is common to those in the acute stages.

 

Now that I think of it, if your tinnitus has been changing, perhaps this means that you will need to wait less than usual) for it to stabilize and fade.

 

Hi Blodorn,

My tinnitus also changes in volume on a day by day basis. It's like a cycle where it starts loud for a day or two, moderate for a day or two and then mild for a day or two...

I have had this type of tinnitus for a year and nine months now. It gets a lot better over time when in the beginning it stays loud for 4 days and mild for only 1. But I still don't think I have habituated because it is very hard to do so when the volume is fluctuating like that. Some days you feel normal when the volume is low and then some day you feel like you want to bash your head against the wall when the Tinnitus is blasting away...

If anyone have any tips on how to habituate to this kind of tinnitus I would like to know too

 

The strangest thing is that the first month, it was most of the time the same tone in the same ear. And then suddenly the left ear and my brain joined the battle. So did the electric noise etc etc...

I personally find it more bearable to deal with the same tone. As I was able to forget it easily.
But now with all these ups and downs and right and left, it's awful!

Thank you everyone and keep going, be brave, we must get through this. For our family, and for ourselves.

 

Hi Blodorn!

I’m three months in, which is also an early stage of tinnitus. Mine behaves just like your tinnitus, for no reason it seems. I don’t expose myself to any loud noise. But it changes a lot.

Just like me, we need to give this plenty more time. I know it’s hard, because I’m there myself. Give it at least 6 more months, and you should see some improvement. Keep protecting your ears from any loud noise during this time.

 

It’s awful indeed. Reading this is like reading about myself, because mine went through same stages as yours it seems. First it was very mild... but it quickly got worse. And now I’m left with some really alien sounds. They aren’t really pure tones anymore. They sound broken and goes like ”eeeooonggg, eeeoooong, wiowiowiwo...”, and so on, super fast with four different sounds, morse code, crickets, chirping, whistling, you name it!

I’m still hoping for better days. There will be! But right now this is a struggle.

I’m still happy to read that you keep on being positive minded. I could really learn from you

 

Mine got worse too and is a bunch of tones that are so high pitched and loud. I don't know if there is likelihood of it fading but I would rather have it fluctuating if it meant it lowered in volume and pitch at times.

 

I think that your tinnitus will fade. But it will take quite some time. Have you tried AudioNotch sound therapy? Maybe you ca n get some relief from it?

Some also claim that tinnitus gets worse before getting better. Then it lowers very slowly. Some get better in one year, some two years, four years...

Time will tell, and time will learn and help us cope. That’s what I believe.

 

@Mymlan Wow, I've not had any aliens yet! Not sure how you deal with that. For me it's been pretty similar to what @Blodorn describes so far. I'm 3 months in too.

Maybe the aliens are coming for us next!

Hope all are doing well today.

 

@PeteJ I also learned that tinnitus feeds from stress and anxiety. It’s hard to relax, I know. But you will learn in time, and your tinnitus will lower.

 

Yes they are from another galaxy, and they live in my ear now. Or MAYBE that is my ear trying to communicate with the aliens. Woow, I never thought of it that way. I’m the chosen one, should be thankful for that. This is some high technology science going on right in my ear

How I deal with that? I don’t!

 

Your tinnitus is almost like mine! Except for the alien sound! Maybe later haha, I'm still in the very early stage

Well, I will not lie! Sometimes I struggle keeping the good mind! I'm a human despite all these noises inside my head haha. But I do my best to deal with it. I convince myself that I'm in good health, that there are people with far worse issues than me. This is "just" a noise, not physically harmful!

Also, this forum is really a blessing for me, it really helps to be in touch with you or whoever in here!

But I can't say I'm the same as before already. I have ton of work to do to reach that state!

I wish you the best on your journey! Honestly

 

Oh, you WILL get through the alien stage.

This forum and members in here helped me a lot too Like you say, one is just a human and of course it’s hard. The day before you heard silence and the next day, BOOM. I cannot even explain in words how I feel about that. And it’s freaking me out.

Well, I wish you the best too. There will be better days.

 

Hi Blodorn,
I have intermittent tinnitus like you. Mine tends to stay reasonably the same throughout a day though, but varies from day to day (sleep seems to be the thing that changes it). Sometimes I go for 2 days hardly hearing it at all. I've had it for about 3 years and hasn't really faded to date. There are plenty of people on the forum with this kind of tinnitus.
PP.

 

Almost been 1 year since my spike that introduced fluctuating tinnitus. It still fluctuates from almost silent to very loud from day to day. Always connected to sleep but apart from that I see no pattern to it. For instance, if I wake up after 8 hours and notice no tinnitus but decide to sleep 1 more hour, moderate tinnits can appear after that 1 hour and stay the rest of the day. Almost never changes during the day unless I exercise.

