Why Is Tinnitus Better After a Night Out Drinking

[Lauken83]

Hi!
Can anyone explain to me, why my tinnitus 9\10 times gets very much better, almost gone, the day after drinking much and staying on a pub with loud music. When waking up the next day after sleeping good, the tinnitus is not annyoing and almost gone. But its only the day after. Later it turns up to same level, after the 2nd day. Is the drinking relxing muscles maybe, who affects my tinnitus? I dont understand what mechanism is going on here. My tinnitus is caused by loud noise over years

 

[glynis]

What were you drinking?
My ears went nuts the next day drinking but I got carried away and drank a full bottle of sherry .....lots of love glynis

 

[Ed209]

Hi!
Can anyone explain to me, why my tinnitus 9\10 times gets very much better, almost gone, the day after drinking much and staying on a pub with loud music. When waking up the next day after sleeping good, the tinnitus is not annyoing and almost gone. But its only the day after. Later it turns up to same level, after the 2nd day. Is the drinking relxing muscles maybe, who affects my tinnitus? I dont understand what mechanism is going on here. My tinnitus is caused by loud noise over years

Who knows? It's one of the many mysteries of T. Let's face it, not even the experts know and they've spent years researching it. It gets to a stage where you could say "I ate a lot of broccoli and my T really improved!". The question is, did it really? If you hadn't eaten the broccoli and still had a good day then you'd have nothing to pin it on.

I think T just seems to have a mind of its own. Doesn't really matter what you do, the good and the bad days will be shared out just the same. That's my experience anyway and I've just about tried everything. You get to a point where you give up and stop trying and that's when it starts to improve. In my case I believe it's because you actually stop thinking about it, and when you stop giving it any attention it does start to become secondary. That's the stage I'm at now I'm having good spells followed by really bad spells, but I don't think I'd have the good spells at all if I didn't get my head in the right place.

Sometimes we analyse a bit too much and it borders on obsession. I think this is the habit we need to break and could argue that even talking about it on here is not such a good idea.

If anything, sleep is the only thing that does seem to make a difference, and a very big one.

 

[Sailboardman]

Alcohol, just dulls the senses and after a few drinks, you just say f..k it!

 

[RaZaH]

hungover and T , a special type of hell !

Having said that I need 3 beers and I completely T free.

 

[Dana]

IMO that helps because after such a "busy" night you fall into a very deep sleep, deeper than the other nights, and sleeping deeply helps the nervous system.

 

[Lauken83]

Dana: i think your spot on there.

 

[Dana]

I kinda think so too. I said in another post that after drinking a whole bottle of whiskey cream just by myself, I fell into the deepest sleep and upon waking I had zero T for a while.

 

[Lauken83]

Tinnitus was almost away yesterday,slept 11 hours this night,and today its much worse. Strange how the nerve system works. if I had slept only 4-5 hours,I know tinnitus would have been better,because then it would be almost same as yesterday

 

[Dana]

I have the exact feeling sometimes, like the nervous system has two working modes: the "before T" mode, and the "after T" mode, and we switch from one to another.

 

[Zorro!]

Since alcohol is a "depressant" it might possibly calm down parts of the brain like the amygdala thereby quieting the tinnitus until this part of the brain "wakes up" again. That's just my own crazy theory though.

 

[Dana]

@Zorro! Not a crazy theory at all, i think you got the answer. Since the amygdala is the "decision maker" (what to do with the signals, what's important and what not), so on the top of the hierarchy, our most "conscious/responsible/woken up part of the brain " (when we are sober) i think the amygdala has the hardest time waking up when we have a hangover and gives us a break.
The solution is obvious: let's keep the amygdala tipsy all the time and register in line for a liver transplant because of the too much alcohol in our future.

 

[Ed209]

Not sure if it's just me but when I'm waking up there is a state I can be in where I'm still kind of lucid and my T can be near silent. As I fully awaken the sound kind of fades back in again and I think oh shit, it's still there.

There is almost a zen like state I can get myself in if I'm lucky.

 

[Dana]

Not sure if it's just me but when I'm waking up there is a state I can be in where I'm still kind of lucid and my T can be near silent. As I fully awaken the sound kind of fades back in again and I think oh shit, it's still there.

There is almost a zen like state I can get myself in if I'm lucky.

Are you sure you didn't make a mistake and said 1) "the sound kind of fades back in again" while you meant 2) "comes back in front and I think oh, shit, it's still there?"
In case nr 2) I have the same experience when I wake up. When I open my eyes and I become lucid I have a few seconds of complete silence and only after that the T starts screaming.
Which is it in your case: 1) or 2)?

 

[Dana]

@Ed209
Maybe we talk about the same thing, and only the words in which we choose to express it are different.

 

[Ed209]

More like number 2. Hard to explain; I know it's there but it's like it's being filtered by my brain being half asleep.

 

[Dana]

@Ed209
I have exactly the same experience.

 

[Dana]

I heard many stupid theories that getting T is like "being chosen", "getting awake", like it's a good think that happens to the special ones? What if there is some truth in such cretin theories?
I want to be half asleep again!

 

[Zorro!]

@Zorro! Not a crazy theory at all, i think you got the answer. Since the amygdala is the "decision maker" (what to do with the signals, what's important and what not), so on the top of the hierarchy, our most "conscious/responsible/woken up part of the brain " (when we are sober) i think the amygdala has the hardest time waking up when we have a hangover and gives us a break.
The solution is obvious: let's keep the amygdala tipsy all the time and register in line for a liver transplant because of the too much alcohol in our future.

My next crazy theory is that researchers should develop a procedure to "turn down" the amygdala. Granted that won't fix issues with hearing ability, but it would do wonders when it comes to relieving tinnitus and the attending anxiety and depression that comes with it. (It would also help people who suffer from anxiety but who don't have tinnitus.)

