by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady explained:
I find that my tinnitus is worse if I am stressed about something. Sometimes the pitch changes and sometimes I can hear more than one sound at a time. My tinnitus is always worse when I’m trying to get to sleep and that’s when I get anxious. I can hear it in the day too, so it’s there all the time. When I wake up in the morning it can be very loud and I have to get up straight away or I can become panicky. I have always been noise phobic from when I was a small child. I just can’t handle fireworks or loud noises. When I was very young I became very upset by the scratching of the needle on a record. Is this part of the profile of someone with tinnitus?
Very much so. Stress and anxiety are two triggers of tinnitus. If you are a high-strung, anxious type of person, often you will find that not only do you hear tinnitus, but you also may have hyperacusis—where you hear some/all sounds louder and more intrusive than normal.
I was helping a lady recently that had much the same experiences as you—she was high-strung, anxious and had just gone through a very stressful situation. Her tinnitus was now much louder than normal, and she was worried that it would stay that way. In the past when she would stress over something, her tinnitus would get louder, but subside in a day or two. This time it wasn’t—hence her call to me for help.
I explained to her that when we are anxious, this puts our bodies in the “fight or flight” mode. Extra adrenaline surges through our arteries giving us more strength to fight or flee. At the same time, our senses become more acute. Thus we actually hear better than normal during such events—especially fainter sounds.
When you are anxious all the time, your body becomes stuck in this fight or flight mode, which includes the increased acute hearing. The result is that you perceive certain sounds to be annoyingly loud such as your phonograph needle. At the same time, loud sounds are then much too loud (such as fireworks).
The usual reaction to this increased sensitivity to sound is to avoid all noisy places and wear ear protectors most of the time. This actually proves counterproductive because when you wear ear protectors all the time, you brain becomes “starved” for normal sounds. As a result, it cranks up its internal volume control. This just makes the situation even worse—because when you take the noise protectors off, sounds are louder and even more annoying than before.
On top of this, your tinnitus is also louder because, with the increased internal volume, your brain is now hearing more of the random firings of the neurons in your auditory system—which some researchers think we hear as tinnitus.
The way to resolve this problem is not to overprotect your ears. Yes, clap your hands to your ears if there is a sudden loud sound around you (a siren going past you, or a truck blasting his air horn), but otherwise do not overprotect your ears so your auditory system will always have adequate stimulation. This will cause your brain to turn down the internal volume.
At the same time, you need to learn how not to be so anxious. You need to learn to be calm and “hang loose”. That will get you out of the “fight or flight” mode. This alone will let your brain turn down its internal volume.
When you do this, you will find that your tinnitus often becomes less intrusive and fades into the background. You will also find hat those sounds you found annoying before now don’t bother you much, or at all.
I’m not saying this is easy to accomplish, but it is necessary. There are a number of books available that teach you how to relax and calm down. If you need further help, see a therapist that specializes in helping people work through their anxiety problems without using drugs.
The end result will be reduced tinnitus, reduced hyperacusis and more enjoyment in your life. That makes it all worthwhile, doesn’t it?
If you have tinnitus, my book, “When Your Ears Ring—Cope with Your Tinnitus—Here’s How” teaches you a number of things you can do to help yourself successfully live with your tinnitus.
I have been tested for Meniere’s disease now in my right ear. It was in remission for many years. After my husband died, it showed itself again, in the form of dizziness and the consequent “barfing”.
The problem as I see it is that the Menieres’ has certain triggers with which I am now aware. I currently had intratympanic – 3 with time between them. I can’t say they have helped me.
But now the tinnitus which has for years been kind of sound that I was rarely aware of. With a new loud tenant upstairs recently I started being able to hear his phone calls and conversations with people in his home upstairs. He speaks very loudly, but I have 25-30 in my right ear and 75-80 in my left ear. I hear him as if he was in the room with me. Music plays all day, telephone calls, all day, TV all day. He stays up playing music till 4 or 5 a.m. I have no escape from it. I hear him throughout my apartment, which is fairly large, but when I leave the apartment, the conversations he had stay in my head and I can walk away for quite a distance before it dwindles or I try to distract it away.
The same thing happens with music. And actually with music, I can be listening to NOTHING and hear an actual song as sung by a famous singer in the singer’s voice. It is all heard through my ear that has very little hearing or it feels that way. I thought “recruitment” might be an explanation, but I know nothing and need help.
I hope I have convinced you of the problem and you might have heard of this before. I HAVE to wear a headset or I would get no sleep at all.
I have sought help for this, but it is not well-known where I live in Virginia. I’ve read alot and know it is not a hallucination, but is an illusion — it’s still miserable no matter what it’s called.
Hope you have some ideas on this. Thank You.
Hi Jeanne:
What you have is called Musical Ear Syndrome. It often seems to arise out of your existing tinnitus, but it is not tinnitus. Read my article on Musical Ear Syndrome at http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/articles/mes.htm. It will explain what you are experiencing in much more detail.
Regards
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
Noises are making me crazy: soft sounds, loud sounds. The sound and vibration of my own voice in my head is particularly maddening! Certain frequencies in other’s voices bother me too.
Six months ago I went through a very difficult time at work, and the office has been a very tough place since then. A few weeks ago, I experienced a huge health scare. The sound sensitivity has been a real problem for the past two weeks. It’s overwhelming.
I’ve struggled with anxiety for about six years, and from time to time, sounds have bothered me. I recently went to an ENT and had a hearing test. Everything came back fine, and the doctor said that the sensitivity was anxiety.
There’s an audiologist in town who treats T and H, but she’s very expensive. I don’t know whether to seek treatment with her, or to take the extra meds recommended by my psychiatrist (I hesitate to do this because I’ve worked so hard to get off psych meds – I now take less than I’ve ever taken for depression and anxiety). Maybe more meditation and counseling is the key?
I’ve had T for over ten years, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.
Any thoughts?
Thanks very much,
John
Hi John:
I’m sure that you and your ENT are right in saying that your anxiety has lead to your sound sensitivity.
There are two other causes of sound sensitivity that I should mention. A sudden loud sound close to your ears can also do it. So can taking certain drugs. If you send me a list of the drugs you are/were taking, I can tell you if any of them are known to cause hyperacusis.
You NEED to get your anxiety under control. There are a number of ways to do that without resorting to psych drugs which I don’t agree with in the first place.
Obviously, the first place to start is to go back to when your anxiety began more than 6 years ago. You need to understand why you got so anxious and learn to deal with it so it doesn’t have any power over you anymore. A skilled counselor/therapist can help you do this.
Another thing is to get your diet under control. There are two main aspects of this. One is that eating a lot of processed foods which contain ridiculous amounts of sugars under all sorts of names can keep you hyper and anxious. You want to cut way back on them and instead eat natural (and mostly raw) foods. This will make a difference it how you feel. And just as important, you need to get your gut flora under control too. If you have too many of the wrong guys in your gut, this really skews your mood. You can get your gut flora under control by doing the above–good diet–and by taking supplements such as probiotics, and by eating RAW (not pasturized) live-culture fermented foods such as home-made yogurt, sauerkraut, etc.
If you need help in calming down, taking a herbal such as Valerian can help you.
If your problem is more depression than anxiety, then the herbal for that is St. John’s Wort.
And finally, you need to resolve the underlying issues in your workplace to control your anxiety from that source. Again, a skilled counselor may be the best person to help you get started there.
You notice, I’m not addressing your hyperacusis directly, but the anxiety that is causing it. I firmly believe that as you get your anxiety levels down, your hyperacusis will also start to fade away and in time won’t bother you anymore.
Regards
Neil
I think it’s funny that you disagree on psychotropic meds yet recommend valerian root and St Johns wort so easily. Those two substances can interact with the psychotropic meds he’s already taking and cause heart abnormalities. Be careful
Hi Dr. Holmes:
I agree with you–you have to be careful not to double dose. So why not taper down on the drugs while building up on the herbals?
It’s just that doctors think that anything “natural” be it foods or herbals must be stopped if a person is put on drugs. I think that is backwards. The way I see it, doctors shouldn’t prescribe anything that interferes with “natural” treatments that have far fewer side effects on a person’s body.
Cordially,
Neil
What is your suggestion regarding cbd oil? I have General anxiety disorder and tinnitus since I was 12 years old. Would this be better than valerian?
Hi Isaiah:
I’ve heard good things about CBD oil, but I don’t have enough information to compare it to Valerian. Nor can I say whether it really works for tinnitus or not. Sorry.
Cordially,
Neil
I had 3 home invasions,and was day and nightly tormented from gang (methheads )wich caused my tinnitus to get really loud ,anxiety attacks very intense. This webt on 2 years i was blessed helped to move. I still fet intese anxiety attacks,tinnitus has gotten very loud again i have cirrossis,arthritis,bipolar which all contribut to my tinnitus,is there a natural way to calm myself without pills
Hi Cheryl:
Personally, what I’d do is seek out a good clinical psychologist who is experienced in helping people deal with their anxiety. That person should be able to help you deal with your anxiety and get it under control without taking drugs.
As you get your anxiety under control, your tinnitus should also become less and less of a problem.
Cordially,
Neil
Mimosa (albizia julibrissin) jelly stops my panic attacks immediately! I make it at home but you can buy some on Etsy. There are mimosa Tinctures as well and I make those to but feel like they are better taken as a preventative not as helpful in the midst of an attack. The jelly works within seconds!
Hi Christy:
Mimosa may work for you and some people, but it certainly doesn’t work for everyone. However, for anyone who has panic attacks, it could be worth a try.
Cordially,
Neil
Neil,
Thanks very much! I’m on 5mg of prozac. I’ve taken it for several years and this is lowest dose I’ve ever had. I’m also taking zinc and vit D (my lab tests showed low levels of both), and a multi-vit.
I can work on cutting out sugar. My diet is pretty good, but I could improve it.
I’m glad to hear that you’re emphasizing the anxiety, rather than the H. I’ve recently wondered if I should go to a neurologist. I’m currently in counseling and I hope that that will help.
Thanks very much!
John
Hi John:
What would you expect a neurologist to do for you that your counseling therapist can’t do?
Regards
Neil
I hv anxiety from 1.5 year. One day thought coming in mind that one more noises how to manage our mind.bvthen started to trouble me. This time always small sound hearing. When I forgot all are corect. There is no problem. How can I forget it.
Hi Harish:
When you get tinnitus (sounds in your ears), you want to ignore it, not focus on it. The way to do that is to focus on something that interests you. When you focus all your attention on something else, you are not thinking about your tinnitus and indeed may not even be aware of it for hours on end.
You can will yourself to ignore your tinnitus, because in order to do that, you have to focus on your tinnitus in order to tell yourself what to ignore–and thus you just did the opposite of what you intended. So just focus on something else.
Cordially,
Neil
Prozac is known to cause T as well.
I don’t know. I guess I wonder if there’s something more happening than the anxiety. Something physical. Probably not – or the symptoms wouldn’t come and go.
Hi Dr. Neil,
I hope you’ll find time reading this and helping me out somehow. I woke up with tinnitus on my right ear, June 8 of this year. I really don’t know how it happened but I went to a GP before this happened because I felt my right ear was blocked. I didnt have any cold or fever or whatsoever. When I asked him, what could be the problem, he told me I have a mild infection and gave me neomycin drops for my ears to be used 3x a day for 10 days. I used it 3x a day for the first 2 days then maybe twice or once after that because I just forgot to use it. On the 7th day, i felt my ear was even more blocked, asked my husband to check my ear and he said that the ear drops just got stucked in my ear and didnt come out, so it was blocking my ear even more. Went back to the GP, he wasnt there, a lady doctor drained my hear with water that’s way bit more than warm. It was uncomfortable but she drained the excess ear drops. The next day, we went to a party with loud band. Went home that night, felt like there were popping water bubbles in my right ear, i thought maybe due to the water that was used by the lady doctor who drained my ear. The next day i had a high pitch ringing in my right ear that just wouldnt stop. This was June 8. Went to ENT the next day, he told me i had no infection but that my ear drum was blocked by dry skin. To make the long story short, I came back 5 days after seeing the ENT and he used a suction to take out the dry skin. He said that my tinnitus in not likely to be permanent. Right now, there were times that i hear it, and times i don’t. But I developed anxiety because of it. My psychiatrist prescribed .5mg ativan in the morning and .5 -1mg of ativan at night + 25mg diphenhydramine to help me sleep. I now have insomnia too. I don’t know what to do. He told me once I lose my fear of tinnitus then hopefully, i wouldn’t be so anxious and I would be able to sleep normally again. I’m taking Gaia Stress Response to help me with anxiety and just take ativan only at night to help me sleep. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing. Thanks in advance for your reply.
Hi Fatima:
The fact that your tinnitus comes and goes is a good sign. I think it will eventually go away too. But in order for that to happen you have to stop worrying about your tinnitus. Focus on other things–the loves of your life and forget about your tinnitus.
Personally, I’m against taking drugs for every bit of anxiety that comes along. They just cause other problems. If you have trouble relaxing and getting to sleep, I take the herbal Valerian rather than any drugs.
Regards
Neil
Hi Neil,
I am sure you are busy so I will try to keep this brief. I have struggled with anxiety and depression for the last 16 years on and off. I’ve not been on any medication for it for about 14 years. I was on Klonopin at first for about 6 months and the doctor tried different types of Anti-Depressants but nothing worked for me. I was finally able to manage things on my own for a while.
Recently, I’ve been under a LOT of stress between work, financial issues, on top of diet being relatively poor. I do exercise a few times a week and am not overweight.
Last weekend I went to a Fantasy Football Draft party at a local pub. It wasn’t too loud (at least I thought anyways). I did drink more than I had planned and I woke up Saturday with a pronounced ringing in my ears.
After doing some research, I am almost positive it’s Tinnitus. The part I am struggling with is figuring out if it’s due to ear trauma or my stress levels with anxiety and depression that I still fight. I don’t feel like I have hearing loss and I don’t feel that Friday evening was too loud.
I’ve never been a sound sleeper and usually get only 4-6 hours of sleep per night even before the Tinnitus started. I also clench my jaw significantly every night and wake up with a sore jaw due to what I’m sure is anxiety. I also deal with constant muscle and joint pain, and as of today I definitely feel overstimulated to light right (everything is bright).
Anyhow this post turned out longer than I thought and I realize the first step is to go to my GP to get looked at. Who knows, it could be built up ear wax. I’ve never subjected myself to large amounts of crazy noise, but I guess all it takes is one night where the constant murmur could be above normal levels for 3-4 hours to cause this situation?
Or do you think it’s more likely caused by my other mental situations?
Appreciate any insight you can give – I don’t think I can cope with this constant ringing in my head with a wife and 4 kids depending on me.
Thanks
It’s a hard position to be in having been living with T for some six years now.
Your family and loved ones will need to be strong in understanding the situation you are experiencing.
In time it will get better or to a level that you no longer suffer mentally from.
Try not to let your thoughts and emotions spiral out of control, think of good things that make you happy.
keep active be with your loved ones ( explain to them ) what you are going through.
try not to let the T take control of your life or it will consume you.
Good luck with your journey
Hello. My 83 year old Mum has a moderate to severe hearing loss and has been diagnosed with Musical Ear Syndrome for a few month, though she has suffered with it a few years. She also perceived sounds to be Mich louder than they actually are and jumps out of her skin from quite normal noises. The MES is directional and she blames all the noises on her 84 yr old neighbour which causes a probl. She has on the past hone round complaining about noise in the middle of the night which has scared the lady next door. The police have been round twice as well and have been unable to persuade Mum that the noises are phantom ones. It seems to be getting worse now and she is currently convinced that the normal noises coming from the gas fire are coming from next door too. She gets angry and quite aggressive with us when we explain about MES and that there is no noise apart from normal ones. She is getting increasingly anxious and depressed which is a vicious circle as she then hears more phantom sounds. The GP has referred her to the tinnitus clinic at ENT so she can learn to relax but she worked herself up so much that she felt too I’ll to go. We have another appointment in Jan. I have read on here about Valerian and St Johns Wort. I have been giving her Reiki which seems to help. Social Services have loaned her a tinitus diztractor but she says it doesnt help.Any other tips or advice most welcome.Thank you.
My tinnitus flare’s up here and there,the next day after drinking……going through major stress right now…but anyways…..I’m 61 and I had this in my 20’s for a little bit……I found relaxing and it almost goes away…then focus on something interesting and it did go away……..until a few years ago I was in a very bad relationship always wondering what is going to come out of her month…so I was always on high alert!……but the aniexty makes it worse…..you have to accept it and it will go away .
Hello there, My mother in law have this same problem I guess its tinnitus. first, she experienced sudden hearing loss and started to feel sick, having symptoms like dizziness and vomiting. Later she went to ENT specialist and he gave some medication that she took for a while which stopped the dizziness but left her with this loud noises which never goes away. He also ran few hearing tests and finally told her that she has to live with that noise forever and nothing can be done for it. In the past, she took many medications for her multiple problems like urine infection and chronic cough and when they all were resolved she got this hearing problem. I would like to ask if anything can be done for her tinnitus and she can get her hearing back? we are also thinking for a second opinion from a Neurologist.. please help. Thanks
Hi Nazia:
From the sounds of it, it seems your mother-in-law had a viral attack on her ears that damaged both her cochlear (hearing and tinnitus) and vestibular (balance) systems.
Typically, there is nothing that you can do to get hearing back after 30 days or so has elapsed. What you have then is likely what you will have for the rest of your life.
As for the tinnitus, there is nothing medical that the doctors can do, but that doesn’t mean there is nothing that can be done. Far from it. There is lots that your mother-in-law can do to help her get her tinnitus under control so it doesn’t bother her. It likely won’t get rid of the tinnitus, but it can reduce the volume she hears her tinnitus at, and also reduce its intrusiveness.
She needs to seek out help from a qualified tinnitus therapist–but some are much better than others, so ask around who has had good success with such therapists.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr.
I took .25 of clonazepam for 14 years to help me sleep. About a month ago I decide that I no longer wanted to take the clonazepam- so i started to taper by cutting the dose in half to .125 mg. 2 weeks into the typer my ears are now ringing 24/7 and I have sound sensativity. Should i continue the taper? Will my ears ever heal?
Hi Eric:
Cutting a dose in half is WAY to fast a taper. A safe taper rate after you have been on a benzo drug for a long time is 10% of the reducing balance.
Too fast a taper is known to cause tinnitus and hyperacusis when you are coming off benzodiazepines. I don’t know whether going back to full strength for a month or so and then doing a slow taper would get your tinnitus under control or not. You might want to try it and see.
At the very least, you want to stay at the level you are at until the side effects go away and then continue with a slow taper.
You might also want to try taking Arches Tinnitus Formula for 3 months and see what happens. This special ginkgo formula helps some people who come off drugs and get tinnitus. You can get it at https://www.tinnitusformula.com/store/arches-tinnitus-formula/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I was prescribed Ativan 1mg 2mg for sleep about 8 years ago. I leaned of the dangers of the medication and started to tapered down a year ago to .05mg in about 5moths with no problems but manageable anxiety and was doing well. Than last October I got the flu and that’s when trouble began. I went to Urgent Care, the doctor I saw prescribed me Tamaflu some type of Hydocodone cough medicine and told me to double up on Ativan because I would be in a lot of pain. You must know I’ve never abused drugs and have led a clean life set aside the Ativan for sleep which I was told was not harmful from my prescribing doctor. I’ve never used cough medicine and 4 or five days after starting I woke up from the flu I realized I had taken almost 3 quaters of the bottle of cough medicine over a 4 or 5 day period at least 4 2mgs of ativan probably each day and the Tamaflu. For about 5 week after the flu I felt like I had a heavy feeling behind my head and couldn’t grasp sounds behind me. Than about 5 weeks after the flu one night out of nowhere I got the loudest ringing in my ears it was horrifying and unbearable! I went to a very well known audiologist group first thing Monday and the doctor told me I had mild age related hearing loss and stress, I’m going through a separation. He wanted to prescribe Colonapin but I wouldn’t take it. When I went to my family doc he thought I had a station tube issue and put me on a steroid low dose because Im very sensitive and Bertram which I had a terrible reaction to on the 6th day but the steroid covered up the reaction. The ringing did get better but now has retuned and my ears feel clogged again. I wonder if I did permeant damage by consuming that medication while having the flu. My doctor and pharmacist both insist I didn’t. And yes, I have terrible anxiety also. What are your thoughts.
Very Sincerely
Hana
Hi Hanna:
Eight years is a long time to be on a drug–especially a benzodiazepine. Conventional wisdom is that you not be on benzos for more than a month (I say two weeks). You were wise to taper down slowly with the aim of getting off this drug.
Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is not known to cause hearing loss or tinnitus so I don’t think this drug caused your problems.
Hydrocodone by itself probably didn’t cause your ear problems either–unless you take it for several months at high doses–which you didn’t.
I don’t know what Bertram is. Are you sure you spelled it correctly?
What you are experiencing may not be related to the drugs at all. It could be that the flu virus got into your inner ears and caused some hearing loss with the resulting tinnitus.
And of course, stress and anxiety can make tinnitus much worse. You need to learn how to control your anxiety and stress without taking drugs so they no longer have a hold on you. Your tinnitus may calm down when you do that.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, I’m 19 and I’ve developed a strong ringing in my right ear, its quite consistant and sometimes it gets so loud it makes me super nervous and I feel like my mind is going crazy and i’m going to pass out. I don’t know what to do and the only thing that seems to help jjust a little is watching shows so I have some sort of background noise and distraction. Any advice?
Hi Mauricio:
There are two things that are proven to help tinnitus. First is to mask your tinnitus with background sounds (like you are sometimes doing). This does two things–gives your brain real sounds to listen to and thus helps keep your mind from focusing on your tinnitus so much, and two, reduces the contrast between the volume of your tinnitus and quiet. This makes it easier to stand your tinnitus.
Second, you need to focus on things other than your tinnitus and treat your tinnitus just like you do any other meaningless background sound that you basically tune out. If you focus on your tinnitus and form negative emotions towards it, this will just make it worse. You need to remain emotionally neutral towards your tinnitus.
You can learn much more about this in the latest edition of my book on tinnitus, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus–Here’s How”. You can get a copy at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
Cordially,
Neil
I suffer from PTSD which is why I have anxiety and agoraphobia. I have suffered off and on for 20 years now. Almost one year to the day that my mom passed away (5 years ago) I developed tinnitis. The ringing in my right ear threw me into horrible anxiety once again. The ringing calmed down after about 3 weeks. I went into therapy so I could handle my now new ear problem and to deal with my grief. I don’t hear the ringing too much anymore in my right ear but I now have off and on ringing or rumbling in both my ears from time to time. I also get light headed and off balanced too. This usually only happens when I am very stressed and overwhelmed. I also will feel like I can’t hear as good in my left ear then my right ear. I even will feel like I am numb on one side of my head. At times I am very sensitive to things that makes noise turning on and off in my house. Again this is only a problem when I am stressed and my anxiety is high. So there is a connection between stress and the ears. I also have to wear sunglasses more when I am stressed. I get very sensitive to light. Several months prior to me developing ear issues I had multiple head colds and the flu. I also cried a lot after mom passed. I also was on the phone a lot with my sister with my right ear. I am sure grief, stress, phone volume, and head congestion played a part in the tinnitis. Then my fear ran with it. Therapy did help with my ears. So I know there is a stress and ear connection. I still from time to time let my ears freak me out but again thats only when I am stressed out. Its like my ears are a distraction from whats really bothering me. I will focus in on my ears when I get really upset. Its like a bad habit now. I do have sensitive hearing now. I do not like the movie theater at all now. Its just too loud and it makes me feel like I cant think straight. Also I feel like if I listen to things too loud then I will get stuck with a ringing sound again. My ears do scare me even though I know what the causes are. Its a very uneasy feeling when your ears act up especially when you already have PTSD.
I had an ear operation mid April 2016 on my left ear to improve my hearing. My stape was replace with ear cartilage. Hearing in the low frequencies has improved but high freq got worse. I have had tinnitus since the operation. In the beginning it was all day. From the second month until now the tinnitus goes away while I sleep. When I wake up it is almost gone or not noticeable. As soon as I begin to hear sound, the tinnitus increases. If I am outside it is quite loud and unbearable (hissing sound of high pitch). I am developing now a low pitch rumbling (just in the last week). What is you feeling about the use of steroids? I am almost at 90 days post op. The have given me b-12 vitamins and sleeping pills. Went to see another doctor and I have have anti depressants.
Hi Stine:
At 90 days, I personally don’t think that steroids will still be helpful, but go with what your doctor says.
Taking pills isn’t the answer. Why are you taking sleeping pills if the tinnitus goes away while you sleep? And why take anti-depressants? Are you depressed–or are you just looking for an easy way out? Learn to focus on things other than your tinnitus. The more you focus on your tinnitus, the worse you make things for yourself.
Are your neck muscles tight, or is your neck relaxed? Sometimes that can be the problem when your tinnitus goes away when you sleep (and relax your neck muscles), and comes back when you wake up.
Cordially,
Neil
So glad to find this site and read the question and comments. How safe is the shingles vaccine as far as making tinnitus worse?
Hi Linda:
I have no information on whether there are any ototoxic side effects to Zostavax. The chickenpox vaccine–Varivax isn’t reported to affect tinnitus as near as I can tell, so probably Zostavax won’t either.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear doctor Bauman.
My tinnitus and hyperacusis is getting worse each year and I am wondering if the estrogen patches and cyproterone acetate I use are causing it. Are they ototoxic? I cant find a lot of information about it.
I hope you can help me. I have tried everything but unfortunately I cannot stop take these meds. The cyproterone acetate is low dose. 10mg.
Hi Kim
Cyproterone is not listed as causing tinnitus, hearing loss or hyperacusis so I don’t think that drug is the culprit.
Some of the synthetic estrogens can cause hearing loss, which may make your tinnitus worse. They are not listed as causing hyperacusis.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very very much !!!
Love
Kim
Hello Doc…I wanted to ask you a question to this post…I was wondering if birthcontrol can cause tinnitus worse or hypercusis, I have experienced a week before cycle my tinnitus gets worse, women do pertain more fluid and I had several vertigo attacks and votimited….So what I did is the week before my cycle I take diuretics 12.5 amd it helped to not have so much pressure in the ears…I don’t take a water pill everyday…I trt to take nothing…I do take 35mg of wellburtrin and 100 mg of losartan for high blood and vitamin d, vitmin c, multi vitamin, fish oil and vitamin e, and biotin…I was told I had meniree disease but rather a doctor do any testing for with water or see what I do have I just a guess. I know I have estastion defect..fluid, mucus and inflammation must not drain from my tube right and gives me pressure..and loss of hearing and tinnitus sensitive to loud noises, and equilibrium off at times makes me get off balance..but once a month or two or three I will have vertigo attack which I think vomiting fluids and muscus and inflammation probably helps maybe…I use to do that over years and my ears woruld open up after 3 days of being closed up but last 10 months consistent hearing loss and tinnitus sometimes its goes up and down,, when I touch my ear my ear gets louder maybe u don’t understand that I touch my face round ear and ill get a louder ring in ear for second…Its crazy but no doc helps you especially without insurance and you cant work and no Medicaid because no kids…Please advice? I’m also going to take stereiod pack its been since agust since I have and I just wanta see if help…last chance…ususally metro. or predisone help in past….
Hi Gina:
Yes birth control pills can cause tinnitus and/or hyperacusis in some people–but it’s not all that common.
Have you had the vertigo, hearing loss, hyperacusis, etc. before you began taking the Wellbutrin? or just after? Wellbutrin can cause all the symptoms of Meniere’s disease so I’d like to know which came first.
When you touch your face and hear your tinnitus momentarily louder, this is called somatosensory tinnitus. This is not unknown, but it is not all that common either.
What I really think is happening, assuming it is not the Wellbutrin, is that you do have Meniere’s disease and the tension before your periods tends to tighten up your neck muscles and brings on a Meniere’s attack.
The fundamental cause of Meniere’s disease is your C1 and C2 vertebrae in your neck are out of proper alignment and thus pinch the vestibulocochlear nerve bringing on the hearing loss, tinnitus and vertigo, while the feelings of fullness are the result of the trigiminal nerve being pinched. It controls your face muscles as well as your Eustachian tubes.
The fact you have somatosensory tinnitus near your ear is another clue that your vertebrae are out.
The good news is that the vertigo can be treated and go away immediately after one treatment. If I were you, I’d go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor (not a conventional one) and have him check out your C1 and C2 vertebrae. You can find these guys by going to http://upcspine.com/ and hover over “practitioners” and then choose your area. Then look for one near you.
