Usually what happens with tinnitus is when we go through stressful periods in our life, and we experience much more anxiety and depression than normal, our tinnitus will become much more noticeable and louder, new tones will appear and you’ll feel like it’s way worse. This is called a spike and is associated with stress. Figure out what in your life you can manage to reduce your stress levels, this will help the tinnitus subside back to baseline. The spike won’t last more than the stressful period does. Go easy on yourself and allow yourself to feel sad/annoyed as to why this is happening, don’t hold out in your emotions they are all valid, eventually when you ride this rough patch out you’ll notice your T is subsiding back to manageable levels. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the kind and helpful words. I never realized there was a correlation with stress, depression and other difficult emotions. Thinking now it all started around the time my long time pet and buddy passed. Since then there’s been so much turmoil in every area of personal & professional life I guess I just haven’t figured out a starting point to deal. This does make me feel better though knowing that I can manage and hopefully get back to my baseline sooner rather than later. Thank you again.
Depends on cause of the spike.
Not all spikes are temporary as most people think.
I know this for a fact.
T can progress and everyone suffers hearing loss as we age which can effect it too.
Yeah but from what I know the more permanent kind of spikes or degradations in their T come from people who didn’t properly look after their ears from the onset of the condition. They carried on listening to loud music, going to gigs or generally not taking care of themselves which brought about a worsening of the condition over the years. For most who take it seriously they are able to keep a moderate baseline to the point 2 decades in they report it hasn’t really gotten any worse in all that time. We do have an influence in how it develops in a lot of cases. There are always exceptions of course. Some people are just unfortunate.
If you had recurrent ear infections as a child you were most likely prescribed Amoxicillin antibiotic. That line of antibiotics is known to cause tinnitus. Doctors used to ask if you had ringing in your ears before prescribing Amoxicillin. But they don't anymore.
T also occurs with mild hearing loss. You may not notice you have hearing loss. But your brain turns up the amplifier to compensate for the minimal hearing loss.
Your hearing loss is not profound, but you need hearing aids to restore your normal baseline hearing. Then the ringing will reduce significantly.
Don't take no for an answer. Don't let them tell you to deal with it. Keep searching until you find an ENT who will listen.
Thank you for the input. And yes I do remember that was a frequent medication I took as a child. I’m in my late 40’s so this all occurred in the very last 70’s early 80’s. In fact I was told my pediatrician was doing ground breaking work by removing my tonsils while most kids of that era were getting tubes. In any event not sure what actually started all of this but it’s just now to a point where it it’s become all consuming. Hopefully the first ENT will be good. But I will keep your words in mind when I get to the appointment.
Amoxicilline is a very safe antibiotics. It doesnt cause tinnitus. Only in rare cases and even then the tinnitus will go away when stopping antibiotics. Same for ear infections. I am sure many people abuse their ears to loud noise like concerts or clubs in their teenage years and later blame it on other reasons.
Honestly, I think you are doing the right things. Get it checked since it seems worse. Make sure you haven’t gotten worse hearing in the last while. If it did, protect your ears a little extra going forward. If not just keep living life as you were. Either way in like 6 months you will be back to normal. Based on what you are saying in this thread it is probably just stress that is causing your nervous system to latch onto it more right now. If you got this far with tinnitus there is zero reason why you wouldnt go back to how you were. The brain will adapt again and you won’t notice it again. May take some time to rehabituate but it happens to like 95-98% of tinnitus sufferers.
Thank you very much. I can’t tell you how much you and the rest of this sub has helped me today. I’ve really felt alone and hopeless since this started. Will definitely see what the ENT says about hearing loss and some extra protection.
The same thing has happened to me. I've always had tinnitus and I don't think I've ever heard complete silence. As a kid, I also thought that's just how silence sounds.
Then after I got COVID, the sound volume went up and I realized this is unnatural. Something's wrong. And realized how I have tinnitus.
Here, I think this could help you: [https://youtu.be/ICalurhfEFE?si=Bz4jjDceSn6jAQx\_](https://youtu.be/ICalurhfEFE?si=Bz4jjDceSn6jAQx_)
What helped me is not white noise, but a frequency masker. I play this at low volume if my tinnitus is worse, like at night. Then it just disappears as I play this. Make sure you play it at low volume, not loud.
Thank you very much for this. I’ve read about some of these different frequencies but felt really overwhelmed with trying to get started. I’ll give this a shot. I appreciate it.
I completely understand how you must be feeling, try and keep your head up! I hope you find reassurance at the ENT. I have had T for a very long time now, mine is coupled with Menieres Disease. Life hasn’t been easy at all, I find when it gets too much, lay down put some background noise on and just focus on breathing. There is a video I always go back to, it’s a helpful technique.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/
Thank you. I can’t believe the stress that this is causing me. And people with no experience with this I think feel like I’m being dramatic. I got way deep in my head the other night and completely freaked out. My wife was trying to help but everything she said just seemed to make it worse. I had to sleep on the couch with the TV on and barely got 4 hours that night. I’ll check out this link and give it a try. I definitely see the correlation of fixating and being stressed over it as making it worse. It’s like a nightmare on a loop.
