Tinnitus knowledge and advice please

[Mushroomburger17]

Hi. In February I had a terrible time with 2 teeth that went on to be dry socket. I lived on painkillers mainly ibuprofen for about 2 months. It triggered major anxiety and I started getting panic attacks for the first time ever.

I'm still going through a ridiculously stressful and anxious time and am in counselling. I have a lot to confront.

Any way since February the tinnitus started for the first time ever. Gp said ears not blocked and to go back if still there after a few months. Well it's still there and really loud this week and I'm getting frightened. My nose feels blocked but I only have up smoking properly 3 months ago.

What do I do next? Will it ever stop?

Forgot to say that I'm a huge teeth grinder and my jaw is constantly going at night; could this be the culprit?

Yes, tooth grinding and tense jaw are likely causing it. I can trigger tinnitus simply by shifting my jaw sideways.
I would see a dentist and they can sort you out with a mouth guard to wear at night which will stop most grinding and hopefully help you relax the jaw and ease the tinnitus. In the meantime massage the sides of your face and round the head and neck and try to distract yourself with some soothing music or white noise. I find focusing on one tone helps get rid of some of it and then I can focus on that sound until it fades away.

Thank you so much for your reply. It's really getting me down and making me anxious. I have a mouth guard and jaw exercises but haven't used either. I will find time now! Hopefully I can resolve this myself.

I have tinnitus....I've had it since I was 19 (am 37 now). It was brought on, O believe, by stress/trauma. I think that's a recognised trigger for tinnitus.
It took me about a year to come to terms with the tinnitus (ie not be depressed by it).
Now, I barely notice it even tho it's still there (although I can't hear it when there is background noise). I just don't get bothered by it

Ps. I've always been a terrible tooth grinder but I don't think it's got anything to do with my tinnitus

Pps I sought, and received, excellent counselling for my tinnitus from the Royal Ear Nose and Throat hospital.
May be worth looking into if yours persists and you still struggle to come to terms with it.
Hope it all works out for you and either it disappears or you make your peace with it (that is possible, no fear!)

Get your blood pressure checked too

Thank you! My bp is fine. I think my ferritin is low, it's in 40s. B12 is low too but is in 200s so GP not worried. I do have some hope as I remember that it did clear up but then came back when th ings got mega stressful. I have been sneezing so perhaps I am a bit blocked at the moment. I know the smoking hadn't helped with congestion.

my tinnitus has got better/I ignore it easier since I got hearing aids. I was borderline for needing them, but because of other health issues I was allowed to have them. Nice side effect of something for once .

Having had tinnitus for as long as I can remember, how I cope with it is by consciously listening "over"/"beyond" the ringing/buzzing noise - I visualise the tinnitus as being around earring level, and imagine the "hearing part" is looping up and over to get to the sound i'm listening to. That description is totally rubbish, reading it back, but it can help to move the tinnitus sound to a different level (like you'd do with DC's whining for eg).

I have tinnitus and it's driving me mad. It's a symptom of my Ménière's disease which had been quite well controlled until this time last year.

The tinnitus was triggered on a flight when my ears were really popping. I thought it would settle down but it didn't. The GP gave me diuretics which didn't help so referred me to an ENT professor. Unfortunately they've cancelled the appointment, which was next week, and haven't made me another as yet.

I've just got off another flight, this afternoon, and my ears are ringing so badly. It's horrible. I wish there was a cure or a treatment at least. I find it's really annoying when I'm trying to sleep.

Hi. I have had tinnitus for a year. It was triggered by a bad cold/Eustachian tube problems I think and combined/heightened by stress/severe anxiety. When I first got it I was catapulted into a state of such anxiety. I'm not sure exactly how I got out of it. I know that headspace app helped (mindfulness) also the fact that I have more serious health problems to concern myself with has meant that I don't obsess about it as much and so I go for days/weeks without hearing it. At the time I read up a lot about it and that it needs time to "habituated"- for you to get used to it/effectively ignore it. I will happen. I read lots of online positive stories of people who were hyper-anxious initially but through time grew to nearly ignore it.
I also read stats that iirc 10-20% of people over 40 have it- and it doesn't actually bother most people. When I asked friends/family it turns out a lot of people have it. That kind of made me feel better too.

I feel for you as I recall how stressed it made me. But it will get better. Try the mindfulness. And remeber you are far from alone

With mine I think I just notice it more when I'm stressed. My theory is that it's always there but anxiety brings it to the forefront.

What you say about tinnitus resonates with me zippy. I was so anxious in the early days of my tinnitus that I could hardly bear to hear any sound (even the sound of cutlery on a plate) for fear it would make my tinnitus worse. I developed, in effect, hyperacuity. I could hear the very slight high pitched sound the TV made when on standby.

BUT now I am totally habituated to it! (Wouldn't want it to get any worse though and have to become habituated all over again to a new volume)

Priam- yes I'd forgotten I was like that too- the sound of the chair legs scratching over the floor or the plates being put on the table would send me over the edge as I was so hyper- sensitive. The early days are awful. But I believe acceptance of the situation was what helped me habituate. Had I continued hoping it would go and obsessively googling about it (which I did for the first week) I think I would have been a complete wreck.

I have tinnitus, for over 3 years now. Mine was caused by stress and subsequently grinding my teeth. When I first got it, as I'm sure you feel now, I was desperate, suicidal even, how could Iive the rest of my life like this? I took a lot of time off work and became dark and angry. Why me?

Now,. I can honestly say that my tinnitus annoys me for maybe ten minutes a day. It's just there. It's no better. It just doesn't feature in my day any more. Sometimes I feel sad about it and that's natural - silence is something that you don't realise how beautiful it is until it's gone. I heard a phrase once "I have tinnitus. - it doesn't have me" at the time I thought what a ludicrous statement, as far as I was concerned, tinnitus had ruined my life.

But now I too agree with that statement. Something else that saved me were white noise maskers, you can get them from audiology. They have been godsends to me.

I have had continuous tinnitus for over 30years. At first it was in one ear and related to exposure to loud noise.

In the past 5years I have rapid hearing loss in both ears and as the hearing has decreased the tinnitus has got louder with various sounds. High pitched hissing, low roaring noise like being on an airplane.

I have to take sleep medication because it is that loud.
I have to wear earphones to try and listen to the TV or music which do distract me from the constant noise.
I have NHS hearing aids but they pick up all the background noise so very difficult to hear people talking.
Just bought a little gadget online for £17 with little earphones and a microphone that hangs round the neck with volume control and it's amazing I can hear people talking and my own voice!!