Second Day in a Row Waking Up to Blasting Tinnitus

[Digital Doc]

Good vibes your way.

Of course your boss is not sure how loud it is. Until it gets measured, nobody knows. Try downloading a db noise app for your phone, and get an idea how loud it is. You have the right to ask for a sound survey, or you can contact osha directly.

I have no experience with lipoflavinoids. I do take daily omega3, about 500 mg and think it helped. I also drink green tea and aloe, and think it may have had some minor effect but really not sure. Others swear by magnesium and NAC, but I did not take either.

Really, the most important thing you picked up was the earplugs. If the sound is above 85 db, your employer is required to provide them.

 

[alex1975]

Visited Wal-Greens today and bought some ear plugs. Had some Melatonin as well, until my mom ripped me a new one over the phone because she's afraid that I'm suicidal. (Not currently, but I have been in the past.)

So I went back and explained the situation to the pharmiacast. She reccomened that I see a doctor, which I will, and that I take Lipo Flavonoid Plus, which is "Considered by ENTs the most effective over the counter solution to reduce ear ringing" and is also the "#1 ENT Doctot recommened for Tinnitus."

She hopes that it'll soften the ringing a bit. I'm a bit hopeful.

So, no replies saying "Over the counter is bullshit", and "It'll get worse and worse" and all that negative shit, please. I need good vibes right now. Send good vibes.

I had a spike that lasted a couple of months after I attended a loud concert. It seems to be calming down. I have days where it's just hissing and some days where the ringing is louder. You may want to wear ear plugs for at least a month in any environment that is louder than 80db. I hated the waking up at 4-5AM and not being able to go back to sleep but I don't get that anymore... Chances are much higher that it will settle down.

 

[aot]

So... A mixed bag.

I'm feeling pretty relived right now. I used a white nose app to help me sleep, and the T is currently the softest it's ever been.

But....The T moved? Now my left is silent, and my right is ringing. It's low rumble and a hell of a lot more tolerable, but also concerning. It sounds like how my T sounded when I first had it.

Should I be worried?

 

[aot]

Also,

Are over the ear headphones acceptable? My favorite podcasts are all about serial killers and stuff, and my family dosen't want to hear that shit, lol.

 

[pinklights98]

Also,

Are over the ear headphones acceptable? My favorite podcasts are all about serial killers and stuff, and my family dosen't want to hear that shit, lol.

avoid headphones, for at least a while to aid in your recovery. You are young and you have the chance to recover.

 

[Lane]

My favorite podcasts are all about serial killers and stuff, and my family dosen't want to hear that shit, lol.

FWIW, I once read an account as to why some of the "Saints" from history who were able to live a life a relative longevity; there were apparently 3 primary reasons. They were very discerning about 1) what they put into their mouth; 2) what they let into their eyes; and 3) what they let into their ears. Yikes! It appears our modern culture doesn't seem to prize these three attributes, and I suspect we pay the price for this in a number of ways.

 

[aot]

Had a chat with a very nice woman via the tinnitus hotline. It helped relieve a lot of the dread that I've been feeling.

 

[aot]

Had a very good day today. The ringing was there, but low in volume. Was able to go about my buisness mostly undistracted.

I think I can make it through this. Even if my hearing dosen't return to the way it was pre-spike, I think I can habitiuate to this eventually.

Thank you all for your kindness. I'll continue to keep you updated.

 

[pinklights98]

Had a very good day today. The ringing was there, but low in volume. Was able to go about my buisness mostly undistracted.

I think I can make it through this. Even if my hearing dosen't return to the way it was pre-spike, I think I can habitiuate to this eventually.

Thank you all for your kindness. I'll continue to keep you updated.

Don't monitor it or check on it. Stay as busy as possible. Use sound enrichment in quiet places to aid in habituation. You got this!

 

[Ed209]

Lots of times people get spikes or it worsens without an identifiable explanation. The other thing that happens is an acoustic incident but you think it didn't seem to be overly loud so you are unsure of what happened.

It's depressing.