To learn more about Meniere’s and this treatment for it, read my comprehensive article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ . This is definitely what I’d do if I was in your shoes. It likely will solve your problems without needing any more drugs.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doc, I’am 18 years old, 3 days ago in the morning when i woke up, I found that I could hear a lot lesser in my left ear and a ringing sound too. I went to a doctor he gave me some tablets and a eardrop too .He said it maybe wax stucked in as i used cotton plug to remove wax earlier. After 3 days of using that, today i had the same problem in my right ear too when i got up in the morning. The same ringing sound and a lot lesser hearing capacity. Also, it pains when I have a hiccup. And also when I talk, i hear my own voice louder in my ear.Please help
Hi Yadnesh:
Why didn’t your doctor look in your ears and see if there was any wax–and take it out if there was any? That is what doctors are supposed to do. Then you’d know whether there was any wax or not that was causing the problem. I still think that is what you need to do–then we can rule out wax as a cause of your ear problems.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doc, I am 24 year old female, I had a bad sinus infection more than two months back and blocked my ears. The ear infection got cleared in a week or so with antibiotics. Now since the last two months I have been having echo in my ear while talking. I hear myself loudly in one year and there has been a lot of jaw pain. Not to forget, I used to clench and move my jaw a lot during sinus because of the blocked ear. The sounds are also sensitive in the right ear. And now the loudness has transferred to the other ear as well. It’s been two months of this ear struggle. What could be causing it. Kindly advise.
Hi AK:
There are several possibilities. First, it could be that the antibiotic damaged your ears (all antibiotics can to some degree or other). That could have caused the echo and distorted hearing.
Another possibility is that you put your temporomandibular joint (TMJ) out of alignment and that is causing your increased sensitivity to sound.
If your jaw/neck is tight or your jaw snaps and cracks when you chew, then probably most of it is due to the latter, but don’t rule out that the drugs may have played a part. So it would be good to get your jaw/neck checked out to be sure they are in proper alignment.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Neil,
I am a 54 year old male. I have had tinnitus for a month now. I think I got it from heat exhaustion. I was training for mountain climbing for an upcoming holiday in a hot humid climate. On the way down from a 900m mountain, I got dizzy and ringing ears for 30 mins. 2 weeks later I got tinnitus. I am quite an anxious person, and my job involves a lot of stress, so maybe I was vulnerable. During the first week I had it 24 x 7. Then I went on holidays for a week, during which on many days it completely disappeared. On my return to work, I have been tracking it, and it is following a pattern of 2 bad days, followed by 1 day when it more or less goes away (although lately this has turned into 2 days of clearness rather than 1 ;)).
I am wondering if this kind of pattern is common. Also, I guess the holiday de-stressed me and so the Tinnitus improved? I am thinking of retiring soon, so maybe I will see an improvement. Anyway, your site is quite useful. Thanks for helping everyone!
Hi Peter:
I wouldn’t say your pattern is common, but then again, everyone is different. But it is good that you are getting more and more good days and fewer bad days. Keep it up and soon you’ll have your tinnitus under control. The important thing is to get your stress under control. In your case that may be a big key to keeping your tinnitus under control also.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr Neil,
I am 31 years old, I got tinnitus 15 days ago, as a high pitched tone mostly in my left ear, sometimes both. I went to my GP and because no infection, damage or hearing loss was involved, he told me to just go home and wait.. it will go away.. probably. I was told not to take any medication, supplements, they barely help. Anyway, this just left me really stressed and worried, and really angry about this approach where I barely got any answers.
I have few theories why it might have happened. I have upper back problems, clenching of the muscles, and at the time I got it, I had severe tension headache. I am also really anxious by nature, and had recent traumatic relocation, though at the time I got it, it was over and I was really relaxed .. for 2 weeks.
I do feel that I have bit progress, cause the first week it was really loud and constant, now I do get few hours of silence but it comes back. Also I have noticed that sometimes lately i hear ‘beep’, than few second silence, than beep again.. Like some irregular rhythm.. And yes, it’s much worse when I am stressed.
After reading hundreds of horror stories on the internet, and having zero explanation and support from my GP, I’d like to know how are my chances of recovery? Is this likely to go away on it’s own in month, two?
Is acupuncture a good idea in my case? I read some success stories with it..
Hi Maria:
From what you say, I wouldn’t be surprised if your tinnitus is somatosensory tinnitus caused by tight muscles in your face, neck and shoulders and also your upper cervical spine being out of proper alignment. I have written extensively about somatosensory tinnitus and how to best treat it in the 7th edition of my book on tinnitus, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”. You can get a copy at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ .
You would do well to get your anxiety under control so you can calm down and let your muscles relax. Acupuncture can certainly help in some cases, so it is worth a try.
The fact that your tinnitus is quiet for some hours at a time is a very good sign. It’s possible that it will go away on its own, but you can certainly help it along by using the various treatments for somatosensory tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
I have had T for quite a while. I always assumed it was from loud noises as I fly helicopters and planes. I had a hearing test last week and was told I had very little loss fo 50 and that I have protected my hearing well. My T went up in volume a couple of weeks ago and I know I am a stressed person. I have changed jobs and moved in the last three months. I have finally gone and seen someone who has said I have ptsd and abandonment issues unresolved from my childhood. My question is should I stop flying? I wear double protection and have not noticed the T being worse after. I think it is stress which has caused it to go up. It scares me,however, and I don’t want it to get worse.
Hi Tarik:
If you have been flying for years and protecting your ears with double protection, and your tinnitus hasn’t changed from that, then I think you should continue flying–since it is something you love to do obviously.
You could be right about your stress being the real culprit to your increased tinnitus. So I’d work on getting that under control and see if your tinnitus starts to fade into the background again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
About 4 Weeks ago I woke up after sleeping to find my left ear having a feeling of fullness and ringing. I went to Bali two days later after seeing a GP who gave me a referral for a CT Scan. I had to go to Bali two days later, I did not seem to notice the ringing while I was on holiday. On my return I had the CT Scan that showed some sinus inflammation on the left side. I was put on prednisolone and the antibiotic doxycycline and the ENT says I have perfect hearing. Since all this the tinnitus is no better and has actually got worse. Also during the year I started tapering of Lexapro which I wish I had never taken. I have been really distraught over it all. I am worried tapering of Lexapro has caused my tinnitus even though I tapered really slowly or could the prednisolone or doxycycline have made it worse. Any advise would be appreciated. I’m terrified.
Hi Jason:
Doxycycline can cause tinnitus in some people. But so can having a middle ear infection.
Escitalopram (Lexapro) also causes tinnitus in some people. Since it is an SSRI, you have to taper of it slowly. I don’t know what you call a slow taper, but to me a slow taper is 1/3 of 1% per day. In other words it takes a minimum of 300 days (about 10 months) to get off a drug at that rate. For some people, even that is too fast.
If your tinnitus was caused by the Lexapro, you may find that your tinnitus slowly fades away over a period of 3 years or so (as it did for one man). So you have some hope that it will not be permanent.
At the same time, just worrying about your tinnitus can make it worse and permanent. You need to learn that tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being. When you treat it as a non-threatening condition, you allow it to slowly fade away as you focus on other things.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Bauman,
I am a 31 year old female, suffering frum tinnitus and hyperacusis. So far, it has been two months.
Throughout the summer (June/July/August) I had to take 1 mg of Colchicene daily, due to a pericarditis. While taking the medication, I had two UTI’s and a tonsillitis, for which I took Norfloxacin and Clindamycin, respectively.
In September, I discontinued the Colchicine and the pericarditis had healed, however six weeks later, in mid-October, I started running a fever and had a UTI again. This time, I was given Fosfomycin and about an hour after taking it, my right ear started to hurt and snap and I was suddenly extremely sensitive to sounds.
Two days later, the right ear started ringing, so I rushed to the hospital and was given steroid injections for four days and was then supposed to temper the dose with pills (Predni). This has made everything was worse and I am eversince in a living hell, with my head under a bell of sounds. Of course, I have seen several ENT’S and, suprisingly, my hearing is perfect and the other tests (OAE, etc. are fine as well).
Dr Bauman, could you please give me your thoughts on the medications I have been taking and if there is any chance that I will get rid of the tinnitus again?
Kind regards,
Theresia
Hi Theresia:
As far as I can tell, Colchicine is not ototoxic–at least I have no information that it is.
Norfloxacin can cause hearing loss (apparently it is temporary) and tinnitus in some people.
Clindamycin can cause hearing loss, hyperacusis and tinnitus. So that drug is a possible culprit.
Fosfomycin is only listed as causing an unspecified ear disorder. It is not very ototoxic as near as I can tell. So it should not have caused your tinnitus–but it sure looks suspicious since your right ear problems began about an hour after taking the Fosfomycin. The tinnitus could have been a reaction to whatever damage the Fosfomycin did (assuming it did the damage).
I have no information to tell me whether your tinnitus from any of the drugs will be permanent or not. However, I can tell you this. If you view your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, your limbic system will lock on to it and make it even louder and more intrusive. On the other hand , if you convince yourself that your tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being in any way, but is just a new, meaningless “environmental” background sound, it will tend to fade into the background where you will not notice it for long periods of time.
So whether it goes away on its own or not, you have a way of bringing it under your control so it will no longer bother you. This will take time. It won’t happen overnight.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman,
as a specialist – concerning a cure for tinnitus. Will there ever be one? If yes, what is your best guess in terms of how many more years it will take?
Thank you
Hi Isabella:
Too many people think of tinnitus as a single condition and thus are looking for THE cure. In truth, there are a number of different kinds of tinnitus and the “cure” for each of them is different. For example, if you have somatosensory tinnitus, you may have your neck or jaw “out”. Thus having specialized chiropractic or physiotherapy treatments may get rid of that kind of tinnitus quite fast.
If your tinnitus is the result of hearing loss, then restoring hearing for example by wearing hearing aids can cause this kind of tinnitus to fade away–at least while wearing hearing aids.
If you tinnitus is a result of taking various drugs, simply getting off those drugs can result in that kind of tinnitus going away. (This doesn’t work for all drugs to be sure. Some cause permanent tinnitus.)
However, there is a complicating factor. You see, tinnitus is not a physical problem only. It is also an emotional problem. Thus it is a psychosomatic conditionoo and often you have to treat both the body and the mind/emotions.
For example, if you perceive your tinnitus to be a threat to your well-being in any way, then your tinnitus will not go away. However, if you do not consider your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being–no matter how loud it is–then you have an excellent chance of your tinnitus fading into the background so it doesn’t bother you.
This is a long-winded way of saying that some kinds of tinnitus can be cured now, some kinds can be treated so it is not a problem, some kinds are permanent at this time and some kinds of tinnitus will never go away until you have the right emotional attitude towards your tinnitus.
I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for o cure. There are so many things you can do now to help yourself deal with your tinnitus. Unfortunately, researches are mostly focused on finding a drug to cure tinnitus–and I don’t think that will ever happen–and will likely just cause other side effects that you’ll also have to deal with.
Cordially,
Neil
sser à la langue suivante : françaisHello doctor
Since 8 months my ears became sensitive to noise because I listened to the music too strong with headphones. Now my vi is a hell all the noises hurt me even the voice of people. I protect myself with a headset when I take or other noisy place.
A cause pain to noise I have heart that beats fast all the time never relaxed.
I’m afraid to live with it all my life
Hi Amelia:
Listening to loud music for too long can certainly damage your ears as you have found out. Besides hearing loss and tinnitus, one of the nasty side effects is hyperacusis where normal sounds are now too loud and often hurt.
You now have to protect your ears from louder sounds to give your ears time to heal. This can take a number of months. At the same time, you must be careful not to overprotect your ears by wearing ear protectors all the time or you will make this even worse.
I think you would also do well to find a counselor to help you get your anxiety under control so you can calm down and relax.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Bauman,
thank you so much for your reply. Could you specify, which kinds of medications cause PERMANENT tinnitus?
Best
Hi Isabella:
There is no definitive list. This is because some drugs cause permanent tinnitus in one person and not in others. It also depends a lot on the person’s psychological make-up. For example, if you perceive tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, it may never go away, whereas if you treat your tinnitus like any other unimportant environmental sound, it may fade into the background in time.
It may also depend on how long you take a given drug and the dosage at which you take it.
Therefore, I cannot tell you how a given drug will affect you and whether any tinnitus will be temporary or permanent. Tinnitus caused by some drugs is normally temporary (eg. aspirin), but by others, it is often permanent.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil. My dad (86) thinks the next door neighbours are persecuting him . He keeps hearing a loud wooing noise at night but also now day time which mysteriously switches on and off and no one else can hear. He is convinced they are operating a washing machine. Could this be tinnitus? He has been hard of hearing for years and also has recognizable tinnitus e.g. the buzzing or geeing sound as he describes it. Many thanks
Hi Maria:
Rather than tinnitus, I think this new sound is one of the Musical Ear Syndrome (MES) sounds. So is his reaction to this sound consistent of those who have MES. You can read my comprehensive article on MES at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/musical-ear-syndrome-the-phantom-voices-ethereal-music-other-spooky-sounds-many-hard-of-hearing-people-secretly-experience/ .
It seems his kind of MES is more of the “spooky sound” variety.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
My husband has been dealing with hyperacusis for the past four years. It has been getting worse over time along with anxiety. Currently, (for the past 4 weeks) he is working with a therapist to decrease the anxiety by way of phone/skype. He is trying to follow the recommendations of the therapist for breathing and relaxation and at the same time he is having worsening of sound sensitivity, pain with sound and anxiety ( he says he feels he is in fight or flight all the time). He can’t email you himself because the clicking sound of the keys hurts. Is he on the right track with the counseling? (The counselor feels the ear pain will decrease when the anxiety decreases.) Are there any new treatments for hyperacusis? Also, he is constantly identifying sounds which he feels have made his hyperacusis worse (water running, heating vent, etc.) Could exposure to these everyday, low level sounds make him worse? He is nervous about this all the time. We are both at a loss for why he is getting worse by the day.
Thanks for your time,
Ruth
Hi Ruth:
What happened 4 years ago to bring on the hyperacusis?
Did his anxiety come as a result of the hyperacusis, or was he anxious and high-strung before this happened?
I’m sure he is right and is stuck in the fight or flight mode. One of the key things is to get his anxiety under control, but his anxiety is just making things worse. It seems the counseling isn’t working if his anxiety is getting worse in spite of the counseling.
Counseling is good–but I think it needs to be tweaked up as it doesn’t seem to be working well. Maybe a different counselor? Or a different counseling program.
It’s not the various sounds that make his hyperacusis worse, but more likely the anxiety and focusing on these sounds that is doing him in.
If even the faint clicks of the keys on the keyboard are bothering him, I think he needs professional help. He needs to go to a tinnitus and hyperacusis center for help. They will most likely put him on a hyperacusis retraining program. This is not a quick fix but could take 2 or 3 years–but if all goes well and he sticks with it, eventually his hyperacusis will be a thing of the past.
Cordially,
Neil
I had a nervous breakdown last May and tinnitus I had for years which had gone unnoticed largely for years went sky high.
It had done this twice before. In march of last year and November of the year before but calmed back down within weeks.
I am on mirtazipine 45mg for 3 weeks now. A week on 15 and week on 30mg before that.
I get catarrhal problems but ENT say my sinuses are clear and no fluid in my ears.
Had bad flu over New year and still get dizzy. Dr says could be a mix of flu symptoms wearing off and stress. ENT have three times said that dizziness is nothing to do with my ears.
Got dizziness and congestion after the breakdown. saw ENT then and at the end of December. The specialist puts the tinnitus being so loud down to long term stress. And the fact it goes up and down is a good thing.
Dr put me on sertraline for weeks which did nothing except keep me ill. I have had propanolol, diazepam and now promethazine.
The promethazine I don’t want to take as it has tinnitus as a side effect. I don’t want to make mine worse as I have a hearing aid for my left ear with a noise generator. I have mild hearing loss there and some tinnitus in my right ear at times which was always fine.
I was put on escitalopram and my tinnitus went sky high. Came off that.
I have had two promethazine 10mg this evening and shortly after felt my tinnitus had gone up and it stayed up a while. Four to five hours. It is down a bit now but I could not hear the noise generator during that time.
The doctor prescribed the promethazine as it also helps calm you.
I was wondering if I can take Valerian instead of this and if it’s non nontoxic to my ears. As well as the first-round for the moment. I know this is non nontoxic.
I would truth be told rather not take anything but I have been having a tough time and do need something to help me get by.
I don’t want anything from my doctor as I would rather try something natural and something which won’t harm my ears.
I have only had the new hearing aid with generator a week but have noticed slight improvement in my left ear noises despite high anxiety at times. So tonight when they went up I thought it was the promethazine.
I am trying to deal with anxiety through relaxation etc.. but have a noisy neighbour who has been making things worse.
Can you advise me please?
Hi Jennifer:
Emotional stress can make your tinnitus worse. So can taking Mirtazapine in some people. So either or both could be the reason your tinnitus is so bad now.
I disagree with your ENT on the cause of your dizziness. There are two basic reasons to have dizziness. One is if your blood pressure is low and you stand up quickly and feel dizzy. This is called orthostatic dizziness. The other main reason is because the balance part of your ears is damaged–often from taking drugs. Numbers of people taking Mirtazapine get dizzy as a result.
Promethazine isn’t very ototoxic, but it can cause tinnitus in some people. Seems like you are one of them.
Sertraline can certainly cause tinnitus. Propranolol and Diazepam can cause tinnitus is some people.
As you know, Escitalopram also causes tinnitus in some people.
So you can see that ALL the drugs you have recently tried can result in tinnitus–and some have obviously made your tinnitus worse.
Valerian is not ototoxic so taking it should not affect your tinnitus.
I think you are now on the right track–trying to use natural means to get your life (anxiety) under control. You can try several things at once to help you control your anxiety. I’d suggest a good counselor as well–someone who will help you work through the cause of your anxiety and teach you proper ways to deal with it. In the meantime, you can try the Valerian if you wish and see whether it helps you. If it does, great. If not, then there are other herbals you could try.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I am 33 weeks pregnant and about 2 weeks ago I started having panic attacks. The attacks were triggered by feeling pressure in my ears like you do when on a plane. After an attack I developed tinnitus. This has been so stressful for me and has left me very anxious and depressed as I am so scared it will last forever. I went to my GP and she told me to take Claritin and chew gum. She had looked in my ears and said they looked good but could see some congestion in my nose. I really didn’t believe that it would help, the first night I took the Claritin the tinnitus dramatically improved and over the next few days, taking the Claritin it would come and go. Yesterday I went into an attack out of no where and the tinnitus came back. Of course this being my worst fear sent me into a huge panic. I got some sleep and it seems better…..
Can you tell me if tinnitus is common in pregnancy, do you think this will most likely go away after I give birth?
I have severe adrenal fatigue after many years of stress and chronic fatigue. Prozac gave me tinnitus, which turned into hyperacusis; so I had to end the drug. Tapering off the medication created such extreme anxiety and ocd that, coupled with a neighbour from hell who left me with no sleep for a year, ended up in a nervous breakdown. I tried more SSRI drugs and each one increased the noise sensitivity and tinnitus. Each is permanent. Two years later there has been no improvement. And all they can offer me is noise desensitisation and cbt. It is not working. My life is over and the GPs and audiologists don’t seem to take it seriously; no empathy whatsoever. Its a living hell
Hi Anne:
As you can see, drugs are not the answer. They just add to your problems, and the more drugs you take, the greater your problems become. It’s probably not going to get better while you are on the drugs that are causing your tinnitus and hyperacusis in the first place. You need to find a solution that does not involve your taking ototoxic drugs.
Then you may find that taking Tinnitus Retraining Therapy and Hyperacusis Retraining Therapy will help you get these two conditions under control. Note that these are not short term solutions. It may take you up to 3 years–but if you persevere, it will be worth it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil, I developed Tinnitus after going off depression and anxiety meds for 4 months to see if I could live without meds. After the 4 month of extreme anxiety it when my left ear started ringing. Now, trying to go back on a meds to control anxiety and depression, trying desipramine 20mg As I go up in dose on desipramine it seems to cause sensitivity to sound is worse at higher doses. I had MRI and ENT doc check me out and nothing is wrong. I would like to believe this all will get better with time and as I get my anxiety under control. I feel like I am struggling to get help from any of these doctors. Any thoughts?
Hi Gary:
Desipramine can cause both tinnitus and hyperacusis (supersensitivity to sound) as you have unfortunately discovered. Not only that, drugs just treat the symptoms, not the underlying cause. Thus, if you take drugs, you have to stay on them for the rest of your life. If you try to get off them, the depression and anxiety come back.
To my way of thinking, you need to deal with the fundamental cause of your depression and anxiety. I suggest going to a good counselor that is experienced in dealing with these problems. Then you should be able to get off and stay off drugs in the future.
Cordially,
Neil
Excellent article thank you.It gives us hope.
I took an anti botic treatment for what i thought may be a std.
My doc never dis any blood tests .just handed me thé script.
I have been tappering off valium for 1 yr and was down To 2mg once a day..
I was feeling pretty good .
A week or so after thé anti botic treatment ended i started haveing loud ringing in My ears ..its been 5 weeks now .i am on my 3rd round of antiboitic treatment and thé 1 of 2 doc i saw gave me a nasal spray ..my doc removed wax.so far nothing is working ..i started takeing a higher dose of benzo as thé ringing was causeing me to panic thus running out of my valium
I talked to my doc about getting my valium ..my shrink and my doc just cut me off…Just like that..ive been on them for 20 yrs …now i have ringing in My ears and im in My house in sheer hell!! Im starting To loose it.
I thought a doc would not just cut me off?? I dunno i was down To 2mg and sticking To my program..this ringing in My ears along with this horrible withdrwal is just horrible…
I feel like there is no hope ..
Hi Karen:
Which antibiotic were you taking? Almost all antibiotics can result in tinnitus, so I’m not surprised that your ears began ringing–especially if you were on round 3.
You shouldn’t have increased your dose without getting your doctor’s ok. I think that is why they cut you off–because they thought you were “overdosing”. If I were you I’d find another doctor that will work with you to continue your taper and get you off the Valium completely–but as you know, it has to be done slowly or bad things can happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
About 5 weeks ago I started hearing slight ringing in both ears only while in a quiet room – not a big deal. A week later I had a sinus infection and treated with augmentin. Two weeeks later the ringing intensified to a high frequency ringing. I saw an ENT and had a hearing test. I have very slight high frequency hearing loss in both ears but the ENT specialist said this should not be causing the extreme ringing I am experiencing. I am also experiencing a large amount of anxiety because of this and he thinks my anxiety is magnifying the ringing. I visited a psychiatrist and she wants to put me on 50 mg of Zoloft. In the past I have used ear buds with my iPhone while exercising occasionally so not sure if an damage has been done. Right now I am in a just wait and see mode and hoping that the ring will eventually decrease in volume. One other thing to add – I had an MRI and everything looks great. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Kevin:
Amoxicillin (Augmentin) can cause tinnitus and hearing loss. I’ll bet you have far more than a slight high-frequency hearing loss. They just test your hearing to 8,000 Hz, but your high-frequency hearing goes up to 20,000 Hz or so. And any hearing loss up there could result in tinnitus–especially if it is a high-frequency kind of tinnitus.
Your anxiety could certainly be making your tinnitus louder and more intrusive. You need to get your anxiety under control. A good counselor can help you deal with your anxiety. So can learning how to bring your tinnitus under your control. In my opinion, drugs are not the answer. In fact, they often make matters worse in the long run.
To get your tinnitus under control you have to do some things. First, you need to realize that tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being. If you treat it that way, it will continue to bother you. However, if you treat it as a totally meaningless and unimportant sound, you can let it fade into the background. I think you’ll find chapter 16 in my book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” will really help you. You can get this book at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ .
At the same time, don’t focus on your tinnitus at all. Instead, focus on the loves of your life. As you do that, your tinnitus will slowly fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello again Dr. Neil,
I could use your advice once again. I am now about 11 weeks into tinnitus (as I have explained above) and I am doing much better and my “T” seems to have settled a bit , maybe not as loud and the high pitch has seemed to ease ever so slightly. However, when I shower or go for a drive my “T” increases in volume. This lasts for most of the day and then settles. I have read this is a “reactive” tinnitus and the reactive part can go away over time but I need to “desensitize” my ears by not over protecting them. I now always wear maximum hearing protection when needed (cutting grass, power tools) and have also purchased filtering ear plugs for events that are louder or provide music such as community festivals and such. My question is – would you suggest wearing filtering ear protection while driving? I have measure the db levels in my vehicle and they range 75-85 db at highway speeds.
Also, just to make clear… I do not wear ear plugs any other time except near very loud noises (+80db). I have read where you said wearing ear plugs when not needed is counterproductive and can make tinnitus worse.
Your suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Kevin
Hi Kevin:
It looks like you doing all the right things now in order to try to protect your ears. If your tinnitus is reacting to louder sounds–in other words if you have reactive tinnitus, and you have this reactive tinnitus when you are driving, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wear earplugs to bring the level of sound down to just below where it causes your tinnitus to react.
You want to be careful not to over protect your ears, so you might not need heavy duty ear protectors in this case. Just enough to bring the sound level down so your tinnitus doesn’t react, but no more than that.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks again Dr. Neil. Always appreciate your advice!
Hi Dr. Neil,
Thanks for the reply. I agree, drugs are not the solution. I have stopped all medications but I am still scheduled to see my psychologist to help get my anxiety under control. I do believe my underlying anxiety is a big contributor. I feel ten times better now then when this first started 6 weeks ago but I still have slight tremors and shortness of breath. The ringing still continues, although I do have times it seems to vanish for a couple minutes and/or becomes much quieter, but I’m hoping once my underlying anxiety is resolved my ringing will diminish as well.
Thanks again,
Kevin
Hello Dr.Neil
I have question, im 24y/o and i was perfectly fine till 4 days ago, my hearing got bad suudenly but sometimes it’s back to normal, and sometimes i cant hear things. Is this a disease or somethings else?
Thank you very much
Hi Amgaa:
I don’t know what you have based on the little you’ve told me. it’s possible that you have some wax in your ear that is causing this. Or, it could be due to any one of a number of medications you may be taking. I’d have to know a lot more about your situation before I can tell you what’s going on.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
I had a look at the questions and answers above and found them very helpful.
I’ve had tinnitus for about a year now and I think it’s related to the way I deal with stress. I clench my jaw and raise my shoulders/stiff my neck when I’m stressed and I think It might be the cause of my tinnitus.
However I would like to ask you something. I’ve had my wisdom tooth removed last week on the same side of my tinnitus and from that day my T spiked a lot. The extraction was quite long and stressful but now I’m worried that even when my mouth will heal my tinnitus will stay this loud.
Do you have info on situations like this? Can a wisdom tooth extraction permanently aggravate my tinnitus?
Thank you so much for your help in advance
Regards
Dalia
Hi Dalia:
I think you are right–that your tinnitus is related to your stress and how it affects your neck, jaw and shoulders. This kind of tinnitus is called somatosensory tinnitus. Relaxing the muscles in your face, neck and shoulders can really help control or eliminate this kind of tinnitus. A good massage therapist or physiotherapist should be able to really help you in this.
You didn’t say which wisdom tooth you had out. Typically, I think that upper wisdom teeth, since their roots are quite close to your inner ear, can result in tinnitus more than the lower teeth.
However, if in the process of taking out a lower wisdom tooth, your jaw gets further out of alignment from having you mouth wide open and maybe some stress put on your jaw and neck while pulling the tooth out can make your tinnitus worse.
So much of whether tinnitus is permanent or not depends on your own attitude towards your tinnitus. If you treat it as a threat to your well being in any way, then it will stay. But if you treat it as “no big deal”, typically it will fade into the background and not bother you. So in the meantime, learn to ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and hopefully your tinnitus will soon drop back to its old level.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your help and taking the time to help all of us.
Little update on my T. I’ve had it for three years no, it got louder in time and I’ve tried with a night splint for the clenching, but didn’t help.
I developed anxiety because of it and the more anxious i am the more my tinnitus spikes. during weekends, when i relax, my T gets very low. but during the week, when i’m stressed i feel like i keep my neck and shoulders so tight that my T is always louder.
To be honest i’m losing hope, I think tinnitus made me a worse person because of all the worries and anxiety i’m experiencing.
I do have a few questions for you:
1) i’m taking levotiroxin 100, the contraceptive pill Yaz and occasionally Zomig for the headaches. Any of these bad for T?
2) lets say my tinnitus was caused by amoxicillin. would a T caused by this medication get worse in time or stay the same? Note that ENT confirmed i have no damage to my ears whatsoever or hearing loss
3) misalignment of the C1 C2 atlas can really cause tinnitus? i know that if i yawn or move/tense my neck, my T gets worse. is this an indication that is related to my neck? can a misaligned jaw/neck be treated?
I know it’s a lot of questions, but i am really trying to get to the bottom of this.
Thank you again
Best
Dalia
Hi Dalia:
First, you need to quit obsessing and worrying about your tinnitus if you want to get better. You should be focusing on the lives of your life and totally ignoring your tinnitus so that they can start to fade into the background.
Second, you need to get your anxiety under control. When you let your anxiety get the best of you it just makes matters worse including your tinnitus.
Now to answer your questions.
1. Levothyroxine can and does cause tinnitus in numbers of people. So does Yaz, but to a lesser extent. And so does Zomig, but tinnitus is not a very common side effect.
2. If your tinnitus was caused by amoxicillin, I would expect your tinnitus to stay the same or get better with time, not get worse.
3. If your neck is out of proper alignment, that can cause tinnitus. TMJ can also cause tinnitus. So can tight muscles in your neck and face. Since you know your neck is already tight, I’d suggest that you see an upper cervical spine chiropractor as your first step. He can make sure that your C1 and C2 vertebrae are in proper alignment. To find an upper cervical chiropractor go to http://www.upcspine.com/ and then click on “Practitioners”.
