Tinnitus Started Suddenly from COVID-19 Infection and Is Now My Main Long Covid Symptom

[Hamspanner]

Hello,

I thought I would introduce myself and share my story.

Tinnitus was one of the first symptoms of my COVID-19 infection in March 2020. Tinnitus came on suddenly along with dizziness and a racing heart. I remember lying in bed watching my heart rate on my watch inexplicably jump whilst accompanied by a hissing in my head that got louder at the same time. My acute infection was relatively mild, but I never made a full recovery, and the tinnitus has been with me ever since and is now the main Long Covid symptom that I am wrestling with.

During the first 12-18 months of Long Covid, it was commonplace to wake from incredibly vivid nightmares with the tinnitus raging. Fortunately, now it has somewhat calmed an is intermittent. Whilst it's always present and at its worst on waking, it sometimes fades away completely through the day. I can usually tell by its intensity on waking whether that is going to happen. I am grateful for those days.

I have learnt that I have little control over the tinnitus. The only things that seem to make any difference are good quality sleep, not overdoing it physically or mentally and somewhat bizarrely, drinking a generous amount of alcohol with absolutely certainty completely eliminate it at the time of consumption and about 80% of the time for the whole of the next day. Annoyingly, there is a sting in the tail however with it coming back worse the day after that. When I've been on holiday, I can pretty much eliminate the tinnitus for the whole break by drinking every night. Whilst I will pay heavily for a few days when I stop, being able to have a week without it from time to time is wonderful and the backlash is a price worth paying.

From what I've read, the relationship with alcohol is probably due to alcohol increasing GABA levels in my brain and calming the CNS. My tinnitus being intermittent obviously leads me to constantly trying to work out whether there is some way of controlling it. Am I eating something to trigger it on the bad days? Is an early night the key to managing it (incidentally overall it helps, but sometimes, it's gone the next day if I have little sleep)? I am now wondering if Ginkgo biloba extract which naturally increases GABA will help in the same way as alcohol!

So for me, overall, looking after myself, good sleep, not overdoing it, eating well etc probably leads to more good days. But the temptation of sinking a nice bottle of wine and getting full relief for a good 24 hours is ever present and on really bad days too much to resist!

I would love to hear from anyone with similar experience or any tips!

Happy Christmas people,
James

 

[AndrewLee]

A story very similar to my own. Tinnitus is my main Long Covid symptom too and while alcohol does silence it when I drink, I pay heavily in hangovers, so I have stopped drinking.

I have tried every supplement including Ginkgo which didn't help.

Avoiding sugar completely seems to help and sleeping using Melatonin seems to help.

The main relief that I get is using bone conduction headphones and listening to either my Whist app or some Dalesnale videos on YouTube.

I don't think my Long Covid tinnitus is going away any time soon, but I'm thankful for the days that I just don't care as much about it.

 

[Hamspanner]

A story very similar to my own. Tinnitus is my main Long Covid symptom too and while alcohol does silence it when I drink, I pay heavily in hangovers, so I have stopped drinking.

I have tried every supplement including Ginkgo which didn't help.

Avoiding sugar completely seems to help and sleeping using Melatonin seems to help.

The main relief that I get is using bone conduction headphones and listening to either my Whist app or some Dalesnale videos on YouTube.

I don't think my Long Covid tinnitus is going away any time soon, but I'm thankful for the days that I just don't care as much about it.

Thanks for your message. It's good to hear from someone in the same boat, although I am sorry to hear you're going through it too.

I've wondered whether sugar spikes it, because I've noticed it notch up after eating chocolate, so that's very interesting.

At the start I tried a lot of supplements to no avail so gave up, but recently I went on Nattokinase and Quercetin and I feel it's helped a little, I suspect it's the Quercetin that's helped, I remember when tried it in the early days I had a couple of good nights, but I thought it was a coincidence.

I've reduced my alcohol intake too because of the hangovers. I should give it up.

I hadn't heard of bone conduction headphones, I use AirPods, but I will look into that (Y)

 

[CRGC]

@Hamspanner, @AndrewLee, sorry to hear about your COVID-19 induced tinnitus. Have you two gotten your hearing tested since? Could it be that the virus led to hearing loss?

 

[Hamspanner]

@Hamspanner, @AndrewLee, sorry to hear about your COVID-19 induced tinnitus. Have you two gotten your hearing tested since? Could it be that the virus led to hearing loss?

I did a hearing test with an app and spoke to a tinnitus consultant. They said I had mild hearing loss but didn't think it was significant enough to cause the tinnitus. I've always figured that the intermittent nature of it meant that it wasn't hearing loss either. I can have days of complete silence after about 10 am. I don't know if there any many other sufferers that experience that, but it seems to me that the underlying cause stems from the Long Covid condition rather than a problem with my hearing. But perhaps it would be worth getting my hearing properly checked out! Thank you.

 

[Stayinghopeful]

I have worsening tinnitus from COVID-19.

It sounds like an electrical buzzing hiss mainly in my left ear/left side of my head and reacts to noise.

I don't know if yours spikes to noise/exercise or food. Mine does and it's really hard to try figure out why?

 

[Hamspanner]

I have worsening tinnitus from COVID-19.