From my experience, tinnitus can spike for no reason at all. A lot of my bad days can be due to my emotional state as stress can aggravate tinnitus a lot. Studies show that the limbic system plays a part in how we perceive our tinnitus and there are various fMRI imaging studies that show key parts of the brain lighting up. The emotional context we put upon something soon becomes hardwired into our brain as a memory for future relevance.

So, for example, if you start to fear slamming doors, somebody laughing, or any other moderately raised noise, expect your tinnitus to spike because of the emotional context you are putting upon those sounds. The brain is smart and it is constantly making connections between memories and new events, and for some people, this can lead to an anxiety loop. This effect is so strong (look at Pavlov's work, and many others) that you can condition a person to have a physiological reaction to just about anything.

For some tinnitus sufferers, the negative associations they start to build with various non-threatening sounds can become a big problem.

With this said, tinnitus is a heterogeneous condition so there are many things that can cause it and make it chronic.


People with tinnitus who are less bothered by their symptoms use different brain regions when processing emotional information, new research indicates.

Patients with lower tinnitus distress used an altered pathway to process emotional information. The path did not rely on the amygdala, commonly believed to play an important role in emotion processing in the brain. Instead, patients who had adapted to their tinnitus symptoms used more of the brain's frontal lobe, a region critical for attention, planning and impulse control. The researchers suggested that the greater activation of the frontal lobe might be helping to control emotional responses and reduce tinnitus distress.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/12/151214145956.htm

When Schlee compared people who suffer a lot of distress from tinnitus with those who are not much bothered by it, he found that the more distress people felt, the stronger the flow of signals out of the front and back of the brain and into the temporal cortex. This pattern suggests that the network Schlee discovered is important for the full experience of tinnitus. Tinnitus, in other words, extends beyond the ear, beyond a hearing-specialized part of the brain, beyond even any single piece of neural real estate. It is a disease of networks that span the brain.

Once signals travel from the ear to the auditory cortex, caudate, and putamen, they eventually make their way to regions of the brain that carry out more sophisticated sound information processing: connecting the sounds with memories, interpreting their meaning, giving them emotional significance. It is precisely these regions that Schlee and his colleagues noted were behaving strangely in people with tinnitus. He argues that it is only when signals reach this large-scale network that we become conscious of sounds, and it is only at this stage that tinnitus starts to cause people real torment. Schlee's results suggest that the higher regions of the brain send their own feedback to the auditory cortex, amplifying its false signals. Schlee's model of tinnitus and consciousness could explain some curious observations. Even in bad cases of tinnitus, people can become unaware of the phantom sound if they are distracted.

https://www.discovermagazine.com/mi...-the-ears-actually-goes-much-deeper-than-that

The researchers found that, in patients with chronic tinnitus, the precuneus is more connected to the dorsal attention network and less connected to the default mode network. Additionally, as severity of the tinnitus increased, so did the observed effects on the neural networks. The results were published in the journal NeuroImage: Clinical.

"For patients, this is validating. Here is something related to tinnitus which is objective and invariant," Husain said. "It also implies that tinnitus patients are not truly at rest, even when resting. This could explain why many report being tired more often. Additionally, their attention may be engaged more with their tinnitus than necessary, and that may lessen their attention to other things. If you have bothersome tinnitus, this may be why you have concentration issues."

However, patients with recent-onset tinnitus did not show the differences in precuneus connectivity. Their scans looked more like the control groups, which begs the question of when and how changes in brain connectivity begin and whether they can be prevented or lessened.

https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/547435

 

[aot]

I have a Doctor's Appoitment on the 29th of January. They'll call me if they have any cancellations. They probably won't be able to do anything, but I just feel more comfortable getting it checked out.

 

[Lane]

Had a chat with a very nice woman via the tinnitus hotline.

@aot -- Could you give some specifics on this tinnitus hotline such as a website? Thanks!

 

[aot]

@aot -- Could you give some specifics on this tinnitus hotline such as a website? Thanks!

https://www.ata.org/about-us/contact-us

Their toll free number.

