I'm 35 years old and have had tinnitus my entire life. It's always been an annoyance, but since it's all I've known, I've gotten used to it and it hasn't been a huge bother to me....until now.
I'm far from a regular smoker. However, I recently got a vaporizer and have indulged way more than usual the last 3 weeks because of my new toy. After using the vaporizor a bit over the last week, and a whole lot last weekend, my tinnitus got noticeably worse (it didn't happen until last weekend, despite using the vaporizer for the last 3 weeks). I haven't used the vaporizer since Sunday, but the worsening of my tinnitus has remained since then. It hasn't gotten worse since Sunday, but it hasn't returned to my "normal" T. I'd mostly describe the worsening as the T being at a higher pitch than usual, and in addition, the tone in my right ear has been pulsating somewhat often, which doesn't usually happen to me. Having any type of T spike for me is extremely rare, and this change in my T is completely new and frustrating to me.
For those of you who have said that smoking caused a spike in your T, for how long are we talking? I've laid off of the vaporizer for 4 days now, but the negative effects on my T remain. I'm hoping that this spike is temporary, but not knowing whether my T will "return to normal" has been wearing on me. Can factors other than damage from loud noises really permanently worsen already existing T, or do I just have to give this some time?