It sounds like an electrical buzzing hiss mainly in my left ear/left side of my head and reacts to noise.

I don't know if yours spikes to noise/exercise or food. Mine does and it's really hard to try figure out why?

Sounds quite similar. Mine is left side and a hiss. Exercise, poor sleep, I think perhaps certain foods spike mine, but I haven't figured them out. Tbh, I think just eating can spike it. It's so frustrating when you can't get any control because you don't understand what is triggering it or if indeed anything is.

How long have you had yours?

 

[Stayinghopeful]

Sounds quite similar. Mine is left side and a hiss. Exercise, poor sleep, I think perhaps certain foods spike mine, but I haven't figured them out. Tbh, I think just eating can spike it. It's so frustrating when you can't get any control because you don't understand what is triggering it or if indeed anything is.

How long have you had yours?

Since June. It's always fluctuating and changing which makes it hard to habituate to. I have good blood pressure but that's the only common thing with exercise and eating i can think of? I don't know why driving in a car spikes it?

 

[Sammy0225]

Since June. It's always fluctuating and changing which makes it hard to habituate to. I have good blood pressure but that's the only common thing with exercise and eating i can think of? I don't know why driving in a car spikes it?

My tinnitus spiked in the car for awhile too. I think it's because of constantly hearing the engine sound, because I noticed it usually does the same thing with fans and anything with humming motors.

 

[Stayinghopeful]

My tinnitus spiked in the car for awhile too. I think it's because of constantly hearing the engine sound, because I noticed it usually does the same thing with fans and anything with humming motors.

Did it eventually calm down and stop spiking from driving?

 

[Sammy0225]

Did it eventually calm down and stop spiking from driving?

It still spiked but I would say the spike felt like a 2 out of 10 instead of what it used to be which was like a 8 out of 10. I had to put on earmuffs to hear the spike, if that makes sense, so I could easily ignore it after driving.

 

[Mister Muso]

Sorry to hear this.

I read a report about incidences of tinnitus following getting the vaccine, compared with incidences from COVID-19 itself. It said 2% of those who reported side effects of the vaccine mentioned tinnitus, but 6% reported tinnitus following infection by the virus. This was from the general population in the UK.

 

[Joe Cuber]

My tinnitus spiked in the car for awhile too. I think it's because of constantly hearing the engine sound, because I noticed it usually does the same thing with fans and anything with humming motors.

@Stayinghopeful, my experience with reacting to car noises, fans and certain other noises is very similar to @Sammy0225's. The reactivity was at its peak around the 2-3 month mark and then began to get better around the 4 month mark. Now, at 8 months, it barely reacts, if at all, to car noises. Fans at a certain frequency might set it off, but it's soft, like a distant, soft whistle that doesn't last too long. Certain other sounds still really cause it to react and spike, like squeaky shopping cart wheels.

 

[sspencermo]

I did a hearing test with an app and spoke to a tinnitus consultant. They said I had mild hearing loss but didn't think it was significant enough to cause the tinnitus. I've always figured that the intermittent nature of it meant that it wasn't hearing loss either. I can have days of complete silence after about 10 am. I don't know if there any many other sufferers that experience that, but it seems to me that the underlying cause stems from the Long Covid condition rather than a problem with my hearing. But perhaps it would be worth getting my hearing properly checked out! Thank you.

You have described my (COVID-19 infection and COVID-19-vaccine-induced) tinnitus exactly.

Mine is there every morning, but two out of three mornings, it disappears after a shower. On the third day, it is loud and unrelenting. I might have some high-frequency hearing loss in my left ear, but it's above 8000 Hz, so my audiologist didn't measure it. My tinnitus doesn't respond to Clonazepam, but given your posts, maybe I'll try alcohol instead. This was an old post of yours -- I hope your tinnitus has improved over the years.

 

[guilhermeangones]

You have described my (COVID-19 infection and COVID-19-vaccine-induced) tinnitus exactly.

Mine is there every morning, but two out of three mornings, it disappears after a shower. On the third day, it is loud and unrelenting. I might have some high-frequency hearing loss in my left ear, but it's above 8000 Hz, so my audiologist didn't measure it. My tinnitus doesn't respond to Clonazepam, but given your posts, maybe I'll try alcohol instead. This was an old post of yours -- I hope your tinnitus has improved over the years.

I have exactly the same experience—great days and a normal life, but at the end of the day, when I lie in bed, the tinnitus becomes so frustratingly annoying. I never got tested for COVID-19 when I had a throat infection, which was followed by an ear infection with a lot of fluid in the inner ear. That's when it all started.

I feel like alcohol helps, but it also causes intense spike moments, which scares me. Other things that seem to help are ibuprofen and prednisone. The doctors just sent me home and told me to wait, saying it would stop eventually. I've been dealing with this since February 2024.

Do you guys also feel like you might have Eustachian Tube Disorder?

 

[Supersix]

My Eustachian Tube Dysfunction causes my tinnitus to spike, especially when I'm sleeping. During the night, my ear produces either earwax or moisture, which seems to trigger these spikes. This happens quite often and has been an issue for years.

This morning, I woke up at 2 a.m. with a wet ear (moisture) and a noticeable spike in my tinnitus. It's such a bizarre experience. I've been trying to figure it out for the past eight years.