Once you know your neck is incorrect alignment and if your tinnitus is still just as bad, then you may want to go to a massage therapist and make sure the muscles in your upper back neck and face are all properly balanced and relaxed.
You can learn a lot more about all of this in my tinnitus book which you can get at http://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
On May 25th my right ear sounded like I had marching soldiers in there. The following Tuesday I went to see an audiologist to have my ears syringed as this cleared the marching the first and only other time I had it. The audiologist said my ears were clear and no wax. He did a sound test and I have perfectly normal hearing. I asked him to syringe me right ear anyway and he cleared some dry skin but the soldiers kept on marching. Thursday night I thought they were getting better and then I woke in the night to really loud high pitched ringing in both ears. This has been constant since. I had the marching for 10 days and for the last 4 ringing. I’m not sure if the marching is still there as the high pitch noise is just too loud. I’m not sleeping very well (I have to use a ‘rain’ app on my phone to drain out the sound at night), I’ve lost my appetite and I feel sick. I haven’t been able to see a GP yet but I’m booked in for next Thursday. I have emailed my surgery and I’m waiting to hear back from them. I’m a stressful person with anxiety and OCD and I think this noise has probably been caused by stress. Is it common for the marching (it was in line with my heart beat) to change to the high pitch ringing?
This website has been excellent for helping me calm down as I was finding it difficut to cope (I had a crying meldown at lunchtime).
Regards
Samantha
Hi Samantha:
If the marching is in exact time with your heartbeat, then you have pulsatile tinnitus. this could be caused by high blood pressure or clogged arteries in your head and neck. When you are under a lot of stress, or are anxious, that can raise your blood pressure and because the marching soldiers in time to your heartbeat.
The high-pitched tinnitus could be from an entirely different cause than your pulsatile tinnitus– but it could still be due to your high levels of stress and anxiety.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Dr. Neil.
29 years old, overall healthy male here which has regularly worked out calisthenics for the past years.
No acoustic trauma, but anxious and subjected to deep stress lately: mother coping with cancer, extreme turmoil in my home country: Venezuela -where I live-, elderly but supportive parents and distressing changes in my home.
I woke up Fri Jun 2nd to a high pitched beep-sound (sort of a defective old-electronic circuit which emits
acute beeps) in what I thought was my right ear. Same day in the morning, had an appointment with the ENT,
which found no blocking on my ears whatsoever. He asked me to come back in three weeks to perform an audiogram
should Tinnitus not recede. He also prescribed Nimotop and Alprazolam which I had only for one or two days without a change.
On Mon Jun 5th, I had my audiogram (I’m a very anxious person and could barely pass the weeekend) which showed
no hearing loss (Up to 8000Hz). Blood test also didn’t show anything wrong. That same day I visited another ENT
which didn’t find anything wrong with my hearing and kept me on Alprazolam and to desist taking Nimotop. She had
me injected anti-inflamattory and prescribed anti-allergic drugs and insisted on my hearing being completely fine and related it to stress and personality.
I ended up visiting a neurologist which cancelled everything before and kept me on Alprazolam and Carmazepina (this one I can’t find in the country since we’re facing such difficult times and there aren’t any meds coming in).
I’m almost two weeks into this and haven’t found relief. Alprazolam (0.5 mg)seemed to keep it fainted during the first days but not so sure now. The beep continues in its intensity and sometimes I hear like a background magic-wand sound.
I would like to know what are the chances of it being an acute episode and not chronic. I could live with it knowing that it will last for a few months only. I’ve suffered stress-related syndromes in the past which went away on its own after several months: lower back pain, dry coughing, fluttering eyelids.
Thanks for your advice.
Hi Oswaldo:
Why did your doctor prescribe high blood pressure medication just because you have tinnitus? It just doesn’t make sense. I can understand him prescribing Alprazolam because it helps reduce your anxiety in the short term. However, this drug is a Benzodiazepine, and as such builds up dependence. When that happens, basically you’re hooked on that drug and it ceases to be beneficial. Thus, it should only be taken in the short term. To me, short-term means for two weeks or so, not for months on end.
Furthermore, injecting you with anti-inflammatory drugs and getting you taking anti-allergy drug when that isn’t the problem seems stupid to me. Doctors don’t think they’re doing anything unless they are prescribing drugs, and drugs are not the answer for tinnitus.
Be glad the Carbamazepine is not readily available in your country because it is quite ototoxic and harms the ears of a good number of people.
Whether your tinnitus is short-lived, or becomes permanent, is largely up to you and how you deal with your tinnitus. For example, if you teach your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being in any way, it most likely will prove to be permanent.
However, if you treat your tinnitus the same as you would a totally inconsequential sound that you typically ignore, such as the noise your refrigerator makes, then you could expect your tinnitus to fade away as you get your anxiety and stress under control.
The more you worry about your tinnitus and obsess over it, the greater the chances it will be permanent. Thus, the best thing you can do is to totally and completely ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Bauman: I have had advanced tinnitus for several years now and two weeks ago I was awakened by a shrill, siren-sound so strong intensive in my head that I almost went into Intensive Care, but 2 minutes before leaving, the sound settled down in my ear & reg. tinnitus took over. I’m scared to death it will occur again when I am driving. Do you know the cause, or how I should treat it? I went to an EMT & neurology doctor but knew nothing. Can you suggest what to do?
Hi Joe:
Most people experience shrill, piercing, tinnitus occasionally. Typically, this only lasts for a very short time–from a fraction of a second to maybe up to 10 seconds. The sound quickly rises to a crescendo in a fraction of a second, then quickly drops in the next few seconds until you don’t hear it anymore.
Your experience seems a bit different in that it lasted a lot longer than 10 seconds or so, but seemed to follow the same basic pattern.
Other times, tinnitus just seems to come out of nowhere at a very loud level. This can last from several minutes to an hour or more, and then just as mysteriously, it drops back to its old level, or fades away.
I’ve experienced this myself. I can find no reason for the tinnitus to suddenly appear at that loud level, nor for it to fade away again. It just happens. Fortunately, it’s quite rare, at least in my case.
I never sought out any treatment for it. You just put up with it when it happens, and then put it out of your mind and forget all about it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I have had tinnitus since I was a child. I had spinal meningitis when I was 3 so they think it’s possible I got it from the high doses of medication.
It sound can be compared to when you turn on those old TV’s and hear that high pitched hiss sound when it first comes on….that’s exactly what it sounds like but … ALL the time. I have become accustomed to it and just put in the background but I can tune into it anytime.
Recently I took some antibiotics and started noticing a new clicking sound in my left ear. It went away.. then it came back and not its gone again. But now, my tinnitus is so bad this week that when I hear anything with the letter s in it it sounds extremely loud! I love rock music but had to turn it off in the car because the treble “felt” so piercingly high pitched. I read that people with tinnitus can also experience hyperacusis so I assume that’s what this is.
I am wondering if this could be because I have had a lot of financial stress lately AND to top it off, my ex husband bought a home 6 miles away from me and moved in on Sunday (he was 2 hours away before) THAT’s the day the hyperacusis started! I’m notsure why I had those clicking sounds only that maybe my tinnitus is changing over the years..
My question is do you think it’s probably worse now from stress and anxiety? Oh and I have been really congested (possible allergies)and my ears feel full so I am taking sinus medication over the counter to see if that helps the sounds! I take Lexapro for OCD and Anxiety which I have been on for 13 years and I also take Omeprezole for my stomach. I’m not sure if either of these could suddenly make my ears worse or not. What is your opinion and is there anything I can do to try to relieve the hyperacusis? I’m hoping it’s temporary!
Hi Kelly:
Almost all antibiotics can cause tinnitus or make your existing tinnitus worse. I think that is what happened with you.
Yes, you can have hyperacusis. Some drugs can cause it. And it often accompanies tinnitus–especially if your tinnitus is the result of listening to loud sounds. Since you love Rock music, I’ll bet you’ve exposed your ears to music well over the safe limit and it time that alone can result in tinnitus and hyperacusis. So there are a number of factors that could have all come together to cause your current situation.
Also, anxiety and stress can certainly exacerbate tinnitus.
Escitalopram (Lexapro) can cause tinnitus in some people. So can Omeprazole. Since you have been on these drugs for a number of years, I doubt they are the present culprits.
And of course, your allergies can add to your tinnitus by affecting your hearing to some degree–thus making your tinnitus worse.
To deal with your hyperacusis, the first thing I’d do is make sure you don’t expose your ears to loud sounds. Don’t listen to any music at a volume that is higher than normal speech.
Also, work on dealing with your stress and anxiety without taking more drugs. There is nothing wrong with having some stress in your life. It’s how you deal with it that makes all the difference.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr,
I have been suffering from tinnitus since November 2016. I do not know what caused them. A few days before I had a big crisis of anxiety. Or it’s listening to music with headphones (loud but less than an hour and a half, just time to go shopping, and it was pretty rare) anyway . I had succeeded in resuming a normal life.
Now 3 weeks ago my tinnitus became a little more acute. And it increases that I listen to music or a video (youtube, movie, ..). Sometimes it’s less pronounced more times. Before it gets worse I sometimes put my headphones but this time has mid volume and less than an hour. The fact that tinnitus has aroused. I have read a lot about tinnitus and hyperacusis. Following an ac big anxiety .. I managed to reduce my anxiety (I am already an anxious, and very emotional). Sometimes my tinnitus is low but always very acute. (Often it becomes stronger when lying down)
I’m trying to find leads.
I forgot to mention that I made an audiogram which shows just a drop at -40cb on the 8000Hz. But my tinnitus is about 11000Hz
Thank you
Hi Clement:
I’m sure your tinnitus has at least three causes.
First, you exposed your ears to loud sounds. That’s like playing with fire–you can get burned. It may not happen the first time (and usually doesn’t) but the more loud sounds you expose your ears to, the more likely that tinnitus will rear its ugly head. Therefore, you need to learn to listen to music at the same level you hear people talking–not way up there like so many people do.
Second, high levels of anxiety can certainly make existing tinnitus worse. As you get your anxiety under control, hopefully your tinnitus will tone it down.
And third, tinnitus very often accompanies hearing loss. You have a significant hearing loss at 8,000 Hz, and no doubt, much greater hearing losses in the frequencies above 8,000 Hz where they do not test. But your brain knows about this high-frequency loss and the result can be tinnitus.
Also, as you know, when you expose your ears to loud sounds, not only do you get tinnitus, but you also get more and more sensitive to sounds (hyperacusis). The solution is to keep the volume down and always protect your ears from louder sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi everyone,
Thank you Neil, for your very informative blog. It supplies many people with information and support concerning a tricky condition.
I would like to share my story.
End of december 2015 I woke up in the middle of the night with a very loud tinnitus in my right ear but no hearing at all. There had been no signs of a flue or a cold. I panicked and couldn’t sleep for the rest of the night. Next day I went to the GP and convinced her to (I already had Googled the symptoms of Sudden Hearing Loss) send me to an ENT ASAP. With SHL you have to get medication within the first 72 hours because it increases the chance of recovering.
In the hospital I got a high dosage of Prednison (10 days). I wasn’t sure about medication, but it seemed this was the procedure. I had a hearing test too which showed a dramatic fall in lower frequencies. Not very hopeful.
I didn’t sleep for one week. The tinnitus was there 24/7 and I had trouble with balance (walking) because of one closed ear. The medication made me feel very weak and I isolated myself for a few days. In the daytime I could distract myself but in the night time the tinnitus was terribly loud. I was capable of calming down myself, to surrender to the situation and to relax. I imagined the tinnitus was like the sound of ocean waves. Sometimes I heard a tone for a few days, that scared me, but that always went away eventually.
After 10 days I started to hear bits of voices. Like robots. The tinnitus went down and was reasonably acceptable. After 2 months I almost had my complete hearing back, which was received as a kind of a miracle by my ENT. Now, almost 2 years later my ears are almost equal in hearing capacity though I am left with hyperacusis in the recovered ear.
The moment I felt better after the Prednison treatment, I decided to follow a strict diet. No or less sugar, no wheats, absolutely no diary, almost no alcohol. I felt that my bowels and/or my immune system might have been damaged by years of stress. The ENT told me my ear problem could have been an auto immune reaction of the body which only told me that my system was severely out of balance.
In addition to the diet I took vitamines (B, E, C), and used acupressure techniques (I had a one year training before this) on my neck, foot (ear area) and my earlobe (inner ear). I also did stretch exercises in order to remove any energy blocks to the ear/neck.
Though I still suffer mildly from hyperacusis, my tinnitus is almost gone most of my days. When it’s there, its very acceptable and doesn’t disturb me in any way. When it gets a little louder I know I have to take care of stress. Since one year I am treated by a psychiatrist specialized in anxiety disorders, with good results.
What I learned from all this: nothing, nothing is more important than YOU. Don’t let yourself be stressed out, it’s not worth it. Nobody and nothing has power over you, except you. Even if it doesn’t seem so. YOU can decide to stop, to go away, to leave the toxic environment, to choose something else/ someone else. When you are not on the right track, your body tells you. Listen to it. You have every right to choose for yourself.
That said, love and support to all with tinnitus and everything you go through.
Lisa
Greetings Doc,
Read through most of the comments, concerns as well as your kind advice to those suffering. I appreciate your diligence as you’ve done this for years, I see.
A question, if I may.
Patient w/o insurance (yes, in this day and age) has an uncanny ability to hear the receptionists speaking quietly, almost 100 feet away, through a carpeted hallway and a closed treatment room door with different ventilation systems, closed firebreaks in the attic, etc. However, this patient cannot make out what is being spoken clearly and directly in front of her and doesn’t respond to any direct, indirect or placebic stimulus and can consistently repeat this remarkable but troublesome trait. This is as fascinating as it is worrisome to me. What gives?
Hi Shay:
Without knowing more details about this person’s hearing, my first reaction is that this lady has an extreme form of a low-frequency (reverse-slope) hearing loss. The result is that she can hear whispers (high-frequency sounds) from across a room, but can’t hear a person talking in front of her because she doesn’t hear the low and mid frequency components of speech much or at all.
I’d have her hearing tested, but using a special audiometer that can test up to at least 20 kHz, and one that is very sensitive and can read down to -30 dB or so.
If what I suspect is true, you’ll find she has a severe (or worse) hearing loss (maybe 80 dB or more) from about 500 Hz to about 2,000 Hz and then her hearing gets better and better and by about 10,000 Hz is around 0 dB and in the frequencies between 10K and 20k goes up to maybe -30 dB or so.
Why do I say this? Because that is what my hearing was like when I was younger. I could hear/understand a whisper from across a room, but not a person talking to me from 3 feet away. I wrote a comprehensive article on this subject. You can read it at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/the-bizarre-world-of-extreme-reverse-slope-hearing-loss/
Let me know what you find out. I’m curious to know if I’m right on the money or not.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, Something new has been going on with my hearing and I have tried to Google some information on it but so far nothing I have hit upon seems to quite fit my symptoms. When I hear a siren, ambulance, police, it does not matter what type, I keep hearing that siren in my head for several minutes after it has long passed my auditory range. It isn’t a ringing in my ears, I hear the sound repeated in my head over and over until I turn up the radio or tv or use some other method of distraction from it. Even then I still hear it faintly for several minutes as if it is finally fading away. What do you think is causing this?
Hi Carol:
What you are hearing I would classify under the heading of either “earworms” or palinacousis. With an earworm, the sound runs though your mind over and over again. You are not hearing it as though it were real–from your ears–you know it is running though your mind.
With Palinacousis, you think you are still hearing it–it seems to be coming from your ears–but it is totally phantom at that point. In other words it is an auditory hallucination much like Musical Ear Syndrome.
If this just started, and it is palinacousis, a common cause is a lesion in the frontal lobes of your brain. So that is something you might want to get checked out. But if it is more an earworm, or Musical Ear Syndrome, then that’s nothing to worry about. It just happens.
Cordially,
Neil
My ear issues started about 18 months ago. June of 2016, while singing at church I started getting dizzy. Soon after I would stop singing, the dizziness subsided. It progressively has gotten worse to where my own voice is so loud it hurts sometimes and causes dizziness. I have been to 2 ENT’s, had MRI, and hearing test (having another on October 30th), and a pressure test. The first hearing test was done by my first ENT, once my 2nd ENT got results, he wanted me to have another hearing test or a CT Scan of my temporal bone. I have mild tinnitus (really not bothersome most of the time), but the loudness of my voice is what is concerning. I also can hear my heartbeat, and when it is super sensitive, I can literally hear the muscles moving in my eyes. I do have TMJ, and have a chiro working on that. Super tight in my temples. I almost feel like it is all nerve related, because it comes and goes. It isn’t like this all the time. I do have adrenal fatigue, but have changed up my diet tremendously (no processed foods or added sugar). I have a very stressful job (Realtor). Maybe I need more vacations! Any insight into the loudness of my own voice? Like if I were to talk loud for a few minutes, I get very light headed – not nauseated though. Almost like when you blow up a balloon. Again, it isn’t like this all the time.
Hi Carrie:
You do have an interesting set of symptoms. You probably have several things going on at once that combined cause all these various symptoms. And no doubt, most of them are acerbated by your high levels of stress.
Since it seemed to come on relatively suddenly, think back. What was going on in your life just before this started. Was there anything different? Did you start or change any medications? Were you under undue stress? Was your upper back/neck injured or really tight for any reason?
From what you say, I wonder whether your Eustachian tubes are closing properly. If they stay open–this is called patulous Eustachian tubes–you will hear your own voice much louder than you would normally hear it. You would also hear your breathing louder. You don’t mention hearing your breathing louder so I don’t know whether this is your problem or not.
You also mention your face is very “tight” especially around your temples. When your facial muscles are tight, often your neck muscles are also tight. And if you take it a step further, you may find that your top two cervical vertebrae (C1 & C2) are out of proper alignment.
This in turn, causes other problems. One is that your 5th cranial (trigeminal nerve) may now be “pinched”. Among other things that your trigeminal nerve does, is control your Eustachian tubes. Since they are not working correctly, you might want to go to the health care professional that knows how to properly align your C1 and C2 vertebrae–and that is an upper cervical spine chiropractor, NOT a conventional chiropractor.
Your trigeminal nerve also controls the muscles in your face. And furthermore, when you are stressed and have tight muscles, you may also find that certain facial nerves send messages to your brain where neurons multi-task and send the wrong signals to the auditory parts of your brain where you “hear” them–even though they are not real sounds. This could be what is happening when you “hear” your eye muscles moving.
My first suggestion is that you go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and get checked out that your C1 and C2 are properly aligned. Then perhaps a massage therapist that can get your facial and jaw and neck muscles relaxed so they don’t pull you out of shape again, and also don’t send extraneous messages to your brain. This may be all that you really need to get all these symptoms under control.
Let me know what you find out.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor ,
I was at work when I started to have a panic attack. I suffered that night for 7 hours with reoccurring panic. I’m a driver and I simply was scared to lose my job. In the days following I needed to pee frequently . I reached out to a urologist and my personal doctor .
I was prescribed numerous meds Ciprofloxacin, Sertraline, Escitalopram, Tamsulosin. Well, After a week on sertaline doctor upped me from 25 to 50mg then I developed a hissing , ringing in my head. Instead of stopping doctor switched med to Lexapro which I took for a month. I’ve been off the meds for only 2weeks but have had the ringing etc for a good month. Usually, after a good rest it is sometimes 100% gone but sometimes I sleep and it’s right there when I wake up. I suffered with panic attacks 5 years ago and was on sertraline and weened myself off . Was panic and drug free for 4 years . Please give me insight ! I’m very desperate. I have a new child and having such a hard time. Can these drugs cause the sounds in my head and typically considering I was on these drugs short term …please do you know if this is permanent .. I’m so scared I can’t begin … cry a lot
Help,
Stan
Hi Stan:
What brought on the panic attacks now since you were drug and panic free for 4 years. Had you been put back on any drugs before the recent panic attacks? There are numbers of drugs that are implicated in such behavior.
Now let’s look at your tinnitus. The drugs you are one can all cause tinnitus.
For example, Ciprofloxacin (Cipro) causes tinnitus, hearing loss and other ear problems in many, many people. Unfortunately, often the tinnitus is permanent or long term.
Sertraline (Zoloft) an SSRI drug, causes tinnitus in a good number of people. Again, often the tinnitus proves to be permanent.
Escitlopram (Lexapro) can cause loud tinnitus in numbers of people. The good news is that tinnitus from this drug can fade away in time.
Tamsulosin can cause tinnitus in some people. I don’t really think it is a cause of your tinnitus though. My money is on the Ciprofloxacin and the Sertraline as the prime suspects.
You probably want to stay away from Ciprofloxacin in the future. There are other drugs that are much safer for your ears such as the Cephalosporin class of drugs.
You now have tinnitus and you need to learn to effectively deal with it. You can do this. First, you need to convince yourself and your limbic system that tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being in any way. As long as you believe it is a threat to your well-being, it will not fade away. You need to learn that it is just a meaningloss background sound.
Once you realize that it is not a threat to your well-being, then you need to treat your tinnitus as you do any other meaningless background sound. For example, your fridge makes noises, but I’ve yet to hear anyone complain about them. Since they are not a threat to their well-being, they totally ignore them, and their limbic system filters these sounds out of their consciousness so they are not even aware of them most of the time.
When you treat your tinnitus the same as you do fridge noise, your limbic system will also filter these tinnitus sounds from your conscious level and they will not bother you. This is what you need to work on. This is all explained in Chapter 16 of my book “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”. You would do well to read this chapter and act on it for your own mental health.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil. My symptoms have started a couple of years ago, as low and buzzing tinnitus in the RIGHT ear only, and only while/after I was using a specific pair of headphones (the over-the-ear type, to be precise). I have neglected that , since it subsided seconds after I took the headphones off. It has recently also started to happen while I am singing, especially on the higher pitches (I would like to add that I’m a classical singer and therefore I study around that range quite often), still on the right ear only, on low, buzzing pitch and with oscillating volume, and again it subsides almost immediately after I stop singing. I tried to test the headphones phenomenon by using earplugs on the affected ear and it makes absolutely no change, actually I would even say it’s louder that way. What do you think this is?
Thanks in advance. Best wishes!
Hi Elmas:
My first thoughts are that you have exposed your ears to louder sounds for years–singing, being around louder music, etc. Over time, this slowly damages your hearing mechanisms and as you lose some higher-frequency hearing, the result is tinnitus.
I’d suggest you wear musician’s ear protectors when you are singing or are around louder music in order to keep sounds down to a safe level so you don’t acerbate any hearing loss and consequent tinnitus.
You don’t want to stop all sound going to your ears (wearing strong protection factor ear protectors) because the comparative silence just makes your tinnitus worse as you have found out.
That’s my take on your situation given the limited information you have given me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Dr. Neil,
I suffer from PTSD and Anxiety and have for about 4 or 5 years now. I take Rememron 30 mg and I do wish there was another way to help me because I have my ups and downs. Anyways about a week ago I had a horrible attack and my body is just going crazy. I have a tooth infection and I became anxious and thought maybe the infection spread. Went to the ER multiple times and experienced ear fullness, tinuitis and just strange sounds in my ear. This was accompanied by headaches. Light headaches and the feeling of not feeling like myself. I just moved to another state and due to insurance issues that I’m trying to straighten out I’ve been on and off my meds. Now I’m just taking 15mg. Trying to just completely off of them because they are horrible.
Hi Danayshea:
Mirtazapine (Remeron) is a tetracyclic antidepressant. It can certainly mess up your ears, not to mention the rest of your body and mind. I understand your desire to get off this drug as quickly as possible. However, you’ve got to taper off slowly. If you taper off too fast you just cause yourself further problems. To me, a slow taper would take roughly a year. You may be able to go a bit faster or you may have to go even slower in order to keep side effects from messing you up.
If you want to calm yourself down, particularly at night so you can sleep, you might want to try taking the herbal Valerian. This herbal helps numbers of people, so it could be worth while trying it and seeing how it works for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil,
Starting a little over 2 months ago I suddenly started having dizzy spells. I was concerned it may be stroke related so I went to emergency. My BP was sky high as well so they did a number of tests incl blood work and CT scan. It was determined the dizziness was not related to stroke, heart attack or a brain tumor. I went home and over the next few days the dizziness waxed and waned somewhat. There was no vertigo at all. After a week the dizziness did start to go away but suddenly I developed tinnitus. Both ears.. a lower volume hum with a single much louder higher pitch frequency which I measured myself at 6 Khz. I went to my doctor and we did some tests and found out I had artificially induced hyperthyroidism from taking too high a dose of Thyroxine. I am a 60 yr old male in reasonable health otherwise. Approx 25 lbs overweight.
Looking back over the previous 2 months when he had given me the new higher prescription I realized that I’d been having some other hyper symptoms as well but didn’t realize it at the time… weight loss, anxiety, sleep issues temperature intolerance and a few other things. I now have been taking a lower dose of Thyroxine and some of symptoms have alleviated noticeably. The tinnitus has not changed very much at all although it changes drastically in volume which it did at the start… every few hours at first and now every 12-16 hours or so.. from very low and barely noticeable to much louder and annoying. I also have intermittent hyperacusis and pressure in both ears. The now relatively minor dizziness also comes and goes.
I do work around loud sound as a live sound engineer mixing bands on stage but have always worn hearing protection. I have also regularly tested my own hearing and found starting maybe 3 years ago I was losing higher frequencies .. I can now no longer hear over 9Khz and that’s been for at least 2 years. ( This isn’t really a big problem for my work). Otherwise I have not noticed or self measured any other hearing loss or issues. In fact for the two months before all of this started I hadn’t done any work with loud music.. only spoken word, eg: stand up comedy/theater.
Do you think the temporary hyperthyroidism could be related to my tinnitus issues or could have triggered it or made it worse? Could it be anxiety related since I was quite agitated for the last few months as well although much less so now that I’m slowly returning to normal thyroid levels.
I neglected to mention that I’ve been on the lower dose of Thyroxine now for 2 and a half weeks.
Thank you for your time. It is greatly appreciated.
Hi Harvey:
I don’t know much about it, but thyroid problems can result in tinnitus. So this might be the cause of your tinnitus.
Anxiety is a well-known trigger of tinnitus as well, so could have been your anxiety.
And since tinnitus very often accompanies hearing loss, and since you have a hearing loss and can’t hear over 9kHz, that could be the cause of your tinnitus right there.
And of course it could have been a combination of a number of factors for example thyroid problems plus anxiety plus hearing loss.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
About 7 months ago I started getting dizzy spells. They were bizarre in nature. They felt like a surge of adrenaline when titling my head. I would go into panic mode and keep my head straight and they would subside. Then, the episodes starting getting closer together so I went to the hospital. I had bppv and went home to do the epley. I did spin for 5-10 seconds, etc. I had a drop stack from getting up from the epley too fast. Anyways, the spinning eventually went away but I’m constantly off balance. I also still get those tilting attacks periodically. The only difference now is that I don’t have BPPV because dx hallpike is negative and there is never any nystagmus. I have had four hearing tests which have been normal, I’ve had a VENG which was normal along with a slew of other tests including an MRI – also Normal. But during this time, my left ear has felt intermittently slightly full (bppv was in right ear) and I have hypercusis and recently developed a faint constant tinnitus. My dizzy rushes usually feel like someone is grabbing the back of my neck or some type of spasm. One ent says this doesn’t sound like BPPV as it wouldn’t happen sitting up just talking on the phone and that the bppv was just bad luck amidst of all these other symptoms. I’m wondering if the recent tinnitus and hypercusis which started after an upper respiratory infection is all just from the anxiety I have. I’ve been worried about these symptoms every day since I can’t get a reason from them.
Hi Sarah:
The first thing that comes to my mind is that your upper cervical spine may be out of alignment and causing these problems. Specifically your C1 and C2 vertebrae, which are the top two vertebrae in your neck. It might be wise to go to a special kind of chiropractor called an upper cervical chiropractor and have him check that your C1 and C2 are in proper alignment. That may be all that you need at this point. Note that you may have to go back several times until your ligaments and muscles hold the vertebrae in proper alignment. But they’ve been out of proper alignment for some time now it’s very easy for them to slip back into their old positions. When that happens you have to go to the chiropractor again and get them put back into proper alignment. Eventually they will hold their proper positions again and your symptoms, if this was the cause of them, will go away.
You can find out more about the special chiropractors in my comprehensive article on Ménière’s disease where I discuss this. Here is the link to this article.
http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Neil. I did have an X-ray and my atlas is completely out of offside. I have been working with a very experienced chiropractor and I do notice when she works on my neck, I get increased tinnitus or more hear fullness and a little decrease in dizziness. The Atlas finding was the only abnormality they have ever found that is provable. I do notice that the chiropractic care moves things around a bit and if it wasn’t my neck perhaps things would just stay the same. Sometimes, I am scared it’s Menieres but I don’t have the typical symptoms and I don’t have any hearing loss whatsoever. Also, the fullness i experience doesn’t affect my hearing just on observation. What I have realized to is that during the commencement of these symptoms, I was working long hours in front of a lap top under highly unfavourable sitting and working conditions.
