Worsening Tinnitus, Normal?

[Kelly Long]

Hello my name is Kelly. I do not have tinnitus myself but fiance does, he has suffered with it for years. Recently he said it has gotten worse. I was just wondering if we should be concerned about it worsening? And also is it normal for it to last for years, is it something that never goes away?

 

[Markku]

I was just wondering if we should be concerned about it worsening?

This is from one of our previous surveys... Sometimes it can worsen but sometimes also gets better and other times remains stable. There are no guarantees with tinnitus, many say.

And also is it normal for it to last for years, is it something that never goes away?

This is from our recent tinnitus survey...

It can be something that never goes away, yes.

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk - you're very thoughtful to come here for your fiancé.

 

[Marie79]

This is from one of our previous surveys... Sometimes it can worsen but sometimes also gets better and other times remains stable. There are no guarantees with tinnitus, many say.

View attachment 10136


This is from our recent tinnitus survey...

View attachment 10137

It can be something that never goes away, yes.

Welcome to Tinnitus Talk - you're very thoughtful to come here for your fiancé.

Do you know of any research on any other place... maybe scientific research on the percentages of tinnitus getting worse?

 

[Markku]

Do you know of any research on any other place... maybe scientific research on the percentages of tinnitus getting worse?

Not aware of many, but here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11177034

I'll try and look for more.

 

[Marie79]

Not aware of many, but here is one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11177034

I'll try and look for more.

Omg so all of them said tinnitus got worse? Or am I reading that incorrectly

 

[Markku]

Omg so all of them said tinnitus got worse? Or am I reading that incorrectly

Here's the full article:

http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482183

Conclusions Severe tinnitus shows some signs of improvement over time, especially when psychological treatment has been given. Tinnitus maskability is an important prognostic factor of future tinnitus annoyance.

The longitudinal part of this study set out to answer 2 overall questions: what happens to tinnitus over time and what is the role of CBT? Out of a large set of variables only a few differences were tested for statistical significance. The changes observed for the total sample was that tolerance of tinnitus increased. However, tinnitus grading remained stable from a statistical standpoint. For 21% tinnitus grading did increase and for 26% it decreased, leaving tinnitus grading unaffected for 53% of the total sample.​

 

[Alue]

Here's the full article:

http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482183

Conclusions Severe tinnitus shows some signs of improvement over time, especially when psychological treatment has been given. Tinnitus maskability is an important prognostic factor of future tinnitus annoyance.

The longitudinal part of this study set out to answer 2 overall questions: what happens to tinnitus over time and what is the role of CBT? Out of a large set of variables only a few differences were tested for statistical significance. The changes observed for the total sample was that tolerance of tinnitus increased. However, tinnitus grading remained stable from a statistical standpoint. For 21% tinnitus grading did increase and for 26% it decreased, leaving tinnitus grading unaffected for 53% of the total sample.​

So if you can't mask it, you're screwed.
Makes sense, though. In my book T isn't severe if it is maskable. A person's reaction to it might be, but unmaskable T is a whole different ballgame.

 

[Marie79]

So if you can't mask it, you're screwed.
Makes sense, though. In my book T isn't severe if it is maskable. A person's reaction to it might be, but unmaskable T is a whole different ballgame.

I know people whose T isn't maskable and they are fine. My uncle is one. Never even knew he had it until I called my Aunt crying about my T.

My T is very hard to mask at night. I don't understand it at all. During the day almost anything masks it. At night it's very hard.

 

[Alue]

I know people whose T isn't maskable and they are fine. My uncle is one. Never even knew he had it until I called my Aunt crying about my T.

My T is very hard to mask at night. I don't understand it at all. During the day almost anything masks it. At night it's very hard.

I too know someone that has tinnitus loud enough to hear anywhere and it doesn't bother him. He's in his mid 60s and it came on very gradually and he's not really sure when he got tinnitus.

Recently I've had a couple good days where my tinnitus is low enough to almost be maskable during the day. I can still hear it if, but it's not front and center drilling away in my head. This has only happened one or two days in the past four months, still it's loud as ever at night and makes it hard to sleep, but you don't know how relieving it is to have a break from this constant 24/7 torture however short it may be. It's like I've been given a new lease on life on those days. All I'm saying is it's much easier to habituate to if you can mask it most of the time

 

[Scarlet]

I know people whose T isn't maskable and they are fine. My uncle is one. Never even knew he had it until I called my Aunt crying about my T.

My T is very hard to mask at night. I don't understand it at all. During the day almost anything masks it. At night it's very hard.

I'm having the same issue. During the day, I at times barely hear it. At night, it seems to be thunderous (but I'm not sure if it's not my anxiety causing it).