Tinnitus Seems Worse When Going Outside?

[Tinizzy]

Hi guys,

My tinnitus bothers me most when I'm outside and it interrupts with my life... the noise seems worse when outside. Why is that?

I am so scared right now. I wake up everyday with panic and fear in my body.

Will this nightmare ever end?

 

[sanj100]

Hey.

Does your tinnitus seem quieter when you're inside and in a quiet area and louder when outside? Also, how long have you had it?

 

[Tinizzy]

@sanj100 have had it for 2 months now. It interrupts me more when im outside.

 

[sanj100]

@Tinizzy. Mine is quite similar in that I've had it a short while (only a month) and it's louder in louder situations and quieter in quieter ones? What type of tinnitus is it? Ringing or hissing? And any idea how it came about?

 

[Tinizzy]

@sanj100 hissing. How is yours?

 

[Bill Bauer]

@sanj100 hissing.

You are fortunate. You are half way to being cured. High pitch tinnitus is a lot harder to ignore compared to hissing. When your T begins to naturally fade, it will need to fade a lot less for it to become bearable, compared to how much it has to fade for someone with high pitch T.

 

[Tinizzy]

@Bill Bauer You might be right. But right now: i dont feel like suffering less than someone with high pitch sound. I am so fucking scared and anxious all day everyday. I wonder if Ill ever be able to overcome this.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I am so fucking scared and anxious all day everyday.

I know the feeling. During my second month, I had been weeping uncontrollably multiple times a day, every day. And until I had T, I had never cried as an adult.

 

[Tinizzy]

@Bill Bauer It is really awful. I cant stop obsessing over it and really afraid that i wont be able to ever stop obsessing about it

 

[sanj100]

You are fortunate. You are half way to being cured. High pitch tinnitus is a lot harder to ignore compared to hissing. When your T begins to naturally fade, it will need to fade a lot less for it to become bearable, compared to how much it has to fade for someone with high pitch T.

This makes a lot of sense.

Mine is also a faint hissing, that is barely audible in quiet rooms but gets louder when surrounded by noise.

I have a feeling that the fact that it fluctuates might make habituation slightly harder though.

I'm hopeful there will come a point soon where I tune it out of my consciousness completely, which, as you said, should be easier for me than some other people, as it is already less loud/intrusive to begin with.

 

[sanj100]

@Bill Bauer It is really awful. I cant stop obsessing over it and really afraid that i wont be able to ever stop obsessing about it

This is the viscous cycle. The more you obsess about it, the more importance your brain assigns it and the louder it might seem. It's all about breaking that cycle. Keep yourself distracted and don't think about it, the more you do this, the more it should fade into the background, and the less of a hold it will have on you. This will then become it's own positive feedback loop. I know this is all easier said than done, as I am going through the same thing as you now.

 

[Tinizzy]

@sanj100 Yes, rationally I know exactly what to do. But how to forget? It is so freaking hard

 

[Bill Bauer]

I'm hopeful there will come a point soon where I tune it out of my consciousness completely

If you protect your ears from noises and don't get a new acoustic trauma, over the coming months it ought to fade.

But how to forget?

You can't forget, at least not until you've had T for a long time. What you can do now is remind yourself that chances are you will get better as time goes on. Use sound enrichment to give you something else besides T to listen to.

For people who have high pitch T, after several months it often turns into hissing, then it begins to fade. This means that you haven't hurt your ears as much as those people. Your chance to be one of the lucky people for whom T goes away, is higher than for many others.

 

[sanj100]

If you protect your ears from noises and don't get a new acoustic trauma, over the coming months it ought to fade.

You can't forget, at least not until you've had T for a long time. What you can do now is remind yourself that chances are you will get better as time goes on. Use sound enrichment to give you something else besides T to listen to.

For people who have high pitch T, after several months it often turns into hissing, then it begins to fade. This means that you haven't hurt your ears as much as those people. Your chance to be one of the lucky people for whom T goes away, is higher than for many others.

This is really interesting and makes a lot of sense. From what I've read the reason why I'm getting a hissing is because my T is due to "conductive hearing loss" as I have had two middle ear bones removed due to surgery so there isn't one frequency which has been lost or damaged which is the case with most T sufferers and is why they get a ringing sound. With me there is an amplification issue (as the middle ear bones amplify sound into the inner ear) which means it's across all frequencies. I could be wrong about this though.

I have also read that conductive hearing loss tinnitus (which results in hissing) is much rarer than sensorial hearing loss tinnitus (which results in ringing of the lost frequency).

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy thats why you can't get over it, once you get your anxiety down (being anxious) the T will go down, how loud is your hissing? Both ears or just the one?

 

[Tinizzy]

@josho771 One ear. In silence it seems way quieter than outside..

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy so like how loud would you say it is? Can you hear it over a tv?

 

[Tinizzy]

@josho771 Yes can hear it over almost everything. Only not in shower and electronic toothbrush

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy what caused your tinnitus?

 

[Tinizzy]

@josho771 I noticed it after watching a movie bout someone with T. Think might be acoustic trauma (2 weeks before the movie)

 

[Raphael7713]

Mine is similar, and I call it "reactive tinnitus" since i noticed it got louder when external noises made contact to my ear. Some say it's a form of hyperacusis some say it isnt..dont know what to believe.

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy yeah maybe, you just need to stop getting so anxious about it, I have anxiety and ocd and a mild T and on about 4 different medications, but I still do my daily stuff

 

[Sean]

@josho771 One ear. In silence it seems way quieter than outside..

@Tinizzy , protect your ears and I am pretty sure t will subside ..first 3-4 months are super tough but I am sure it will subside .

 

[fishbone]

Hi guys,

My tinnitus bothers me most when I'm outside and it interrupts with my life... the noise seems worse when outside. Why is that?

I am so scared right now. I wake up everyday with panic and fear in my body.

Will this nightmare ever end?

I don't know if you have hyperacusis or not. If you do, then your ears might be super sensitive to any noise. Since the tinnitus is a new thing for you, all noises can bring on some fear for you. I was there too and many others as well. You are concerned about your ears and want to not make your tinnitus worst.

This is understandable, all of us..including myself was there at one point too. That anxiety of noise/sound is difficult to deal with, eventually after some time....You can get a grip on this matter. It just takes time, you are doing a great job.

It took me 6 months to 1 year to get a grip on my tinnitus, you can do it too...

 

[Tinizzy]

@fishbone I really like you having the confidence in me beating this too. And yes, I am afraid of noises outside.

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy you ever tried anti anxiety meds? I'm not trying to force you to take them because they are addictive unfortunately, but I do take them and they help a lot

 

[Tinizzy]

@josho771 I took a few. Tomorrow Im gonna start with therapy so I will wait and see what she suggests.

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy i take lorazepam for when needed and I will only take 2 a week max, but yeah therapy should be good, I'm still waiting for them to contact me back for my appointment

 

[Tinizzy]

@josho771 Yeah, waiting does take a long time huh. Especially because of summer holidays. Now its ending huray

 

[josho771]

@Tinizzy if you don't mind me asking how old are you?