As I am now 9 months since onset, I wanted to give an update on my condition, especially because I've learned a key clue on how my tinnitus manifests itself.
TL;DR to cut to the chase: I can sometimes control my intrusive tinnitus component down to silence.
A brief background on my tinnitus, explained after 9 months of experience:
I have two components to my tinnitus, an intrusive, non-reactive, unilateral hiss/squeal in my right ear and a mild reactive whistle in both ears. The reactivity used to be severe around the 2 to 4 months post onset, and then diminished in strength afterwards. I credit the reduction to sound therapy/sound enrichment. I can explain my reactivity journey in more detail if anyone cares, but the thing I wanted to describe in this post is what I've learned about my unilateral component.
I mentioned this several times on different threads, but the most striking thing about my right-ear tinnitus is that I don't have it every day. On some days, it's quite a loud hiss or squeal, typically multi-tonal, like someone frantically tuning a radio. Other days it's a mild hiss/squeal. And other days it's silent. It's pretty much one of these three states. Whatever I wake up to is what I consistently get for that entire day. It rises slightly in intensity in the afternoon and diminishes in the evening, but otherwise it remains a consistent intensity the entire day. Currently, it's about evenly split: 1/3 of the days it's loud, 1/3 mild, 1/3 silent.
Here's what I've learned:
My unilateral tinnitus ramps up while I'm dreaming. I know this because I've woken up at various times in the night for whatever reason, and, if I wake up when I'm not dreaming, I don't hear it. But if I wake up while I'm dreaming, then I hear it ramping up in intensity.
I don't know if it's neurological or if it's physical, like maybe based on sinuses, inflammation, cerebrospinal fluid, or muscle tension. On my bad days, I tend to feel tender at my skull joints near my right ear and I have a stiff neck/traps on the right. Another thing to mention is I have sleep apnea; despite having a CPAP machine, I still get airway blockages, which happens more frequently during REM sleep.
What I do know is,
if I wake up while it's ramping up, I can sometimes calm it down. I do this by rolling onto my right side with my right arm extended out in front of me, and I lie there and meditate.
If I'm unlucky and don't catch it in time, I get the noise for the rest of the day. But if I'm lucky, the tinnitus subsides from its fervent cacophony to silence. It'll stay silent for the rest of the day as long as I stay awake. If I decide to fall back asleep, I risk it all over again.
TL;DR recap: My tinnitus ramps up while I'm dreaming, and I can sometimes stop it if I wake up in time.
(Looping in
@Jsm_Joestar, since we were chatting about this.)