Recent (Intermittent) Mild Tinnitus, Many Possible Causes, I Suspect the Furnace

[johndoe1]

The past 2 months my anxiety has been through the roof. During this time I've had super frequent headaches and a feeling of pressure on the top of my head very often as well as a near constant feeling of unease. Now ironically as the anxiety has gotten noticeably better in the past 2 weeks I have started getting some tinnitus. It's not like what I hear many talking about on here because it's very quiet and usually hard to hear unless there is silence. I've had random tinnitus that would last a few seconds for as long as I can remember but I always assumed that was normal (I've read that on google + friends say they get this). This was a rare occurrence too.

My list of possible causes:

• Maybe it was always there and I've just noticed it since my anxiety has been high. (BUT on the flip side my anxiety has been a bit better as of recent weeks when the tinnitus seemed to occur).
• Started a new job a bit before I started noticing the tinnitus. It is somewhat noisy but not very. We are supposed to wear earplugs but most people don't. Job is also only part time so it's not like I'm there all the time.
• The furnace that heats the house is in my room and around the same time I started the job I also moved my bed to the corner of the room where it is considerably closer to the furnace. It's ALSO been very cold recently and the furnace has been noticeably noisier AND the furnace has been whining and making noises I don't think it normally should as well as just seeming louder in general. The furnace is in a closet in my room behind a VERY thin door straight across from my bed.
• I've worn headphones for many years while playing PC games.
• I have anxiety and sometimes when I get a headache I instantly assume brain tumor, but maybe there is a possibility I have something wrong with me (aside from the anxiety)?
• Along with my recent strong anxiety I've been having really bad stomach issues. I don't know if they're related because the stomach issues seemed to start BEFORE the anxiety got out of control, but also just one possibility of undetermined medical problem that could be contributing to the tinnitus. That said, I've been on low FODMAP diet for a bit now and haven't had serious stomach problems in a few weeks.
• The anxiety itself. I've read that anxiety and tinnitus can be related in someway, but I don't know if anxiety can straight up give you tinnitus. That said the anxiety has actually been better as of recent which is why this would be weird to me.

There are times where even when it's quiet I can't tell if it's there or not, but this morning I woke up and it was loud and clear (I could hear it clearly in the silence).

I'm on a 3 day weekend so I haven't been to work in a couple of days which is why I suspect the furnace the most. It could just be all of these things and maybe I should take measures for everything on this list (and more?) My tinnitus isn't super severe, BUT I want to get ahead of this issue and prevent it from getting worse. Any questions thought concerns PLEASE let me know! Thanks in advance.

EDIT:
Forgot to mention a few things. I've been taking a probiotic + fiber supplement for around a month now. I also took multivitamin for about a month, but that ran out around a week ago. I'm only 21 years old if that matters at all. I pop my ears a lot.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. My advice to you for your seemingly mild tinnitus is to focus and enjoy other aspects of life. Distractions will help prevent the brain from zooming on the tinnitus to make it an issue. Millions of people have tinnitus and many of them may have the milder type that can only be heard occasionally or when in silence. So try to relax and perhaps use relaxing music or natural sounds for masking when you are in quiet place.

Good luck. God bless.

 

[Charburchar]

Hey, I'm sorry to hear you have tinnitus. If the job requires earplugs then I'd highly recommend wearing them regardless of what others do - I developed tinnitus from noise in the workplace. I'd also suggest staying away from loud places like pubs, concerts, movie theatres (when they open again) and finding a routine to help you relax in the evenings (I always have Netflix on now before I sleep, for example).

All the best.