Anybody Feel They Can’t Stop Looking for Their Tinnitus?

[Seymour]

I feel like in certain situations I barely hear my tinnitus and could tune it out but I find myself searching for it constantly like a compulsion.

It's like I'm looking for it so I find it even when it gets drowned by other sounds. I habituated to my previous 3/10 tinnitus to the point I didn't hear it most of the time but since my spike started a week ago I feel so anxious about it being permanent that I only think about it and keep looking for it.

Any tips on stopping this bullshit compulsion? Sadly I'm a very anxious person so when something is wrong I tend to obsess and freak out.

 

[Tybs]

My "treatment" for this was: sitting in a quiet room for a while and just listening to it.

Eventually I literally got bored with the listening and went on to do other things. Not to say I never search for it these days, but now they are just moments like:

"Hey, where did my tinnitus go?"
Then either:
"Ah, there it is."
Or:
"Can't find it right now, whatever."

And I'm off doing important stuff again.

Give it time, you will get to that point as well.

 

[pewpew]

My tinnitus is pretty much gone but I'm still checking and looking for it lol.

Not as much as i used to though. Even when I had it if I could find something to keep me occupied or I was with friends my mind would be like "wow 3 hours have passed and you didn't check your tinnitus at all".

 

[HeavyMantra]

Your spike may subside. And of it doesn't, you will probably habituate to the new baseline like you habituated to your previous one

 

[Seymour]

Your spike may subside. And of it doesn't, you will probably habituate to the new baseline like you habituated to your previous one

Yeah I guess but it's pretty loud and giving me anxiety.