My Tinnitus Is Very Quiet in the Mornings — Then Gets Louder — Why?

[debbru]

In July I went to an ENT doctor who diagnosed me with tinnitus, my worst nightmare!

Lately when I get up in the morning the sound in my ear is very distant & I can hardly hear it, which is really good & I think it's back to normal, but within the hour of waking it gets noisier & stays like that all day. Can someone explain why this could be happening?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Can someone explain why this could be happening?

I can't explain why it might be happening, but I can tell you that as time goes on, there is a good chance that the periods when it is quiet will keep getting longer and longer. You experienced an improvement during your first three months, and there is no reason for it to not continue to improve. It might take a year or two, but hopefully eventually you will feel a lot better than you do now.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[Sven]

I can't explain it, but it seems the cause for your tinnitus is something other than loud music or noise, anyway. That should increase the chances of treating it. (I think).

Could it be that it's increasing because you listen for it?

 

[JohnAdams]

The cochlea has a circadian clock. It goes through physiological changes throughout the day. My tinnitus flares up a bit from about 1:30 - 3:30/4 almost very single day. It didn't always behave that way either.

 

[tiniturtle]

This seems to be very common. It's this way for me as well.

 

[MattS]

Multiple theories, though nobody knows for sure:

* Your brain starts to "look for it" while you are awake, and so it becomes more noticable once it successfully locks on to it.

* The sounds of the day activate the tinnitus, while the quiet of the night relaxes it.

* As @JohnAdams suggested, there could be a natural circadian rhythm to the tinnitus process.

* For some, sleep seems to "reset" the tinnitus back down to low levels.

Probably other theories are possible. Interestingly, it isn't like this for everyone (we ran a poll about a month ago on this, and found that only 2/3rds of people had improved morning tinnitus). If you figure it out, let us know!

 

[Tex]

In July I went to an ENT doctor who diagnosed me with tinnitus, my worst nightmare!

Lately when I get up in the morning the sound in my ear is very distant & I can hardly hear it, which is really good & I think it's back to normal, but within the hour of waking it gets noisier & stays like that all day. Can someone explain why this could be happening?

In time you will be able to answer your own question better than we can. My experience most days is about the same. But the reason for mine may be different than for you.

I wake up calm. Then on some days little by little the stress of the daily job causes a volume increase. I have headaches almost every day from it. But I deal with it.

 

[New Guy]

I'm also in the quieter and softer in the morning getting louder and harsher throughout the day club. I do hope the quiet times get quieter with time for both of us.

 

[Labyrinthine]

Multiple theories, though nobody knows for sure:

* Your brain starts to "look for it" while you are awake, and so it becomes more noticable once it successfully locks on to it.

* The sounds of the day activate the tinnitus, while the quiet of the night relaxes it.

* As @JohnAdams suggested, there could be a natural circadian rhythm to the tinnitus process.

* For some, sleep seems to "reset" the tinnitus back down to low levels.

Probably other theories are possible. Interestingly, it isn't like this for everyone (we ran a poll about a month ago on this, and found that only 2/3rds of people had improved morning tinnitus). If you figure it out, let us know!

I'd like to add the involvement of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in the pathophysiology of tinnitus. Essentially, throughout the day our SNS is 'on' which is imperative for active movement, whereas our parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for repairs and bowel movement that take place when we rest/sleep (rest-and-digest) . It has been speculated that the SNS plays a role in tinnitus, hence throughout the day tinnitus may be perceived as louder.

 

[friend74]

I just experienced that sometimes in the wake up phase the tinnitus is very quiet. I'd like to think that by then my brain isn't on 100% yet. A few minutes later it's over.

 

[John Mahan]

One must look deep within to determine why tinnitus flares. For example it could be a subconscious voice within your brain punishing you for a life of not doing enough to help your fellow man...the predicate being guilt.

Or...as JohnAdams believes his occurs precisely at 1:30 - 3:30/4 almost every single day but his cleaning lady reports that John sits in the same chair everyday during this time which has a type of fiber in the chair cushions that he is a allergic to.

There are many reasons why tinnitus can spike. Even sitting on a spike can make tinnitus spike in some but not all.

So, deep introspection into your life should reveal the secret. There is no universal truth.

Buddha

 

[John Mahan]

The cochlea has a circadian clock. It goes through physiological changes throughout the day. My tinnitus flares up a bit from about 1:30 - 3:30/4 almost very single day. It didn't always behave that way either.

Sorry to correct you but, a cochlea is a cuckoo clock, not a circadian clock.
This is how tinnitus sounds from the black forest:

 

[MattS]

I'd like to add the involvement of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) in the pathophysiology of tinnitus. Essentially, throughout the day our SNS is 'on' which is imperative for active movement, whereas our parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for repairs and bowel movement that take place when we rest/sleep (rest-and-digest) . It has been speculated that the SNS plays a role in tinnitus, hence throughout the day tinnitus may be perceived as louder.

