I developed tinnitus in 2011/12. Over the years, it went down to the point where it was hardly noticeable; only enough that I still needed some white noise to sleep. But it didn't affect me during the day.
I travelled overseas to Europe in 2017, 2018, and 2019. And on each occasion, without fail, the first night after the flight there, my tinnitus would spike terribly (not during the flight, but on the night once I arrived), and I'd have a heck of a time trying to sleep (jet lag aside).
The first time this occurred -- i.e., in 2017 -- I was panicky and thought I'd permanently worsened my tinnitus back to its original 2011/12 level. However, fortunately, the very next day, it went back to baseline and was fine the rest of the trip.
When this same phenomenon happened in 2018 and 2019, I wasn't too worried, as I knew that it would go down in volume after the first-night spike. And it did.
However, this year (in about five weeks from now) is the first time that I will be flying after having my tinnitus permanently spiked back up to its original, horrible 2011/12 volume level (due to two doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, one week and six weeks ago). I really don't know what will happen this time.
It will the first trip that I have ever taken with already-loud, actively annoying tinnitus.
What will that first night bring me THIS time? Will the enjoyment of the trip help to ease the tinnitus back to its pre-COVID-19-vaccine level? Or will it persist in loudness and ruin the trip?
It's an awful predicament.