Tinnitus Started Completely Out of the Blue — Nights Are the Hardest for Me

[ScottyB01]

Hi all.

Just a quick note to say hello. In all honestly, I'd be happier if I wasn't a part of this group and posting here because I didn't have tinnitus, but that's just not the case. I appreciate the opportunity to connect and provide support to others that are dealing with this.

Mine started in January. Completely out of the blue. Since then it's been fairly constant and at the same level. My only treatment so far has been an audiologist who looked in my ears said everything looks ok and then put me in the sound booth to understand the pitch and the volume. She also gave me a pamphlet on how to deal with tinnitus. I have a physical coming up soon and will bring it up but I'm sure he'll say there's little that can be done.

It does bother me some during the day, but the hardest time of the day is at night - either trying to go to bed or if I wake up in the middle of the night it gets pretty loud. I'm trying to take the path of doing everything I can to just ignore it. Sometimes that helps, sometimes not.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. You may want to have some soothing masking sounds while you are going to bed. You can install many free apps and most allow you to adjust the volume and mix different sounds. Then play it on Bluetooth speaker with reasonable volume. Don't try to overpower the tinnitus as your brain needs to hear the sound and get used to it over time. Good luck and take care. God bless.

 

[anonymoose]

I recommend running a fan close to you to provide background noise that you can focus on. I've found great success with this when mine has flared up in the past and made it difficult to sleep.

Sometimes I've found success in focusing super hard on the tinnitus itself, but I don't know that I'd recommend that to everyone.

Are you saying your tinnitus gets louder at night when you sleep? Or does it just seem louder because everything else is quieter? I ask because this might be a clue as to what's causing your tinnitus.