What Makes Your Tinnitus Increase/Decrease (Temporarily?)

[Jodi]

For me T seems to increase by:

- To little sleep
- Prolonged stress
- Caffeine
- Alkohol (mostly the day after I think)
- Sleeping pill(s) (don´t remember wich)

For me T seems decrease by:

- Avoiding above
- A hot shower

I can´t sense any difference after a club/concert (wearing 30+ NRR custom plugs).

 

[Stina]

Increase: tiredness, exhaustion, probably loud noise without plugs
Decrease: sleeping, concentrating on smth else
@Jodi : which plugs do you use?

 

[Dr. Nagler]

For so0me reason the spices in Thai food will predictably make my tinnitus scream for ten hours or so. Problem is ... I absolutely love Thai food! So a couple of times a month my wife and I go out to our favorite Thai restaurant. And a couple of times a month my tinnitus goes through the roof for ten hours or so.

I may have tinnitus, but my tinnitus does not have me!

Best to all.

sp

 

[Valentin]

That's because Thais know nothing about proportions, they put a table spoon of msg in anything.

Try asking without MSG next time, that sould solve your tinnitus spike =)

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Thank you for your suggestion, but my tinnitus spike needs no solving. It is what it is. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let my tinnitus drive my bus.

I absolutely refuse to make any compromises in my life or my lifestyle because of the ringing in my ears.

The exception is that I try to avoid doing things that cause actual auditory damage (e.g., I wear earplugs to football games in stadiums with loud crowds), but there is no way that Thai food causes auditory damage. So I eat it and expect my tinnitus to get louder as a result.

sp

 

[LadyDi]

Weather changes (and in barometric pressure) makes my Tinnitus go crazy.

And respectfully, I don't think you are making compromises in your life to politely ask at a restaurant if they put MSG in their food. I do...more because it greatly accelerates my heart rate than for the tinnitus. It may be a simple matter to leave it out. If not, then you can make your choice.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

And respectfully, I don't think you are making compromises in your life to politely ask at a restaurant if they put MSG in their food. I do...more because it greatly accelerates my heart rate than for the tinnitus. It may be a simple matter to leave it out. If not, then you can make your choice.

Thunderous, high-pitched, screaming tinnitus has been my constant companion for some twenty years now. I am sure that towards the beginning I looked at all the possibilities, including MSG. But at some point I came to the conclusion that pretty-much the only predictable thing about tinnitus is its unpredictability. Just when you think you've got an answer, tinnitus will change the question. So for me, the solution was not to care. I just do not care. And I absolutely refuse to give my tinnitus the satisfaction of dictating anything in my life - including what I eat and where.

sp

 

[Hattukoira]

increased temporary by:
stress
lack of sleep
flu/cold
certain sounds [white noise and high frequency sounds mostly]
coffee[but not all caffeinated drinks]
using headphones too long
exercise

decreased temporary by:
a good night's sleep
listening good music[not too loud, of course]
magnesium[I haven't tested other supplements yet]
alcohol in moderation
nasal irrigation with neti pot[helps sometimes]
valsalva maneuver[helps sometimes] [please be careful when doing this.]

last but not least, when doing something that I like/love to do helps to forget it most of the time.

 

[LadyDi]

@Dr. Nagler: The last sentence of my post was: then you can make a choice. That choice might be to eat the food anyway. Asking the question does not keep you from eating what you want to eat and where.

But if your approach works for you in dealing with your tinnitus, that's what counts. Everyone's T is different.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

@Dr. Nagler: The last sentence of my post was: then you can make a choice. That choice might be to eat the food anyway. Asking the question does not keep you from eating what you want to eat and where.

You are, of course, right.

I was merely trying to make a point. Just because you have tinnitus, it doesn't mean your tinnitus has to have you!

Stephen Nagler

 

[billie48]

I am with Dr. Nagler. Don't give a dime what T will do and just go out and enjoy my life. If it spikes so be it. I am going out with my sweetie to Valentine dance where there is live band. I don't think I will wear ear plugs but will stay away from the speakers. The heck with T. I will enjoy the night and face its spikes if any.

Increase : not enough sleep, tired, stressed, jet-lag, not wearing CPAP
Decrease: relax, worry-free, good sleep, and how about going on a vacation, HURRAY

 

[Lynnette]

Increase: Advil or Motrin, not enough sleep, high sodium foods, stress/anxiety, headaches (which increases t and h), too much sugar
Decrease: sleep, walking outside, hot shower, eating 1c of blueberries/day for thumping noises in my ears (i know this sounds crazy but I swear it works!)