It's exhausting. But every good day makes me hopeful that with time it's going to stabilize on that level.

 

Same for me,
It use to be a single "pure tone" at beggining, then pure tone with whiff, but always with a acute tinnitus going on and off reacting to "white" noise.
And one month ago I start hearing distorted noise and start hearing other tinnitus sounds (buzzing, waves) even though they kind of disappeared (everything can disappear !) but the whiff is still there with a kind of acute sound like 6kHz wind. But I am staying confident it can vanish, and just this "pure tone" will stay.

You have to keep being positive, it can go worse yes, but eventually, it can go better. Maybe the first month are like that and then it stabilized, I don't know, it's still kind of recent for me, and still reactive and fluctuating. But what I know is with time, I have less bad days, even though the tinnitus is not better.

 

I have the same thing going on, changes daily, up and down, different tones, single tones, white noise type tones, volume changes many times a day, sometimes another tone in the middle. But no matter what it is I never have a problem sleeping, that's a good thing.

I'm trying to figure out what's causing the spikes, maybe a diet thing. I quit drinking Diet Coke and that seem to quiet things down. I got a hearing aid that seems to be helping also. I haven't had many bad spikes since I got the hearing aid.

I have had this for like about 10 years now. Up until maybe six months ago, I had a just a single tone for all those years that was mostly at a low volume so easy to forget. I had some spikes during that time, but never really bothered me. The last 6 months has been rough.

 

Yes the exact same problem. I'm at 5 months and still variable as can be

 

@Blodorn

My T has always been very fluctuating, ever changing noises, loudness, textures,..... you name it. I was told at the beginning that it will stabilize and become one sound, but it has never happened. The main change over the years is that now is more entrenched and persistent (more clearly chronic and perhaps slightly worsened). I think this kind of ever changing T is more common when the affected hearing range is wide. In my case, I managed to blow up the very high frequency region of my left ear (9 to 14KHz), and the result is just random neuronal network connections across all that range. We are hearing our own neurons, and it is not surprising that for some people this is a continuous carousel of sounds, as the state or connectivity of the damaged neuronal networks changes slightly with almost any input (reactive T) or internal system variation (sleep, food, exercise, stress, etc....) .

 

I have much worse hearing in my left above 9Khz. My T matches what is described in the thread. More details about my T in here https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/remedies-that-work-for-me.36346/#post-464980

I wonder if it is good idea to run ACRN at 10Khz to my left. After all I can still hear high sounds also on the left.
http://generalfuzz.net/acrn/

 

I am 9 months in. And it has stabilized. I have bad days, but days now where it’s still there, but my mind does not make such a big deal about it.

In the beginning, it was all over the place. First two months, off and on, then full time. Those next few months were hell, but know the anxiety of that will pass, and your mind should be able to adapt.

Avoid drinking, anymore than 2 drinks and about 24 hrs later i pay for it. I also eat clean, and have lost 20 lbs.

 

Did it stabilize for you, @Blodorn?

I have a very similar tinnitus now as yours. I had a low pitched hum from hell for 2-3 weeks, which ended up as a pulsatile, foghorn like sound, now it's barely audible. But 1-2 weeks in I realized this chirping, screaming, sharp, electric noise which is constantly changing. It's very high frequency. It migrates from my left ear to my brain and to my right ear. I can't even tell where I hear it from. It is nowhere near as bad as the low hum, but still annoying as hell and I'm not coping well. During night time it is fairly quiet, and when I finally give up trying to sleep, it stays quiet for like an hour. MRI spiked it a lot, but I'm still hoping it goes back to baseline or at least it won't be worse.

 

I used to think that fluctuations were a good thing. Still waiting for more than two years ... haha

Yours can improve anyway. It is still new and the chances are greater.

 

Oh, thank you, I'm trying to cling on hope. I'm so sorry that yours doesn't improve.

I'm not sure what's the root cause of this. I'm suspecting maybe the meds (piracetam and betahistine) or pure coincidence. I'm scared to stop the meds, because I'm not sure whether those had anything to do with lowering the volume of the low hum and if that' s coming back, I'm much more screwed than now.

 

Did your tinnitus stabilize? I’m 1.5 months in and constantly celebrating getting near silence and then hours later it spikes so much I need to leave the house.

 

I’m not sure. It changes a lot. If you are experiencing near silence I think chances are pretty good for you.

 

It’s just a momentary lapse in the mix, not like I’m getting significant chunks. My tinnitus is highly intrusive, changing, and loud. It’s also reactive...

I haven’t been able to even approach habituation because it’s just going haywire all the time with new patterns in both ears.