 

[aot]

I think I'm done taking Lipo Flavonoid Plus. It appeared to lower the ringing, but subsecuent research shows that it has little to know effect on Tinnitus. My experince was likely the result of the placebo effect. Wouldn't really mind if I hadn't devloped a rapid heartbeat after I started taking them.

And I can't find a masking frequency to comfortabley read to. Seems the only place I can read as of now without distraction is the break room at work, because of the hum.

Feeling very disheartned.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I have a Doctor's Appoitment on the 29th of January. They'll call me if they have any cancellations. They probably won't be able to do anything, but I just feel more comfortable getting it checked out.

An ENT doctor will suggest having tests done on your auditory system including a hearing test and possible MRI. These are important. If there is no underlying medical problem causing the tinnitus and you don't require hearing aid/s. Then your tinnitus is probably noise induced as indicated on your Avatar. To get this treated and any oversensitivity to sound that you might have, which often indicates hyperacusis, you should be referred to a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist that specialise in tinnitus and hyperacusis management and treatment. ENT doctors do not usually specialise in this. Their primary role, is detecting problems with the Ear, Nose and Throat and treating these organs if anything concerning them is causing the tinnitus.

Michael

 

[aot]

An ENT doctor will suggest having tests done on your auditory system including a hearing test and possible MRI. These are important. If there is no underlying medical problem causing the tinnitus and you don't require hearing aid/s. Then your tinnitus is probably noise induced as indicated on your Avatar. To get this treated and any oversensitivity to sound that you might have, which often indicates hyperacusis, you should be referred to a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist that specialise in tinnitus and hyperacusis management and treatment. ENT doctors do not usually specialise in this. Their primary role, is detecting problems with the Ear, Nose and Throat and treating these organs if anything concerning them is causing the tinnitus.

Michael

Noted. Thank you, Michael.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Noted. Thank you, Michael.

@aot
You are welcome and best of luck
I know you have noise induced tinnitus and over sensitivity to sound. Please click on the links below and read my posts that you might find helpful.

Take care
Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/

PS: I like your Avatar. I have a few Humphrey Bogart films and enjoy watching them. The Big Sleep, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon.

 

[aot]

PS: I like your Avatar. I have a few Humphrey Bogart films and enjoy watching them. The Big Sleep, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon.

Thank you. Give In A Lonely Place a shot sometime if you really want to see his talent. Thank you for the links.

 

[Michael Leigh]

Thank you. Give In A Lonely Place a shot sometime if you really want to see his talent. Thank you for the links.

I have been looking for other good films with Humphrey Bogart, many thanks....

 

[aot]

I had an awful night. Couldn't stop panicking about the tinnitus, barely got any sleep. Fell asleep on the couch and woke up to my nephews playing on their fucking tablets, so that probably screwed me a bit.

 

[aot]

Just woke up to the tinnitus blasting, as loud as it was then this fucking spike started.

Someone please take a gun and shoot me.

 

[aot]

Someone please tell me what to do. It's so loud and won't go down.

I did everything right. I did everything everyone told me to do.

 

[alex1975]

Someone please tell me what to do. It's so loud and won't go down.

I did everything right. I did everything everyone told me to do.

I know this doesn't sound like it will be an immediate cure, but I've found that meditation for me has had a positive effect in the long run. Results don't happen over night and the effects seemed to be cumulative. I used to do 20 to 3o minute sessions of guided meditation called Yoga Nidra I found on YouTube, at least once a day. I chose the Yoga Nidra ones because I would literally feel like I took a muscle relaxer after I finished the session. If you can find time to do it twice a day that would be even better. I'm going to start doing that again as I am having mixed days with my tinnitus and its been stressing me out again lately. I'm actually going to give the meditation another shot. It costs nothing but time is how I see it, the issue is, I'm not the most patient person and prefer to be active.
Hope your spike ends soon, they usually always do.

 

[aot]

Talked to an Audiologist on the phone, whom I got in contact with via the ATA. She couldn't promise that the spike is temporary, but if it isn't, she said that I'll probably habituate to it.