I think this is a great addition. Not necessarily a separate theory - could perhaps be the mechanism underlying some of the other theories. No doubt neural patterns throughout the day could influence as well, though I don't think many have a good handle on this yet.

 

[MattS]

One must look deep within to determine why tinnitus flares. For example it could be a subconscious voice within your brain punishing you for a life of not doing enough to help your fellow man...the predicate being guilt.

Or...as JohnAdams believes his occurs precisely at 1:30 - 3:30/4 almost every single day but his cleaning lady reports that John sits in the same chair everyday during this time which has a type of fiber in the chair cushions that he is a allergic to.

There are many reasons why tinnitus can spike. Even sitting on a spike can make tinnitus spike in some but not all.

So, deep introspection into your life should reveal the secret. There is no universal truth.

Buddha

A bit of a mix of Buddha and Freud on cocaine, actually.

 

[John Mahan]

A bit of a mix of Buddha and Freud on cocaine, actually.

Actually Freud on a combination of tainted CBD oil, mescaline and angel dust.
Hey Matt... don't you just love this compelling mystery of the universe called tinnitus? No sound exists in the universe, only within our brains. Those pesky incomprehensible neurons.

 

[Ken77]

Mine is the same. In my case I am sure it is because sound "stimulates" my tinnitus. I notice an immediate increase whenever I am around a lot of sound. When I am in a quiet room my tinnitus calms down a lot which is why falling asleep isn't really a problem for me.

 

[JohnAdams]

Sorry to correct you but, a cochlea is a cuckoo clock, not a circadian clock.
This is how tinnitus sounds from the black forest:

You know your ego is supercharged from "correcting people" so don't be sorry.

 

[John Mahan]

You know your ego is supercharged from "correcting people" so don't be sorry.

Only you would conflate a joke I made about a cochlea being a cuckoo clock to deriding people.
You deride me with your comment. Go fuck yourself moron.

 

[JohnAdams]

Only you would conflate a joke I made about a cochlea being a cuckoo clock to deriding people.
You deride me with your comment. Go fuck yourself moron.

 

[MattS]

That escalated quickly.

 

[John Mahan]

Think about it Matt. My post was an obvious attempt at humor. Tinnitus is a sound, circadian as in at a certain time and cuckoo, i.e. crazy reference as tinnitus drives us crazy. Humor. An attempt to lighten the subject....most complex of all...why does tinnitus elevate at a given time or follow a pattern...pattern being a construct of time.

How does JA respond to my obvious attempt at humor? I think you understand why the abrupt devolvement.

There are no definable or distinguishable reasons for tinnitus onset...certainly understood at the layperson level.
Only theories that manifest differently for different people further debunking that there is a singular etiology.

On a tangible note, I agree with JA, I believe there is some level of circadian involvement with tinnitus though I don't know if origin is based in the cochlea but rather another area of the brain responsible. You may know perhaps with your study.

 

[Daniel Lion]

That escalated quickly.

Scary frankly... my country is violent... I grew up with it. I am from the USA.
It's the one thing that really bums me out about this forum.

 

[John Mahan]

Scary frankly... my country is violent... I grew up with it. I am from the USA.
It's the one thing that really bums me out about this forum.

Agree very scary. The horror!
But look at the bright side Daniel.
You could be the next Polyanna!

 

[MattS]

Scary frankly... my country is violent... I grew up with it. I am from the USA.
It's the one thing that really bums me out about this forum.

I think we have to cut each other a bit of slack here/there. We're a bunch of proud, intelligent people, who are constantly being annoyed by a stimulus that we can't control. It's tough, and tempers will sometimes be quick. Mostly I think the group works to help each other; though obviously a few personality conflicts are bound to exist as well. My own peeve is when people refuse to be evidence-based about the disorder, and about the advice they give (looking at you @Bill Bauer, @Michael Leigh!). But I should probably learn to lighten up a bit about that, as we're all just trying to make it work for ourselves.

@John Mahan: I do understand; his response was a bit of an unnecessary dig.

@JohnAdams: I do like that circadian idea. The body works on all kinds of these rhythms, hourly, daily, monthly, etc... I'm going to have to think a bit more about whether some of these rhythms would be worth poking at more formally.

@Daniel Lion: Don't be too scared - the Johns' barks are worse than their bites (I think).

 

[John Mahan]

I think we have to cut each other a bit of slack here/there. We're a bunch of proud, intelligent people, who are constantly being annoyed by a stimulus that we can't control. It's tough, and tempers will sometimes be quick. Mostly I think the group works to help each other; though obviously a few personality conflicts are bound to exist as well. My own peeve is when people refuse to be evidence-based about the disorder, and about the advice they give (looking at you @Bill Bauer, @Michael Leigh!). But I should probably learn to lighten up a bit about that, as we're all just trying to make it work for ourselves.

