Woke Up at 4 am — Tinnitus Is Getting Worse

I survived forty years without too much issue. Wore ear protection around equipment. Never went to concerts or nightclubs very much. Then I went and did something stupid. I bought headphones.

I've thought about it and if I thought I was being reckless I wouldn't have done it. I would have snapped the things. I wasn't aware how delicate the ears were.... I commented recently on a news post about a woman who took her baby to a concert, with scorn. I don't generally play loud music and mock complain when others do....

It was moderate to a little high sound but the problem was it was about 20 hours without much of a break, listening to music. Now I have an increasing high pitched ring in one ear or my head - I can't quite tell, and a thumming base type thumm-thummmm in the other ear, also getting worse. I went to the doctor two days ago and he said the ears are clean " looks alright" and have an appointment to the ear tester on the 30th. In the meantime I'm freaking out. I can't believe I was so stupid!

In my defence though, I wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, the only difference is this time I used headphones instead of listening to the music openly. I think my though process was that this is great because I'm not annoying anyone with my shitty music and while I did jack up the occasional song, most of the time it was nowhere near maximum level sound. I should have known about decibels but I thought concert level sound would be required for proper damage. It didn't even occur to me. If anything was on my mind it was alcohol consumption side effects.

Forty years and kept good health, to stumble and screw my life up here. I hope it fixes itself. I'm panicking. It's getting worse than when it started. NEVER USE HEADPHONES!!! NEVER!!!

 

3 weeks in is really really early. If you was noise you may want to talk to your Ent about doing prednisone. Supposedly only works the earlier you do it.

Either way it’s still early . It sucks but have hope that it will go away!!’

 

@Angus William

Hi, Angus.

Check out the threads on the forum by Michael Leigh about using sound enrichment. He has a lot of good information there, and proper use of it may help you while you wait for your ENT appointment. I found the input there to be very useful when I first started reading this forum.

The type of sound enrichment used will vary from person to person. There is an Audio Player on the main Forum page with different types you can sample, if you haven't already seen it.

The main thing I've picked up about using sound enrichment from reading the threads here is that it should not be used to mask the tinnitus; rather, it should be set below the level of it so that you hear both. I have several YouTube videos I play through my computer speakers throughout the day, as well as a sound machine that I use by the bed at night. I DON'T use headphones or earbuds!

Although it doesn't feel like it (believe me, I know!) @dayma is right -- you're early in, and the anxiety you're going through is totally normal. It's hard to deal with, but stress/anxiety can just make it worse. I still battle with this myself and I am coming up on six months in.

Stick with reading the positive threads here, if you can -- interact with the positive people. There are SO many knowledgeable and supportive folks here who have been of tremendous help to me as I learn to handle this. They can help you, as well.

I'm hoping by the time you read this that everything may have settled down for you a bit. You came to the right place!


Mystery Reader

 

I'm going in head on. I'm wearing the same earpieces that did the damage as a shield now and having a night like before but notched down. I hope it heals. I have learned my lesson - Sound is dangerous.

 

I have any volume on a dusty old stereo - I had to plug rusty wires an it still host cassettes. The sound is good. (low)

 

Low decibels. Decibels - I'm going to get one of those decibel readers.

 

Killed by headphones. Oh that sucks.

 

@Angus William - You are way early in this and it could eventually go away. Tinnitus smacked me in my left ear at my 40th birthday back in January. I recommend you rest your ears from loud sounds and use hearing protection when needed. Find things to take your mind off of tinnitus. I know this seems an impossible task at this point with your tinnitus, but over time you will find ways to distract yourself. Going out for a walk was a good distraction initially and the fresh air was wonderful for my piece of mind. I find that reading the newspaper or a good book helps me considerably with this as well. Eventually you'll notice a few minutes here and there where you're not thinking about tinnitus. But it will take time.

Here's how I've progressed from onset: I told myself death was an option the 1st month if the ringing and ear pain continued for another 30 days. 2nd month I was still open to death and would have given fingers to make it all go away. 3rd month I accepted that tinnitus could be with me forever and I need to deal with this new life. This was like a light switch that turned on my positive mindset and turned down my anxiety and negative thinking. Right now I'm at 4 months and the habituation process is happening. I still have 24/7 tinnitus and random ear pain. It has either reduced in volume quite a bit since onset tho, or I've found ways to move it to the background of my thoughts. Anxiety is present quite often when I walk outside or enter into an establishment that could be loud. I'm still somewhat fearful of sounds, even sounds that haven't happened. Ear plugs and ear muffs are with me at all times and they always will be. But I'm determined to not let this control my life. We just have to make slight adjustments. You will get there too. Just takes time.

 

Tonight it's bad. The ringing is louder than everything and hard to ignore. I have moments where I'm happy for a minute then that's slapped down by the T. I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. Been a week with this. No improvement, although maybe it's changed a bit - to a higher tone. Don't know what that means. I don't think I've really grasped what a problem this is going to be. Seems unreal almost.

 

It's still there. A high pitch tone. Sounds like it's in my head. Damn horrible. This is life breaking basically, and embarrassing. I keep hoping to wake up and it will be gone. Been sleeping on the couch for a few days now. Bad sleep patterns emerging.

 

@housemzk

Great post! Thanks for sharing your progress. I was right with you in months 1-3. We'll see how month 3 goes.

