What Actually Causes Tinnitus Distress?

[Notreve7766]

Hello,

I have tinnitus and live very well with it.

I joined this forum to help others, just as people helped me on my journey to wellness. I spent a lot of time "suffering" from tinnitus, and I hope that sharing my journey and the actions I took to achieve wellness can help others.

I believe that tinnitus is a naturally occurring part of our bodies and that tinnitus distress (when tinnitus bothers people) is caused by anxiety. In my view, anxiety is the root cause of tinnitus distress, not anything else.

This belief sometimes makes it challenging to help others here, as many posts focus on tinnitus distress as a symptom of other causes rather than anxiety.

So I ask this important question: what actually causes tinnitus distress?

 

[Jupiterman]

So I ask this important question: what actually causes tinnitus distress?

Answer: the tinnitus.

 

[GregCA]

I believe that tinnitus is a naturally occurring part of our bodies

I'm not sure why you'd think that, given that most (though not all) of us are born without tinnitus. Then, at some point, something happens—acoustic trauma, illness, toxicity, etc.—that damages our hearing system, and tinnitus appears.

We are not naturally meant to live with a constant screeching noise in our heads. Most people are bothered by loud, intrusive sounds, like the screech of a saw cutting tiles or the blare of a fire alarm. I know I was, but I could manage it by closing the window, leaving the area, or using earplugs, so it remained an annoyance rather than a source of distress. When tinnitus takes away that ability to control the noise, annoyance can turn to distress because there is no way to escape the irritating sound.