@John Mahan: I do understand; his response was a bit of an unnecessary dig.

@JohnAdams: I do like that circadian idea. The body works on all kinds of these rhythms, hourly, daily, monthly, etc... I'm going to have to think a bit more about whether some of these rhythms would be worth poking at more formally.

@Daniel Lion: Don't be too scared - the Johns' barks are worse than their bites (I think).

If you think about it Matt, it all kind of fits. Our education and experience buttresses what we believe. Then throw in personality differences and sometimes little unanimity accrues. I wasn't being intemperate. I was responding in kind. The ultimate insult from a known troll JA which could be initials for jackass...lol. An effort to lighten the mood with comedy only to be insulted for it. To me, the cuckoo clock is the perfect metaphor for tinnitus and I still find it comical. Some perhaps have lost their humanity due to tinnitus but of course a subset of society never had any to begin with and only a handful congregate here.

And then there is poor frightened Daniel who forgets about the world. Daniel and Michael are a lot alike. An undercurrent of fear which is who they are. To deny, North Korea, pretty much the entire Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iran in particular not to mention Afganistan, Russian, insurrection currently in China, Somalia and even Malaysia.
You can't make up such an imbecilic conflation comparing America and reference to me a guy who was trying to add comedy to the forum and only to be criticized not once but twice. Moronic beyond compare.

 

[Daniel Lion]

I think we have to cut each other a bit of slack here/there. We're a bunch of proud, intelligent people, who are constantly being annoyed by a stimulus that we can't control. It's tough, and tempers will sometimes be quick. Mostly I think the group works to help each other; though obviously a few personality conflicts are bound to exist as well. My own peeve is when people refuse to be evidence-based about the disorder, and about the advice they give (looking at you @Bill Bauer, @Michael Leigh!). But I should probably learn to lighten up a bit about that, as we're all just trying to make it work for ourselves.

@John Mahan: I do understand; his response was a bit of an unnecessary dig.

@JohnAdams: I do like that circadian idea. The body works on all kinds of these rhythms, hourly, daily, monthly, etc... I'm going to have to think a bit more about whether some of these rhythms would be worth poking at more formally.

@Daniel Lion: Don't be too scared - the Johns' barks are worse than their bites (I think).

Cheers MattS,
I am not scared, I just find "fuck you moron" a bit much.
Such is life... to each his, or her own.

 

[DebInAustralia]

In July I went to an ENT doctor who diagnosed me with tinnitus, my worst nightmare!

Lately when I get up in the morning the sound in my ear is very distant & I can hardly hear it, which is really good & I think it's back to normal, but within the hour of waking it gets noisier & stays like that all day. Can someone explain why this could be happening?

Me too.

 

[DebInAustralia]

Multiple theories, though nobody knows for sure:

* Your brain starts to "look for it" while you are awake, and so it becomes more noticable once it successfully locks on to it.

* The sounds of the day activate the tinnitus, while the quiet of the night relaxes it.

* As @JohnAdams suggested, there could be a natural circadian rhythm to the tinnitus process.

* For some, sleep seems to "reset" the tinnitus back down to low levels.

Probably other theories are possible. Interestingly, it isn't like this for everyone (we ran a poll about a month ago on this, and found that only 2/3rds of people had improved morning tinnitus). If you figure it out, let us know!

Cortisol connection?

 

[Gordon Steinberg]

Hi all,

I am on day 29 following an acoustic trauma.

Strangely, over the last 4 days or so, each time I wake up my tinnitus starts the day very faintly. Whereas throughout the day it can be a noisy pure tone eeeeeee, in the mornings it starts as a faint background noise, a hissing with sort of distant bells like you might hear on a cat or dog collar. Overall the volume is dramatically reduced - maybe a 3-4/10 vs a 6-8/10 when the pure tone is present.

Has anyone else experienced this relative calm in the morning, and is this potentially part of a healing process?

Unfortunately last night my tinnitus spiked back up to a crazy volume but again this morning is much quieter.

Thanks!

 

[DebInAustralia]

Hi all,

I am on day 29 following an acoustic trauma.

Strangely, over the last 4 days or so, each time I wake up my tinnitus starts the day very faintly. Whereas throughout the day it can be a noisy pure tone eeeeeee, in the mornings it starts as a faint background noise, a hissing with sort of distant bells like you might hear on a cat or dog collar. Overall the volume is dramatically reduced - maybe a 3-4/10 vs a 6-8/10 when the pure tone is present.

Has anyone else experienced this relative calm in the morning, and is this potentially part of a healing process?

Unfortunately last night my tinnitus spiked back up to a crazy volume but again this morning is much quieter.

Thanks!

Yes, my tinnitus does this too. Dramatic swings in volume, but usually quieter in the morning.

Unfortunately, I don't think it reflects healing per say, but it is a comfort to me that my brain has the potential to quieten.

If only we could figure out precisely why it does this?