Tinnitus Getting Worse and Worse for No Reason (I Protect My Hearing and Don't Use Headphones)

[marko1103]

Hi,

I need some help/advice here

For some reason my tinnitus is getting worse and worse and I don't know why.
I would say every week/few days there is some kind of worsening.
It went from moderately severe to really severe, I would say it's probably intrusive now.
It's 2:30 AM now here while I am typing this. I can't sleep to this sound, it's killing me.
I just can't help myself and not listen to it. I have no idea how one can habituate to this.

Since onset I haven't used headphones, I stopped listening to music, watching TV, I don't go out and I am working from home 90% of the time but when I work from the office it's just 2 of us in the office anyway so there is not noise.
I am also wearing earplugs when in traffic or driving my car.
Only time I don't wear them is when I go for a run but that's maybe twice per week and it's getting less and less.

Since the onset 4 months ago I am only getting worse and I am slowly losing this battle and I don't know why.

 

[mrbrightside614]

Dude I'm right there with you. I've had periods where I've micro-habituated and have been able to sleep with modest sleep aids (Benadryl, small doses of Phenibut, I could dream and get 6 hours of truly restful sleep), but the shit is so intrusive now that i checked myself into the ER because 30mg Temazepam wasn't putting me to sleep. Ambien 12.5mg puts me to sleep for like 1-3 hours then I awaken groggy and distressed. My tinnitus came on 3 months ago too, and no matter how I combat it (avoid noise, be around noise), the shit has been getting worse.

Just thank god you can distract yourself with physical things, if you can. Mine was brought on by a car accident and now my head and neck are all fucked up and all of my medical experts are kind of just throwing up their hands at this point.

 

[GoatSheep]

What meds are you taking? Serotonergic meds sent mine through the roof the first month.

Do either of you have hyperacusis? Many kinds of masking noises ramp mine up do to hyperacusis ear being sensitive to the sounds. I've basically only got one music track I listen to all night on YouTube that I can tolerate and doesn't distract me from sleeping. I also have to take clonazepam to sleep regardless though...

 

[marko1103]

@GoatSheep - no meds here. I was taking valium only during first month but only since I had all kind of side effects from Prednisolone, most notably insomnia. However after that things settled and I was able to sleep, with 2-3 awakening during the night even though it was already moderately severe at that point.

I think I do have mild hyperacusis. Some sounds sometimes cause ear spasms (I hope it's the right term here) and maybe it's to some degree reactive.

 

[GoatSheep]

What are you using for masking or sound enrichment? Like to say white noise, brown noise etc all made mine worse.

Is it somatic? Can you modulate the volume or pitch with jaw clenching or jutting? Head or eye movements. Applying pressure to TMJ related muscles?

 

[marko1103]

What are you using for masking or sound enrichment? Like to say white noise, brown noise etc all made mine worse.

I haven't used anything so far buta few days ago started to think that maybe I should give them a try.

Is it somatic? Can you modulate the volume or pitch with jaw clenching or jutting? Head or eye movements. Applying pressure to TMJ related muscles?

Only opening my jaw changes the pitch to be a bit higher, but then when closing it the tinnitus goes back to baseline. But, I think this opening jaw thing probably everyone experiences or??

Only thing I realized a few weeks ago is that when I am eating the tinnitus gets really quiet. Is this TMJ related or? I thought that everyone experiences this behaviour.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@marko1103 @mrbrightside614

Have you tried magnesium Glycinate 400. This may be one of the better choices and it's a vitamin - not a drug.
Tinnitus depletes magnesium and magnesium is needed for auditory threshold. It can help with a spike or increasing tinnitus. Magnesium will loosen muscles and it helps me with ear spasms. Taken one hour before bed can help to sleep. A tablet of NAC during day taken with food may also help.

Mrbrightside - have you had any testing on your neck. If you are willing, lets talk.

Marko - The reason why your tinnitus gets really low when eating is probably because you are exercising your retrodiskal tissues and lateral pterygoid muscles. Your jaw may be receiving physical stress from stress which is understandable. Even when cause of T is from noise, some start to clench their teeth.

 

[GoatSheep]

No not everyone has somatic tinnitus. @Greg Sacramento could probably recommend some postural exercises or something also that may help.

 

[Digital Doc]

3 mos is a tough time as it is discouraging with the lack of progress. I was in the same boat. It sounds like you are doing the right things, so keep with the program. Sure, give white noise and its variants a try at night to see if it helps you. I did, and ended up with earplugs at night that helped me quite a bit, so keep an open mind to what works.

 

[Michael B]

My tinnitus is at 6kHz. I listen to a particular crickets track that tops out at about 5kHz. Close enough. Always had severe tinnitus but this helps me sleep fairly peacefully.

 

[marko1103]

Woke up today and reaalized I wanted to make an update so that somebody reading this thread doesn't gets scared like I used to when I used to read threads like this.

I was thinking a lot this week, and came to conclusion that I can't change anything at the moment.
I always have this picture in my head when one guy in some youtube tinnitus video just says: "It is what it is"
I don't know why but that picture in my head always calms me down.

Tinnitus is still strong but I am trying to do the best to manage the situation.
It's an invisible disability with which we all have to learn with.
Of course there will be ups and downs, maybe dark days like last Saturday when I broke.
I can't run away from it as much as I would like sometimes.

So trying to remain calm, positive mindset is the best what I can do otherwise can make situation only worse
Started some supplements just to see whether I can at least bring the volume down.

Thanks everyone who responded and gave me hope and support when I wasn't at my best