My Tinnitus Stopped for Several Hours — Why? What Happened?

[wonderingwoman]

It was about two weeks ago that I went to bed and woke up with this horrible ringing in my head and I have been miserable. I had no reason to believe I would have this. No loud noise, no damage, no nothing bad--except I do think I had taken ibuprofen for so long.

I saw my doctor earlier in the week and he said my ears were great. This would go away. Time would help. As you all know, there are so many stories and so much suffering.

So this morning as usual I slept some with two large box fans blowing--I got up early and was really feeling strange and nauseated. I went for my long walk. Most mornings I go down to volunteer at a food bank. I was on my way down, listening to music but I realized there was no more noise. I turned off the music and nothing. There was silence. Nothing in the background. It was such heaven. This was about 8 a.m. I did some errands after, came home, had a sandwich and was so tired I lay down to try to rest.

It is about 2:20---6 hours later, I am hearing a slight ringing again. My God. It was so wonderful to have total silence. Now this distant ringing and not silence. I do not know what happened. Perhaps my doctor is right and it will stop again. This is really frustrating. No understanding this.

 

[Luman]

For many people, tinnitus can come and go, in intensity or other ways, or silence vs. ringing. You may have further reduction in symptoms, soon, and perhaps a complete cessation of tinnitus.

 

[glynis]

@wonderingwoman ,
Great news and hope it continues for you.
Tinnitus can go quiet and then show it's ugly face again so for now protect your ears from extra loud sounds that is not a normal daily sound and hope your going recover.
Time is a great healer for some people.

love glynis

 

[wonderingwoman]

Thank you so much. The reason I was surprised at getting tinnitus is that I have never been exposed to loud sounds, I have really healthy ears, I am a really healthy person. I know from many experiences in the past 10 years that I will not describe now that it is not my ears but my central nervous system that has been hurt and is healing. With my doctor's support, I do believe I can be healed--but as all of you known, in the middle of this suffering one thinks it will never end.

I took ibuprofen for years, but it is the only thing that I can see that precipitated this two weeks ago. I have stopped all ibuprofen forever and I have stopped all stimulants totally like caffeine because I am trying to heal my cns and the gaba receptors in my brain. I think I may be doing this, which for me is huge.

I know many people who have tinnitus including relatives and it is all related to noise, too much noise in car races, on the job, all that sort of stuff.
Or hearing loss. And I have hearing like a bat. I hear things nobody else hears. So I do think my ears are healthy. For this journey, I am really looking to heal my cns and the gaba receptors and I am hoping to get rid of this damnable noise. Bless you all for being there.

 

[fishbone]

It was about two weeks ago that I went to bed and woke up with this horrible ringing in my head and I have been miserable. I had no reason to believe I would have this. No loud noise, no damage, no nothing bad--except I do think I had taken ibuprofen for so long.

I saw my doctor earlier in the week and he said my ears were great. This would go away. Time would help. As you all know, there are so many stories and so much suffering.

So this morning as usual I slept some with two large box fans blowing--I got up early and was really feeling strange and nauseated. I went for my long walk. Most mornings I go down to volunteer at a food bank. I was on my way down, listening to music but I realized there was no more noise. I turned off the music and nothing. There was silence. Nothing in the background. It was such heaven. This was about 8 a.m. I did some errands after, came home, had a sandwich and was so tired I lay down to try to rest.

It is about 2:20---6 hours later, I am hearing a slight ringing again. My God. It was so wonderful to have total silence. Now this distant ringing and not silence. I do not know what happened. Perhaps my doctor is right and it will stop again. This is really frustrating. No understanding this.

The fluctuations you are experiencing are normal. Majority of the tinnitus cases arise from loud sounds/music. This can damage the ears and possibly bring on the tinnitus (not always). You got your tinnitus by taking a pill for sometime, you have a better chance for recovery compared to someone that has damaged their ears via loud sounds/music/headphones.

I am thrilled that your tinnitus went away. This is a good sign, possibly your ears/system is healing from whatever affliction it was facing. Just take things slow and take it day by day. It's hard, but try to not scan for your tinnitus and try not to listen for it. If your tinnitus is affecting your life, then talk with someone and let your worries, frustrations out.

Hang in there, you shall be ok!

