Poll: How Long Was Your Longest Spike?

[Bill Bauer]

I am currently on day three of the scariest spike I have ever experienced. I am trying to figure out the spike duration after which the spike can be considered to be permanent. I believe the poll below will be of interest to others, too.

 

[Ambassador]

I'm starting month 4 of a spike after well over a year of relative peace after having habituated when I first acquired tinnitus which took about 2 months to habituate. I do feel that the relief of re-habituation is near but this has been one awful long spike. Tested me in ways I never knew I could be tested.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm starting month 4 of a spike after well over a year of relative peace after having habituated when I first acquired tinnitus which took about 2 months to habituate. I do feel that the relief of re-habituation is near but this has been one awful long spike. Tested me in ways I never knew I could be tested.

It sounds like you are not losing hope that eventually it will get back to where it used to be a little over three months ago.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I should have been more clear and asked people to focus only on the temporary spikes that had already ended.

 

[Ambassador]

I never lose hope. But to more accurately answer the original spike question, during the time I was habituated there were really just brief moments when I would say "wow, my ears are screaming right now" but for reasons I don't recall or understand or was even aware of at those times I just went about my daily routines and it was never more than a brief moment in time. Don't know what happened to cause my latest 4 month ordeal but as I have said many times I fully expect to be back to my old self again asap.

 

[Steve]

I have had a spike that lasted for months. Can't properly recall (I probably have said somewhere on here before) but I know it was longer than 3 months.

I actually think it may have been related to a physical trigger, strain around the neck area, but can't be sure.

 

[Bill Bauer]

If you answered "seven days or longer", may I ask you to please clarify how many days it ended up being, and whether you came back to the level just before the spike began. If it is one of those longer temporary spikes, it would also be interesting to find out what caused it.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Thanks to this poll, I can see that a spike can easily last longer than a week, and then end. I wasn't expecting that.

 

[nospr]

I feel as if I'm in the middle of a spike that's been going on for 1 month. I'm not sure if it will go back down, but this is after nearly 6 months of not thinking about Tinnitus outside of extremely quite moments. At the moment I hear it all the time even over loud music.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I feel as if I'm in the middle of a spike that's been going on for 1 month. I'm not sure if it will go back down, but this is after nearly 6 months of not thinking about Tinnitus outside of extremely quite moments. At the moment I hear it all the time even over loud music.

What has caused this spike?

 

[nospr]

I honestly have no idea. It might have been the loud fireworks of the 4th of July, or stress from my work this month causing me to think about my tinnitus more than usual.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Hopefully this spike will subside (even if it takes a couple of months before it happens). But we must all keep in mind that now that our ears had been compromised, it makes sense to protect them from now on, even when tinnitus is in remission. It sounds like your spike began soon after July 4. It really looks like the spike was caused by the fireworks. On July 4, 2018, you may want to wear Peltor ear muffs after the sun sets...

 

[linearb]

A year or so, I think.

 

[Jake007]

I feel like I've been in a spike ever since I woke up from my surgery.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I feel like I've been in a spike ever since I woke up from my surgery.

Is that when you first heard your tinnitus? If not, how long ago was it?

 

[Fangen]

I think my longest was like 2-3 weeks at least. At the end it kind of subside slowly so I didn't notice it over a day or so. Hard to say but it was at least a few weeks for sure.

 

[Jake007]

Is that when you first heard your tinnitus? If not, how long ago was it?

My onset was the first week of December 2016. My surgery was February 24 I believe. I thought I had it rough on onset, now I wish I could have what I had on onset compared to now.

 

[Tinker Bell]

My onset was the first week of December 2016. My surgery was February 24 I believe. I thought I had it rough on onset, now I wish I could have what I had on onset compared to now.

I am so sorry to read this. What type of surgery did you have? If you'd rather not share that, I absolutely understand.

 

[Jake007]

I am so sorry to read this. What type of surgery did you have? If you'd rather not share that, I absolutely understand.

I don't mind sharing, tympanoplasty mastoidectomy is what they called it. They cut half my eardrum off and grafted it, took out a tumor (choleasteatoma) above my eardrum, put a buttress in to reinforce my eardrum, and put a prosthesis in that connects to the stapes. This was supposed to restore my hearing back to a 30 dB loss, now it's close to 70 dB.

 

[jimH]

I had one that lasted four months in 2014. It was the worst one in over 30 years of tinnitus. I finally understood what people meant by "catastrophic or debilitating" tinnitus. Additionally, I experienced hyperacusis for the first time during that period. The worst part was the anxiety that resulted because I thought that it was a permanent change being that it lasted so very long.

 

[dd314]

I had one that lasted four months in 2014. It was the worst one in over 30 years of tinnitus. I finally understood what people meant by "catastrophic or debilitating" tinnitus. Additionally, I experienced hyperacusis for the first time during that period. The worst part was the anxiety that resulted because I thought that it was a permanent change being that it lasted so very long.