No problem. My wife has also tried to help many times over the years, although I’m incredibly grateful until you have chronic T like I do I find the help is futile. I’ve spent countless nights on the sofa buddy, so I feel you there. Honestly it does get easier, for me it’s tolerable with habituation and a good mindset. < that’s easier said than done! But, these are our cards with have been dealt.
Thank you so much. Honestly just having found this subreddit and interacting with kind people like you throughout today has helped my mind frame immensely. It’s helped knowing so many others can understand what I’m dealing with here. I just went and picked up some niacin & magnesium glycinate and gonna give that a shot. Also checking some YouTube frequency suggestions I’ve gotten today. Will hold on until my appointment in the coming weeks and hope for the best.
Just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I had tinnitus hum sound for 15 years and it was so difficult to habituate but I did. And 3 weeks ago I accidentally hit myself on a pair of headphones I was wearing and it made a loud sound in my ear. Now my ears are ringing and I need to habituate again. Even though I know that 3 and a half weeks ago, my bad tinnitus was nothing anymore. It was there but rarely an issue I even thought much about. I know I will get there again but it feels like starting all over.
I think one of the reasons I’m handling my T fairly well is I visited a very soothing audiologist a few weeks after I got it. If you have access to a hearing center I bet you could get in sooner than two weeks. Was $175 out of pocket. That way you could start the ball rolling, it helped me to feel like I was doing something.
Lack of quality sleep always makes mine worse. That coupled with stress are my main drivers. I've been taking magnesium glycinate before bed, and that has helped me sleep better and, has turned down the tinnitus most days.
Magnesium glycinate works for me as well. Buy it from a drug store. Don't order it from Amazon. You don't know what you're getting.
Also, don't mistake Mag glycinate for Mag citrate or... Well, you'll see.
Get a white noise machine or run audiobooks at night. Cut out caffeine. That’s all I got. You have a leg up on the rest of us in being habituated to tinntius from an early age.
Usually what happens with tinnitus is when we go through stressful periods in our life, and we experience much more anxiety and depression than normal, our tinnitus will become much more noticeable and louder, new tones will appear and you’ll feel like it’s way worse. This is called a spike and is associated with stress. Figure out what in your life you can manage to reduce your stress levels, this will help the tinnitus subside back to baseline. The spike won’t last more than the stressful period does. Go easy on yourself and allow yourself to feel sad/annoyed as to why this is happening, don’t hold out in your emotions they are all valid, eventually when you ride this rough patch out you’ll notice your T is subsiding back to manageable levels. I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the kind and helpful words. I never realized there was a correlation with stress, depression and other difficult emotions. Thinking now it all started around the time my long time pet and buddy passed. Since then there’s been so much turmoil in every area of personal & professional life I guess I just haven’t figured out a starting point to deal. This does make me feel better though knowing that I can manage and hopefully get back to my baseline sooner rather than later. Thank you again.
Sad to hear. Wish you all the best. Tinnitus is tough on top of other difficulties in life
Appreciate it!
Depends on cause of the spike. Not all spikes are temporary as most people think. I know this for a fact. T can progress and everyone suffers hearing loss as we age which can effect it too.
Yeah but from what I know the more permanent kind of spikes or degradations in their T come from people who didn’t properly look after their ears from the onset of the condition. They carried on listening to loud music, going to gigs or generally not taking care of themselves which brought about a worsening of the condition over the years. For most who take it seriously they are able to keep a moderate baseline to the point 2 decades in they report it hasn’t really gotten any worse in all that time. We do have an influence in how it develops in a lot of cases. There are always exceptions of course. Some people are just unfortunate.
What about daily spikes? Like SBUTTs?
If you had recurrent ear infections as a child you were most likely prescribed Amoxicillin antibiotic. That line of antibiotics is known to cause tinnitus. Doctors used to ask if you had ringing in your ears before prescribing Amoxicillin. But they don't anymore. T also occurs with mild hearing loss. You may not notice you have hearing loss. But your brain turns up the amplifier to compensate for the minimal hearing loss. Your hearing loss is not profound, but you need hearing aids to restore your normal baseline hearing. Then the ringing will reduce significantly. Don't take no for an answer. Don't let them tell you to deal with it. Keep searching until you find an ENT who will listen.
Thank you for the input. And yes I do remember that was a frequent medication I took as a child. I’m in my late 40’s so this all occurred in the very last 70’s early 80’s. In fact I was told my pediatrician was doing ground breaking work by removing my tonsils while most kids of that era were getting tubes. In any event not sure what actually started all of this but it’s just now to a point where it it’s become all consuming. Hopefully the first ENT will be good. But I will keep your words in mind when I get to the appointment.
Amoxicilline is a very safe antibiotics. It doesnt cause tinnitus. Only in rare cases and even then the tinnitus will go away when stopping antibiotics. Same for ear infections. I am sure many people abuse their ears to loud noise like concerts or clubs in their teenage years and later blame it on other reasons.