I’ve had lots of ear issues over the years heavily influenced by anxiety/stress. Tinnitus always there with high pitched constant sound,, but right ear only at times adds low rumbling that does eventually go away. Recently though now get pulsating blanking out of background noises when standing up from sitting position (pulsates and slowly fades out) can feel faint but that’s less frequent. Have had many tests, audiology no hearing loss, now 51yrs old, no health issues other than Gerd so live on PPIs for past 7yrs, did do iodine CT scan, normal and blood flow seemed ok. Any direction to look at? Is combined in same timeframe with ear tub symptoms (robotic voice distortions, gold fish bowl echos, massive high pitched sound in both ears almost muffling everyone else speaking – most of these lasted a month and have subsided. Again, on a goose day hearing test is normal.
Hi Ray:
It appears that you have orthostatic hypotension. In other words your blood pressure drops when you suddenly stand up. The result is that you feel faint. Any pulsating tinnitus is typically related to blood pressure.
GERD drugs can also mess up your ears, so that’s another possibility. Can you go off your GERD drugs for a few days and see whether that makes a difference to your ears?
Cordially,
Neil
Very recently I found that I have been extremely sensitive to everyday sounds that most other people call “normal”. For example, I can’t tolerate those people who should while speaking, birds chirping, cars horn, repetitive sounds and actions that produces those sounds, children crying, tick-tock of a clock in a sound-isolated room and in general any sound in a sound-isolated room, etc. By “can’t tolerate” I mean I am extremely annoyed, irritated by those sounds and try my best to move away from them if I can’t stop them. And if none of them works then I feel extremely tensed, panicked, anxious and sometimes depressed. My parents say that I am actually overreacting to the sounds and that ignoring them will be of help to me. But the thing is that I can’t seem to ignore them even if I try my best. Some days ago I consulted an ENT specialist. He said that the problem is due mainly to the earwax and suggested a skin cream. Surprisingly enough, after using the cream, the sound problem reduced a bit. But two days ago I forgot to use it and the sound problem seems to have been increased a lot. My ears seem to be heavy all the time. Furthermore, very recently I have observed that if I am made aware of a sound (no matter how small it is) and can’t isolate my completely from it, I can’t seem to be at peace unless and until it is stopped. I don’t know what to do at this point. Can you give me some suggestions please?
Hi S:
How long have you been so sensitive to these certain sounds–from childhood, or just recently? From the way you describe it, I think it’s been from childhood or at least for a number of years. It’s just recently that you realized that these sounds don’t bother other people like they bother you.
If so, what you are suffering from is called misophonia–a dislike or hatred of certain sounds. Left unchecked, this can turn into phonophobia–a fear of certain sounds because you perceive them as so annoying and painful.
This may have been triggered by hyperacusis (where you perceive normal sounds as being too loud) because of a collapsed dynamic range for some reason.
Here is a quote that describes what I think you experience.
“Although the onset of symptoms of misophonia usually first appear later in childhood, they can have their onset at any age. It typically begins with one or two particular sounds triggering the extreme negative emotions, and over time additional sounds are often added to the list of “triggers”. The intense negative emotions, particularly that of anxiety, can lead to significant disruptions in activities of daily living with increasing avoidant behaviors, and a resultant diminishing of socialization. People suffering with misophonia can often feel misunderstood and estranged from their family and friends as they are often thought of as being overly sensitive or hysterical. While some will attempt to mask the trigger sounds with other noise such as music, others will simply do what they can to avoid them. Depending on the actual trigger sounds and their severity, attempting to avoid them can have profound consequences on a wide range of relationships.”
I can’t see earwax as being the cause–and if it were the cause, you just have the wax taken out and that would solve the problem.
This is a much deeper problem and you need professional help. If I have hit the nail on the head, let me know and I’ll tell you where I would go for help.
Cordially,
Neil
My son has been diagnosed with tinnitus and recently is saying that he seem to hear things off key the tunes he’s listening to in his headphones seem off key which is worriing him cam someone help?
Hi Ghulnaz:
Is your son on any drugs or medications? Some drugs have the side effect of making all sounds a semitone low, or otherwise off key.
Cordially,
Neil
I think you are right in saying that, “..The intense negative emotions, particularly that of anxiety, can lead to significant disruptions in activities of daily living with increasing avoidant behaviors, and a resultant diminishing of socialization. ” Actually I became aware of this problem recently because it is constantly affecting my research work because I can’t seem to focus unless there is complete silence. I forgot to mention that due to being anxious of certain sounds, I am having headache whenever the source of the sound is not made silent (I mentioned it because I think that it is better to provide you the details). Even if I have taken out the wax, there is always a burning sensation in my ears along with a dislike of sunlight.
Thank you very much for responding. It’s always a relief to know that I am not becoming mad.
Dr. Bauman,
Thanks for taking the time to address all the different mails you receive with substantive input.
I’m a 50 yr old male in good health. I’ve been on 40 mg of Lipitor and 325mg of Diovan for 5 years without any significant side effects.
Three months ago I started developing hyperacusis and agitation which led to a nervous crisis. Apparently the past 18 months I had been in denial regarding financial, marriage issues our displacement b/c of Hurricane Irma did not help. After my crisis which led to all sorts of physical and neurological examinations, I was told I was suffering from Generalized Anxiety Disorder, which was hard to believe given my laid back nature (or so I thought). I was put on 10 mg Lexapro, 1mg Ativan twice per day (2mg total) and 15 mg Restoril at night for insomnia. I stopped taking the Restoril altogether 3 weeks ago and tapered to 0.5 Ativan per day (total) 7 days ago and shortly after I developed T.
I’m familiar with mild T b/c I’ve had it on and off for many years w/o issue – but this new T is loud and constant. Is this because I’ve reduced my dose of Ativan by 75% or is my 6th week on Lexapro doing a number on me? My doctor plans to leave me on Lexapro for another 4 months gradually easing the dosage. If Lexapro is the culprit, how long will it take to decrease or eliminate the T after I’m off the Lexapro?
Thank You and Happy Holidays!!
Hi Lewis:
Cutting the dose so fast on the Ativan (Lorazepam) may have precipitated your loud tinnitus. When you go off a Benzodiazepine too fast that can happen.
Lexapro (Escitalopram) is an SSRI and is also reasonably ototoxic. Some people get tinnitus from the very first pill they take. Obviously, other never get tinnitus from it so it’s hard to figure out which drug in the culprit–or if your tinnitus is the result of both.
With Lexapro, your tinnitus could drop in a few days after you stop it, or it could go on for several years. There’s no way to tell how your body will react.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I have earwax blockage on my left ear for some time. Yesterday night it started ringing and paining. Then I began feeling aches on neck arm,nausea, tiredness of arms. It seemed to happening on one side of body, I suspected stroke.
When I rushed to a clinic they said the wax was the culprit.
Next morning I was feeling tingles all over body. My foot felt weird, like not very flexible.
Later I had raised heartbeat and was scared so went to see another Dr. He said I had had just a panic attack and the wax was the problem.
But I’m scared, not so convinced. I feared I had a stroke or some other dangerous illness.
Could my wax blockage affecting all these bodily symptoms.
Thanks.
Hi Jools:
I don’t understand why you don’t just get the doctor to clean your ears canals of the wax. That should take care of any problems the wax may have been causing.
Any symptoms that don’t immediately go away are obviously not caused by the wax. I’ve never heard of wax impaction giving symptoms that mimic a stroke.
Get the wax out and then go from there.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Dr. Bauman,
I’m a 45-year old male in good health. I exercise 4-5 times per week, a combination of weight resistance and cardio. I maintain a healthy body fat percentage, weight, and consider fitness a passion. My diet is reasonably good too, although I try to set aside cheat days for my own happiness and well being.
Recently, within the past month-and-a-half, I lost my cat of 16 years. It was devastating.
Then, one month ago, I lost my Dad unexpectedly. My family and I are devastated. My wife and child are also broken. The tremendous sadness and burden I have faced during this time has been a crushing experience.
About one week after my Dad passed away, I developed tinnitus. Most recently, I have been very sensitive to sounds, noticing just about everything being done or said within reasonable earshot. At around the same time, our region experienced record-breaking low temperatures. That seemed to make the ringing worse too.
Sleep has been hit-or-miss. Caring for my family has been priority 1, but intuition tells me that the onset of T is strongly associated with everything that’s happened to my family recently.
My version of “T” has been a high pitch sound. No hissing, swooshing or marching noises. No relationship at all with my pulse.
I am not on any prescription medication. I do, however, experience severe allergies.
I work with a RN, and she says that my system has been in a constant state of alertness (I call it “Red Alert”), and that the ringing should die down with time.
Your suggestions are welcome. I feel that maintaining my exercise, healthy diet, and lifestyle are key to maintaining this condition. However, I will say that I have noticed periodic ringing most of my adult life. It just hasn’t been persistent. For me, dismissing it as background noise will make things even better. I am trying to have a positive outlook.
Sincerely,
Rusty
Hi Rusty:
I think you have hit the nail on the head–that a lot of your tinnitus is due to the extreme stress you are experiencing. And if so, your nurse friend is probably correct that as your anxiety levels drop as you work through the grieving process, so will your tinnitus–especially if you learn to ignore it and get on with your life.
The other factor could be your allergies. If you take drugs for your allergies, that could exacerbate your tinnitus. And if your allergies cause any hearing loss, that could also cause your tinnitus.
So it could be a matter of your allergies together with your high level of anxiety that have resulted in both your tinnitus and sensitivity to sound (hyperacusis).
When you are in flight or fight mode, your hearing is actually even more sensitive that it is normally, so again, that is a mechanism that results in both hyperacusis (from your increased sensitivity to sound) and tinnitus (from being aware of faint tinnitus that you never noticed before–but you do now due to your hypersensitivity to sound.)
My best advice is to work through the grieving process and learn to ignore your tinnitus as much as possible. Hopefully, as you do this, you will get back on an even keel, and your body will revert back to normal mode from the fight or flight mode.
I wish you well.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
I have taken Zoloft in the past without issue and weaned off. I was prescribed it again for anxiety. I took one 25mg pill and woke up that night with tinnitus. I did not take it again. It is now five days later and I still have a continuous high pitched noise. Is this permanent after only one low dose pill?
Hi Chris:
Since you have taken Zoloft before without problems, and you just took one pill, what makes you think the Zoloft is the culprit, and not some other factor? All the anecdotal reports I’ve received were from people who got tinnitus after taking Zoloft for several weeks or more. That’s not to say one pill couldn’t cause you tinnitus, but I’m not sure it is the culprit in your case. Apart from your anxiety, is there anything else that might have caused your tinnitus?
Cordially,
Neil
I apologize, to be more accurate, The previous time I took Zoloft I did get tinnitus for the very first day and then it resolved. Other than that I have never had any issues with Tinnitus. The previous episode did not make a lasting impression as it was very brief and I was not certain of the correlation. But now it seems to be the likely culprit.
Hello Dr. Neil,
i have had loud tinnitus for 2 weeks now, both ears and very loud in the neck when i move my head up or on the sides, kind of stiff neck.
i have been under stress for may months prior to that, then i had a face MRI with contrast a month ago,
i wonder if that could have start the tinnitus?
Thanks
Hi John:
There are a number of “kinds” of tinnitus. From what you say, you almost certainly have the somatosensory kind of tinnitus. It is brought on by tight muscles and tendons, etc. in your neck and head and that can be from a lot of stress. Your top two vertebrae and/or your TMJ could be out of alignment and causing the basic problem.
If I were you, I’d first see an upper cervical spine chiropractor to make sure your upper neck is in proper alignment and ditto for your TMJ. Then I’d see a massage therapist who can do myofascial trigger point release. When all done correctly, you can get rid of this kind of tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi.
I have had ringing in my ears for over a year and a half, more pronounced in my left ear. Now, in the last few weeks, it has gotten worse, more like a horn in my left ear, and ringing in my right, with a high pitch ring in the background. It’s all day / night. I’m anxios and panicked. I also have dry, bloody nasal passages duel to house being dry. I’m am so concerned. What does this sound like to you? Please, any help would be appreciated. Do you think Claritin would help. I did do antiobiotics 2weeks ago for strep. Dr gave me neomocyn drops for the ear, as dr thought infection. Has not helped. Not sure about wax, and how much wax would cause this. I see dr next week, as I did not see her when prescribed the antibiotics and drops.
Hi Jennifer:
Before the tinnitus started had you been taking any drugs? Hundreds and hundreds of drugs can cause tinnitus or cause existing tinnitus to get worse. The other common cause of tinnitus is exposing your ears to loud sounds such as you experience at music concerts and nightclubs.
Now, recently, you took Neomycin ear drops. Neomycin can definitely cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. I suspect that is this what just happened to make your tinnitus worse.
Wax in your ear canals–if it blocks sounds from reaching your eardrum can result in some degree of hearing loss and thus can cause tinnitus. But I suspect it was drugs, not wax causing your bad tinnitus.
The solution is to get a humidifier in your house, not to take drugs that then damage your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
My tinnitus started 3 months ago. It shifts from left ear to right ear, sometimes both, and sometimes on just the top of my head. When it is pulsatile in my head it has for some days gone completely silent. Then I will take a nap and wake up with it very loud again in both ears. Do you think it is somatic and should I seek chiropractic care?
Dr. Bauman,
I have always had tinnitus, but at my baseline it was only noticeable in a very quiet room. I have been on SSRIs since 2005, but recently had an anxiety attack that caused my psychiatrist to up my Zoloft from 50mg to 100mg. I noticed my tinnitus was louder going into the third week of my upped dose. During the fourth week I took my concern to my psychiatrist and he switched me to Lexapro 10mg, as I have been on that with no issues before. Last Wednesday I took 50mg of Zoloft that night, then started the Lexapro the next morning. This is day 5 on the Lexapro and the tinnitus is still just as bad. Is this going to get better or is this permanent? I know Lexapro can exacerbate or cause tinnitus, but I’ve been on it before with no issues. I can’t not be on a medicine right now, but I am seeing a counselor about my anxiety. I don’t know what to do and I don’t think I can handle the tinnitus at this level if it’s permanent. Your help and guidance is appreciated!
Hi Dana:
A lot of drugs cause tinnitus. However, if you were on a relatively-low dose, you may avoid getting tinnitus as a side effect. Then, when you increase your dose, wham, there’s the tinnitus.
With some drugs, reducing the dose to the old level lets the tinnitus go away. With other drugs, the tinnitus seems to remain at its new level for a considerable time.
The same applies to changing drugs once your tinnitus has increased. Your tinnitus may drop to its old level or it may stay at its new level.
Are you taking the same dose of Lexapro as you did previously when you did not get tinnitus, or is this a higher dose? The good news is that some people that get tinnitus from taking Lexapro find that their tinnitus eventually goes away after they get off it, although it may take from weeks to months to several years for this to happen.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Bauman,
I want to thank you for this post. A couple of months ago, I had the worst panic attack I’ve ever had in my life. Since then, I’ve been extremely anxious everyday. I see a therapist every couple of weeks and it’s helped, but a few days ago my smoke alarm went off in my bedroom at 4 am and as you can imagine, injolted right up and it brought back a new wave of anxiety and I’m guessing hyperacusis. It’s not terrible, but I started to focus on any little noise as I’m
laying in bed in my very quiet bedroom. This post made me realize that I’m just overly stressed and that has calmed me a bit. I’m hoping to get this anxiety down and get off of this lexapro since I heard it can cause tinnitis. Any new advise you could give me?
Hi Kris:
Escitalopram (Lexapro) has been reported by hundreds and hundreds of people to cause tinnitus. And of course, being anxious and stressed can bring it on too. And as you are experiencing, Cescitalopram can also cause hyperacusis. So you’d likely be better off without this drug.
Furthermore, Escitalopram can cause panic attacks–and that is what you are experiencing. Another good reason to get off this drug.
Since you are focusing on all the little sounds at night and are worrying about them, I’d suggest you sleep with some sort of background sounds–a fan, or relaxing music at a low level, or play environmental sounds that calm you down and let you sleep and at that same time mask to some degree all the little sounds that occur so you don’t notice them (and thus don’t worry about them).
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
I have been taking 10mg of Lexapro for 4 weeks and developed tinnitus 2 weeks ago. I had everything checked out by my ENT and she suspects the Lexapro. I am tapering off now, do you suspect that I have a better chance of it going away since I took a low dose for only a short period of time? I also believe my increased anxiety is keeping it alive, but plan to help that with a natural route.
Hi Leslie:
Escitalopram (Lexapro) does cause tinnitus in numbers of people. I suspect your tinnitus will prove to be temporary, but it may persist for a long time–there is no way to tell ahead of time.
For example, one lady only took Escitalopram for 5 days when she got tinnitus. She stopped and in a few days her tinnitus went away. In contrast, a man took just one 10 mg pill and had severe tinnitus for 3 years before it changed to just occasional tinnitus.
Good for you for choosing a natural way to deal with your anxiety. That should help a lot in not causing your tinnitus to take on a life of its own. So get off the Lexapro, deal with your anxiety naturally and forget about your tinnitus by focusing on other things, and hopefully it will fade away in a few days to a few months.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
May 24 of this year I started having hyperacusis and tinnitus right after a very loud MRI (for an unrelated issue) where one ear plug fell out and the other didn’t seal.
I was in a car accident in January and one theory (from a Neurologist) is that a concussion then made me primed for the MRI to trigger the Tinnitus.
I don’t have any hearing loss. I have TMJ and a long ago shoulder injury contribute to neck tension. I work in a loud environment and have noticed I get auditorally exhausted now. I was put on steroids at first. I wear noise filtering ear plugs in certain environments like basketball games and at the movie theater. Acupuncture and cranial sacral therapy both help. I’m off caffeine and alcohol. It’s been 4 months and I still have the tinnitus and hyperacusis. Do you have any suggestions for me about things I should try?
Thank you.
Hi Sarah:
I’ve heard from several people that have had hyperacusis and tinnitus from having MRIs, so you are not unique in having this. I don’t think you have to have a concussion to set you up for this.
As for your TMJ and neck tension, what I’d do if I were you is go to an upper cervical chiropractor and have him put your neck into proper alignment. Sometimes this can get rid of the tinnitus and maybe also the hyperacusis if this was the underlying cause.
With hyperacusis, you want to give your ears a rest and then slowly build up your tolerance to louder sounds again. It is good that you are wearing ear protectors in loud venues. Just be careful never to wear them in situations where you don’t need them or you can make your hyperacusis worse.
Are all sounds too loud, or just certain sounds?
Generally, it takes time (and it could be 2 or 3 years) to get your ears back to normal again. You are doing some good things that are reducing your tinnitus/hyperacusis. Keep on doing things that help. I’d add the upper cervical chiropractic to your regimen and see if that further helps.
Cordially,
Neil
I am going to be part of a research group for side effects of chemo at the university. They are checking hearing loss, tinnitus and neuropathy. I never thought I had tinnitus until I started filling out the forms for the project. My stress level elevated and suddenly I got tinnitus. I have been under so much stress due to my breast cancer. I am cancer free but my anxiety persists. Do you have any thoughts?
Hi Patricia:
The first thing you need to do is get your anxiety under control. Hopefully, as you calm down, your tinnitus will also calm down to some degree.
I certainly understand your concerns. My wife is in the same boat as you are at this time.
Cordially,
Neil
Can you tell me if there is a link between taking Amitriptyline and tinnitus. I developed tinnitus six months ago fairly soon after having come out of an 18 month period of very up and down stress. I had started taking 20mg of Amitriptylene on and off at night about 4 months before the tinnitus started… Many thanks.
Hi Debbie:
Yes, Amitriptyline causes tinnitus in hundreds and hundreds of people. And tinnitus is certainly made worse by stress. In fact, stress/anxiety/depression alone can cause tinnitus. I wouldn’t be surprised if your loud tinnitus isn’t the result of both the stress and taking the Amitriptyline.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
Firstly thankyou so much for this thread after reading I have a glimmer of hope that others have ear issues.
I am 31 year old Musician/DJ I have been producing music & DJing in large nightclubs for 7years at a medium levels of frequency (1 live show per weekend & 2/3 studio sessions in the week). Mild Tinnitus has always been a factor. It comes and then goes, I have always had more issues with my left ear (slight pain after loud shows and exaggerated ringing, which would subside after a few days)
The last 6 months has seen my career sky rocket and the gigs have become more frequent and because of the nature of these now larger shows also much louder sound. I have now had a feeling of fullness in my left ear & pain shooting from the left ear into my neck for several months now and in the last week after one particular loud extended period at a live show I have very loud tinitus in the left side which is no longer subsiding. Also a strange feeling in the left side of face radiating from the ear – almost numbness in the face. I feel very sensitive to sounds and have been wearing earplugs around the house during the day, I realise now this is a mistake.
Have been to see an ENT dr which did a hearing test up to 8000HZ my right side has perfect hearing and my left side has some very mild hearing loss at 4000hZ non of which my doctor seems to think should be causing me this level of discomfort or shooting pains. His advice was to turn the music down and continue as normal, however simple day to day task are becoming an issue such as washing the dishes due to the scratching of the plates being to painful or sensitive to my ears & something as small as a fan humming or a laptop speaker playing a film seems like it causes me pain now which is leading me to wear earplugs in more and more situations. Not sure what to do, do I avoid these basic day to day sounds which I think is an issue or am I building it up in my head to much and should only avoid the loud sounds over 80db? Can the minor sounds also effect a persons tinitus and discomfort?
Hi Mike:
Ringing in your ears was a warning that you were damaging your ears and you should have heeded that warning and worn ear protectors, or refused to turn the volume up so loud. I cannot understand why modern music has to be played so loudly. People can enjoy music at 80 dB so why does it have to be played at 110 dB? This is just asking for all sorts of ear problems and other health problems too.
Your next warning was the slight pain in your ear. This indicates more serious damage. You should have heeded it. Now you have even more serious damage and fixing it is next to impossible, but don’t lose hope–there are things you can do to mitigate the damage as much as possible.
What you are experiencing now is called acoustic shock and it comes with all sorts of symptoms such as the muffled hearing, tinnitus, sensitivity to sound and pain in your ears/face–all symptoms you are now experiencing.
Your hearing test showed a noise notch at 4,000 Hz in your left ear. That is another clue that you have been damaging your ears. Don’t think that all your hearing loss showed up on the audiogram. You have a false sense of thinking all is well. It’s not. You also have a lot of hidden hearing loss–so called because it doesn’t show up on a standard audiogram.
First, I’ll bet that you have significant high-frequency hearing loss above 8,000 Hz where they do not test. You normal hearing goes up to around 20,000 Hz so there was 12,000 Hz they did not test. That is where you almost certainly have very significant hearing loss (and your neurons that process these frequencies know it–hence your tinnitus), yet your doctor gave your ears a clean bill of health.
Furthermore, you have another kind of hidden hearing loss in the spiral ganglion neurons that connect your hair cells to your auditory nerves. What happens is that loud sounds break the synapses so no signals can be transmitted to your brain. There are two kind of nerves so for sounds in quiet–like when you are tested in a sound booth–those nerves are still working and you appear to have normal hearing. However, the other kind of nerves, which let you hear in louder environments have been damaged–so you have this hidden hearing loss.
Your doctor is correct in that your tiny bit of hearing loss at 4,000 Hz isn’t enough to cause your discomfort/pain if it was just “normal” hearing loss. But you have suffered acoustic shock and THAT causes your pain and other symptoms.
Your sensitivity to simple sounds such as washing dishes, clinking cutlery, etc., etc. is called hyperacusis, another sure sign of noise damage. The thing with hyperacusis is that sounds don’t have to be all that loud to bother you now.
The first thing you need to do is give your ears a rest from all the racket you are exposing them to. And that is not possible which your choice of career. Either you have to keep the sound levels down to a sensible level 70-80 dB or wear ear protectors that keep all sounds down to that level, continue to suffer worse and worse ear damage, or get out of the DJing business. You can still work in the music field–but keep the sounds getting to your ears below 70 DB.
You can’t abuse your ears and then expect a quick fix. Overcoming the hyperacusis and pain could easily take you two years of work to get it under control. Even then, it may never go back to normal.
Now, what can you do to help get your ears back on track. First, stay away from loud sounds–sounds over 80 dB without ear protection. But as you already know, don’t protect your ears from normal sounds as that can make things worse. Second, surround yourself with sound day and night. This background sound can be white or pink noise, fractal music or other music that doesn’t have loud spikes in it or environmental sounds. The thing is you want the sound levels to stay the same loudness. Then you set the volume so that it just begins to cause you a bit of discomfort (not pain) and get used to that. When you do, then you can raise the volume a bit more and get used to that, and so on. Eventually, you will raise your ceiling for sounds and your ears will return to a new normal–probably more sensitive to sounds that you were before, but at least it will be able to live a normal life again without the pain, hyperacusis, etc.
What you do is basically all up to you. There is not magic pill to take that will make things all better.
I wish you well.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil, I recently started having ringing in my ears mainly right ear but can sometimes hear it in my left ear. I was diagnosed with strep throat on a Tuesday started taking Keflex and the ringing started on Wednesday. I also started a new anti depressant the Sunday before ( Pristq). I also have anxiety due to health issues. This is so frustrating and at times I don’t hear it but it maybe because I am concentrating on something else but when I am just sitting I am over focusing on it.
Hi Nancy:
Your tinnitus is probably caused by one of the drugs you started taking. My money is on the Pristiq as it has about twice as many reports of people getting tinnitus from taking it as the Keflex.often tinnitus doesn’t start right away after you take a drug but takes a few days and that fits the Pristiq more than the Keflex.
Certainly anxiety and depression can cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. And you are correct when you are focusing on other things, often you don’t hear your tinnitus. This is a good sign. However when you are not doing anything and you start thinking on about your tinnitus then you hear it. One solution is to have some background music on or the television on in the background so your brain has real things to listen to and thus you don’t focus on your tinnitus.
The more you focus on your tinnitus typically the worse it becomes. And the reverse is also true, the less you focus on your tinnitus, the more chances there are of it fading into the background where you not even aware you have tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
I have an interesting case. In Sept 2017 I got what felt like a knot on the back of my neck. i had ear ringing for the year prior. But it was intermittent. My hearing has always been fine. I knew the knot was due to tension. The following April I suddenly became nauseous in a parking lot and everything turned sideways. Vertigo. An ER visit found nothing wrong. So I was diagnosed with BPPV. Given drugs that made me feel like death. I didnt have the vertigo anymore. But I did have some dizziness. As the weeks progressed, more symptoms showed up. Whole body needles. Fire shooting down limbs and into hands and feet. Spine hurt. My neck became fragile and I could no longer sleep on my back. my kids even had to help my walk some of the time. I had panic attacks intermittently. Hallucinations. I even hit low depression and began talking in slow motion one night. Bouts of crying, and I don’t usually cry. I have had catscans, MRI, xrays, ultrasounds, and endless blood tests for everything, including lime disease. They could never find anything. This was over the source of the last year.
I finally found healing by going to a therapist and finding out I needed to work out psychological issues. I came from a negative family. But did not realize that I had bottled up so much. A part of my brain was stuck in PTSD mode. Sounds were causing dizziness and anxiety. I don’t know what triggered me to get there. But it was a holy nightmare I would not want to relive. I have foudn that positive therapy, changing beliefs, and efforts to make wrongs into rights has helped tremendously. AND I also went on a good multivitamin. And my progress coincided with it. So I have been gradually improving. I thought I was dying from evolving diseases. I think we go through life not realizing that the way we think and act cannot harm us. WRONG. The people in East have criticized us Westerners for a long time because of our ego driven mindset which does more harm than good overall. Look at our statistics of illnesses that overlap in symptoms. All without cures. And most of them coincide with the stressful modern times. STRESS is the number one cause of many illnesses regardless of what doctors are taught to tell you otherwise. And let me tell you. A massage won’t cure it. A vacation won’t cure it. The real change must take place in the mind permanently. We have elastic brains that change as we change. And our whole body is affected by it.
Hi Joe:
Very true what you said–the way we think and act can harm us. So we need to learn to be loving, forgiving and positive rather than the opposite. And all this can affect our ears since it tightens up our necks and that in turn pulls the C1 and C2 vertebrae out of correct alignment. And in turn, that pinches the vestibulo-cochlear nerve which results in things such as vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss among other things.
So it would be a good idea to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and make sure these vertebrae are properly aligned. I’ll bet yours are “out” to some degree. Doing so will make you feel even better and get your ears working properly again.
You can find one of the special chiropractors at http://www.upcspine.com/ and click on “Practitioners”.
Cordially,
Neil
I am 36 years old. I woke up one day around the 6th-8th of Jan’ 19 with a high pitched ringing in my ears and it has continued ever since.
Initially, I got very anxious and had horrible thoughts and put my family through a bad phase with all my talk.
The ringing is both, a continuous buzzing and a whooshing sound like the ocean when I try and close my ears with my fingers.
About a month before this I had taken my mother to an ENT and got myself checked as well since I get a click sound for as long as I can remember. The doctor took out some wax from one ear (I think it was the right ear) and gave an anaesthetic ear drop to be used for 3 days to avoid any sensitivity which I used.