But so far all we've got to choose from are benzo's and booze. Yay.

 

[Dana]

But so far all we've got to choose from are benzo's and booze. Yay.

And be accused later that we drove ourselves crazy/drunk while our only intention was to get physically correct. So unfair.

 

[Dana]

Sometimes we analyse a bit too much and it borders on obsession. I think this is the habit we need to break and could argue that even talking about it on here is not such a good idea.

This is something that we have to seriously think about.
I don't think we will have that much success convincing our amygdala that T is not so fascinating and contains no important information so it should filter it out, while we talk so much about our T on this forum.
Ed209 raised a very good point.
What if our amygdala is listening to our conversations?

 

[Zorro!]

This is something that we have to seriously think about.
I don't think we will have that much success convincing our amygdala that T is not so fascinating and contains no important information so it should filter it out, while we talk so much about our T on this forum.
Ed209 raised a very good point.
What if our amygdala is listening to our conversations?

Well in a way it is "listening" in that when we consume negative information the amygdala probably receives it as a "danger" signal. This then kicks it into over-drive in regards to fear and anxiety. Keep in mind that the amygdala is considered the primitive part of the brain. It's not involved with cognition as much as it is connected to base emotions and instincts; the whole "Fight or Flight response". It's basically a sense organ, not a cognitive one, and therein lies the problem in many ways.

 

[Dana]

Keep in mind that the amygdala is considered the primitive part of the brain. It's not involved with cognition as much as it is connected to base emotions and instincts; the whole "Fight or Flight response". It's basically a sense organ, not a cognitive one, and therein lies the problem in many ways.

This is in the same line with what Julian Cowan Hill is saying for a long time, that we have T because we remained in a "fight or flight" mode, and the solution is to get out of it. After all, all T etiologies have a common denominator: stress, therefore entering in "fight or flight state".
They say that T after acoustic trauma occurs in the brain en lieu of the lost frequencies in the range of the acoustic trauma. What a lie! After all the canon and gun shots acoustic traumas the remaining T has very high frequency, and the gun shots and the canon shots are not that high frequency!

 

[Dana]

Well in a way it is "listening" in that when we consume negative information the amygdala probably receives it as a "danger" signal.

That's why we are told to "talk nicely about our T", to "embrace" and to accept it, cause then T starts to back off (the amygdala let's go of it, probably)

 

[Zorro!]

That's why we are told to "talk nicely about our T", to "embrace" and to accept it, cause then T starts to back off (the amygdala let's go of it, probably)

I don't think I'll ever be able to embrace my tinnitus. Accepting it as a fact of reality is another issue though.

 

[Ed209]

When I was completely focused on organising a charity event in November I can honestly say there was a spell of around 3 weeks where tinnitus became nothing to me. I got to a stage where I couldn't believe all the fuss I made over it and thought I had moved on.

My mental focus had shifted to stressing about the event, making sure that everything went to plan because it was a very big deal to me. We had an unbelievable turnout on the night, we had all my younger students playing solo and two bands that some of my other students play in. We finished the night off with my band headlining. It's the first time I'd had all my students, plus their families and all my family and friends in one place at the same time. It felt like all eyes were on me to pull it off, and it went great! The feedback was unreal and I was on cloud nine. We had food to organise on top of a ton of other things which ultimately made it extremely challenging. All in all we made well over 3 grand for the local children's hospital.

T was almost like a distant memory at this point. Sure I was aware but it felt different because of my attitude. It really did become a case of me having to zone in to hear it, it was still loud when I did but I found I could easily forget it by getting back to all the planning I had to do.

Once all that was over, after a month or so I found myself wallowing and going back into toxic thinking which had me on guard again. Then sure enough the T became front and centre all over again.

I swear to all of you here, the T can be zoned out but I'm not fully aware of what makes me go back and forth as much as I do. All I can say is when something takes priority over your thoughts, concern for T it seems can disappear from your active consciousness.

Imagine if you were at the top of a building and a fire broke out, or some other dangerous event was suddenly thrown upon you. Whilst in the thick of that dilemma your absolute main concern would be to plan your escape, and I guarantee your T at this point would be irrelevant, it would leave your conscious thoughts completely. That's kinda how much pressure I felt doing this event, (maybe not burning building bad, but you get the picture) but it gave me a new challenge other then overcoming T.

Its only now that I'm back to my hum drum routine that I've got nothing better to do then focus on it all over again and the cycle begins anew. I think I need a new challenge to snap my focus in a new direction again.

 

[linearb]

haha, getting sloshed and being around anything resembling noise makes my T worse and not better -- which is probably for the best, lest I slide into alcoholism...

 

[Dana]

That's why we are told to "talk nicely about our T", to "embrace" and to accept it, cause then T starts to back off (the amygdala lets go of it, probably)

I don't think I'll ever be able to embrace my tinnitus. Accepting it as a fact of reality is another issue though.

What I said is valid only for "brain T". I wasn't really serious when I said "embrace"our T, it was sort of a bad joke, but what I meant is that I read a theory that the level of the brain T can be like a healthy meter, that it can indicate to us what is good for us and what is not, and to back off from what happens when T spikes.
Of course, that is only for brain T.
For T originating in areas reachable and treatable, we shouldn't even accept our T, but insist until the problem is solved.

 

[Sailboardman]

@zorro. My brother said, if you smash your finger with a hammer, T tends to get lost for a few minutes. Since all my fingers are now broken, I've started working on my toes. };-)

 

[Dana]

Since all my fingers are now broken, I've started working on my toes. };-)

And on your forehead, as I see from your "frustrated" picture. I gather you obtain some good minutes of T getting lost from there also, at every banging against the wall. Ouch!