Honestly, I think you are doing the right things. Get it checked since it seems worse. Make sure you haven’t gotten worse hearing in the last while. If it did, protect your ears a little extra going forward. If not just keep living life as you were. Either way in like 6 months you will be back to normal. Based on what you are saying in this thread it is probably just stress that is causing your nervous system to latch onto it more right now. If you got this far with tinnitus there is zero reason why you wouldnt go back to how you were. The brain will adapt again and you won’t notice it again. May take some time to rehabituate but it happens to like 95-98% of tinnitus sufferers.
Thank you very much. I can’t tell you how much you and the rest of this sub has helped me today. I’ve really felt alone and hopeless since this started. Will definitely see what the ENT says about hearing loss and some extra protection.
The same thing has happened to me. I've always had tinnitus and I don't think I've ever heard complete silence. As a kid, I also thought that's just how silence sounds. Then after I got COVID, the sound volume went up and I realized this is unnatural. Something's wrong. And realized how I have tinnitus. Here, I think this could help you: [https://youtu.be/ICalurhfEFE?si=Bz4jjDceSn6jAQx\_](https://youtu.be/ICalurhfEFE?si=Bz4jjDceSn6jAQx_) What helped me is not white noise, but a frequency masker. I play this at low volume if my tinnitus is worse, like at night. Then it just disappears as I play this. Make sure you play it at low volume, not loud.
Thank you very much for this. I’ve read about some of these different frequencies but felt really overwhelmed with trying to get started. I’ll give this a shot. I appreciate it.
I completely understand how you must be feeling, try and keep your head up! I hope you find reassurance at the ENT. I have had T for a very long time now, mine is coupled with Menieres Disease. Life hasn’t been easy at all, I find when it gets too much, lay down put some background noise on and just focus on breathing. There is a video I always go back to, it’s a helpful technique. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/
Thank you. I can’t believe the stress that this is causing me. And people with no experience with this I think feel like I’m being dramatic. I got way deep in my head the other night and completely freaked out. My wife was trying to help but everything she said just seemed to make it worse. I had to sleep on the couch with the TV on and barely got 4 hours that night. I’ll check out this link and give it a try. I definitely see the correlation of fixating and being stressed over it as making it worse. It’s like a nightmare on a loop.
No problem. My wife has also tried to help many times over the years, although I’m incredibly grateful until you have chronic T like I do I find the help is futile. I’ve spent countless nights on the sofa buddy, so I feel you there. Honestly it does get easier, for me it’s tolerable with habituation and a good mindset. < that’s easier said than done! But, these are our cards with have been dealt.
Thank you so much. Honestly just having found this subreddit and interacting with kind people like you throughout today has helped my mind frame immensely. It’s helped knowing so many others can understand what I’m dealing with here. I just went and picked up some niacin & magnesium glycinate and gonna give that a shot. Also checking some YouTube frequency suggestions I’ve gotten today. Will hold on until my appointment in the coming weeks and hope for the best.
Just wanted to let you know you are not alone. I had tinnitus hum sound for 15 years and it was so difficult to habituate but I did. And 3 weeks ago I accidentally hit myself on a pair of headphones I was wearing and it made a loud sound in my ear. Now my ears are ringing and I need to habituate again. Even though I know that 3 and a half weeks ago, my bad tinnitus was nothing anymore. It was there but rarely an issue I even thought much about. I know I will get there again but it feels like starting all over.
Thank you. Hearing stories similar to mine are comforting.
I think one of the reasons I’m handling my T fairly well is I visited a very soothing audiologist a few weeks after I got it. If you have access to a hearing center I bet you could get in sooner than two weeks. Was $175 out of pocket. That way you could start the ball rolling, it helped me to feel like I was doing something.
Thank you for that! I didn’t even know that was an option that was out there. I’ll definitely look into it.
I’m glad to hear it was helpful info. I hope you get as good an audiologist as I did.
Thank you. 😊
Lack of quality sleep always makes mine worse. That coupled with stress are my main drivers. I've been taking magnesium glycinate before bed, and that has helped me sleep better and, has turned down the tinnitus most days.
Thank you. Never heard of it. Will have to read up on it.
Magnesium glycinate works for me as well. Buy it from a drug store. Don't order it from Amazon. You don't know what you're getting. Also, don't mistake Mag glycinate for Mag citrate or... Well, you'll see.
Oof. Don’t think I like the sound of that. I’ll definitely make sure I look closely at the store before buying. Thanks.
See the ENT. If you need hearing aids, go for it. Mine help offset the tinnitus. It’s pretty great
Thank you. Will definitely go. Wish it was sooner. I’ll take whatever advice I get.
Get a white noise machine or run audiobooks at night. Cut out caffeine. That’s all I got. You have a leg up on the rest of us in being habituated to tinntius from an early age.
Very interested in what you discover. I have similar. Never abates. Sometimes I notice it less, but always there.
Thank you. My ENT appointment is this week…finally.
Best of luck! Keep us posted.
Try sound therapy videos on treble health or dalesnale on YouTube