In the initial days, it felt like the Tinnitus completely stopped in the night, I was playing white noise as well, but it used to be back in the morning. Now, for over a month, it has been consistently there 24/7. I sleep ok in the night and feel like it subsides even now when I lie down. I keep cotton in my ears at most times as I try to gratify myself with the ambience noises when I remove the cotton when the ringing is too much.
In the first week of tinnitus, I had a bout of giddiness which was there for about 10 minutes and I never had it like that again. But on a general basis, i feel light headed everyday.
I have gone to 9 ENT’s here in Bangalore, India since the Tinnitus started, and each one of them prescribed some sort of medication from simple nasal sprays to a course of steroids with an antibiotic and a nasal spray. I did my complete blood work and my Vitamin D came out low. My B12 was also borderline.
As part of the first prescription, after a nasal endoscopy, i was prescribed ( Xylomist nasal spray (3 – 3 – 3 x 5 days) + Solspre Nasal spray (2 puffs x 1-0-1) + Cefixime 200 mg tablet (1-0-1 x 5 days) + Tablet Allercet BC (0-0-1 x 5 days) + Tablet Emanzen D (1-0-1 × 5 days). After the first dose of this that evening, I woke up with very loud sounds the next morning and didn’t continue with the prescription there after.
I took Neurobin Forte for 2 weeks after this, after I visited another ENT, for Vitamin B which didn’t help.
Also took 10 tablets of Emidas after that which contains ginkgo biloba extract as prescribed by another ENT. This didn’t help either.
Took some saline and steroid based nasal sprays as well. Xylomist & Flomist just for 2-3 days, but these didn’t help either. Tried taking steam as well.
Then, basis the next prescription, I took a 20 day 10 mg dose of Tryptomer and in the last week of this dose, I started taking my Vitamin D supplements as well, which is to be taken once a week for 4 weeks and then 1 capsule each month for the next 3 months. None of this helped either.
Now, about 10 days back I started getting pain and a heavy head in the front part of my face and a severe sensitivity to light. My eyes hurt. It this Migraine? So I went to an ophthalmologist and got my eyes tested as well. My pupils were dilated and my cornea and my eyesight is perfect. Just a slight power of 0.25 and 0.5. My hearing is also fine as I did an audiometry and a pressure test.
Yesterday, out of desperation, I went into the emergency an got a CT scan done, which came out normal, as I felt as though my vision was getting blurry and I felt the pain around my eyes increasing. I was prescribed a 25 mg dose of Tryptomer by the neurologist here.
I have had a sore back for 2 months since I did my first yoga class and the pain keeps reducing and increasing on different days. Not sure if the Tinnitus manifested from here because of the tough yoga poses. I also have a neck pain and feel like I have a very stiff neck.
Currently, I am off any medication. I have also been prescribed Tinnacar which is a Tinnitus relief medication available here in India.
I look at a laptop screen for 6 hours a day. I lost my father on the 3rd of August’ 18 which has caused me severe depression.
Apologies for the really long post, but I wanted to detail it all out to get the right diagnosis considering that it seems to have become a trial and error here.
Could you suggest the future course here? Should I try the steroids – Mednol 16mg tablet (1 – 1/2 – 0 x 7 days) + Cepodem 200 mg tablet (1 – 0 – 1 x 7 days) + Pan D for acidity + Otrivin Nasal drops as suggested by one of the ENT’s?
Please see if you can help figure out the issue here. Just want to know if there is scope for this to not become permanent with some medication considering I have had this for less than 2 months. Also, if I should do any other investigations?
I am 36 years old. I woke up one day around the 6th-8th of Jan '19 with a high pitched ringing in my ears and it has continued ever since.
Initially, I got very anxious and had horrible thoughts and put my family through a bad phase with all my talk.
The ringing is both, a continuous buzzing and a whooshing sound like the ocean when I try and close my ears with my fingers.
About a month before this I had taken my mother to an ENT and got myself checked as well since I get a click sound for as long as I can remember. The doctor took out some wax from one ear (I think it was the right ear) and gave an anaesthetic ear drop to be used for 3 days to avoid any sensitivity which I used.
In the initial days, it felt like the Tinnitus completely stopped in the night, I was playing white noise as well, but it used to be back in the morning. Now, for over a month, it has been consistently there 24/7. I sleep ok in the night and feel like it subsides even now when I lie down. I keep cotton in my ears at most times as I try to gratify myself with the ambience noises when I remove the cotton when the ringing is too much.
In the first week of tinnitus, I had a bout of giddiness which was there for about 10 minutes and I never had it like that again. But on a general basis, i feel light headed everyday.
I have gone to 9 ENT’s here in Bangalore, India since the Tinnitus started, and each one of them prescribed some sort of medication from simple nasal sprays to a course of steroids with an antibiotic and a nasal spray. I did my complete blood work and my Vitamin D came out low. My B12 was also borderline.
As part of the first prescription, after a nasal endoscopy, i was prescribed ( Xylomist nasal spray (3 – 3 – 3 x 5 days) + Solspre Nasal spray (2 puffs x 1-0-1) + Cefixime 200 mg tablet (1-0-1 x 5 days) + Tablet Allercet BC (0-0-1 x 5 days) + Tablet Emanzen D (1-0-1 × 5 days). After the first dose of this that evening, I woke up with very loud sounds the next morning and didn’t continue with the prescription there after.
I took Neurobin Forte for 2 weeks after this, after I visited another ENT, for Vitamin B which didn’t help.
Also took 10 tablets of Emidas after that which contains ginkgo biloba extract as prescribed by another ENT. This didn’t help either.
Took some saline and steroid based nasal sprays as well. Xylomist & Flomist just for 2-3 days, but these didn’t help either. Tried taking steam as well.
Then, basis the next prescription, I took a 20 day 10 mg dose of Tryptomer and in the last week of this dose, I started taking my Vitamin D supplements as well, which is to be taken once a week for 4 weeks and then 1 capsule each month for the next 3 months. None of this helped either.
Now, about 10 days back I started getting pain and a heavy head in the front part of my face and a severe sensitivity to light. My eyes hurt. It this Migraine? So I went to an ophthalmologist and got my eyes tested as well. My pupils were dilated and my cornea and my eyesight is perfect. Just a slight power of 0.25 and 0.5. My hearing is also fine as I did an audiometry and a pressure test.
Yesterday, out of desperation, I went into the emergency an got a CT scan done, which came out normal, as I felt as though my vision was getting blurry and I felt the pain around my eyes increasing. I was prescribed a 25 mg dose of Tryptomer by the neurologist here.
I have had a sore back for 2 months since I did my first yoga class and the pain keeps reducing and increasing on different days. Not sure if the Tinnitus manifested from here because of the tough yoga poses. I also have a neck pain and feel like I have a very stiff neck.
Currently, I am off any medication. I have been prescribed Tinnacar which is a Tinnitus relief medication available here in India.
I look at a laptop screen for 6 hours a day. I lost my father on the 3rd of August '18 which has caused me a lot of depression.
Apologies for the really long post, but I wanted to detail it all out to get the right diagnosis considering that it seems to be a trial and error here.
Could you suggest the future course here. Should I try the steroids – Mednol 16mg tablet (1 – 1/2 – 0 x 7 days) + Cepodem 200 mg tablet (1 – 0 – 1 x 7 days) + Pan D for acidity + Otrivin Nasal drops as suggested by one of the ENT’s?
Please see if you can help figure out the issue here. Just want to know if there is scope for this to not become permanent with some medication considering I have had this for less than 2 months. Also, if I should do any other investigations?
Hi Abhay:
Interesting that none of your ear specialists thought to tell you that a likely cause of your ear problems and dizziness is that the top two vertebrae (C1 & C2) in your neck are likely out of proper alignment. Further proof of that is that you have a sore back and neck. This indicates that some vertebrae are out of alignment and may also have affected muscles in your neck and face.
Over here, I would normally tell you to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and have them put your C1 and C2 back into proper alignment. Unfortunately, I don’t see any on the list for India. But here is where they are if you are willing to travel. Go to http://www.upcspine.com/ and click on “Practitioners”.
You may get help from a conventional chiropractor, but most of them don’t properly align the C1 and C2.
If I were in your shoes, this is what I’d do.
I wouldn’t take any more drugs. They aren’t helping, and some of them are quite ototoxic and can further damage your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Bauman,
I developed a severe case of hyperacusis following an acoustic reflex test that was completed approximately 4 weeks ago (recommended by my ENT following a visit for my tinnitus). I got severe tinnitus immediately following the test and experienced ear-pain during the test.
3 days after the test I developed the hyperacusis. I’m very sensitive to most people’s voices, the TV at a low volume, dishes clanging, birds chirping, children’s voices, the sound of traffic (inside a car or walking in the street), and any loud noises. I likely had mild hyperacusis leading up to acoustic reflex test – was always sensitive to subway noise, train announcements, loud music at bars or live bands.
Now when I have exposure to moderate noise (talking, walking outside, traffic, etc.), the ringing increases and often the sensitivity increases further.
As I also have tinnitus, I’m following a low salt/anti-inflammatory diet, which I hope will help the hyperacusis as well. I’ve been trying to listen to pink noise each night as well as during the day when I need a break from day-to-day noise. I use ear protection (quiet comfort headphones and 3M ear protection) when I think I need it (when in a noisy environment or just desperately need quiet). Is there anything else that you’d recommend that could help aid the recovery? Do you think there may be any other causes/anything else that exacerbated the condition?
I had bloodwork done recently (including autoimmune testing and lymes testing) and everything came back normal. I do not take any medications. Appreciate any guidance you could provide.
Many thanks,
Kristen
Hi Kristen:
If you have tinnitus and especially hyperacusis, you want to be VERY careful with taking acoustic reflex tests. In fact, some audiologists that specialize in tinnitus/hyperacusis say they serve no real useful purpose in testing people with tinnitus/hyperacusis and the harm they can do outweighs their usefulness. Unfortunately, you found out the hard way. In the future, NEVER permit them to do acoustic reflex testing again–no matter what they say.
You seem to be doing all the right things in order to help yourself get your tinnitus/hyperacusis under control. Probably what you need most now is time. It takes months or even a few years to get things back to normal, especially since you say you were always sensitive to sound.
The one thing you didn’t mention was whether you are “high strung” and an anxious personality. If so, you want to learn how to control your anxiety. This will also help you better deal with your ears.
Thank you so much Dr Bauman. I really appreciate the feedback.
Dr Bauman,
My tinnitus developed about 15 years ago after strange and super strong panic attacks (i belive i consume some marine neiropoison at the fishng expedition) and now year pressure which was also developed become unberable plus tinitus) it is horroble nightmare no wonder depresson exasrubated – i was prescribe Tentrilix currently -wondering if this is on list of the medication cause damage to the years .Thanks Boris
Hi Boris:
I don’t have much information on Vortioxetine (Trintellix) as far as ototoxicity is concerned. All I have so far is that it can cause dizziness and vertigo in some people. I have no information indicating that it causes tinnitus or makes existing tinnitus worse, so it is probably not damaging your ears.
Cordially,
Neil
I started Prozac a week ago and my tinnitus is so bad! Should I stop it??
Hi Chris:
Fluoxetine (Prozac) can certainly affect tinnitus for the worse as you and hundreds and hundreds of other people have found out to their sorrow.
Stopping taking the Prozac is no guarantee that your tinnitus will go away, but its certainly a step in the right direction.
Personally, I’d never have started taking the Prozac in the first place, but that’s me. Only you can decide whether you want to get off it. I don’t know why you started it in the first place, but knowing it caused bad tinnitus, if I were you, I’d definitely want to get off it as soon as possible.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman, can you give me suggestions for mild Hyperacusis? I feel like mine comes and goes. I don’t necessarily feel like sounds are louder necessarily, but sometimes they feel “sharper,” if that makes sense, and it makes my ears ache. I really notice it with music. I’ve never had much loud noise exposure, and the sensitivity to sound just seems to have happened over the past couple of weeks after my tinnitus literally worsened overnight for no apparent reason. I haven’t resorted to wearing ear plugs yet (expect for protecting my ears in loud settings), but sometimes I want to just to stop the discomfort. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Hi Jennifer:
Mild hyperacusis can go away on its own–just by not exposing your ears to louder sounds for a couple of months or so.
As you have found, with mild hyperacusis, you may not notice the increase in volume so much as the increase in sharpness of higher-frequency sounds. This is because hyperacusis mostly occurs in the higher frequencies. Thus, you might find that playing lower-frequency music is easier on your ears at this time. And keep the volume down more on higher-frequency pieces.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Bauman,
I really appreciate all this information and your replies. I’m a 38-year-old woman and in March, I woke up with horrible pain at the back of my neck/head and visual distortions. I have had acephalgic migraines since adolescence (but very infrequently, and always triggered by neck strain). However, this visual distortion was very different than the usual, and the pain and distortions didn’t go away, but rather got worse.
After 2 weeks of suffering, I called my doctor to ask for advice. She recommended I get a deep-tissue massage on my neck in case this was due to muscle strain triggering migraines. I did so, but the symptoms got worse yet again. When I went to my dr for a follow-up visit, she put me on a muscle relaxer (cyclobenzaprine) and 500 mg of naproxen to help the pain, which was — at this point — so terrible I couldn’t work or effectively mother my children. The medications didn’t work to resolve the symptoms, and I had a panic attack a week or so later (for the first time in 15 years, after managing my anxiety with cognitive behavioral therapy and no medication).
Immediately after this panic attack, I experienced loud ringing in both ears. I immediately stopped all the medication and I went back to the dr, who made a follow-up visit with a neurologist. They did an MRI of my upper cervical spine and brain, all of which was extremely healthy, and diagnosed status migraine. (BTW, I later found that high-dose NSAIDs can be ototoxic, but have reason to believe this is not the cause since I was on them for 2 weeks and, as I’ll explain later, it seems to be somatic tinnitus).
The neurologist prescribed a 5-day 40mg steroid course, which did seem to lessen the tinnitus, but did not stop it. They put me on gabapentin, which did markedly reduce the excruciating constant pain and the visual issues. They also had me begin PT to help ensure my neck muscles are relaxed and aligned.
I wanted to check with you about your thoughts as to why my tinnitus remains. I will have to continue the gabapentin until the status migraine “breaks” and my brain is no longer migrainous (I’m lucky it worked for me, as it’s a relatively low-side-effect drug vs what others with status migraine have had to take after it didn’t work for them, like SNRIs, which I wouldn’t want to take no matter what!). I would prefer to not be on any medications, of course, but at least the gabapentin allows me to work and be a parent again instead of being bed-bound and in permanent pain.
The PT has helped my neck feel great, but has not improved my status migraine symptoms. It has not helped my tinnitus.
The tinnitus gets louder when I clench my jaw or yawn widely. It’s high-pitched and in both ears, and constant. It appears from what I’ve read this ability to modulate it with movements of my jaw means it’s somatic? I went to a TMD specialist and don’t have TMD.
When the tinnitus initially reduced from overwhelmingly loud to tolerable (as it is now), I felt a “fluttering” in one ear before the reduction in volume. And then that same “fluttering” in the other ear. Would this indicate to you it’s muscular or nerve-related in some way? This has happened twice in each ear and immediately after was followed by a reduction in the volume of the tinnitus. It’s still present but I try to deal with it but having masking noise and doing deep breathing exercises if it starts making me anxious.
Should I go to an ENT for an evaluation, and do you think this tinnitus is permanent or might resolve?
Apologies for the long message and thank you for any advice you can give me!
Hi Suri:
I think I understand what is going on with your situation.
The first thing that I would do if I were in your shoes would be to go to a upper cervical spine chiropractor (NOT a conventional chiropractor) and have him check whether my C1 and C2 vertebrae are in proper alignment. These guys are a special kind of chiropractor that specialize in the upper cervical spine (UCS). They are able to work wonders for certain ailments and they are very gentle–not the bone cracker kind. They focus mostly on your top two vertebra (C1 (Atlas) & C2 (Axis). If this joint is “off” then you could have some of the symptoms you are experiencing such as the ear problems and headaches.
They take precision x-rays and can tell if you are even just 1 degree off proper alignment. I know you have had a MRI that didn’t show anything. But don’t let that stop you from going to an upper cervical chiropractor. They see things that MRI doctors don’t see.
You can find a chiropractor specializing in UCS by going to the following URL and entering your location. You can also read about the things these special chiropractors can do for you at this same website. Here is the URL.
http://www.upcspine.com/
Choose the “Practitioners” link along the top to find the one closest to you.
Note that there are about 10 different versions of these chiropractors. The listings tell what version they practice. If there is a “Blair” one close to you, I’d suggest you try him. If not, the others should be able to help you. Choose one who lists “takes precision x-rays” so he can determine exactly how much you are “out” and in which direction.
You know you are “out” somewhere because you have somatic tinnitus–turning your neck changes your tinnitus volume. Furthermore, you know you are out because when your neck is tight you get the headaches.
The fluttering in your ear is probably Tonic Tensor Tympani Syndrome (TTTS) where your tensor tympani muscle goes into spasm and pulls on your eardrum causing the fluttering sound/sensation. This also can be caused by your neck being “out”. It’s also caused by anxiety.
Thus, to me, everything points to your neck being “out”. The upper cervical chiropractors are the only guys with the training and skills to precisely align it. When they do this, you may find that many of your problems disappear.
One thing you need to realize. Your neck has been out for probably many years. Thus the ligaments, tendons and muscles are used to this wrong position. When the chiropractor adjusts your vertebrae, the ligaments, etc. will tend to go back into their old positions again. Thus you have to go back for several treatments until the adjustments “hold” in the proper position.
Once everything is properly aligned and holding, if you still have problems, contact me again and I’ll see what next jumps out at me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Suri
I read your story. We have one common thing regarding tinnitus. My tinnitus goes away or reduces when I feel a fluttering in the ear. Has your tinnitus gone away? Did you find out what this “fluttering thing” is? I write to you because you are the only one I have found with the same symptom with me.
Regards
Christina
Dear Dr. Bauman,
I first wanted to thank you for all the time and effort you are taking to help those suffering with Tinnitus and Hyperacusis. I just hope that you might have some suggestions for my situation. I’ve had Trigeminal Neuralgia for 5 years and Occipital Neuralgia since 2005. In 2015 I had a pulsed radio frequency ablation for the TN, with no success, only increased pain. I’ve gone through lidocaine IV and Ketamine infusions, botox injections, a plethora of different treatments and medications to no avail. In 2016, in spite of the fact that an arterial loop was found on my MRI, the neurosurgeon I had at the time insisted that he ‘didn’t want to put me through such an invasive surgery,’ that being the MVD. Although I know very well that many times, ‘less invasive’ procedures end up being more invasive because they intentionally damage the trigeminal nerve. But, although I was skeptical (always trust your inner voice!), I decided to go through with a RFA/Thermo Coagulation of the Gasserion ganglion, and sadly, the rest is history. The very moment the NS introduced the needle w/the heated electrode through my cheek to the oval foramen, I started to scream and cry, ‘my ear, my ear!!’ The NS had me ‘barely’ sedated, so much so, that I was awake the whole time and remember everything! W/ the pulsed RFA done by another Dr., I was put out w/Midazolam and only woken to tell them if I felt the tingling sensation in the correct are. But this NS kept insisting that he preferred light sedation to make sure he was in the correct area. It’s a very very long story (traumatizing!), but the NS, instead of suspending the procedure, kept trying at least 3 more times, and actually said that I was ‘moving too much!’ He also said that it was almost impossible to locate the oval foramen and even said to the anesthesiologist, ‘it doesn’t seem to be where the radiologist indicated!’ (I forgot to mention that I’m living in Spain). I obviously wanted to get up and leave but wasn’t exactly in an optimum situation to be able to. The NS even verbally asked me for ‘permission’ to try one more time! I already was literally dying in agony from the ear pain he was causing and knew what he was doing wasn’t right and was actually afraid to say no because I thought I would be blamed for suspending the OR. So I told him, ‘please just tell me what I need to do to be able to help you do what you need to.’ On the very last try, I was holding on for dear life and passed out from the pain. The procedure was finally suspended and I remember coming to briefly afterwards leaving the OR with uncontrollable tears just streaming down my face! In recovery they started me on an IV drip of Fentanyl (which I had never had before and wish to God was never given, although the sad part is that it’s the only thing that barely helps calm my TN and Anesthesia Dolorosa, but not the severe and excruciatingly painful Hyperacusis caused by the NS). I was in hospital for almost a month and they simply had me over medicated to the point I couldn’t even make it to the bathroom in the room without help and would fall asleep standing in front of the sink…). The only thing that calmed the H was a slow IV drip of Demerol, even though it’s not nearly as strong as everything else I was being given. I’ll try to make the rest of this message as short as possible, as there are far too many things to mention, although I would love to be able to explain some other day or way. As soon as I was discharged, I asked for all my records and found a new group of neurosurgeons in another university hospital. As soon as they saw my MRI, they said ‘unofficially’ of course, that I should have had the MVD first and that it could have helped. They knew my dire situation, as the NS not only caused severe hyperacusis by (and I quote his unofficial admittance of negligence: ‘I most likely nicked the root of the Gasserion ganglion’), but worsened the TN immensely, causing more shocks than I ever had, and Anesthesia Dolorosa. So… 1 year later, Feb. 2017, I had the MVD in the new hospital and it wasn’t successful due to the previous damage. It unfortunately, only aggravated everything even more. So… 8 days later they decided to do a rhizotomy with removal of the bottom third part of the trigeminal nerve! (If I only knew…). It caused sooo much more damage and tremendous AD, worse TN with even more constant ATN pain as well and unbearable unbelievably unbearable severe painful hyperacusis. Again, a plethora of treatments etc etc, but no relief. In hospital almost 2 months and again, every day and night in agony, asking for my breakthrough pain medication of IV Demoral (in Spain, it is only administered if you’re admitted). Fast forward, and all I’ve done is go from one appointment to the next, treatments changed all the time and pain management saying there’s nothing more they can do (same as ENT etc). My new neurosurgeon has been suggesting since I was admitted, to try the deep stimulation of the motor cortex surgery and I am never going to go through another brain surgery in my life! And obviously, there are no guarantees or %’s of successful outcomes and in probably wouldn’t help the H either. My pain management doctor has even said that I’m not a good candidate. The hyperacusis pain has only been getting worse, constant, as if I had an ear infection, burning and piercing /stabbing. During the botched RFA, it literally felt as if someone was pushing a hot metal rod through from my brain to my ear! It’s gotten to the point (at least 1+1/2 years), that I cannot be outside for very long and literally run from noise everywhere. I wear earplugs all the time and dread hospital visits due to the echo there, I can’t even stand my own voice and can’t talk if someone else is at the same time. Voices, echos, frequencies, cars, household appliances, metal pots/pans, silverware etc etc EVERYTHING is a trigger, especially the noise my partner makes at home! Talking?!? Making dinner etc. TV w/o sound now etc. I was already suffering more than enough with the TN/AD/ATN (and ON, which ended my career as a professional violinist). But the Hyperacusis is destroying my life in every way possible. I’ve investigated possible new surgeries, that the ENT department hasn’t even heard of etc. Tried many different amino acids, B12 sublingual methylcobalamin etc, anything related to regenerating the myelin nerve sheath… but the H. is impossible to control and at night, it’s ruthless and I cannot sleep at all. Who could sleep with so much pain? So obviously, my anxiety and stress are through the roof just like my pain is, and all I do starting early evening is to take my prescriptions and try to relax and search for silence, but there’s noise even in silence. I can’t think straight anymore from all the pain, medication and lack of sleep and know that this situation is unsustainable. I just wanted to explain ‘a bit,’ how my hyperacusis started, as I haven’t seen anyone in a similar situation. I’m writing you to ask if you have any suggestions or ideas as to what else I could do or try etc. This situation has ruined my life and my relationship pretty much and I can no longer work (over 3+1/2 years already). I know that I’ve written a novel (and it’s only a minute portion of the whole story), but I would just like to thank you so very much for taking the time to read this and hopefully you might have a bit of advice.
All my very best wishes to you and to all those affected by tinnitus and hyperacusis and TN and……………..
Deborah
Hi Deborah:
I wish you had contacted me before you had any of the many treatments you’ve had. I could have pointed you to the one doctor I know of that could have successfully treated your trigeminal neuralgia with nothing more than his hands and you would have been free from the horrible TN pain.
With all that you have been through, I don’t know whether his treatments would help you now or not. It may help reduce your TN pain to some degree and that would be a blessing!
The secret to treating TN is going to an upper cervical spine chiropractor and getting the cervical vertebrae properly aligned again. The TN pain comes from this nerve being “pinched” where it comes out of the brainstem.
I wrote about this is my comprehensive article on Meniere’s disease, but the same principle applies to trigeminal neuralgia–but with the 5th cranial nerve, rather than the 8th cranial nerve which causes Meniere’s disease when it is “pinched”.
You can read this article at http://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/atlas-adjustments-alleviate-menieres-disease/ . Dr. Burcon has had a lot of success in treating people with TN as well as Meniere’s.
I looked it up and there are 3 upper cervical spine chiropractors in Spain that use similar techniques that may be able to help you. You’d have to ask them whether they have successfully treated people with TN. You can find them at http://www.upcspine.com/prac2.asp?rid=3 and click on the two “View” buttons for the listings in Spain. But your best chance would be to see Dr. Burcon here in the USA if you could. His contact information is given in the above article.
Now, switching to your hyperacusis–you obviously now have both pain hyperacusis and loudness hyperacusis and are having a most difficult time coping with them.
There are a number of treatments for these forms of hyperacusis. One is sound therapy to get your sound tolerance built up again. Another is Tinnitus/Hyperacusis Retraining Therapy where the aim is twofold–to get your reaction to sound under control and slowly desensitize you to louder sounds. A third one is drug therapy to calm down your nervous system. One calming supplement is Gamma-Amino-Butyric Acid (GABA). Have you tried this to see whether it helps you? Another is to treat your pain the same way pain specialists treat chronic pain.
Note, if you have tinnitus and hyperacusis, you typically treat the hyperacusis first, not the tinnitus. Often, the tinnitus will come under control as you treat the hyperacusis.
I wish I had my book on Hypersensitivity to Sound completed–still researching and writing it–as it covers all the kinds of sound sensitivities including the various kinds of hyperacusis as well as other sound sensitivities. I think you’d find it very helpful, but unfortunately, I’m still some months away from completing it.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr. Bauman,
I am a 33 year old female with a very boring medical history, no surgeries, no past diagnosis’. Mother of 4 kids, not overweight, non smoker, avoid medications at all costs as I believe in a more holistic approach. With that being said I’ve always been more prone to headaches and utilize ibuprofen when needed. 3-4 months ago I woke up from a dead sleep to a sound of what sounded similar to seagulls at the beach “caw, caw, caw” In a very steady pattern, like a car alarm. It kept happening for about 2 months. Happening more often (nightly basis) waking me up from a dead sleep and becoming quite loud. I even started to notice it when I was awake just sitting watching t.v. or if I had my neck tilted a certain way. It became so bothersome that I was having a hard time sleeping. I had recently (around this same time that it started) started seeing a therapist and we’ve both wondered if it was a physical reaction to discussing past traumas that I haven’t spoken about in a while and becoming a bit anxious. As I sit here typing it’s because the noise had suddenly gone away about a month ago and I was SO relieved. But then about 2 weeks ago I woke up to it, very faintly and now it’s happened just a handful of times but as I type right now it’s happening very faintly in a very pulsating pattern. I had researched it and it sounds like Pulsatile tinnitus. As a mother of 4 kids it has really concerned me that this has developed and it’s caused some unwanted anxiety. I don’t want to go in to the doctor and have them write me a prescription. I want to know why it’s happening and what I can do naturally to try and get rid of it before jumping to medication. I am so hopeful that you’ll have some insight. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read my 5am rambling as I grasp at straws to figure out what’s going on with me. I sincerely appreciate it beyond words.
Hi Cristy:
Be aware that Ibuprofen can cause tinnitus. In fact, I have more reports of people getting tinnitus from taking Ibuprofen than from almost any other drug. Does your tinnitus get worse after taking Ibuprofen? Think back and see whether there might be a correlation. That’s one possibility.
Another is that your neck vertebrae are out of proper alignment since it seems to be related to tilting your neck a certain way. If your neck vertebrae are out of proper alignment, you could be pinching your trigeminal nerve which also controls your Eustachian tubes. And if it isn’t working properly, you could have patulous Eustachian tubes resulting in your hearing your breathing sounds. If this is the problem, then going to an upper cervical chiropractor (not a conventional one) would be a good choice. You can find one by going to http://www.upcspine.com/prac2.asp?rid=4 and clicking on your state.
You can also get somewhat rhythmic tinnitus–but check to be sure whether it is always in time to your heartbeat (pulsatile tinnitus), or not (then one of the other ear conditions) often related to anxiety.
It is good that you are seeing a therapist. Your anxiety may go up temporarily as you deal with past issues. But I’d expect it would go down as you successfully deal with them. So you may not have to take anything for anxiety. If you have trouble sleeping, I’d suggest taking a herbal such as Valerian to help calm you down so you can sleep.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doc. Do you know if crying has any effect on tinnitus? I was crying very hard the night before and the tinnitus seems to be “gone” the following only to come back again at night.