Did you protect your ears during this time? Did it gradually get better? Thanks.

 

[Travis Henry]

I'm hoping I'm in a spike. It's been 2 weeks of hell. If this is permanent, it'll be hard to live with. It's so loud I can't sleep, even with 1 mg of Klonopin. I had an audiogram & went to a blueberry farm that was quiet other than a random saw noise about 60 to 80 yards away that caught me without earplugs as I adjusted. You just can't win with reactive tinnitus. It has no limit I've found sadly.

 

[dan]

I'm hoping I'm in a spike. It's been 2 weeks of hell. If this is permanent, it'll be hard to live with. It's so loud I can't sleep, even with 1 mg of Klonopin. I had an audiogram & went to a blueberry farm that was quiet other than a random saw noise about 60 to 80 yards away that caught me without earplugs as I adjusted. You just can't win with reactive tinnitus. It has no limit I've found sadly.

When you say reactive tinnitus, what do you mean?

 

[Travis Henry]

When you say reactive tinnitus, what do you mean?

Reactive to all sound.

 

[Chris S.]

I'm hoping I'm in a spike. It's been 2 weeks of hell. If this is permanent, it'll be hard to live with. It's so loud I can't sleep, even with 1 mg of Klonopin. I had an audiogram & went to a blueberry farm that was quiet other than a random saw noise about 60 to 80 yards away that caught me without earplugs as I adjusted. You just can't win with reactive tinnitus. It has no limit I've found sadly.

Unfortunately, you are correct. I am currently going through an awful spike that has been on for the best part of the last 6 months and since it is reactive tinnitus that I am dealing with, every further small error aggravates it more and more and more. And the occasional grave error/bad luck... well...

 

[Chris S.]

When you say reactive tinnitus, what do you mean?

Tinnitus that spikes widely as a result of the 1) food you eat, 2) the medications you take, 3) the noises around you, 4) any other provocations - dental work, household appliances like lawn mowers, vacuum cleaners, etc. (that transmit vibrations through bone conduction and directly affect the cochlear cells). Many foods spike mine (dairy, salt, etc.), many noises aggravate it and lead to long-lasting (3-4 month-long) spikes. Exercising (walking and cycling) led to semi-permanent spikes every time I do these activities. Also - toothpaste greatly aggravtes it (some brands are worse offenders than others). Besides, any dental work would likely spell the end for me and it's been quite hard finding dentists who have and can use laser to treat hard tissues (teeth). I cannot tolerate almost any medications or cosmetics - hand creams, for instance, as well as colognes or deodorants lead to noticeable spikes that last at least half a day. Believe me - living with tinnitus is difficult, but living with reactive tinnitus can take those difficulties to an entire new level...

One other observation: for those with reactive tinnitus, spikes can last very long - months and even more than a year. The problem is that once the spike begins, other daily aggressors (almost unavoidable) further and further aggravate it, making it very prolonged. I've been in one such for the past 7 months and it's gotten progressively worse and worse - started when a train horn blasted me from about 80-100 feet (I was wearing ear plugs and ear muffs but those were not enough to protect me from the 150+ dB sound) and has been going in the wrong direction ever since.

 

[GuitarMan]

I guess you could call it a spike. For over 10 years I've had a very mild whistling in my left ear. About 6 to 8 weeks ago it spiked to the point where it's louder than all ambient sounds including a loud TV, loud air filter at work, water running when I wash dishes, and it's so loud that I can't tune it out at night and it keeps me awake unless I mask it with a less unpleasant sound at roughly the same frequency, 10.5 kHz.

So it's either going on a 2 month spike or this is my new baseline which would be very concerning.

 

[Travis Henry]

I guess you could call it a spike. For over 10 years I've had a very mild whistling in my left ear. About 6 to 8 weeks ago it spiked to the point where it's louder than all ambient sounds including a loud TV, loud air filter at work, water running when I wash dishes, and it's so loud that I can't tune it out at night and it keeps me awake unless I mask it with a less unpleasant sound at roughly the same frequency, 10.5 kHz.

So it's either going on a 2 month spike or this is my new baseline which would be very concerning.

I'm jealous. I feel I'm on my death bed with how loud mine is. I'd kill for those symptoms.

 

[GuitarMan]

I'm jealous. I feel I'm on my death bed with how loud mine is. I'd kill for those symptoms.

I genuinely feel for those who have it worse than me. Like I said, I can't drown mine out with pretty much any ambient noise. The cricket sounds I have to play at night to help me sleep only helps because the whistling tea kettle I hear sort of blends into the cricket sounds because the cricket sounds are close to the frequency of the tinnitus sound.

I know many people have it much worse than me and I can only imagine the misery.

 

[dan]

started when a train horn blasted me from about 80-100 feet (I was wearing ear plugs and ear muffs but those were not enough to protect me from the 150+ dB

30 meters? Dear Lord.