Getting Worse? Need Some Advice...

[Lovely_wayss]

For awhile it was starting to become something I didn't notice. I went to prom and the music was very very loud ( I know I should have brought ear plugs but it's too late now). Now the sound is louder and my ears throb . I haven't been sleeping because of my T and to make it worse, my family thinks I'm "rebelling" or something because I'm just constantly stressed about this. . No one seems to get how hard it is. I'm losing my mind . How did you adjust to a louder sound? Will mine go back to how it was? Help... I'm not sure what to do anymore...

 

[Engineer]

As I've habituated there have been many ups and downs. It's easy to get start focusing on your T again. It's easy to think a noise exposure has increased your T, but most of the time it's very, very unlikely. I've gotten myself worked up a few times, and every time it's taken a few days or more for me to get back on track and quiet my anxious thoughts. In all cases it was my anxiety, and not a true baseline increase in my T. Of course protect your ears when necessary.

 

[fishbone]

For awhile it was starting to become something I didn't notice. I went to prom and the music was very very loud ( I know I should have brought ear plugs but it's too late now). Now the sound is louder and my ears throb . I haven't been sleeping because of my T and to make it worse, my family thinks I'm "rebelling" or something . No one seems to get how hard it is. I'm losing my mind . How did you adjust to a louder sound? Will mine go back to how it was? Help... I'm not sure what to do anymore...

I feel your pain and I know how horrible this demon is. You should try to mask it with white noise or soft music that somewhat matches the loudness of your tinnitus. I do not know how loud your T is, mine is SUPER loud that a truck honking has a lower volume, than the ringing I hear.

Mask it and try to cope with it.

 

[JasonP]

For awhile it was starting to become something I didn't notice. I went to prom and the music was very very loud ( I know I should have brought ear plugs but it's too late now). Now the sound is louder and my ears throb . I haven't been sleeping because of my T and to make it worse, my family thinks I'm "rebelling" or something because I'm just constantly stressed about this. . No one seems to get how hard it is. I'm losing my mind . How did you adjust to a louder sound? Will mine go back to how it was? Help... I'm not sure what to do anymore...

Go to a hearing aid place and get your hearing checked and call around to see if you can find one that does an EXTENDED audiogram (beyond 8khz). If there is a loss sometimes a hearing aid can get rid of the perception of tinnitus while you are wearing it. If there is a loss above 8 khz, try to get an aid that goes to 12khz like the Siemens Binax 7bx or something else. Make sure they set the amplification to where it can't go above like harmful level (it clips). Very important! They make some cool hearing aids now, even some that hook up to a smartphone. If you are a girl you can hide them easily with long hair. The RIC and mini-RICs are small. Ask for a trial period and how long you get to get your money back. If you do get them, get ones with maskers so you can turn them on when you need to relax. Then if your ringing drops, that is a win and you might can take the aids back but if they don't then at least you have these aids. If there is no hearing loss, maybe you can ask the hearing aid places if they just sell wearable maskers. If this doesn't work, you are probably going to have to look into supplements or medicine to help you cope or in some cases those that may lower it. Exercise if you can and drink plenty of water. Do some deep breathing exercises (they have some good examples on youtube). I hope you get better asap. You can conquer this.

 

[Owen]

How did you adjust to a louder sound? Will mine go back to how it was? Help... I'm not sure what to do anymore...

One thing that has become very apparent to me is how differently people can respond to tinnitus. There are those that say they habituated in a few weeks, whilst others take far longer.

I for one cannot imagine how I could have habituated to it in such a short time. Perhaps mine is more severe, perhaps it is just how much I value quiet, maybe it is just how I respond as a person, honestly, I don't know. What I do know however is that it can take an incredible amount of time for some. In my case, I am just approaching the 2 year mark and I'm still not fine with it. Initially, I was constantly in a stressed out state, having panic attacks and passing out through exhaustion, rather than actually sleeping at night. However, whilst I still have really bad days, I generally cope pretty well most of the time now.

Mine also got a lot worse before it started to get better and I don't think this is unusual.

 

[Fangen]

As I've habituated there have been many ups and downs. It's easy to get start focusing on your T again. It's easy to think a noise exposure has increased your T, but most of the time it's very, very unlikely. I've gotten myself worked up a few times, and every time it's taken a few days or more for me to get back on track and quiet my anxious thoughts. In all cases it was my anxiety, and not a true baseline increase in my T. Of course protect your ears when necessary.

Thank you for that post! I have been having ups and downs a lot, and I am too in the middle of a "did that exposure increase my T baseline?!" right now and reading your comment to OP does soothe my fear a little. So thank you!
Hopefully both mine and OPs T will quiet down back to normal soon!