Hi Ben:
It’s possible that since tinnitus can be brought on or made worse by stress/anxiety, the good cry reduced your tension temporarily and thus your tinnitus went away for a bit until your anxiety built up again the next day.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I’m 22, and I’ve had tinnitus for just over a year. I’ve had my hearing tested a few times, and the audiogram has always been normal, but I have become very anxious about loud sounds.
I don’t know whether my tinnitus was caused by loud sounds or not. When it started, I had an ear infection, and at the time I blamed that, but is hasn’t gone away since – in fact it’s got worse. Thus, I have given up a lot of the things I used to do before just in case noise was a factor – such as listening to music through headphones, going to bars to socialize, and even traveling by train, because loud sounds make me panic.
This makes me feel like I am ‘reorganizing’ my life to make room for the tinnitus, thus making it the center of my attention, but I fear the alternative is risk more damage and more tinnitus.
Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Best wishes,
Sally
Hi Sally:
If you had an ear infection at the time of your tinnitus, there could be two reasons for this. First, if your ear are clogged up, you don’t hear as well, and tinnitus almost always accompanies hearing loss. However, in that case, you’d expect your tinnitus to fade away as the infection goes away and your ears clear again.
Second, if you took antibiotics for the ear infection, the drugs could have caused the tinnitus as antibiotics have tinnitus as a side effect in numbers of people. So, if you had taken antibiotics, I’d blame the tinnitus on the antibiotics.
There is nothing wrong with listening to music though earphones as long as you keep the volume to a reasonable level. Reasonable means you keep the volume to the same level you’d listen to people talking.
In bars and on noisy trains, a good idea is to wear ear protectors when it is noisy.
Now, your biggest problem is that you are “reorganizing your life around your tinnitus”. This is certain to make it worse, not better. Here’s why. When you think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, your limbic system takes note of that and then treats tinnitus as a threat–something that cannot be ignored. As a result, it turns up its internal volume so you hear it louder and cannot ignore it. This then spirals out of control as you worry more and more about your tinnitus.
You need to get this under control NOW before it gets any worse. First, you need to realize that tinnitus is NOT a threat to your well-being and act that way. This means that you do not worry about your tinnitus–in fact, you totally and completely ignore it just like you ignore common background sounds such as the sounds your fridge makes because they are unimportant to you.
What you are doing is making you more and more paranoid about your tinnitus and this is heading in the direction of isolating yourself from normal sounds that do not damage your ears, and leading you to panic attacks and associated behaviors.
You want to avoid truly ear-damaging sounds by wearing ear protectors around such sounds or avoiding them altogether, but otherwise, don’t worry about normal everyday sounds. They are not going to damage your ears or make your tinnitus worse. But worry, anxiety, stress and kindred emotions will make your tinnitus worse whether you are around sounds or are in total silence.
Your ears need normal sounds in order to be healthy. So allow yourself to hear sounds without worry and your tinnitus will fade into the background and hours will go by without your even being aware you have tinnitus–if it doesn’t fade away altogether.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi again,
Just wanted to say thank you for this reply, and all the information on this page. It’s given me new hope that I can finally get this tinnitus under control and feel better!
Many thanks again!
Sally
Hi Dr Neil,
I am suffering from Tinnitus almost 2 years now in the right ear and pulsatile on the left side. The frequency has increased since a month. I noticed that T gets severe when in stress / anxiety and lack of sleep make is more worse. I do notice a mild hearing loss in the right ear as well. Any chance this going to reduce or stay the same.
Thanks,
JD
Hi JD:
You already know the answer to your question. Since tinnitus gets worse when you are stressed or anxious, you need to take steps to reduce your stress and anxiety. Note that lack of sleep is a form of stress. So make sure you get your 8 hours of sleep a night and this will help reduce both your stress and anxiety. In turn, this will reduce your tinnitus back to baseline levels.
Besides more sleep, more exercise can also help reduce stress and anxiety. Another important thing is to get your vitamin D3 levels up to where they should be–a good therapeutic level is around 70 ng/ml. You may find your D3 levels way down around 20 ng/ml and that is far too low for optimum health.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi JD:
Acupuncture has limited success with tinnitus. If you have somatic tinnitus from tight muscles in your face,neck and shoulders, its possible it can help if it causes your muscles to relax, but generally, I have not heard many stories of tinnitus success with acupuncture.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr Neil, really appreciate your advise and yes I never had Vitamin D3 levels checked before. However couple of years ago I was extremely low on B12 and my physician put me on B12 injections and i took it for 2 months then discontinued. Read in one of your earlier responses that low B12 level is also one of the causes affecting the inner ear resulting in tinnitus.
Also, do you know if Acupuncture treatment helps tinnitus of any form.
Thanks again for your time.
Best Regards, JD
Hello, Dr. Neil.
My name is Mateus Galvão and I’m 23 years old.
I have been suffering from tinnitus for about 6 months.
I have some problems:
– A lump was found in my thyroid about 5 years ago, but found to be benign. I keep doing an ultrasound every year to follow up.
-About 6 years ago I had problems with migraine with aura and myoclonus. Migraine / myoclonus was treated with TORVAL CR (sodium valproate + valproic acid). Today I still have some spasms, but difficult to happen, since migraine with aura no longer have.
-About 2 years ago I had a panic attack for fear of my health and life problems. I got to the point of waking up with extreme chills and diarrhea. I started a sertraline treatment for about 3 to 5 months, and during that time the dosage was decreasing until I didn’t use it anymore.
Well, my tinnitus started about 6 months ago. The beginning was horrible, I was making several plans for my life and suddenly the buzzing sounded in one night. All the anxiety came along that night, fears for my health, fear of being deaf. Until then I had never heard about tinnitus. It happened on a Monday and I scheduled an otolaryngologist for Friday, the days until then were horrible. I had tests and found no hearing problem, everything was ok. I had heart and blood tests, nothing. I confess that at that moment I lost hope and that I would have to live with the buzz.
I suffered months with ups and downs because I felt the tinnitus vary and every time it varied I felt fear and anxiety. I spent months hanging on because I kind of forgot when I wasn’t home.
A couple of weeks ago I again heard the slightly louder and varying humming, which bothered my routine and sleep. I don’t have such a good diet and I’m sedentary. I don’t quite understand how it affects tinnitus, but I think it can.
I just wanted a direction and whether the cause could be directly linked to my anxiety. All the comments here have helped me a lot. There is still a fear of tinnitus getting so loud that I may go crazy or can no longer sleep.
Thanks in advance for any help. Thank you !
Hi Mateus:
It seems that you are pretty high-strung and anxious all the time. This is not good for your health, nor for your tinnitus. I don’t doubt that your loud tinnitus is linked to your anxiety and fear as you have correctly surmised.
In order to bring tinnitus under control you need to realize and accept some things.
1. Tinnitus is not a disease and does not damage your ears, nor your hearing. So that should set your mind at ease and reduce your anxiety right there.
2. Tinnitus is a “natural” phenomenon–it’s the loudness that you perceive it at that causes the problem. And you ultimately have control over the volume at which you perceive your tinnitus. That should give you hope, because you CAN get it under control (with some hard work on your part).
3. When you consider tinnitus as a threat to your well-being in any way, then your limbic system MUST bring it to your attention and make sure you cannot ignore it–thus it becomes loud and intrusive.
4. The more you worry and fear it, the more of a threat your limbic system perceives your tinnitus. Thus, it responds appropriately to this “threat” and increases the loudness and intrusiveness of your tinnitus so it is impossible to ignore it.
5. To get your tinnitus under control, the solution is easy to understand (but hard to put into practice)–do not treat your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, but treat it exactly the same as you do any other totally useless, unimportant background environmental sound. For example, you don’t worry and fuss about the sounds your fridge makes–you totally ignore them so that if I asked you whether your fridge is running or not, you’d have to stop and listen. You need to treat your tinnitus as fridge noise and it too will fade into the background and not bother you any more than your fridge noise does. When you do not consider your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, this gives your limbic system permission to not make it so loud and intrusive and over time it will turn down the volume and intrusiveness. This is called becoming habituated to your tinnitus.
How do you put this into practice? There are a number of things you can do. In no particular order:
1. Get your anxiety under control. Go to a good counselor who can help you deal with your anxiety and its causes. (Note: drugs are not the answer–but that is all doctors prescribe. In the long run, antianxiety drugs can just make you even more anxious.)
2. Learn to relax. Practice relaxation techniques so you calm yourself down.
3. You may find it helpful to surround yourself with low-level background sounds to give your ears some real sounds to listen to and to partially mask your tinnitus. Do this day and night until your tinnitus is under control.
4. Focus on the loves of your life, NOT on your tinnitus. Since it is NOT a threat to your well-being, you can get on with your life and ignore your tinnitus.
5. There are many tinnitus remedies and strategies. See which ones help you. You can implement them singly or try multiple ones at a time. My book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” explains how to implement many of these. You can get it (hard copy or eBook copy) from https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/ .
6. And of course, if something is causing your tinnitus, stop it. It could be one of the 600 or so drugs associated with tinnitus. It could be exposing your ears to loud noises (loud clubs, discos, sporting events, listening to music too loud on you phone or player, etc). It could be from eating foods to which you are sensitive. It could be from excessive anxiety and stress, and so on.
Putting these principles into practice should really help you. I know. I’ve had tinnitus for more than 60 years now. And still, every time I think about tinnitus (like right now writing this reply, it causes my tinnitus to flare up–my ears are ringing away very loudly now). But here’s the good news, I CHOOSE not to let my tinnitus bother me. Yes, it is loud right now, but because I am so habituated to my tinnitus, within 5 minutes of completing this reply and assuming my next reply isn’t about tinnitus, I won’t even be aware I have tinnitus anymore. Isn’t that great? I’m nothing special. You can do this too! So do it!
Cordially,
Neil
I have been on Xanax for more than a year for anxiety and my doctor switched me to Lexapro 10 mg and after one dose i developped dizzyness, tinitus and weakness. i stopped the lexapro and went back to the Xanax which I intend to taper down 25% every 3 weeks as my anxiety is better as a result of meditation, Any suggesstion ?
Hi Pierre:
You may find that taper at 25% is far too fast. A recommended taper is 10% on the reducing balance–and you can do the taper steps monthly, every 3 or 2 weeks or whatever works for you. If withdrawal side effects start to appear, you know you are tapering too fast. If none show up you may want to do the taper steps weekly. There is no right or wrong taper speed–just whatever works for your body.
Cordially,
Neil
I got tinnitus months ago and was put on Mirtazapine for anxiety. I noticed the tinnitus gradually increased with each dosage increase and started weaning off the drug. I’m already seeing an improvement in tinnitus since weaning off. I tried coming off completely from 7.5 mgs and couldn’t sleep. Went back on to 3.25 mgs and debating staying on that dosage until after the holidays. Do you know if Mirtazapine has the same ototoxicity at smaller doses?
Hi JoAnn:
I can’t say because everyone is different. So a low dose for one person may cause tinnitus, yet a high dose doesn’t cause it for another person. What I can say is that you definitely reduce the risk (on the average) of getting ototoxic side effects when you use lower doses of drugs. I assume Mirtazapine works that way also, but I don’t have any definite information for Mirtazapine.
Cordially,
Neil
Do you know if mirtazapine is mildly, moderate, or highly ototoxic? I’m basically using it to sleep right now. Do you have any other suggestions for non-ototoxic sleep meds in addition to melatonin and valerian root?
Hi JoAnn:
I classify Mirtazapine as moderately ototoxic.
If melatonin and valerian don’t work well for you, the read the following article and see what helps you. Dr. Mercola is a great one for natural–drug free–solutions.
Here are four articles from his website. Yor can find lots more there if you want even more information.
Sleep Problems Solution – Tips on How to Sleep Better
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2019/01/03/tips-to-a-good-night-sleep.aspx
A good night’s rest is a pillar of health – read Dr. Mercola’s comprehensive guide to sleep better and fight the sleep problem called insomnia.
Some of the Top Tips for Better Sleep
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/02/18/top-sleep-tips.aspx
The quality of your sleep matters just as much as the number of hours you spend in bed; try any of these sleep tips for better sleep starting tonight.
Natural Sleep Aids: Top 5 Tips to Sleep Better
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/08/13/5-natural-sleep-aid-tips.aspx
For proper sleep, you should have complete darkness in your bedroom, regular exercise, and a commitment to sleep eight hours.
Tips and Tricks to Resolve Common Sleep Problems
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/06/01/tips-tricks-to-address-common-sleep-problems.aspx
Here are some tips and tricks to address common sleep problems such as back pain, insomnia, racing thoughts or leg cramps that keep you up at night and more.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello,
First this is the most information I have found on this. Thanks you! About 10 yrs ago I had the same pressure in my ear that if so allow to get worse can result in dizziness. Fast forward I have been to ENT , audiologist and had MRI. Everything has come back normal. I have been trying to keep a journal as to what triggers the ringing. It is alcohol, social anxiety (whether at work, family or Holiday parties) and even loud noises (gearing test). Also it seems to be in the winter time so I was not sure if the heat or lack of humidity played a part. My upper mid back has recently been giving me problems as this has never been the case. The pressure is so bad once it starts and then gets aggravated by any of the above. I just want to take medication if needed. My doctors are no help as they just say your hearing is fine in your left ear. Please help…
Also I forgot to mention when I eat it is triggered
Hi Christine:
A feeling of pressure or fullness in your middle ears can be one of the results of anxiety and stress. And as you have found, when your doctors investigate, they can’t find anything wrong.
Tinnitus, as you have accurately discovered can be caused/made worse by alcohol (in some people), anxiety, and loud noise–for three causes. Now that you know you are sensitive to these three things, you need to take steps to avoid them, or successfully deal with them. For example, cut down on the alcohol to where it doesn’t bother you. Learn how to effectively deal with your stress. And when around louder sounds that will make your tinnitus worse, wear ear protectors.
Drugs are not the answer and so often just make matters worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi , was just wondering what could cause this issue and was it tinnitus ? Or any other problems that could be linked or caused it . Recently my mum health condition and worsened and i realised my ears are are ringing ,eyes are twitching even during sleep i could just wake up and my heart seems to pound faster reacting to every single noise ive heard and goes into panic mode. Even phone calls during the day would also affect me especially phone calls from the hospital . At times would get the fluttering feel in my tummy
Hi Joanna:
You are so stressed and anxious that your body is in hyper mode. All these symptoms can be explained by that. Stress/anxiety can bring on the tinnitus, etc. You need to learn how to calm down and deal properly with the stress you are going through or your symptoms will just continue to get worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, Dr Neil so i guess its tinnitus due to stress anxiety etc thanks for the prompt reply appreciate that yup as my mum is under hospice palliative care her cancer worsen and was admitted to the hospital recently so all this symptoms just come together at times recently. If there any other ways to get it resolved other then trying to calm down myself and if the symptoms still persist
Hi Joanna:
You NEED to learn how to handle stress and anxiety properly, or you’ll just come apart. One good way is to get plenty of physical exercise. Burn off all that nervous energy with exercise.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello
I got off a flight and my ears felt clogged then I could hear my heart pulse in both ears and the back of my neck I also felt it . I can feel this once in a while . Ent did hearing test then a cat scan of the rest of my hearing system then a ultrasound of veins that go to my Brain and my regular doctor said it’s stress and that’s it I do have high blood pressure and take 10 mg of lisinopril and 12.5 mg of HCTZ for the past 10 years , I am loosing weight eating healthy to try to stop taking medicine for high blood pressure .
But ent said can’t find nothing might be your blood pressure and that’s it that’s all he said.
Like I said it does not happen always and when it does my eyes get red my wife says it’s because I need glasses does needing glasses have any connection ? I am 45 years old
Hi Salvador:
If you can hear your heartbeat, or have pulsatile tinnitus that varies in unison with your heartbeat, then I’d say it is likely due to higher blood pressure, or increased blood flow in arteries near your ears. If it only occurs occasionally, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Personally, I don’t see any connection between needing glasses and pulsatile tinnitus. However, if both your pulsatile tinnitus and red eyes are due to high blood pressure, that could be the connection. You might want to get checked out by a cardiologist or vascular surgeon rather than an ENT.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
First of all I want to say I’m impressed and touched by all the advice and support you’re giving to so many people, just reading this page is already very informative.
My personal experience with tinnitus started about a week ago. I went to a spa and the next day I woke up with a stuffed right ear and a ringing noise in that ear. I went to the doctor the next day who noticed a lot of ear wax, flushed the ear out, and my hearing was good again and the ringing stopped.
Or so I thought, because at night I noticed a different kind of ringing, like a very high-pitched tone seemingly originating in my head instead of a particular ear. This has been going on ever since.
A second trip to the doctor had no resolve; she said she doesn’t know where it came from, because I have/had no exposure to loud sounds and haven’t had an ear infection. She says I just have to “wait and see”. I also have to do a hearing test but personally I don’t feel like my hearing is affected at all.
I’m not the kind of person that just sits around and does nothing, so I am looking for answers and actions I can take.
Some potentially relevant information is that it all seemed to start after my visit to the spa. I did get some water in my ears that I hadn’t properly cleaned out, which probably contributed to my ear wax problem, but after that both ears were clean according to my doctor. In the spa I also took an ice bath and made a couple roundtrips from a hot sauna to a cold shower and back, in other words drastic temperature changes in short amount of time. In the evening I had an unexplained headache (which I never have).
As I said before I avoid loud noise but I do listen to music with earphones, never on high volume though. Also, recently I have been struggling a lot with stress, anxiety and maybe even depression.
What I would like to ask you is:
– Is there anything in my story that according to your view could explain my sudden onset of tinnitus?
– Would you expect this to be permanent or temporary?
– What would you recommend me to do?
Many thanks in advance.
Anton
Hi Anton:
I’m having a problem coming up with a rational reason for your tinnitus. I can see a number of possibilities.
For example, if your doctor syringed your ears out too forcefully, that could cause tinnitus.
Just the wax alone could have caused your tinnitus by reducing your hearing. But if that was the case, with the wax gone and your hearing returned, the tinnitus should have gone away.
One possibility, but don’t know how likely it is, is that by going from hot to cold and back and forth, the change in temperature may have caused a change in air pressure in your middle ears and caused them to suck up some water into your Eustachian tubes and middle ears. If so, two things could have happened. First, you could have sucked up some “bugs” at the same time to cause a bit of an ear infection and that resulted in your tinnitus. Second, the water muffled your hearing just enough for you to get tinnitus since tinnitus very often accompanies any hearing loss.
The stress, anxiety or depression could have precipitated the tinnitus, or exacerbated your tinnitus from one of the above causes.
If your tinnitus was caused by water in your ears or suchlike, the tinnitus could be temporary until everything gets back to normal.
If your tinnitus is from stress, etc., it could be around for a long time–unless you get your stress, anxiety and/or depression under control.
I don’t see any sure-fire thing you can do at this point, except “wait and see” like your doctor suggested.
However, if you want to try some natural things that won’t hurt your ears and have a good chance of helping, here is a list of things you could try.
I’d make sure your zinc levels are up there. Zinc picolinate, 30 to 50 mg a day may help. Note, any zinc supplement could work, but zinc picolinate is the most bioavailable form of zinc. This is what I regularly take.
You ears need adequate supplies of magnesium to function properly. So boosting your magnesium intake would be a smart move. The most bioavailable form of magnesium is magnesium threonate, which I also take daily.
You also might want to take N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), one of the main building blocks of glutathione–your body’s powerful antioxidant. You can take up to 1,800 mg a day for a couple of weeks and see if that works for you.
And finally, you might want to try Ginkgo biloba. Just make sure you take an effective dose which is 480 mg a day standardized to contain a minimum of 24% flavone glycosides, 6% terpene lactones and 2.6% bilobalide. The only formula I know of offhand that meets those requirements is Arches Tinnitus Formula.
So there’s some things you can do. And don’t forget to get your stress, etc. under control.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi I’ve had tinnitus for over 5 years and it continues to increase seemingly week by week. It started after a period of aches and pains possibly caused by a tick bite in Greece.
Other symptoms have decreased or gone altogether but the Tinnitus continues.
It’s basically a constant hiss.
I did have Doxycycline and Amoxil but that was some time ago yet the noise continues.
Could it be a continuing infection?
Hi Ged:
I doubt it is a continuing infection. To my mind, it is more likely that you got the tinnitus from one of the drugs you took and it has become permanent. Since it is a constant hissing sound, it should be fairly easy to ignore (compared to other tinnitus sounds). What I’d do is basically ignore it as much as possible by focusing on the loves of your life. The worst thing you can do is focus on it and get emotionally involved with it. When you think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, then it gets worse and worse. So treat it as a totally unimportant sound that is NOT a threat to your well-being, but just a constant (and totally unimportant and meaningless) background sound. When you do this, it will tend to fade into the background and not bother you for hours on end. This is called becoming habituated to your tinnitus.
Works for me. I’ve had a hissy-whine tinnitus for more than 60 years–but I don’t let it bother me at all.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr
3 weeks ago I had a terrible headache which made me vomit. After that I have had head pressure and tinnitus in both ears 24 hrs a day. It is really affecting my quality of life. I went to ER and was admitted for 3 days with every test under the sun and all results were normal. I saw an Ent today who also ruled out anything. My last step is a Neuro tomm. I don’t know what to do. My head is so heavy I don’t want to be upright and the ringing in so loud. Any advice?
Hi Kelly:
What caused your headache–any ideas?
Are your neck and shoulders “tight” from any trauma such as a car accident or?
I’m wondering whether you upper two vertebrae are out of proper alignment and that is causing both your headache and tinnitus. If that is a possibility, I’d suggest you investigate treatment from a special kind of chiropractor that specializes in the upper cervical spine (UCS). These people are able to work wonders for certain ailments and they are very gentle–not the bone cracker kind. They focus mostly on your top two vertebra (C1 (Atlas) & C2 (Axis). If this joint is “off” then you could have the symptoms you are experiencing such as the ear problems and headaches.
You can find a chiropractor specializing in UCS by going to the following URL and entering your location. You can also read about the things these special chiropractors can do for you at this same website. Here is the URL.
http://www.upcspine.com/
Choose the “Practitioners” link along the top to find the one closest to you.
Note: medical doctors don’t see these minor (to them) misalignments and thus don’t think they are the problem, but they are wrong so many times.
So this is one thing I’d investigate since your doctors haven’t found anything.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil!
My name is Mila. About 5 months ago I suffered from a mild concussion that left me with tinnitus. Thankfully, the T hasn’t been much of an issue for me, but my anxiety became so severe I started to overprotect my ears and my ears became more and more clogged. The funny thing is I got my hearing tested so many times and things came back normal. I have exceptional hearing for my age (I’m 21). About 5 days ago my ears miraculously opened up, however when I went outside my ears became so tense from the noise that my ears started to hear dull. This was very concerning for me and I found myself freaking out and crying because sound would go from being quiet to extremely loud. My ears tend to get so full that my hearing is impacted and last night the worst thing happened to me. I woke up to ears so filled with “air” that my hearing was completely messed up. Although I heard, it’s as if the vibrations in my ears weren’t coming through and it feels like I have a hearing loss. My ears popped so much from the impacted air that I woke up to very sore ears. My tinnitus has also spiked and things just don’t sound right. My ears feel very weak and I’m afraid that I may have some sort of Hyperacusis and that my ears are actually very susceptible to damage now. Unfortunately because I’ve had my hearing tested so much in the past, no ENT or audiologist wants to test my hearing, as they believe it’s not possible for me to have an actual hearing loss. My ears hurt tremendously and I’m tired of the full feeling. I was on prednisone on and off for months in the beginning, and feared that may have made things worse. However I don’t think prednisone is susceptible to cause hearing loss since it’s used for SSHL. Any advice on what may be happening? Should I stop exposing my ears to loud noises? (I haven’t been to any concerts, parties etc. My ears react and tense up to normal everyday sounds such as the highway or a department store). It seems that the exposure as well as stress is the culprit and I’m very concerned that I’m damaging my hearing. Thank you so much
Hi Mila:
First off, I want to assure you that you are not physically damaging your ears, so you can quit worrying about that.
For you information, even a mild concussion can damage your brain and one result is extreme anxiety such as you now have. Dr. Amen has done a lot of work with SPECT imaging that shows up areas in your brain that are nt working normally. You might want to contact one of his clinics and make sure that you brain is all functioning properly. You can learn more at https://www.amenclinics.com/ .
Once you get your anxiety under control, you can work on your ear problems. I think what happened is that you overprotected your ears so much that you developed hyperacusis–one of the clues is that your audiograms indicate that you have exceptional hearing now.
You also have something else going on due to anxiety. There are a number of conditions that are all tied together and are psychosomatic in nature including tinnitus, hyperacusis (and there are 6 or 7 different kinds of hyperacusis), tonic tensor tympani syndrome and so on.
When your tensor tympani muscle is affected, it can cause your ears to feel blocked (or open) and you feel that you can’t hear properly, but you do not have any hearing loss.
Fortunately, these conditions do not result in physical damage, but are really anxiety-related nervous conditions. As a result, with the right treatment and if you work on your anxiety in the right ways, these conditions can all go away or be so greatly reduced that they won’t bother you at all.
Unfortunately, the converse is true. If you continue to worry and be anxious about your ears, you can make things to continue to get worse.
The ear pain is one of the symptoms of these anxiety-related conditions.
You want to expose your ears to regular everyday sounds–but not loud sounds that can damage ears. The more your protect your ears unnecessarily, the worse things become. What you have does is develop a decreased sound tolerance. Over time, you need to rebuild your tolerance to sounds again.
This takes time. Some things you want to do is get control of your anxiety, surround yourself with low-level sound both day and night so your ears/brain always have real sounds to listen to. Over time, you gradually increase this background sound level. At the same time avoid louder sounds until you are able to once more stand them again. This may take you two or more years. As I said, it typically doesn’t get better “overnight”, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see any significant changes immediately.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I have subjective tinnitus in my right ear but since past two weeks when i woke up one morning I heard the continuous low pitch tone and next day the pitch has increase a lot and it is constant 27×7 now as i cannot concentrate on my work. I cannot sit in a quiet place at all and my work is related to working in a quiet environments. Increase in pitch has also increased my anxiety and palpitations at night. I also feel the left is also getting affected.
Any reasons this sudden increase in high pitch.
Hi JD:
The tinnitus could be related to drug use, loud sounds, anxiety or depression to name some common causes of tinnitus. And worry and anxiety can certainly cause it to increase in volume/pitch.
Since you work in a quiet environment, you need to enrich your environment with background sound to reduce the contrast between silence and your tinnitus level. If you can’t do that, you can always wear earbuds and listen to environmental sounds–water sounds are a god choice–things like waves lapping on the beach, waterfall sounds, trickling creek sounds, rainfall, etc.
You want soothing background sounds–but non-repetitive and meaningless–so you don’t actively listen to them. Just let them be there in the background to help you deal with your tinnitus.
And forget about your tinnitus. Focus on your work/loves of your life and let your tinnitus fade into the background. The more you focus on your tinnitus, the worse it gets.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr Neil for your response.
I am going to use the background sound maskers and its hard not to think about it as it affecting my performance at job.
one more thing, do you know if the noise pitch increases when a person is going through sever cold and sinus congestion. I also feel clicking when I swallow / ears blocked and blocked eustachian tubes.
Thanks so much
JD
Hi JD:
Whenever you get a cold and your ears get blocked, you can experience all sorts of distortions–but don’t worry about them. They typically go away as your ears clear and get back to normal.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Dr Neil, my ears feel blocked still and the noise has increase since past two weeks.
I now feel the slight noise in my left ear as well.
I have booked an appointment with a NUCCA – upper Cervical CP.
Hi Dr. Neil
I have suffered from mild tinnitus alongside a long term depression since I was 15. In Dec 2019 my partner for more than a decade left me, causing me deep depression, anxiety and severe stress levels. Last week I woke up during the middle of the night, with my left ear pinching a very high tone –something it has never done before. I have discovered through doctoral counselling my tinnitus most like is linked with high stress levels during my life, possible also affected to a very small degree by TMJ, as my pinch in left ear increase to more than double when moving my jaw. I have perfect hearing, hence no hearing loss at all, and never experienced any sonic trauma. I am now in NLP therapy treatment for my emotional condition to once and for all find inner peace with myself.
Whilst I am able to find reliable scientific sources on possible stress effects on tinnitus (e.g. Betz et al, 2017), I struggle with finding suggestions on how eliminating long-term stress could possible improve/reduce your tinnitus? Do you by any chance know of any scientific sources that could possible enlighten me on the topic – for instance on improved changes in tinnitus as a result of changes in neuroplasticity?
Also, in cases such as mine, is the higher dB of experienced tinnitus most commonly now on a “fixed” level from now on, meaning that this is what I have to habituate? Or, may I in time hope for a “lowering back to its normal level”, once my emotional condition is stabilized for good as well?
Thank you so much in advance!! And thank you for your time
Kind regards
Anne
Hi Anne:
Stress, anxiety and depression can all result in tinnitus, or make existing tinnitus worse. TMJ can also certainly cause tinnitus.
Since tinnitus is a psychosomatic condition, working on the psychic component plays a big role in becoming habituated to your tinnitus so it no longer bothers you. This doesn’t happen when you focus on your tinnitus and see it as a threat to your well-being, whether physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, etc.