 

[coffee_girl]

I hope yours go away completely... My first year I had lots of fluctuations with days of complete silence (no T at all). After a few weeks it was back and now it's here to stay

 

[wonderingwoman]

Thank you so much. My doctor, who has known me for 8 years and has guided me through a lot of medical journeys looked at my ears and considered what he knows about me and told me I would heal. That is hard to hear and hard to take when you are suffering and so miserable. And some experiences over time also made me doubt. The way I felt this morning when I had silence for 6 hours does give me hope. And bless you all for sharing your knowledge.

 

[fishbone]

Thank you so much. My doctor, who has known me for 8 years and has guided me through a lot of medical journeys looked at my ears and considered what he knows about me and told me I would heal. That is hard to hear and hard to take when you are suffering and so miserable. And some experiences over time also made me doubt. The way I felt this morning when I had silence for 6 hours does give me hope. And bless you all for sharing your knowledge.

From my experience I can say that loud sounds and stress are huge culprits that possibly annoy the tinnitus. Steer clear from both as much as you can. Avoid negative people, stressful people and places. This advice is golden, tinnitus is basically a glitch that the mind likes to play on us, stress can rattle the mind and make the tinnitus worst at times.

 

[wonderingwoman]

It is interesting--if I have a couple of glasses of wine, the tinnitus pretty much goes silent. And I know my hearing is good. I was sitting in my bedroom with two huge box fans blowing--I have a tiny flip phone in my purse that I usually do not have turned on. I heard across the room the tiny tinkle sound it makes when it gets a message. I can be sitting in the family room watching a football game and then I hear the little rumble of the postman's truck driving away from our house. It is in the middle of the night. My ears are high pitching---good heavens.

 

[Redocooking]

Do you know what type of Tinnitus you have?
Are you sensitive to sound to the point that certain noises hurt you?

Right now I'm dealing with screaming Tinnitus that's preventing me from getting sleep, but we have to have hope that our Tinnitus will heal and abate over time. Luckily for you, it's been recent and HAS gone down.

A couple of things I can think of. (Keep in mind I'm not a trained professional.)

1. You might have somatic tinnitus and perhaps your c1,c2 (Vertebrae neck area) is pinching your nerves/inner in a way that's causing your Tinnitus, and alcohol/goodposture is relaxing your nerves enough to not be effected by this.

2. Your nerves/ear is tired due to always being used due to the fans. (since you mentioned that you have above average hearing maybe your threshold for tolerance is lower then most people, aka 80db is the recommended upper limit, but perhaps yours is lower due to enhanced hearing, the feeling strange and nauseated part makes me think of this more) I'm not sure what dB your fans are at but maybe it might be worth it to not sleep with them when you're about to lose consciousness or have them automatically turn off(Not that I know how you could do this). Although, don't give up your 8 hours of sleep if you don't think you can sleep without them on.


3. Again, I need to stress this. Your T has disappeared, thus you have proof that you can get better. Maybe something has happened recently that has stressed you out, even if you don't know it. If you don't already, write in a journal before it's time to hit the hay that's transpired during the day and how you feel about it.

Good luck.

 

[wonderingwoman]

It is interesting what you say about the fans. Although I have had to sleep with them for years and years. I need the distraction of the white noise to be able to sleep. I had thought I was strange except my son is this way, too. He needs background noise to sleep. And then I realized how many apparatus things are sold that are really expensive that people use, particularly when they travel, in order to be able to sleep. There are things that make sounds from ocean waves to crickets chirping and so on and so on.
Mine is relatively easy. I have a huge box fan that blows---also keeps me cooled off. I even use one when I travel.

My doctor said he didn't think I needed to see an ent. I don't know. I don't have any issues that an ent could treat, I don't think. But my therapist gave me the name of a really good ent and I tried to make an appt but he is booked up months out. I made an appt with another group which is supposed to be good--they cannot see me for a month. So if I am depending on an ent it is pretty depressing.

I had an MRI two years ago for another situation and it shows absolutely nothing that is an issue. I read all of the time that an ent would order one--well I already one.

I am heartened that the tinnitus just simply stopped this morning. For 6 hours I was in heaven. Now I am up at midnight trying to distract myself. Thanks to everyone for your answers.

 

[wonderingwoman]

Redocooking, I am curious. You asked the question, what kind of tinnitus do I have? I am not sure how I would know that. I am seeing what everyone is saying here and it seems that so many times it is caused by exposure to loud noise. I have never had that. I have a dear friend whose husband suffers from tinnitus and he spent years in construction and in a plant manufacturing engine parts and people were too stupid for a long time to realize the damage noise could do to ears.

