Night-Time Amplification of Tinnitus

[Jonstorm]

Hi all I was hoping for insight regarding an issue I'm having habituating to my new friend.

I'm 2 weeks into new moderate tinnitus. It developed 3 days after having a crown fitted post root canal. I awoke to pretty loud tinnitus accompanied by a general anxiety feeling.

Since then I've had some success taming my total panic using the back to silence method. The daytime tinnitus is manageable apart from some episodic nasty emotional fluctuations. However my main issue is waking shortly after falling asleep, often around 1 hour, with deafening 10/10 ringing. It's my usual tinnitus on steroids. This is accompanied by copious sweating around my neck and a stiff jaw and neck. Tonight I fell asleep within 15 mins of getting in bed was feeling very calm with my crickets masking noise and yet still this happened.

What I'm wondering is do people think this is my underlying emotional stress amping things up subconsciously or does this sound like somatic tinnitus generated by teeth grinding or jaw issues etc?
(Of note i went back to dentist who checked my bite and felt it was fine.)

Be grateful to hear of any others that experienced this.

Thanks John

 

[Michael B]

I've had T for 7 years and don't have jaw issues but I occasionally wake up in the middle of the night with blaring T. No rhyme or reason. The good thing is that I'm usually tired and pretty much fall back asleep. That comes with experience and time.
Mike

 

[Luman]

I was OK with sleeping for a while, since the tinnitus started a year ago. Although I would wake up with it loud at times, I usually could go right back to sleep. Lately, when going to bed, I awake in 10 minutes to loud T, sometimes sweating, and have to go in another room for a while. I don't understand why. It's a very frustrating problem, and I'm lucky if I get 3 to 5 hours of broken sleep a night. I have fluctuating T, today it was quiet most of the time, but less than 10 minutes of sleep at 12:30 AM, just a little while ago, was all I could have, before this happened again.

 

[Jonstorm]

Thanks @Michael B
It's weird because so many people seem to feel T goes or quietens while they sleep but for me it seems to wake me up. I find it hard to tease apart whether it's anxiety that ramps in the night subconciously or somatic T.
I took a zopiclone 2 nights ago and this kept me asleep much better but clearly this isn't a long term solution.

Argh just when you think you are getting a handle on things something else comes and throws you off. I was starting to emotionally feel better and my wife and colleagues were saying I was behaving normally again but I feel depressed this morning I need to get my positivity back

 

[Bill Bauer]

Your T will most likely keep changing (and will hopefully eventually begin to fade). It doesn't make sense to assume that your latest pattern and volume will be what you will be stuck with. Ignore any daily trends. Only the monthly trends matter.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

Since then I've had some success taming my total panic using the back to silence method. The daytime tinnitus is manageable apart from some episodic nasty emotional fluctuations. However my main issue is waking shortly after falling asleep, often around 1 hour, with deafening 10/10 ringing. It's my usual tinnitus on steroids. This is accompanied by copious sweating around my neck and a stiff jaw and neck. Tonight I fell asleep within 15 mins of getting in bed was feeling very calm with my crickets masking noise and yet still this happened.

There's many professional articles by Science Direct and others that explain tinnitus and the brain. The bottom line is that pain and ringing comes into the brain by way of the brainstem though the same neural gate. Neurons become active when there a loss of gray matter. Neuro scientists have proven through MRI studies that the brain focuses on memory more than anything else and this includes both limbic response and emotions. This would include individual perception where one knows where their bathroom is and the names of their children.

If you are waiting up with a stiff jaw and neck your emotional and maybe your limbic systems are in overdrive. Maybe a mouth guard, a pillow with support under your neck will help. For sure any emotional input from dreaming, playing annoying sounds in the background while sleeping would increase neutron activity upon waking more. I can only use pink such as a waterfall, rain or a brook. Also 10 of the 12 cranial nerves go thru the brainstem to the brain and this may have influence depending on any physical disorder.

 

[Michael B]

I hope things improve for you.