Studies have show that the real level of your tinnitus is the same in all people, yet some people perceive this tinnitus as soft, or medium loud or screamingly loud. So this perception is not related to the actual volume of your tinnitus, but to how you emotionally view your tinnitus. Thus, when you do not view your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, it gives your limbic system permission to not bring your tinnitus to your attention. Thus, over time, your tinnitus tends to fade into the background and hours can go by without your even being aware you have tinnitus. So yes, there is hope for you that this will happen as you learn how to properly deal with your tinnitus.
You would do well to read my book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus”. It can help you get on the right track. Chapter 16 shows you how to get your limbic system working the right way again. You can get it at https://hearinglosshelp.com/shop/take-control-of-your-tinnitus-heres-how/
In addition, I cite numerous reference to papers and articles on tinnitus–all are listed in the Literature Cited section at the back of the book if you are interested in reading more.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Neil
Thank you very much for your reply, it is indeed appreciated.
I am quite amazed how studies have found the actual level of tinnitus is the same in every people! Do you recall if that is evident despite the reason behind (logic to me would be there are differences in loudness whether your tinnitus was induced by extreme noise trauma or by e.g. medication or head trauma)? Strictly speaking, wouldn’t that mean if you are in so much of control of your own tinnitus, you could be able to get “rid” of it by fundamentally changing your own neuroplasticity (as is what some people on youtube claim they have done at least)?
I have always perceived my tinnitus as not being harmful, even when it became more notable when I ended usage of antidepressive medication last year. I have been able to notice it shortly, and then forget about it –easily for more than a few weeks at times. Therefore, I am really disturbed why I was able to wake up in the middle of the night and my tinnitus suddenly has increased so dramatically? Do you have any suggestions of what could have triggered my mind in such manner, during sleep? For the record I have used earphones quite a lot in the time up to the incident (music when running, listening to podcasts during day and slow, meditative music at night). But I doubt this is really the reason why, as I never turned on loud volumes at all, due to awareness of my pre-existing tinnitus.
I’ve come to knowledge (however not diagnosed by professionals) I have similarities with some of the characteristics for somatosensory suffering. I therefore wonder if it is reasonable to think my auditory neural system have “turned on” the tinnitus signal back in time, maybe caused by somatic reasons, and the long term stress (potentially caused by accumulation of stress hormones??) I have experienced lately, have turned that signal significantly up as my whole limbic system has been heavily alerted?
I am from Denmark, and unfortunately tinnitus diagnosing (and treatments) here does not experience same standard as abroad. Therefore, I am now about to see a craniosacral therapist next week, in order to evaluate potential physical reasons behind –by all means getting an opportunity to help my body deliberate the rest of all the severe stress. I also attend an NLP coach for habituating and will definitely look into your e-book as well. I hope a combined approach will turn out to be successful with time.
Once more, I thank you very much for your answer, and sincerely hope you will have time to respond my second ones.. I wish you a very well day
Best regards Anne
Hi Anne:
I somehow seem to have missed answering your comment, so here goes.
There are several kinds of tinnitus, but the neurophysologic kind of tinnitus (what most people have) is basically at the same real level–but people perceive it as ranging from very soft to extremely loud depending on their psychological makeup.
And you are right–you can bring it under control by changing the neuroplasticity of your brain. You may not get rid of it, but you can control it so it won’t bother you–which is what I have done with mine. Some people can do this because they are able to treat tinnitus as a totally unimportant sound that they can safely ignore. However, other people treat tinnitus as a threat to their well-being–and as long as they do this, they can NEVER bring it under control. So your psychological mind-set largely determines whether your are able to “force” the neuroplasticity or not.
Antidepressant and other psychotropic drugs can alter your brain and thus may cause your tinnitus to flare up. If these changes are permanent, then it is harder to bring your tinnitus under control.
It is possible to have both kinds of tinnitus–somatosensory and neuropsychologic tinnitus–at the same time. Thus one could make your existing tinnitus louder. Note that treatments would be different for each kind of tinnitus.
Keep trying different treatments. You never know which ones will work for you. I outline a good number of the treatments that are available and work for some people. Just remember, no one treatment works for everyone, but every treatment works for some people. So the trick is to find out which treatments work for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil!
So I’ve recently developed tinnitus and I believe a period of stress and anxiety triggered this. Some other symptoms I have are muscle twitches, burning sensations, and pressure in the ears. My doctors believe stress and anxiety triggered this tinnitus. Will I have this tinnitus forever? Is it permanent? Are there ways I can get rid of this? I tend to grind my teeth at night as well. I’m not sure if this can contribute. I’m just hoping this tinnitus is reversible! or could my body be stuck in fight or flight mode? because I still experience some muscle twitches and pressure in ears. It’s been about two months of this and I’m wondering if I need to wait for my body to become relaxed. Can someone stay in fight or flight for this long of a period of time? Sorry for all the questions I’m just frustrated and confused as I’ve seen multiple doctors who think my symptoms are due to anxiety. The lingering symptoms are driving me insane especially the tinnitus. I just want a normal life back. And I forgot to mention sometimes I’ll also feel a spasm inside my ear. That scares me like crazy and I’m not sure what could cause that spasm. I haven’t had that spasm in a few weeks but I used to feel it a few times.
Hi Jacqueline:
Stress and anxiety can sure cause tinnitus or exacerbate existing tinnitus. However, I don’t believe that your tinnitus is solely from this cause. When you have ear spasms, ear pain including burning sensations, and a feeling of pressure in your ears that points to a different origin of your symptoms.
Think back to just before this started–did you expose your ears to any loud sounds–especially an unexpected, sudden louder sound? From your symptoms, it seems you likely have Acoustic Shock Disorder. Under this umbrella, you have also developed tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS), tinnitus, etc.
Once you have this condition, then the anxiety plays a large part in making things worse.
Now to answer your questions.
Yes, your body can get stuck in “fight or flight” mode. In fact, that is what happens when you are anxious all the time. So you need to get help–I’d suggest counseling–to help you learn to relax and overcome your anxiety.
Your tinnitus may fade away in time, or may be permanent–bet even so, it doesn’t have to bother you. You can learn to habituate to your tinnitus like I have. Thus, although my ears are ringing away as I answer you, I don’t let it bother me. And the good news is that withing 5 minutes of completing this comment, I won’t even be aware I have tinnitus. But every time I think about it–and I do that a lot as I answer numerous emails and phone calls regarding tinnitus–my tinnitus returns.
The trick for doing this is that you must NOT think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being in any way. You need to consider it as a totally useless, unimportant background sound that you can safely ignore. And when you are anxious over your tinnitus you are doing exactly the opposite–thinking of it as a threat to your well-being. That is why getting your anxiety under control is so important.
Furthermore, your ear spasms are also related to your anxiety. The TTTS often begins with some sort of acoustic shock and then anxiety takes over and keeps it going. So getting your anxiety under control should get your TTTS under control at the same time, not to mention the ear burning sensation.
So you see how all these things tie together and all are tied to your anxiety. That is why it is so important to learn how to “hang loose” and relax.
Cordially,
Neil
thank you doctor! I don’t believe I was near any loud sounds that could have caused this. also sorry for not being clear the burning sensation wasn’t in my ear it was in different parts of my body, but never the ear. The twitch in the ear only happened twice. That’s why I thought anxiety caused this.. but do you think it’s another reason? i’m only 18 and i’m trying to stop stressing but I don’t want to live with this tinnitus forever.
Dear Dr Bauman,
I’m a 48 year old male with a healty lifestyle & rarely taking medication. I have a history with T&H (without hearing loss) that I overcame until recently when mild hearing loss was found in my right ear. Reason would be a hydrops in my middle ear. Prednisone treatment was started but did not help. My H increased and despite the fact I’m familiar with TRT I could not stop the downward spiral. I was totally upset by the situation and my mental state quickly deteriorated. My doctor prescribed low dose Alprazolam (1mg) which I took for only 4 days because despite the fact that I got some mental/physical rest, I noticed my T&H got worse. I now find myself in a position of extreme H, I can’t stand the sound of any voices anymore so constantly need to whisper. Every word I say, I hear this loud alarm in my right ear followed by a whoosh sound. Next to that there’s a loud pulsatile T which keeps me awake at night. In order to break the “downward spiral” my doctor is now advising to start treatment with Serotonin. However reading all the information on your very helpful site I feel it’s time for me to take another path and start treatment with St John’s Wort and Ginkgo. In my situation where almost any sound in my right ear is unbearably loud I’m wondering how to deal with exposure and anxiety. Should I just leave my hearing protection out in the house and expose myself to all those painfull noises which I know are not harmfull. I’m wondering what this will do with my stress levels (which are already off the chart now). Or should I during an initial period protect myself, try to get my stress levels down and get some sleep again at night so I can start building from there? Also on the sound enrichment side it is very hard to stand anything but pure silence on my right ear as all the rest comes through very deformed and irritating. Very much appreciate your advice.
Hi Filip:
First, be aware that the more you wear ear protectors, the worse your hyperacusis gets. So you want to wear them as little as possible–certainly not all the time in the house.
You already know that these perceived loud sounds are not damaging your ears in any way. That should reduce your anxiety somewhat.
Definitely work on getting your stress under control. It’s not stress itself that is the problem, but not dealing with it in the right way. There’s nothing wrong with using a drug for a week or two (but no longer) to help you get your stress under control and get more relaxed and sleep better in order to help you cope.
Using sound generators of some kind to have constant background sounds is important. Just keep the volume down so it doesn’t cause you more anxiety and discomfort. You may have to start at the whisper level and work up from there. Nothing wrong with that. If you have the volume too loud to start with (which I think you are doing) it just makes things worse. So start down there and slowly increase the volume as the weeks and months pass. This is not a race.
Also, be aware you’ll have better days and worse days–don’t let the worse days throw you. And know that you will have setbacks. Again, don’t let them throw you. Just continue from where the setback dumped you and slowly progress again.
Cordially,
Neil
hi Dr.
My name is Rosie and I’m 19 years old. I’ve been going crazy because after a period of immense anxiety and stress I developed pressure and ringing in my ears. I’m wondering what could have caused this as I have not been exposed to any loud noises and never use earphones to listen to music. I was convinced I had a brain tumor for several months as I suffer from health anxiety. Can a tumor cause tinnitus or am I just being paranoid with anxiety? Is it possible that anxiety caused this tinnitus and once I am in a relaxed state this ringing will go away? I am worried that this tinnitus will be permanent. Please help! Thank you.
Hi Rosie:
Stress and anxiety are enough to start tinnitus by itself. A brain tumor could cause tinnitus, but I don’t think you have a brain tumor. The most likely cause is stress and anxiety. You need to get your anxiety under control. As you do this, you should find your tinnitus fading into the background. I’d suggest seeing a counselor that deals in helping people with anxiety issues. Taking drugs to alleviate anxiety often doesn’t work and can make things worse.
Cordially,
Neil
hello Dr.
my name is Linda and i’m 20 years old. I believe that anxiety and stress are the cause of my tinnitus and plugged up ear feeling but my ENT believes that it is ETD and tmj related. I’ve heard of many people having this diagnosis however their T never resolves. Do you think anxiety and stress can cause pressure and ringing in the ears? Maybe muscle tension is causing this? Can massages and relaxing methods make this go away? I also get pain in my ear sometimes when I chew.
my hearing test was also completely normal
One more question doctor, as i’m only 20 if it in fact is ETD or TMJ will this tinnitus go away or be permanent.
Thank you doctor.
Hi Linda:
If you suspect your symptoms may be from TMJ, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are, I’d suggest you go to a dentist or chiropractor that specialize in TMJ and see what they say.
Depending on the cause of the tinnitus, it may be temporary or permanent. Anxiety and stress can certainly cause tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. So you should get your stress/anxiety under control but don’t take drugs as most can/will make your tinnitus worse in the long term rather than better.
Certainly having massage to relax your neck, face and shoulder muscles can help with your ear problems if they are tight and thus causing the tinnitus, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr.
The symptoms I have: pressure in ears, pain in ears, ringing in ears. I’ve been told TMJ is the cause. Today I had a 5-10 second very loud spike in tinnitus and it freaked me out then went back down. I’m a 22 year old female. What could have caused that spike for only 10 seconds? I’m really nervous. Should I get an MRI? I’m terrified of acoustic neuroma or another tumor. Thanks
Sofia
Hi Sofia:
Those three symptoms could be caused by TMJ, but there are other causes as well.
Most people occasionally get sudden loud spikes of tinnitus that fade out in 2 to 10 seconds. If that was all it was, consider it normal. I get them occasionally too–maybe once every year or two. That is nothing to worry about.
I don’t think your symptoms indicate an acoustic neuroma. If it were me, I wouldn’t get an MRI. I doubt it will show anything wrong.
Are your ears congested?
How long have you had the tinnitus? Did you get the pressure/ear pain at the same time as the tinnitus or not?
Cordially,
Neil
yes I did get the pressure and ear pain at the same time of tinnitus which is why my ENT thought it was some form of ETD causing this.
I also had a cold about 2 months ago which is why he suspects ETD and gave me flonase which has seemed to slowly helped the pressure in my ears. The ringing also is going down quite a bit. Does this mean that this tinnitus is not permanent? I’m hopeful that it will go away in a few weeks continuing the flonase nasal spray
Hi Sofia:
If the Flonase is helping you clear your Eustachian tubes, and if the tinnitus is a result of your ears being clogged, then I would expect your tinnitus to go away when your ears clear.
Cordially,
Neil
hi Dr Neil
My name is Melanie and i’m 17 years old. After a period of stress due to 2 family members passing away and working on college applications I developed a number of anxiety symptoms. What i’ve been experiencing is pain in the ears, pressure, and ringing. I also notice that sometimes I feel a twitch inside my ear and I’ve done research that says that this can be MEM and TTTS. Are these serious conditions and should I be worried. Could stress have started this twitch in the ear? The twitch frustrated me and I just want to know if it will go away or if it is a lifetime condition. If I reduce my stress will the twitch completely stop?
I was evaluated by an ENT and he said he thinks I have ETD/fluid in my ears. Could the fluid in the ears be causing this? He also thinks I have TMJ disorder. Thank you so much.
Hi Melanie:
Anxiety/stress can certainly do a number on our ears. TTTS is mostly an anxiety condition, or at least anxiety plays a large part it in forming and continuing. If you get your anxiety under control–relaxation/breathing exercises, proper sleep, diet, etc.–your TTTS (and/or MEM) should fade away.
Both TTTS and MEM are not health threatening conditions–they are just annoying–they do not damage your ears–so you don’t have to worry about them in that respect, but you do want them to go away.
Are your ears congested? Did you have a cold or virus or allergies recently that would have clogged your ears up? If not, then I think your ENT is just looking at your symptoms and applying them to the wrong condition.
How did your tinnitus start? What does it sound like?
If you really had fluid in your ears, it should have shown up on your audiogram as a conductive loss. If you don’t have a conductive loss, I doubt you have any fluid in your ears.
TMJ could account for your ear pain–but so could TTTS.
From what you have said, I think you are on target thinking you have TTTS brought on by too much stress/anxiety.
Cordially,
Neil
I did have a cold some time in February. The tinnitus is almost like a hissing sound, sometimes it is a ringing. The tinnitus started around the same time as the cold i had I believe, but for some reason I think it was more the stress and anxiety that caused this in not sure why. If i control my anxiety can I stop the TTTS, and thus stop tinnitus? Now I only feel the TTTS in reaction to high pitched sounds. It used to be set off for no reason but now it’s only to high pitches sounds. Can this condition and tinnitus go away? I’m trying to get a handle on my anxiety. Thanks.
Hi Melanie:
Your tinnitus may well be just from your stress and anxiety (but the cold might have exacerbated it). I’d say the TTTS was all from your stress/anxiety. Since it is now only sensitive to high-pitched sounds, I think it is beginning to fade away. TTTS is more sensitive to high-pitched sounds than lower pitched ones so it makes sense that they would be the last to go away.
Keep working on controlling your anxiety–good things are happening.
Cordially,
Neil
I don’t know how to explain but for example today i was cutting a banana with a glass knife on a glass plate and the loud sound caused a one time thump in my ear each time the fork hit the glass. It didn’t continue on after the sound. Also today i woke up this morning with no tinnitus at all. I notice some mornings I have no tinnitus then throughout the day the hiss and ringing will come back. Some days I barely hear it and some days I can. Is that a good sign? I’m just hoping this will go away as i’m young and that if I control my anxiety the tinnitus along with my other anxiety symptoms will disappear.
maybe because I think about it so much in the morning it comes back? Is that possible? Because the ringing is on my mind 24/7 and if I don’t hear it I question it it will come back, and it does. Sorry for all of the questions.
Hi Melanie:
Right–when you think about tinnitus–there it is! Surprise! So don’t think about it, and hopefully it won’t come back as often. Focus on other things instead of your tinnitus. If you catch yourself thinking about your tinnitus, deliberately focus on one of the loves of your life and thereby lock your tinnitus out of your mind.
I have to do this pretty much every day as I think about tinnitus a lot–like right now answering this comment my ears are now screaming away. But when I turn to something else within 5 minutes, I no longer consciously hear my tinnitus. This kind of habituation should happen to you too as you learn to ignore your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Melanie:
Right, the high-pitched sound set it off–but only once which is a good sign since it only did it once and not go on and on continuously.
Any time you don’t hear your tinnitus is a good sign. You’ll probably experience more and more days with less and less tinnitus as time goes on as you continue to work on your stress/anxiety.
Don’t be dismayed if you have bad days interspersed among the better days. That is normal. Just keep plugging along hopefully you’ll experience more and more good days.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you doctor! So this the TTTS is getting better does this mean that it could potentially diss appear for good? And that I could be tinnitus free with time?
Hi Melanie:
Yup–you got it. But it could come back if you let your anxiety get out of control again. So learn how to “hang loose” no matter what happens.
Cordially,
Neil
I’ve heard through many people that if stress and anxiety is the trigger then tinnitus can completely go away. I’ve read of this happening to many people. Over time the tinnitus got left and then one day they woke up tinnitus free. Is this true? Since i’m seeing improvement I hope the same will happen for me. Thank you!
Hi Melanie:
Yes, it happens to numbers of people. It should for you too. You are on the right road now.
Cordially,
Neil
Great! thank you so much Dr. I will continue to work on my anxiety and hopefully i’ll be tinnitus free soon!! Have an amazing day
hi Dr.
So yesterday my tinnitus was almost completely silent and I could only hear it when going to bed but today I’m so distressed because it got a little louder and I’m not sure why. Is this fluctuation normal? Is it still possible for this to fully go away? I’m so young I’m not sure if I will be dealing with this for life. I really thought it was starting to go away but today its stressing me out so much. Do you think its still possible for it to go away? I’ve heard about it going away for so many people and thats why I’m trying to be positive.
I’m just so stressed the TTTS has improved so much but this hissing sound in my ears drives me crazy. I swear sometimes I think its gone and then it comes back. I’m not sure if stress is bringing it back louder or why it does this. Usually when I wake up in the morning its COMPLETELY GONE and then it comes back an hour later. Why do you think this is?
sorry to bother you again. today I woke up this morning in total silence again however i’m sure it will come back later in the day. This is confusing me so much. Is it because my brain and subconscious are looking out for the tinnitus?
Now I’m so stressed out again. What are other things that can cause ringing? I’m only 17. Do you think I should be checked out for something more serious? I do have health OCD/anxiety as well so maybe I’m overthinking. I just know you’re a professional so I wanted to ask. I’ve had blood tests so I know I don’t have diabetes or hyper/hypothyroidism. Should I be getting any other testing done? I do have other anxiety symptoms right now just because I’ve been in constant fight or flight, that is what my psychologist tells me. Should I worry about something serious? Thanks.
Like should I be getting an extended audiogram or an MRI? I just don’t want to spend extra money on testing. My family has already taken me to so many other doctors because I was convinced I had a serious neurological disease. I’m sorry for all of your comments I just want your advice from a professional.
sometimes I feel like i’m crazy and that the only reason I hear the tinnitus is because I think I have it. I never take medications and i’m never exposed to loud sounds that’s why I think it’s stress related. I just really want it to go away. Sometimes I feel like it’s gone then I plug my ears and check and it will still be there.
I’ve also noticed that the tinnitus tends to switch ears. Sometimes it’s in my left and sometimes it’s in my right. I’m not sure what this means either. My grandfather recently passed away and so many anxiety symptoms have come back so maybe that’s why the tinnitus isn’t going away? The tinnitus isn’t even bad the only time I ever hear it is in quiet rooms. Do you still think it’s possible for my ears to fully recover since i’m so young? I really don’t want tinnitus forever.
Is it possible that because I’ve been stressing and stuck in fight or flight that my muscles are tense? And that is the cause of my tinnitus? I’m just so confused and not sure what to do. My hearing test was totally normal so does that mean it can go away?
Hi Melanie:
I’ve combined all your posts into one–makes it easier to answer. So here goes.
When you have tinnitus, you can have good days and bad days. This is normal. And it is normal for your tinnitus to be worse when you are stressed out and anxious. That is why you need to learn to relax and not get so uptight.
I think your tinnitus goes away overnight as you relax. Then when you get up you begin to think about your tinnitus again, and there it is. That is why you need to forget about your tinnitus and think of the loves of your life and let your tinnitus stay in the background.
I think it is trying to go away, but you keep bringing it back with thinking about it and stressing over it. You are making a mountain out of a mole hill by stressing over it. It just makes it worse.
I don’t think you need other medical tests until you get your anxiety and stress under control and see whether your tinnitus goes away then–or at least fades into the background. You need to let it go, not keep on obsessing about it.
Further testing is a waste of time and money. You need to deal with what you have. Your psychologist is right that you are stuck in “fight or flight” mode. I don’t think you have anything else to worry about.
Almost always, you’ll be able to hear tinnitus if you really listen for it–so DON’T DO IT. This just tells your brain it is important–and then your brain increases the volume. That is the last thing you want your brain to do.
Tinnitus can change sides and be in one ear, then the other, then both, then just in your head. That is also normal. Nothing to worry about. It’s just the way it is.
If you can only hear your tinnitus in a quiet room, you are lucky. You only have a mild case. The easy solution is to have some noise in your quiet room–a fan, or white or pink noise, or soft music–anything to give your brain real sounds to listen to. Then you won’t focus on your tinnitus so much.
You are your own worst enemy regarding your tinnitus. Forget about it. Focus on other things and get your stress and anxiety under control. THEN you can expect your tinnitus to fade away.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you doctor. So do you think if I just relax and let go of the sound the tinnitus will go away? Lately during the day its totally gone and in the morning its always gone. I just notice it at night. I’m hoping this fades away too. Do you think thats possible?
Hi Melanie:
I think you are on your way! Just continue to ignore it and focus on other things and you should notice it less and less until you don’t even notice it all day.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr.
My name is Lindsey. I have high anxiety and experience panic attacks. Can getting the body to a stare of relaxation and eliminating anxiety stop tinnitus? The only time it is present is when i’m going to bed or sitting in a quiet area. Just wondering if this is permanent. Thank, Josie
Hi Lindsey:
Getting your anxiety under control can reduce tinnitus to a point where you many not even notice it–assuming your tinnitus is from anxiety and not some other cause.
If you only notice it when going to bed or in a quiet place, then one thing that can help take your mind off your tinnitus is some real sound–can be soft–just loud enough to hear. Some people find just having a fan running in the room is enough to partially mask their tinnitus so it doesn’t bother them.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
My name is Samantha. I’m a highly anxious person and have recently developed very mild tinnitus. I have a question. How does stress and anxiety cause tinnitus? Can this tinnitus be reversed? Thanks.
Hi Samantha:
Basically, when you are anxious, your body goes into “flight or fight” mode. When this happens all your senses are increased in sensitivity. This means you hear better than you normally would. Now you can hear fainter sounds. In quiet, you hear the random firings of the neurons in your auditory system. Because they are new sounds, you lock onto them to see whether they are a threat to your well-being or not. Because it is a new sound, and you are anxious, you worry that something bad is happening in your body.
The more you focus on these faint sounds, the more your limbic system turns up its internal volume so you can better hear them on the premise that if you are worrying about them, they must be important sounds. Thus begins a vicious cycle.
To break this vicious cycle, you need to stop worrying about your tinnitus sounds and show your limbic system that they are NOT a threat to your well-being. Over time, as your limbic system observes you not paying attention to your tinnitus sounds, it assumes they are no longer a threat to your well-being, and begins turning down its internal volume. Thus, these sounds fade into the background where they do not bother you and may disappear entirely. However, if you listen for them, you’ll probably hear them again. So it is best to just plain ignore any tinnitus sounds and focus on the loves of your life.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doctor, I am currently crying on my laptop as I type this. You are a kind doctor an I am certain you will give me an answer as soon as possible.
I have had tinnitus in both ears for 4 months now 24/7 and it extremely loud, always the same volume.
My GP is amazing. Everyone is trying to get an appointment with him, he is an incredibly accurate doctor. I asked him if I needed medication and he was very careful not to give anything ototoxic.
I got tinnitus from a bad and painful ear infection in both ears which lasted 3 weeks. First I had temporary hearing loss and now it is completely fine. I had never taken stress before those four months. I was thought the happiest most joyful person in my class and I really was.
I one day woke up with a blocked ear. Didn’t worry. Went to see a GP. It was a bad infection.
Even when I first got tinnitus, I never worried about knowing it was going to go as the middle ear infection did.
Then it didn’t….Infection went and tinnitus didn’t. I have sensitivity to sound as well but not too much.
I took MRI scan and Audiology test and everything was fine. I can confirm my tinnitus is definitely not due to stress. It is not due to ototoxicity and not to noise exposure. I wore headphones very occasionally and it wasn’t really at a crazy degree of volume.
I am not sure what the following is but loud sounds repeat in my head. My tinnitus also alternates from ear to ear but in a silent room I here it in both.
I just got a major cold and a new rumbling sound has developed along with the high pitched ringing.
My GP is telling me it as all inflammation of the eight nerve and it takes ‘some’ months for the tinnitus to go. He told me it will definitely go away and so did about 90% of all the doctors I have been to (though some said realistically I will have to cope with it.)
I am a young very brave girl who actually wants to study medicine but the ringing is getting in the way of my life. Don’t worry, I am not treating it as a threat. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me ever but I use sound relief and other thing to manage it.
I have a few questions kind doctor…
If the majority of my doctors (especially that really skilled one who I believe actually got a reward for doing something crazy amazing in his field) then will it actually go away? All the doctors in my area are very careful and very helpful and allways provide the right care. I’m glad to be given such a gift.
Also, would have inflammation of nerves shown up on MRI scan or not? I asked a doctor and he said no, inflammation and fluids don’t really show up on scans unless they change structure of the ear.
Whenever I allow for my Eustachian tubes to open, I hear a crackling noise which I don’t think is normal. I was thinking, could it be the sound of the inflammation moving around and taking up space. My ears sometimes feel very full but occasionally painful but the ringing is very very loud.
Are the doctors who say this will definitely go away just saying this to make me feel better or do they actually have to say the right thing when the time comes for it? I really wanted the perspective of an amazing doctor like you! I am a young girl and I was crying in front of some of the doctors because this is the worst thing that has ever happened to me in my life. I get little sleep but I keep telling myself ‘just as the doctors said it will not be permanent, then it will not be permanent.’
I know personally so many people with tinnitus who have it go away. Some in 3 months, some in 5 months and some in 6 months. I keep telling myself mine will go away too just as everyone is telling me.
I live in the UK so we call our doctors GPs. They never try to sell me weird stuff or ‘the cure.’ I have never used ear protection just in case I might get used to it and I haven’t found a want for them much either.
My dad actually had tinnitus from a fungal infection that lasted a long time. It was a very very bad infection much worse than mine. He could not get any sleep unless the TV was on. He thought he was going to have tinnitus forever however he never worried about.
This is an amazing gift in my family but none of us tend to worry much so now that I am, but recently, I’ve been looking like the odd one out little bit😅 However, my dad fully recovered in 6 months with the help from the same GP who is absolutely amazing. Turns out the ears just take time to fully heal from such an infection but they eventually do. Do you think mine will as well Doctor?
I really appreciate you reading this. Your help blog is a very helpful one!
Hi Anna:
We call our doctors GPs too–the family doctors, not the specialists.
The only place you need ear protection is when the sound levels are sustained above 85 dB or so.
Your dad just treated his tinnitus as a loud background sound–but did not get emotionally involved with it–which gave his limbic system permission to treat it as a totally unimportant sound that it could safely ignore (turn the internal volume way down so it did not bother him).
It takes time, but it is not time alone that makes the difference, but your attitude towards your tinnitus at the same time.
I wish you well in learning to do that.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Anna:
I have some questions for you in regards to your tinnitus.
First, what medications did you take for your ear infection? Many of them are ototoxic and most doctors don’t have a clue about them.
Second, how do you know you hearing is completely fine now? I assume you had a standard hearing test that go from 250 Hz up to 8,000 Hz, right? The ear infection, or the medications could have caused hearing loss between 8,000 Hz and 20,000 Hz, but that would not show up on a standard audiogram–but your brain and ears would know and tinnitus could have accompanied that hearing loss (assuming you have this ultra-high frequency hearing loss.