 

[Grace]

No increases yet

 

[Jodi]

@Jodi : which plugs do you use?

Similar, custom made, all filled with silicone, i.e. not hollow.

 

[erik]

I am also in the camp where I gave up trying to figure out my T. If I want coffee I drink it. Does it increase my T? Maybe but I don't really think about it. I gave up sports for a while because I was afraid of spikes. Now I play 5x a week and it does spike my T. But I am competitive, I love playing sports, it is of my only outlets, helps me with stress and far worth the spike. On the flip side, if I have a really good deep sleep night, my T is usually very low, almost non existent the next day. My T can range from very low, not noticeable, to the loudest thing I hear in a moderate noisy room. Either way, I go about my day the same. Mind you, it took me over a year to get this point, so if you are not there yet, don't distress, your day will come.

 

[Jodi]

What do you guys do on a day when your T is really loud? To manage...

 

[Dr. Nagler]

What do you guys do on a day when your T is really loud? To manage...

Might sound like a dumb question, @Jodi, but when your tinnitus is really loud, how does that make you feel? I ask because my response to the question you posed about what to do on those days is very much dependent on how you feel on those days.

Stephen Nagler

 

[here2help]

Trying to draw conclusions about the behavior of tinnitus is like asking the sun a question and expecting an answer in Pig Latin or like throwing a stopwatch in a bubble bath and expecting it to snow in your kitchen. For as long as people have heard ringing in their ears, we have tried to find a connection between something we did or didn't do and the resultant tinnitus behavior. Sometimes, the conclusions we draw are real and sometimes not. In the end, playing Tinnitus-Whack-A-Mole is a lot less interesting than regarding it with indifference.

here2help

 

[Isabella 123]

In case jodi is looking for an immediate bit of relief heres what i do... i I mask with pink noise in my earbuds and keep going.

 

[Jodi]

Might sound like a dumb question, @Jodi, but when your tinnitus is really loud, how does that make you feel? I ask because my response to the question you posed about what to do on those days is very much dependent on how you feel on those days.

Stephen Nagler

Well, suicidal. Cannot focus on anything, mostly.

 

[Isabella 123]

Seriously if I didn't have my iphone with tmsoft app and earbuds, I would be suicidal too. I find that when I'm not alone at home I do okay, but it's the alone time and especially late nights that I can't handle sometimes. That's when I just have to crank the masking. I've only been on this journey for 3 months, so I'm nowhere near habituation yet. I know there are old timers who can ignore their T and that is certainly a goal, but for now I just have to struggle every day and every might to keep my sanity. I admire those who can ignore their T and live normally but it takes a while to reach that point. And I'm not apologizing for not being able yet to do that.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Well, suicidal. Cannot focus on anything, mostly.

So here's how I see it, @Jodi. When your tinnitus is really loud, it makes you feel "suicidal." I put that in quotes, because I assume you meant that it makes you feel really really bad. (If you are truly suicidal, you need to seek professional assistance immediately.) Well, feeling really bad is a reaction to your tinnitus. I mean, if you didn't feel bad, you really wouldn't have a problem. You'd have loud tinnitus, but you wouldn't have a problem. Unfortunately in 2014 there is nothing that anybody has yet come up with that will predictably and lastingly make your tinnitus less loud; your tinnitus is going to do what it is going to do. But fortunately in 2014 there is a whole lot that can be done about how you react to your tinnitus - and if your tinnitus does not make you feel bad, then it really does not matter how loud it is.

My suggestion, therefore, would be for you to seriously consider some of the habituation-based approaches (CBT, TRT, MBCT, TAT, PTM, Neuromonics, etc.) that address reaction.


All the best to you -

Stephen Nagler
(was sp)

 

[Mpt]

Stephen,

Doesn't spending time on a tinnitus board remind you of your ringing and thus increase the times that you hear it?

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Stephen,

Doesn't spending time on a tinnitus board remind you of your ringing and thus increase the times that you hear it?

Not really. I suspect that's because when I am here, I am focused on others and not on myself.