 

@Angus William
I am in the same boat as you. Mine started like a high pitch constant ring that sounds like its in my head but also my ears. I can mask it with music and noise but when its somewhat silent, I can hear it. Apparently, it can disappear per many people on this website. I, too, feel like its stuck with me forever and Im further into it than you (6 weeks).

I can tell you that there are times where I feel like its going away, but i think its my brain just running it out.

 

Three weeks. No better. It's more high pitch now. I went to the doctor and got a hearing test. Perfect hearing. Wtf!?

I sit here waiting for it to go away but it's not. It's so loud now it's impossible to mask. I have to wait for exhaustion to sleep. It's messing me up badly. Can't function in any form properly. Getting irritable too. Sleeping on the couch. I wake up each morning hoping it has gone..... not today.

If I have "perfect" (doctor said so) hearing how can this happen? No warning signs. I'd expect the T to be the result of hearing loss as some warning sign, but no. So beware; I get to hear this shit as clear as any song. This song is straight from Hell. Stay away from long use of headphones. Just stay away from headphones.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii to infinity. Even when I block my ears it's still the same tone which might mean cochlear damage I fear. Not going to tell the woman that, she's upset enough already that I've likely fucked my life proper this time.

 

Bad now. It's been since this started since I've slept in any pattern. It's 4am now. and it's riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiixinfinity. Not getting any better and can't do anything. Distraction constantly is sending me mad. The amount of shit on utube seems infinite but it's eventually something of a human centipede in conclusion. I'll wait until exhaustion takes me to unconscious and sleep.

 

Same here...

Have you tried using sound masking?

Masking doesn't have to completely conceal your T. It provides something else to listen to, besides your T. When you turn on your sound machine, you will hear your T, and it will continue to suck. But stick with it, and within 15 minutes, you might be able to hear mostly the masking sound which will enable you to fall asleep.

You can also try taking amitrityline. It is nonaddictive, and it won't make you feel drowsy the next day.

Have you tried using earplugs or Peltor X5A muffs? Are those earpieces on when you wear them?! Many people here believe that now that our ears have been compromised, headphones at any volume are unsafe.

In case you haven't seen it before, check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

I try to mask it all the time. Sending me crazy. As soon as I stop focusing on something it becomes apparent. I think I fried all the little cells in my ear maybe. Not knowing what I've done is also driving me mad. Maybe tomorrow it will heal itself. That's all I keep hoping for now.

 

Above, I meant to write "... you might be able to Focus mostly on the masking sound..."

 

Normally, it doesn't go away overnight. It fades over a period of months or years, and the more it fades, the slower is the speed at which it fades...

 

Do you use your headphones to listen to the masking sound?

 

You are currently two months in - it is a pretty hard stage. Hopefully within the next four months you will feel better.

 

The real annoying bit is noticing every sound now. The fridge, the computer, all the appliances. I've put pillows over all of them and replaced one power pack that I noticed making a weird sound the other day (could that have been it?). I'm trying not to annoy the other people around me with it so I'm telling some things here instead, mostly.

 

No, I'll never use headphones again outside necessity. There's a lot of sound jumps using headphones too. Not bad if there's no problem but if lazy flicking through video's, one guy the other day had low music and the voice kicked in really high and just hit in yelling. That would trigger worse almost for sure.

 

And also, how am I supposed to operate vibrating machinery now, what if it makes it worse? Out all day on a brush cutter is definitely not going to improve things. I'm in so much trouble with this thing.....

 

Are you worried that those sounds are too loud? Do those sounds spike your T? Why have you been noticing those sounds?

 

I remember one user here had a business where he also had to use a brush cutter. Could someone remind me of his username, so that we could post a link here to his posts that are relevant. It would be good if he were to advise you on this.

If you can, you might really consider changing careers...

 

I was thinking of @Jake007 . According to his posts in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/this-spike-has-been-kicking-my-butt-past-few-days.23195/page-2
he is around chainsaws and a chipper when he trims trees by the power lines. I see that Jake had visited this site recently.

Have you experienced any fading, Jake? What would your advice for @Angus William be?

 

Hey @Bill Bauer, I seem to be getting less spikes now. I haven't changed anything, still do the same stuff as before. My advice to Angus would be stop freaking out, it happened, and do not dwell on the tinnitus going away that's not gonna help the situation. Just focus on doing things to keep your mind off of the tinnitus.

 

I'm not happy. What is this thing. I have all my appliances that make constant noise, with pillows around them - even this computer. I'm still hoping for a logical reason for this horrible thing. I'm also too embarrassed to tell anyone outside the close, and it has effected my sleep patterns that now I'm awake all night mostly. Horrible.

The only good thing to report is the extra waking hours allowed me to watch everything on the internet I ever wanted to. Because I can't sleep unless pass-out exhausted.

 

On a technical note - it has changed pitch and sometimes I might think it could fade out, but it's still there each morning. I still remember lady here saying she lives with it so if she can, she's strong.... or bat shit crazy. Respect to her, either way.

I think it might have gotten "better" though, less to a degree. Still hope.

 

I'm experimenting a bit. Been to scared to do much but tonight would be first night without a plug in left ear, even though it's there. I got light open music on.... I'll never wear headphones at a volume again though. I also know why my left ear is fried, when I rest to computer I lean on my left and press the headphones in. Like when you lean your hand on your chin style. Pressing the headphones in on that night was bad.

I cringe at loud noises and a harley tard went by the other day but my T seems consistent, nothing seems to make it worse, but I have been to afraid to press it and I wont.