She suggested that I see an ENT Doctor, which I will be doing next friday (will be costing me, at most, $350.) And that I seek help for the anxiety I'm having over my T. Also suggested that I lower my caffine intake

It's high pitched and I can hear it constantly now, even with white nose.

This is the lowest I've ever been in my whole life.

I'm not currently suicidal, but in the event that it does go that way, I've written a note for my friends and family. I'll be hiding it in a DVD case until it's needed.

 

[alex1975]

White noise for me doesn't work. I need to listen to sounds that are high-pitched. I found a couple on YouTube but it took some time. There is one called cricket symphony that works very well for me. Maybe just try searching for high-pitched tones on YT for masking. When I'm feeling very stressed out and my tinnitus is annoying, I put one on and really helps.
Good luck, sorry you're in this tough spot.

 

[aot]

Just read a chapter from my library book. The most I've ever been able to read since this spike began.

 

[Cape crusader]

Cut out the caffeine, alcohol, refined sugar and junk food.

Keep busy and try not to dwell on the tinnitus even though it seems to supersede everything. Have you asked your GP or ENT for medication. I take Kolonopin when things really flare up, it does not quiet the tinnitus but it helps me cope with it better.

Don't fall for all the scams on YouTube. It's all snake oil. Save your money. Try CBT treatments if you can find a good therapist. There's no cure, don't keep trying to find one, it only brings on more anxiety and louder tinnitus.

Good luck, I wish you some peace soon.

 

[Don Tinny]

Someone please tell me what to do. It's so loud and won't go down.

I did everything right. I did everything everyone told me to do.

Severe tinnitus usually fluctuates. Maybe you will have good (moderate) and bad (severe) days.
I learned to find some peace thinking "two severe days have passed, tomorrow the volume will go down". My pattern is like bad-bad-good-bad-bad-good. Sometimes I can reach 2 or even 3 moderate days in a raw, but it´s not easy.

 

[Digital Doc]

Sorry to hear of this "Random spike." They are very frustrating when the T increases out of nowhere.

Realize that these spikes are delayed, typically by a few days from the exposure. Think back to noise exposure you had, as there is often a trigger if you think back, and try to protect from it. In my case, it was the paper shredder was an important one that I did not realize for a while. Riding in cars, walking in a busy city, and other random noise exposures all can spike the T so think back to any of those events.

Also, I find my ears particularly vulnerable in my sleep. After waking up more than once with ear fullness and higher T, I went ear ear plugs at night. It has eliminated the T increasing when I wake up, so consider that.

When the T is noise induced, ENT adds little to the picture other than a referral to an audiologist.

 

[aot]

Sorry to hear of this "Random spike." They are very frustrating when the T increases out of nowhere.

Realize that these spikes are delayed, typically by a few days from the exposure. Think back to noise exposure you had, as there is often a trigger if you think back, and try to protect from it. In my case, it was the paper shredder was an important one that I did not realize for a while. Riding in cars, walking in a busy city, and other random noise exposures all can spike the T so think back to any of those events.

Also, I find my ears particularly vulnerable in my sleep. After waking up more than once with ear fullness and higher T, I went ear ear plugs at night. It has eliminated the T increasing when I wake up, so consider that.

When the T is noise induced, ENT adds little to the picture other than a referral to an audiologist.

Unforseen circumstances have dictated that I cancel my ENT appoinment, unfortunately. I still have audiologist appoitment on the 25th, however.

Thank you for the advice. Since this spike began I have stopped all use of ear buds (not counting the ear piece that I use for my job, but I'm sure that hardly makes a differene as it's mostly silent.) And I've quit caffene entirely. Trying to go low on the sodium, but that's been difficult. Looking for a new job that has less noise exposure.

I'm supposed to see friends tomorrow to continue our DnD Campaign. We play at a comic book store where other people also play and it can be loud, but thankfully we'll be using a back room, and I'll take my ear plugs with me just in case.

That may sound like an unnessascary risk, and perhaps it is, but I've been depressed for days now, wallowing in self pity, and I'm despreate for any kind of plesant human interaction.

The fact that these spikes are delayed make me paranoid. Just hit me and get it over with!