Hi,
I have contemplated posting on this forum for a while and finally decided to do it. I will try to describe my situation as briefly as possible; any advice is appreciated
At the end of January this year (2021) I went to bed and noticed I had high pitched ringing/hissing in my head. I was a bit confused as to why this was, as I am only 22 and hadn't been exposed to loud noise or had any sort of illness/injury. As it persisted for a couple of days, I booked a hearing test to check if it was caused by earwax or an infection. I was told my ears and hearing were fine and was referred to ENT, who performed a more thorough hearing test (and pressure test for the ear drum), again with no obvious hearing loss or visual damage internally. I mentioned to the audiologist that I hadn't been exposed to loud noise but had been under a lot of stress from November to January with university exams. He suggested stress may have triggered tinnitus due to changes in the nervous system rather than physical damage to the ear, and that as stress diminished it would settle down and eventually not bother me.
It has been a couple of months since my appointment (4 months since onset) and I still have tinnitus at the same volume and pitch but mentally I am at the worst stage so far. I am sure many people with tinnitus feel the same, but I just cannot imagine living the rest of my life like this. I have not had a truly peaceful day since tinnitus started. Even when I am out enjoying myself tinnitus is constantly in the back of my mind (trying to think if I can hear it or not), which I know is the worst thing you can do but I simply cannot control it. I have tried using noise from TV or music throughout the day to distract me from the tinnitus, which can sometimes help but I don't feel I can live my life constantly avoiding silence (something I used to love). I understand that in order to habituate you have to train your brain to ignore the noise but I just don't know how to do this. As my mental health has suffered a lot in the past couple of months, I had another ENT appointment (to get a 2nd opinion). Once again there was no sign of hearing loss and was told it is likely stress induced. I am still sceptical of this though, as although stress can exacerbate tinnitus, there does not seem to be a consensus as to if tinnitus can be "caused" by stress.
Has anyone had a similar experience of sudden tinnitus onset with no possible cause other than stress? If so, did tinnitus go away completely after a reduction in stress (and how on earth did you manage to not be stressed with tinnitus) or did you become fully habituated to a point it is not noticeable? I suppose it is less likely to find people on forums that are 'cured', as they will probably just get on with their life, but the information online is so mixed, with some saying after 3 months tinnitus is chronic and will not go away, and other saying their tinnitus went away after 9/12/18 months.
I know that there can be hearing damage without detectable hearing loss, but as I developed tinnitus during a period of very little noise exposure (due to COVID-19, bars, concerts, cinemas etc. were all closed) so I don't understand how it can be caused by damage. For those of you who managed to 'get rid' of tinnitus or achieve full habituation, how did you do this? I have seen so many different opinions on drowning out tinnitus with other noise, focusing on it and accepting it (train the brain to relax to the noise), using ear devices to retrain the brain and others who simply ignore it and get on with life. I think the biggest barrier for me is not knowing if it will ever go away or if I will habituate. I never know if I am doing the right thing by trying to mask the tinnitus or actually just listen to it and accept it. Sometimes I feel that I am on a good streak and not noticing tinnitus but then I will fall back into a bad cycle of thinking about it all day. I have also been very sceptical of using headphones, but I find my tinnitus is less noticeable when gaming, so I don't know if this will help me habituate or just cause damage? In truth I just don't know what to do with myself. Being 22 I don't know anyone who has tinnitus and don't think most people around me understand my situation as I don't have a visible/physical ailment (surprisingly even the ENT professionals don't seem very compassionate).
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this and I would greatly appreciate any help, advice or personal experiences
I have contemplated posting on this forum for a while and finally decided to do it. I will try to describe my situation as briefly as possible; any advice is appreciated
At the end of January this year (2021) I went to bed and noticed I had high pitched ringing/hissing in my head. I was a bit confused as to why this was, as I am only 22 and hadn't been exposed to loud noise or had any sort of illness/injury. As it persisted for a couple of days, I booked a hearing test to check if it was caused by earwax or an infection. I was told my ears and hearing were fine and was referred to ENT, who performed a more thorough hearing test (and pressure test for the ear drum), again with no obvious hearing loss or visual damage internally. I mentioned to the audiologist that I hadn't been exposed to loud noise but had been under a lot of stress from November to January with university exams. He suggested stress may have triggered tinnitus due to changes in the nervous system rather than physical damage to the ear, and that as stress diminished it would settle down and eventually not bother me.
It has been a couple of months since my appointment (4 months since onset) and I still have tinnitus at the same volume and pitch but mentally I am at the worst stage so far. I am sure many people with tinnitus feel the same, but I just cannot imagine living the rest of my life like this. I have not had a truly peaceful day since tinnitus started. Even when I am out enjoying myself tinnitus is constantly in the back of my mind (trying to think if I can hear it or not), which I know is the worst thing you can do but I simply cannot control it. I have tried using noise from TV or music throughout the day to distract me from the tinnitus, which can sometimes help but I don't feel I can live my life constantly avoiding silence (something I used to love). I understand that in order to habituate you have to train your brain to ignore the noise but I just don't know how to do this. As my mental health has suffered a lot in the past couple of months, I had another ENT appointment (to get a 2nd opinion). Once again there was no sign of hearing loss and was told it is likely stress induced. I am still sceptical of this though, as although stress can exacerbate tinnitus, there does not seem to be a consensus as to if tinnitus can be "caused" by stress.
Has anyone had a similar experience of sudden tinnitus onset with no possible cause other than stress? If so, did tinnitus go away completely after a reduction in stress (and how on earth did you manage to not be stressed with tinnitus) or did you become fully habituated to a point it is not noticeable? I suppose it is less likely to find people on forums that are 'cured', as they will probably just get on with their life, but the information online is so mixed, with some saying after 3 months tinnitus is chronic and will not go away, and other saying their tinnitus went away after 9/12/18 months.
I know that there can be hearing damage without detectable hearing loss, but as I developed tinnitus during a period of very little noise exposure (due to COVID-19, bars, concerts, cinemas etc. were all closed) so I don't understand how it can be caused by damage. For those of you who managed to 'get rid' of tinnitus or achieve full habituation, how did you do this? I have seen so many different opinions on drowning out tinnitus with other noise, focusing on it and accepting it (train the brain to relax to the noise), using ear devices to retrain the brain and others who simply ignore it and get on with life. I think the biggest barrier for me is not knowing if it will ever go away or if I will habituate. I never know if I am doing the right thing by trying to mask the tinnitus or actually just listen to it and accept it. Sometimes I feel that I am on a good streak and not noticing tinnitus but then I will fall back into a bad cycle of thinking about it all day. I have also been very sceptical of using headphones, but I find my tinnitus is less noticeable when gaming, so I don't know if this will help me habituate or just cause damage? In truth I just don't know what to do with myself. Being 22 I don't know anyone who has tinnitus and don't think most people around me understand my situation as I don't have a visible/physical ailment (surprisingly even the ENT professionals don't seem very compassionate).
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this and I would greatly appreciate any help, advice or personal experiences