Stephen

 

[Djurov]

Hello there
I have had my tinnitus for 2month now, its a high pitch noise and its kinda disturbing! I think i cought it after a cold, followed by another cold and then a watery sound in one of my ears! Shortly after when the bubbly sound was gone, i had a high pitch tinnitus.

funny enough, my mother told me that some of her working friends also had a cold, followed by a tinnitus! This gives me some hope that it could be an virus that some of us has cought?

1. Opening my mouth wide open "REALLY"
2. Pressing on the sides of my temples
3. shruging my shoulders up really high, and pushing my face foward "work really great?"
4. turning my head to the right side, extreme stretch

So when is it better on its on: In the morning and in the shower

 

[Mark McDill]

Trying to draw conclusions about the behavior of tinnitus is like asking the sun a question and expecting an answer in Pig Latin or like throwing a stopwatch in a bubble bath and expecting it to snow in your kitchen. For as long as people have heard ringing in their ears, we have tried to find a connection between something we did or didn't do and the resultant tinnitus behavior. Sometimes, the conclusions we draw are real and sometimes not. In the end, playing Tinnitus-Whack-A-Mole is a lot less interesting than regarding it with indifference.

here2help

I agree; it's the quintessential 'the rooster crows and the sun came up, so the rooster made the sun come up' argument indeed. It wasn't until I really started habituating (truly not reacting to it or even registering it) that I've been able to nail down some consistencies; even then, I notice a large margin of error.

For what it's worth here's what I've observed:

Diet
Just eat healthy (fresh fruits, veges, meats prepared well, hydration), it's good for you, but it doesn't make that much difference in my T other than I have more energy and less toxic. Coffee, tea, glass of wine at night made no difference whatsoever. However, I bet if I ate Big Macs and donuts for a month I would reap the negative affects; but it would be correlative, not causative. Vitamins, minerals (et al) -- get them from your food; your body knows what to do with fresh food.

Exercise
Aerobic -- T goes down
Weightlifting -- T goes up
Massage -- T goes down
Steam room -- T goes down

Activity
Riding a long time in the car (hours) -- T goes up
Mowing lawn/yard work -- T goes down
Working on house -- T goes down
Building something -- T goes down

Work
Software Developer ('duh'veloper); trying to solve a difficult problem (exhausted brain) -- T goes up
Working for the government (nuff said)

Emotional State (very linear)
Stress/Depression/Anxiety -- T goes up (further effecting my emotional state, but not nearly as much as it used to)
Frustrated with an issue (like taxes) -- T goes up
Time spent in prayer/meditation/reading -- T goes down
Accurate/Positive outlook -- T goes down
Negativity on the horizon -- T goes up
Taking care of family -- T goes down

In the morning when my T is at its 'best??'; I just have a conversation with it and say 'wow, you sure are ugly today, have you put on weight?, hate you ' -- then get on with my day (and, no, I don't really talk to my T).

But it took a while to get here; to all the folks that are new and/or struggling with T, you will get there too Really!

Thanx for indulging

Mark

 

[Mark McDill]

What do you guys do on a day when your T is really loud? To manage...

Jodi
Crank up the white noise generators in my hearing aids; do some aerobic exercise (just shy of exhaustion), look forward to sleeeep!

Mark

 

[nills]

frog jumps make it increase... so you bend the knees touch the ground with your hand jump up in the air and do it again. my T go`s Ziiiing .... Ziiiing..... Ziiiing, very loudly everytime i touch the ground. so bloodpressure influences it. wicked T, why can`t I understand you!!?

 

[Sean]

Thunderous, high-pitched, screaming tinnitus has been my constant companion for some twenty years now. I am sure that towards the beginning I looked at all the possibilities, including MSG. But at some point I came to the conclusion that pretty-much the only predictable thing about tinnitus is its unpredictability. Just when you think you've got an answer, tinnitus will change the question. So for me, the solution was not to care. I just do not care. And I absolutely refuse to give my tinnitus the satisfaction of dictating anything in my life - including what I eat and where.

Dr. Nagler: what a great attitude!
For most part I am ok with T , but is still nuisance for me .Today I hear whistle over light music playing in my room .only way to mask T is to start white noise .I wish I can come to a point where T is bit loud and I don't et bothered at all.i am not going nuts now but still bit annoyed at the moment.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Dr. Nagler: what a great attitude!

@Sean, thank you for the kind words, but for me it's not an attitude. For me it is the reality.

Stephen