I am really healthy. I do know that I have an anxiety disorder and my goals have always been to help and heal the gaba receptors. I am sure that has something to do with what is going on now. This started suddenly after taking a dose of ibuprofen and going to sleep and waking up with ringing in my ears. My doctor who knows me really well says he sees nothing about my ears and that time will heal.

That is easy to say to someone who can be as hysterical as I can. Not proud of it. but true!!!

I have been so healthy and happy lately, nothing out of the ordinary, and this was so sudden. it is freaky, which I guess all of you know.

 

[wonderingwoman]

For me the worst part of this is that I fall asleep and it wakes me up. I am not the type to consider suicide but when I cannot sleep I want to do that. What do the rest of you do when that happens?

 

[Redocooking]

@wonderingwoman
There's different types of tinnitus,

• Subjective tinnitus. This is the most common type of tinnitus, and it is often caused by exposure to loud noise.
• Sensory/Neurological tinnitus. This is a side effect of an impaired auditory system or disease
• Somatic tinnitus. Akin to the sensory system where there's a physical problem associated with T (example your neck's C1 and C2 Vertebrae messed up or misaligned, TMJ, pinching of audio nerves, etc.)
• Objective tinnitus. Normally heard from other people, easiest to cure.

Based on what you've explained, I still think you have somatic tinnitus and you're positioning yourself when you sleep in a way to cause it. What exactly, I don't know since I'm not watching you sleep.... Wow that sounds creepy. Also, ibuprofen is known to cause T so perhaps it's as simple as not taking ibuprofen anymore.

As for when it wakes you up, after countless sleepless nights, the best method that has worked for me is to just walk around the house in the dark. No electronics and hardly any lights. Just walking around, pacing and sometimes talking about what to do tomorrow or what to eat. This helps with my restlessness and I do this until I feel naturally sleepy and go back to be to rest. If it's cold out I let myself get cold as well so I can look forward to resting in the warm blankets. Call the suicide hotline if

Again, I'm not an expert, just a fellow sufferer that's done some research.

 

[wonderingwoman]

How does one know about the nerves and pinching and all of that? I don't feel any different.

 

[JohnAdams]

It was about two weeks ago that I went to bed and woke up with this horrible ringing in my head and I have been miserable. I had no reason to believe I would have this. No loud noise, no damage, no nothing bad--except I do think I had taken ibuprofen for so long.

I saw my doctor earlier in the week and he said my ears were great. This would go away. Time would help. As you all know, there are so many stories and so much suffering.

So this morning as usual I slept some with two large box fans blowing--I got up early and was really feeling strange and nauseated. I went for my long walk. Most mornings I go down to volunteer at a food bank. I was on my way down, listening to music but I realized there was no more noise. I turned off the music and nothing. There was silence. Nothing in the background. It was such heaven. This was about 8 a.m. I did some errands after, came home, had a sandwich and was so tired I lay down to try to rest.

It is about 2:20---6 hours later, I am hearing a slight ringing again. My God. It was so wonderful to have total silence. Now this distant ringing and not silence. I do not know what happened. Perhaps my doctor is right and it will stop again. This is really frustrating. No understanding this.

I've experienced this before. I used to have silence almost every night. The answer is nobody knows. The mainstream medical community is tragically ignorant about this condition and all the who what wheres and whys.

 

[wonderingwoman]

Redocooking--it is interesting what you mention about walking. I have healed from some problems and from panic disorder by walking. Every morning I walk at least an hour---depending on the season, sometimes more. And during the night, I have been known to walk in the middle of the night to try to get rid of panic.

Just a week ago I walked around my neighborhood at 1:45 in the morning for 40 minutes to calm down. After a long time of things out of balance, for the past year or so, things have been really in balance--I was feeling so calm, I volunteer 6 days a week--I stay really busy.
Them bang about two weeks ago I woke up from a deep sleep with ringing in my ears. I immediately stopped ibuprofen. I stopped all caffeine and some other things.

I am getting so I can sort of manage the ringing sometimes during the day, but at night it is killing me because it causes panic which is a racing heart, cramping in my gutt, wanting to scream and throw something, etc.

This is pretty horrible after I have been so well.

 

[wonderingwoman]

Horrible night last night. But then more silence today---but--
Yesterday was Sunday and I walked an hour and a half in the morning and to try to make the ringing go away, I walked an hour and a half in the afternoon. I went to bed and slept soundly for 2 hours but woke up with racing heart, then panic attack and it was a nightmare.
I managed to get up this morning and ready to go to my volunteer work and about 7:20 a.m. I noticed it was silent.
I went to my volunteer thing and I was busy but also noticed the heaven of silence.
I am back home 6 hours later and I am starting to hear slight ringing again. This is nuts.

