Temporary / Stress-Induced Tinnitus?

[concerned24]

Hi,

At Christmas I heard two dogs barking loudly and for about a week and a half had pretty bad hyperacusis. That basically cleared up, but as soon as it did I started hearing ringing in my ears (I'm on day five now). It's keeping me up at night and gets very loud when I think about it, but during the day is masked pretty easily otherwise.

While I had hyperacusis I was very nervous I would get tinnitus, so I guess my question is... Could my stress about the tinnitus have caused it to manifest itself? Since if I saw such rapid improvement from the hyperacusis, is it likely that the tinnitus itself is temporary as well? I'm in my late 20s and don't have a history of exposing myself to loud noises. About three days before I started hearing the ringing I started taking Cyclobenzaprine for tension headaches — this doesn't seem to have ear ringing as a side effect but I'm trying to stop taking it just in case.

Also if anyone has any tips on sleeping, let me know!

 

[Plat87]

This helped me a lot for sleep in the beginning, and yes stress/anxiety will definitely make your tinnitus worse.

 

[billie48]

Also if anyone has any tips on sleeping, let me know!

Welcome to the forum. You can try using Melatonin and/or have some soothing masking sounds during sleep time. Also consider using some calming natural supplements to calm the nerves, such as chamomile tea, lemon balm, kava roots, etc. You can google natural supplements for insomnia and you should find many alternatives. Worst come to worst, you can get the doctor to prescribe sleeping pills for use when needed and for short duration.

Take care. God bless.