 

[Rajin]

I used to get few silence days, but last few months it left me. But I hope it comes back. Wondering where those days went.

 

[Bart]

You got your tinnitus by taking a pill for sometime, you have a better chance for recovery compared to someone that has damaged their ears via loud sounds/music/headphones.

Are you saying that that the chance tinnitus will improve is greater when it's brought on by medication ? Dear God I hope your right because my mild tinnitus just turned severe from taking an ED drug .

 

[Luman]

Horrible night last night. But then more silence today---but--
Yesterday was Sunday and I walked an hour and a half in the morning and to try to make the ringing go away, I walked an hour and a half in the afternoon. I went to bed and slept soundly for 2 hours but woke up with racing heart, then panic attack and it was a nightmare.
I managed to get up this morning and ready to go to my volunteer work and about 7:20 a.m. I noticed it was silent.
I went to my volunteer thing and I was busy but also noticed the heaven of silence.
I am back home 6 hours later and I am starting to hear slight ringing again. This is nuts.

Trying to control, change or silence tinnitus is counter-productive and frustrating, but they're natural responses that most of us have experienced. One of the coping techniques recommended by a therapist I went to is, when you think of tinnitus, try telling yourself, "Tinnitus is present" or, "Tinnitus is not present". Stay strong. It will get better, it does for most everybody.

 

[sky_high]

@wonderingwoman My tinnitus also totally disappeared twice, once for a couple of hours and second time for almost 10 hours. It's really disturbing when it comes back because it's so easy to get used to not having it!

Someone on this forum was saying something along the lines of (can't find the post now): "Don't celebrate when you don't hear your tinnitus and don't be too disappointed when you hear it again". I think it's a good advice.

 

[fishbone]

Are you saying that that the chance tinnitus will improve is greater when it's brought on by medication ? Dear God I hope your right because my mild tinnitus just turned severe from taking an ED drug .

Tinnitus is such a complex matter. Once the ears /hair cells are damaged, then I don't see the ears healing back to how they were before the sound/noise damage. There are no guarantees with tinnitus as all of us know.

 

[sky_high]

@fishbone I just saw that you've had tinnitus since '88 . Does it completely stop for you sometimes? Or did this happen during all these years?

 

[fishbone]

@fishbone I just saw that you've had tinnitus since '88 . Does it completely stop for you sometimes? Or did this happen during all these years?

I live with this every second of my life. It stopped for me on one night around 9pm and it lasted 45 seconds, this was in 1998. It has been full blast before and after. It's ok, it is what it is.

 

[sky_high]

I live with this every second of my life. It stopped for me on one night around 9pm and it lasted 45 seconds, this was in 1998. It has been full blast before and after. It's ok, it is what it is.

Wow... you are very strong person mentally. Thanks for being on this forum, advice from veterans is very much appreciated.

 

[sky_high]

One of the coping techniques recommended by a therapist I went to is, when you think of tinnitus, try telling yourself, "Tinnitus is present" or, "Tinnitus is not present"

What does it mean exactly? That you should take no action regarding your tinnitus, just acknowledge if it's present or not and then go on with life? Or is it something else deeper that I am missing?

 

[Luman]

What does it mean exactly? That you should take no action regarding your tinnitus, just acknowledge if it's present or not and then go on with life? Or is it something else deeper that I am missing?

There's nothing very deep about it, it's just an alternate way of responding. Rather than becoming worried and stressed by tinnitus, you acknowledge that it's there and move on. This exact approach may not work for everyone, nor is it the only thing that most people with tinnitus distress should do, as there's plenty of other actions that can be taken to help us get our lives back.

 

[wonderingwoman]

I just got back from a trip to the emergency room---I have been there various times and they have my records so I trust them---I was so sick from having the ringing and it making my heart race and then having horrible panic that I had to do something. They gave me fluids and did a lot of tests and we talked---while I was there the tinnitus disappeared. It is a very good thing I went--- I have thyroid issues and some test results were very revealing and I am going to see my doctor tomorrow. We may have a solution to a lot things. Praise God. We shall see.

 

[wonderingwoman]

A later note tonight. I have been asleep. The ringing is back but I am not having a panic attack--yet. I have some interesting info for my doctor. That a changing thyroid value could be affecting my blood pressure, also causing ringing. We shall seel.