Your ears still crackle when you open your Eustachian tubes. That is gunk blocking your Eustachian tubes. The crackling sound is the air moving through the gunk. Once you cold goes away and your Eustachian tubes clear, then the crackling sounds should go away too.
The sensitivity to sound you have is a mild case of loudness hyperacusis. Hyperacusis can come on from exposing your ear to louder sounds–not necessarily really loud sounds, but sustained louder sounds. I wouldn’t be surprised if the cold virus in your case has something to do with it–indicating some degree of damage in your inner ear.
The rumbling kind of tinnitus may also be due to your cold. I can’t be sure.
Your doctors are all trying to be positive saying your tinnitus will go away in time. They cannot be sure about this. On the average, they may be correct, but in your particular case, the most they should say is that you have a good chance of it going away, but there are no guarantees.
How can you say your tinnitus is not due to stress. You ARE worrying about your tinnitus and crying into your computer. That indicates that you are anxious about it. Your tinnitus may have been due to your ear infection, but it may be continuing because you are worried about it. Remember, tinnitus is a psychosomatic condition although few doctors will tell you this.
What causes tinnitus in the first place and what keeps it going can be two entirely different things.
When you say that loud sounds repeat in your head, what do you mean exactly? Give me some examples.
I agree with your doctor that MRIs don’t show up inflammation.
As I said, I think your doctors are being positive regarding your tinnitus, but none of them can say for certain your tinnitus will go away. This is because a lot depends on you and your psychological make-up.
You say that you do not consider your tinnitus a threat to your well-being, but your actions say differently–and your limbic system only responds to what it “observes”, not to what you say. And it is observing that you are very upset about your loud tinnitus. You say this is the worst thing that happened to you. That is not the thoughts of tinnitus not being a threat to your well-being.
You need to calm down and not focus on your tinnitus so much. Focus on the loves of your life, not your tinnitus. Don’t give up your plans to be a doctor just because you have tinnitus. You can learn to successfully deal with you tinnitus so whether you have it or don’t have it makes no difference. I’ve had tinnitus for more than 70 years now and I don’t let my tinnitus bother me although it is always there. But I am now so habituated to my tinnitus that it doesn’t bother me. You can learn to do this too.
I didn’t let my tinnitus stop me from getting a handful of degrees including two doctorates. And every time I think, write or talk about tinnitus–like right now, my tinnitus comes screaming back–it’s a occupational hazard of those of us who have tinnitus and help others deal with theirs. But here’s the good news. Within 5 minutes of finishing this post (and assume the next one isn’t about tinnitus) I won’t even be aware I have tinnitus. It will have receded that much into the background. That’s why I say that whether you hear your tinnitus or not doesn’t matter. It’s no big deal when you successfully deal with it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doc!
Thank you so so much for replying I really appreciate it 😉
This is so so crazy! I’ve partially got rid of the serve cold I had. The rumbling sound is completely gone and the tinnitus is significantly quieter. I used to have it in both ears but now I can only hear it in my right ear!
I definitely understand how you say one thing can cause your tinnitus and another can carry it on. Stress did not cause my tinnitus but I can say it is probably carrying it on. I will try my up most best to subside from the tinnitus and I will change my views towards it.
It is so weird to describe what I feel in my ears. They feel full and even when I talk or sometimes when I breathe, I hear crackling sounds and a lot of it. My ears are still sensitive to noise but not too much.
I’m not sure what ear drops my doctor gave me but I knew that ototoxicity is a thing before hand so I asked him and he said these are completely safe for your ears. On the green box it clearly said in blue letters non-ototoxic.
The only reason I had hearing loss was because ear wax was actually blocking my ears (yes I had a lot going on with my ears😅) I did not have a hearing test but my hearing was significantly bad as I felt it. This lasted for however long I had the infection and that was two weeks. It wasn’t so bad so I hardly noticed when I got my hearing back.
The craziest thing is that my dad had tinnitus but even when I talk to him and he talked about it or even when he went into the audiology room with me for a good 20 minutes, he could not hear his tinnitus!
One of my best friends had tinnitus. She went on a flight and her ears felt very full and blocked and this lasted her some days. She later noticed these loud high pitched buzzing/ringing sounds in hear ears. She went to the doctor and they said it was nothing (at the point the blocked feeling was gone but the ringing was still there.) Unlike me, she is always busy doing something, she always has something to do and completely forgets about anything else when she puts her mind on something else. She told me she felt her tinnitus getting quieter and quieter to the point that she woke up one day, cuffed her ears with her hands and couldn’t hear a single thing. I keep telling myself how, recently, things are starting to get better for me, that I’m going on the path that she did. She told me she was so happy she was screaming with joy. Doctors didn’t really know why she had tinnitus but it was gone in 5 months. I spend my time crafting, playing video games with my sisters and hardly notice my tinnitus now. I cry a lot so it is crazy how I’m at the point of crying for joy now since my tinnitus has just gotten quieter😅
Sorry Doc I’m a really weird teenager.
Hi Anna:
Looks like you are on the right track now. Keep on doing the right things and your tinnitus has a good chance of disappearing in time.
And you’re a normal teenager. (All teenagers are weird!) LOL. You’re no longer a child, but you are not yet an adult–so all those changes are confusing.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Doc really appreciate.
I hope life gives you all the best!
As my cold symptoms are starting to decrease, I can hardly hear my tinnitus at all!
Hello Doc,
So, I do have TMJ and allergies. I also have anxiety as well. I started to dwell on my tinnitus again, and as I did so, suddenly my ears became “clogged” feeling. It felt like I was under water. The clogged feeling went away but the tinnitus is loud. Am I just focusing on it too much?
Thanks
Hi Alyssa:
TMJ can give you that clogged feeling, and tinnitus too. Focusing on tinnitus can certainly make it louder and more intrusive, but it could be from worry and anxiety too. Learn to relax and focus on the loves of your life, not on your tinnitus and let it fade away.
Cordially,
Neil
His Doctor, this is an update from my last comments.
I wanted to ask some question but first of all I wanted to say my tinnitus has reduced. I sleep much much better now and the only times I notice a lot it is in a pretty much silent environment or when I think about it (which I refrain from doing now.)
Because of the current situation with Covid-19, all my out patient appointments are on the phone. An ENT called and gave me a lot of ways to cope with my tinnitus and I should work on a fun project and let my tinnitus fade away. By realizing the tinnitus is not hazardous, it has a more likely chance of fading away or at least not interfere with my life anymore. He said my hearing nerve is inflamed and it will definitely go in around 6 months. In contrast to all that I read online of tinnitus being permanent and chronic (which I know I shouldn’t read and I don’t do that anymore because it only ups my anxiety, I would say a solid 85% of my doctors have told me I won’t have tinnitus for life.
Because I can’t help myself from asking this and as your a doctor, could my doctors be giving me false hope? I keep telling myself no because they first look through all my reports and the cause and then they say no with such determination! I think my teenage side is making me think way to far…
As time goes on (I’ve had tinnitus for nearly five moths now) I feel a little less hopeful and at this point, hope is the only thing preventing me from not collapsing everyday in tears.
I asked if I needed any medication and my GP said he doesn’t want me on them because many drugs can be ototoxic and also some only serve as a temporary relief.
I also wanted to say when I open my jaw and inhale even a little bit of air from my mouth, I hear a lot of crackling noise in my ears. Also when I yawn, my tinnitus gets about two times louder for only however long I yawn (about 3 seconds) Could that be because of the inflammation? Also, I have a really bad posture and I feel a fairly big bump at the back of where my neck and spine connect. Occasionally I feel pain there as well. Could this be contributing to my tinnitus or even caused it?
I’m so sorry this is such a long comment (I’m the Queen of babbling LOL) Thank you so much for you replies!
Hi Anna:
You are doing well with your tinnitus. If your tinnitus bothers you in quiet, put a bit of background music or other sound on so you don’t hear it so much.
Your ENT gave you much the same advice I give regarding tinnitus. I say, “Focus on the loves of your life, not on your tinnitus”. And I say that when you realize that tinnitus is not a threat to your well-being, it will begin to fade away. Basically what your doctor said.
I disagree that it is because your “nerve is inflamed”. Tinnitus is caused by hyperactivity in parts of your central nervous system, not inflammation.
I also disagree that it will disappear within 6 months. It may, or it may not.No one can predict with certainty what will happen in the future except God. But if you continue to not focus on it and let it fade into the background, it may disappear completely in time, or it just may stay at a very low level in the background so you only hear it in total quiet and of course, when you think about it. But when it is in the background, it won’t bother you–so it won’t matter whether you hear it or not.
It’s a good idea not to read all the sites on the Internet where people commiserate together about their tinnitus. This is not productive and in fact just makes you worry more. Better to leave them alone now and just focus on the positive.
I agree with your GP that you don’t need any medications and taking any would probably just make things ultimately worse.
Don’t expect that you need your tinnitus to go completely away to get back on an even keel. When it fades into the background and doesn’t bother you, that’s just as good. Remember, you’re talking with the guy who has dealt with his tinnitus for more than 4 TIMES the number of years you’ve been alive. It’s just there in the background–so what? No big deal.
I agree with you that your tinnitus could be caused or exacerbated by your neck being out of proper alignment. When your tinnitus gets momentarily worse when you open your mouth wide, or turn your neck all the way left or right, that is a sign that not everything is in proper alignment. If that is the case, I’d go to a upper spine chiropractor, not a conventional chiropractor. You can find one at http://www.upcspine.com/prac2.asp?rid=4 and click on your state.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil
I recently had a (suspected) gastro infection which caused me to have symptoms of food poisoning long after the infection had been gone. I would wake up startled and feel like my heart was pounding but every visit to the ER showed a normal ECG and my oxygen levels were fine. I had also been to the hospital and all tests show that my vitals are fine. During this whole period, I began to lose the ability to sleep naturally and the doctors put me on chlordiapoxide and then zopiclone when the other drug stopped working. I took zopiclone for 9 days and decided to stop. Now I cant get back my normal sleep rhythm. I can’t fall asleep even when i am so exhausted my eyes can barely open. I would go sleepless for 3 nights and then my doctor said I should take antihistamines to help me sleep. I didn’t want to but I had to because nothing else helped. I tried melatonin 4mg and it didn’t help. I took a valerian root supplement once and it didnt help. After 6 days on the antihistamines, I realised it doesn’t give me good quality of sleep because even though it helps me to fall asleep it doesnt keep me asleep. I don’t have deep sleep and I keep waking up after a few hours. I only managed to sleep 3 to 5 hours each night on this. I am tryin to heal my gut (by diet like eating healthy, fruits, veg, sauerkraut) but it is really frustrating when I cant sleep well and that is so essential in healing process. A homeopath put me on vomica and i dont think its working either. I also taking sodium phosphorus for the acid imbalance in my stomach. Please please help me. Should I see someone for my problems and who??
Hi Diane:
I think you are not giving the various things you tried enough time. For example, Valerian is a herbal and herbals typically don’t work immediately. It takes time for them to build up in your body and begin to work. It sounds like you took it once. I’d take it for 3 months before deciding it doesn’t work.
I’d also give the Vomica time to work. Don’t expect instant results.
Are you sensitive to electromagnetic radiation such as emitted by your cell phone. If you have your cell phone in your bedroom it should be turned right off or at least in airplane mode. The same is true if you have a wifi router on–turn it off at bedtime and see whether these two things make any difference in your sleeping patterns.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
I appreciate the time you take to answer so many comments on this page it is very helpful. I am hopeful you may be able to offer some insight on my situation.
I am male and in my mid 40s with no previous head or neck issues other than mild seasonal sinus issues . About 2 months ago I went to a night club. It was loud but I was taking breaks and going outside every so often and enjoying the evening away from the music. I was only there about 90 minutes total. On my last stint in the club before leaving, the DJ did this airhorn thing over the music (air horn sound not a real air horn) and I could kind of feel this pulsing in my head for a couple of seconds with the sound. It wasn’t bothersome but noticeable. I left about 5 minutes later and noticed I had a hissing noise in my ears. Fast forward about 7 days and the tinnitus did not subside and this was starring to cause me some anxiety. It was about this time I started getting sound sensitivity. Dishes clanking, beeping noises like reverse beeps, car engines. even holding my cell phone up to my ear started to provide discomfort. I have a fullness in my ears(more so in my left), dull aches, burning, and fluttering. This was all at the time the lockdowns started so I wasn’t able to immediately get into an ENT because everything closed down. Unfortunately my anxiety continued to go through the roof as I tried to wrap my head around this. I reached out to a prominent audiologist and she offered some advice on the condition hyperacusis along with TTTS, which I am still dealing with today. I got in to see my ENT and my physical exam went well, no fluid and ear drums looked fine. My hearing test came back the same as it did on my last test in 2015 so the Dr was reassured that I did not do any damage as far as hearing loss is concerned. (My hearing test is normal for my right ear and shows a mild drop in high frequencies for my left).
I do believe that hyperacusis can be exacerbated by anxiety but wanted to get your opinion on my steps going forward as I believe as did the audiologist that this was noise induced. I have heard that pink noise sound therapy can help those afflicted witjh hyperacusis. Some say that resting the ears and time are the best approach. Obviously I need to reduce my anxiety levels as well. As someone that believes in natural remedies as do I, can you recommend some natural methods for recovery? Any suggestions you can offer for recovery from hyperacusis would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time!
Hi Jim:
You experienced acoustic shock disorder. All your symptoms are indicative of ASD such as the hyperacusis, tinnitus, pain, TTTS, dull aches, burning sensation, fullness in your ears and so on. You almost certainly have hearing loss that didn’t show up on your audiogram–that’s why it’s called hidden hearing loss.
Anxiety certainly makes things worse, so you want to get that under control. Learn to relax. Controlled breathing exercises can also help you relax/stay relaxed.
When you have acoustic shock disorder, here are a couple of cautions.
At the same time as you are treating any of your other symptoms, you need to be careful to avoid exposing your ears to louder sounds until they have recovered. Wear ear protectors when appropriate, but be careful not to overprotect your ears or you will just make matters worse.
Second, be very careful when you have your hearing tested. Do not let your audiologist do uncomfortable loudness testing or acoustic reflex testing. These tests are no no’s when you have supersensitivities to sound due to the high volume levels required when doing these tests. You don’t want to be one of the unfortunate people with Acoustic Shock Disorder who have had their conditions made permanently worse as a result of their traumatic responses to these loudness tests.
With acoustic shock disorder, you treat each of the symptoms with the treatment for that particular symptoms. Thus you treat the pain differently from the TTTS, from the hyperacusis, from the tinnitus, etc.
I’d start on the symptoms that bother you the most. But, in any case, getting your anxiety under control is paramount. Then, I’d probably work on the loudness hyperacusis.
Yes, you want to give your ears relative rest from louder sounds–but they never want total quiet. Think of the nature sounds you’d encounter in the country or hiking in the hills. These are soothing sounds and are one approach. Some people have moved out into the country or back country for a few months and have healed from their hyperacusis that way without any professional intervention. In these situations you don’t have to wear ear protectors and indeed, you shouldn’t.
If you live in the cities/suburbs, you will be surrounded by sounds–and some of them are too loud for your ears to stand at this time. Thus, you do two things. One, you wear ear protectors when the volume gets too much and the sounds begin to cause you distress. You want to push the sound envelope, so a bit of discomfort is to be expected, but stop short of distressing sounds.
As soon as the distressing sound goes away, take off your ear protectors. Wearing ear protectors when not needed is just asking for your hyperacusis to get worse. Your aim is to get better.
Also, your ears want background sound 24/7. This is important, even when you sleep as your ears and the sound filtering circuits in your auditory system don’t sleep either. You want the volume to be low–ALWAYS below the level of distress and annoyance. It just has to be audible.
Some people use white noise, but pink noise is easier on your ears. It needs to be loud enough to hear, but not loud enough to interfere with your hearing speech, etc.
Even better in my opinion is any of the various nature sounds. Not only do they provide the background sound, but they are also relaxing. Water sounds are an excellent choice–waves lapping on the beach, babbling brook sounds, waterfalls, rainfall, etc.–whatever works best for you. Other nature sounds may work, just be careful to choose more or less constant sounds and ones where the volume stays much the same. That is why I suggest the water sounds–they are constant in both time and volume.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for your insight! I appreciate your time.
My ENT prescribed me a round of prednisone and said that it may help with the symptoms as I am not more than 6 months out from the incident. I am hesitant to take this based on what he called a “crap shoot” but wanted to get your thoughts on this,
I live in a busy city and unfortunately my house is very close to a busy freeway. The sound of the cars used to be therapeutic but now it sounds like my house is right on the road of the freeway, as in its very loud. Not distressing loud but just seems my brain can’t tune it out now. If I’m outside and a loud motorcycle or car passes by on the service drive that does cause some annoyance. It’s hard to get ear protection on that quick so maybe I should avoid my backyard at this time ? I also have a wife and 4 kids so low volume is hard to come by.
Thank you for your insight on the sound therapy I have been using pink noise but will try the nature sounds too as the relaxing factor would be nice on that as you mentioned.
I know every person is different but since this is my first incident can i expect that things will normalize soon and if so, what is a normal time frame for recovery?
Thank you again for your time in responding. Your opinion is much appreciated.
Hi Jim:
Personally, I wouldn’t use Prednisone after 30 days. I don’t see it helping after 6 months. I don’t think it’s even a “crap shoot” at this point.
When a loud motorcycle goes by just use your fingers and press on your tragus to shut your ear canal until it has gone by. Just do this for distressing sounds. Same if the kids shout or scream too close to you ears that it causes you distress.
This may be your first severe incident, but I’ll bet you’ve been in noisy bars and other noisy places in the past. Your ears can only absorb so much punishment before breaking down.
The time frame could be 6 months to 2 or 3 years. So much depends on your level of anxiety, avoiding loud sounds and consistently using sound therapy.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for your reply.
I’m sorry I wasn’t clear regarding the prednisone. My incident was on 3/8, almost 9 weeks ago. My hyperacusis symptoms kicked in a week after that. The ENT was using the 6 months as his threshold for administering. Obviously still not within the 30 days you mentioned, but still not worth the crap shoot in your opinion?
Yes you are right regarding the ear punishment. Retrospectively I wish I would have protected my ears that night and many times in the past. I am hopeful I will get another chance to make this right and move forward protecting my ears in the future.
Thank you for your opinions and your help it means a lot!!
Hi Jim:
The choice is up to you of course. Taking Prednisone at this late date may help, but I doubt it. If it were me, I wouldn’t bother as I don’t see that the expected benefits will outweigh the negatives of taking this drug.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr for your insight.
Regarding the testing, do you feel loudness discomfort level testing is necessary? I’ve read that it is suggested this be measured for progress to also be measured when doing sound therapy. I ask this because I am very skeptical of any sound close to my ears right now especially through head phones. I was at the ENT on Tuesday and my right ear has been more sore ever since. I had a lot of wax buildup I’m that ear and I requested it be removed manually and not with suction or irrigation. The Dr was able to get it out manually but had to do alot of digging in that ear. For my audiogram she also did the SRT with 10 words in each ear that I had to repeat. Although it wasn’t distressing at the time I’m thinking maybe my soreness is from the digging and having the SRT. As I mentioned before I can’t even hold my phone up to my ear without soreness so I’ve been using the speaker.
I have been having trouble finding an audiologist in SE Michigan who is an expert in treating hyperacusis. Do you have anyone you can recommend? If I have to go at the sound therapy on my own, can I use over the ear headphones during the day to get my sound therapy? I’ve read that if I use those but can still hear outside noises that can still work. Would in the ear sound generators be better?
Thank you for your time and insight. Your dedication to helping others is like I’ve never seen in a Doctor,
Hi Jim:
Some think Uncomfortable Loudness Testing is critically important, and other think it doesn’t matter at all. I’m in the middle. It is nice to have, but it’s not the end of the world if you refuse this test.
Many people with hyperacusis are anxious about wearing headphones. Thus you may want to forego the pleasure–because when you have hyperacusis, you don’t want to do anything that increases your anxiety and distress over sound.
Note that this test is a test of uncomfortable loudness, not a test of pain thresholds. Therefore, the sound is slowly increased up to your most comfortable level (the maximum level where you hear sounds without any discomfort or distress), and then it is slowly turned up a bit more until you say it is uncomfortable. At that point you stop the test. So it should not be a problem. However, the audiologist needs to be very sensitive to your sound needs and not step the volume to fast (typically they do 5 dB steps–but you may need them to go in 1 dB steps) and not reach your threshold of pain. You NEVER want them to do that–just up until you feel some discomfort.
The SRT testing shouldn’t have hurt your ears in any way as it is the softest level at which you just begin to understand speech–so that should be well below you uncomfortable loudness level.
But all the digging around could have slightly damaged your ear canal and pulled on your ear drum and that could give you the pain you now feel–but it should have gone away in a few days or so.
Note that when wearing headphones, some headphones held tightly against your ears cause pain–so you need loose fitting ones, or have them just use the soundfield speakers for their testing.
It can be difficult to find an audiologist that is expert in treating people with tinnitus and hyperacusis. I’d ask around and also check the Internet for a “Tinnitus and Hyperacusis Clinic”. That’s what you really want to find–a clinic–not a regular audiologist as they basically just test and fit hearing aids and have no real expertise in tinnitus and hyperacusis.
When you are doing sound therapy, it doesn’t really matter what you use, earbuds, headphones or table-top speakers, etc. The sound therapy is the important part–not the method of delivery. Use whatever works best for you at the time. So you may wear headphones during the day and loudspeakers at night for example.
As to what kind of sound generators you use, “they” say that in-the-ear sound generators are the best, but the other ways work too. So I wouldn’t get hung up on them. Certainly, in the ear sound generators are the most convenient as you go about your daily tasks, but using a smart phone or other player and wearing earbuds would work just the same.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr for your insight regarding LDL testing and also sound therapy.
I have one last question for you. The thing that got me thinking about anti-inflammatory’s in the first place is I had an incident a few weeks ago where right before I went to bed my left ear suddenly became excessively plugged. I regularly have aural fullness more so in this ear than the right and the rest of the TTTS symptoms. But when this happened it was like a flip of a switch….extreme fullness, extreme tinnitus spike, muffled hearing, and plugged feeling in nose and sinus all on left side. I didn’t know what to do so I took some Ibuprofen (400mg). Within about an hour my symptoms returned back to baseline. This got me thinking about predinose or possible natural anti-inflammatory options to possibly knock this out permanently. Or maybe this was just a sudden extreme case of the TTTS symptoms. The fact that the Ibuprofen reduced it back to baseline made me realize that this has alot to do with inflammation, or at least I think it does. Many times when my ears are feeling really full my sinus will also begin to drain on that side (post nasal drip). I’ve mentioned this phenomenon to 2 audiologists and 2 ENTs and no one can give me any theory or explanation. With your experience and expertise in this field I thought you might have some explanation for that incident and the recurring sinus symptoms. All of this started since the noise incident. Also, my left ear felt full immediately after the initial incident as well. The right is only intermittently full depending on ear fatigue.
I appreciate your time and help you have really helped. It’s nice to see a doctor that cares enough to help a complete stranger. I will be making a purchase on your website as that is the least I can do. Do you have any recommendations for reading on your website that may help?
Thank you again!
Hi Jim:
You may be right about inflammation causing a lot of your problems. I’m not a medical doctor so don’t have expertise in this area. The question is, “What is causing the inflammation?” Is it an hyperactive nerve in/near your ear causing this (which would be by first thought since it began after your noise incident) or something else entirely.
The best book for you is the one I am currently writing that I hope to have out later this summer which I am called (at present) “Hypersensitive to Sound” and it deals with hyperacusis, acoustic shock, TTTS, and numbers of other related conditions.
In addition, you may want to make a donation. As you can appreciate, it takes considerable time and effort to provide you with detailed and helpful answers to all your questions. Therefore, if you are able, please consider making a donation to help offset the cost of providing this valuable service. An easy way to do this is make your donation via PayPal using my registered PayPal email address at the bottom of every page on this website. Thank you for your generosity.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I talked to you about my tinnitus about a month ago now. I have made amazing improvements now. The only time I can hear my tinnitus is in a quiet place. I can’t even hear it now for some reason as I type this.
It has been 5 months of me having tinnitus and I can say my tinnitus isn’t constant anymore. It definitely used to be. Could this be a path to a full recovery?
Thank you for everything, Anna
Hi Anna:
I’d say you are well on your way to either full recovery, or to full habituation so even it you sometimes do hear your tinnitus, it won’t bother you at all.
Keep on doing whatever it is you are doing. It’s working.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks Doctor Neil, may God always keep you happy. ☺️
Hello sir,
My name is Kelly and I am 16. I recently started to get a bit over weight. I am 5 foot 5 inches and weigh 62kg.
My parents were not happy about that. I also have a older sister who calls me a fat pig everyday. I just cry in my room, everyday.
I think I’ve developed a eating disorder. I can’t eat and every time I do, my parents look at me in a weird way. I don’t know where to get help but I’m starving and just the thought of them knowing I’m eating triggers me.
One night after crying for 5 and a half hours (and no-one took notice) I heard a ringing in my ear. It was quite now it is so loud. I can’t feel my head, it is so light weight. I can’t move out of bed and I’m typing this breathing very hard and my parents don’t care. I can’t have this ringing for life or I won’t let myself live.
Please help me,
Hi Kelly:
You need professional help from a psychologist to help you deal with your weight issues. You seem to be close to having panic attacks. So, find a good psychologist that cane counsel you and get you back on track.
When you are under extreme stress and anxiety, you may begin to hear your ears ringing. This tinnitus should go away as you get your stress and anxiety under control. So don’t worry about it at this point. Get psychological help now.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, I can’t get a psychologist help because I have no way to contact one. The ringing is really loud and I have had it constantly for 2 weeks.
I told my parents about it but my dad’s drunk all day somewhere else and my mum doesn’t care a bit.
I’ve been brought up in the worst life ever, my parents are abusive and don’t care about my health. The also don’t let me go outside or give me a phone and I am contacting you through my very old computer. I have got panic attacks.I faint alone in my room and get up all dizzy. I told my mum and she told me a story of how ‘it used to happen to her in her home country’ and it doesn’t really matter all that much. I AM FAINTING all over the place and no-one in my household cares.
I really want to get my education over and done with. I get good grades and my parents are shocked because I come from such a slum background that I get these grades. They never even cared. I only got good grades so I can move out of this house, become independent and get a job. I really want to have a real life.
The ringing is currently driving me insane. In two weeks I lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks because of starvation and it shows. I feel week and I don’t know what to do about this ringing. I have no way to contact the doctor because my parents think its nothing much. I always feel dizzy and I haven’t gone to sleep for three days. I am not lying when I say this in fact I am crying so much I’m scared my keyboard will get ruined because of all the tears rolling on it.
Please help me, I’m getting suicidal thoughts because of this ringing. I really don’t want it for life.
Hi Kelly:
If you can’t go to a psychologist, try searching the Internet for one that will help you over the Internet. You really need someone to talk to about your situation. Or contact a social worker in your area. That is probably the best way to do it–as they know of any other resources to help you. Over here they call it the Department of Social Services.
Focus on your schoolwork and thereby learn to ignore your tinnitus. I’m proud of you working hard and getting good marks in school–especially under your adverse cicumstances. That shows you have the brains and determination to better yourself.
You need to learn how to calm yourself down. One way to help you relax when you are feeling close to panicking is to do breathing exercises. Breathe in to the count of 8, hold your breath to the count of 8 and then breathe out to the count of 8. Repeat for 15 minutes or so and notice how much calmer you now feel.
Search the Internet for relaxation techniques, then practice those that work for you. Getting yourself under control will help with your eating situation–don’t starve yourself, but don’t pig out either. Eat a sensible amount each day.
Remember, don’t focus on your tinnitus. Treat it as a totally unimportant background sound that you can safely ignore. Then do that by focusing on your schoolwork, etc.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you,
I hope it isn’t something serious because I got physically abused about two weeks ago and hit my head very hard. It is very very painful and I hear a lot of ringing all the time.
My parents think it’s nothing and no problem (since they were the ones who hit me in the first place.)
I just hope I don’t have any brain injury or trauma and I wish I could get help if I did. Its probably the reason I feel very dizzy and sleep much less. I also have weird eye movements as of a few days ago. My eyes move side to side rapidly for a few minuted and it happens regularly through out the day, maybe it’s connected with the ringing.
Hi Kelly:
Getting hit in the head–especially on the side of your head or over your ears can certainly make your ears ring.
The weird eye movements are called nystagmus. This is caused by the balance system on one side not working as well as the one on the other side. The head trauma could have damage your vestibular (balance) system on one side resulting in the nystagmus.
Your parents need to stop hitting you on the head. It is causing damage. You NEED to talk to a social worker about all this so you can get the help you need.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks doctor Neil,
I’m trying to my best to get myself help but as a 16 year old alone, it is difficult right now.
How long does this nystagmus and ringing last for?
Hi Kelly:
I understand how difficult things are for you right now.
There is no way to know how long your tinnitus will last. It may be for a few weeks or it could be for a lifetime. I’ve had tinnitus for close to 70 years now. It’s not whether you have tinnitus but whether you let it bother you that is important. When you treat your tinnitus like it is NOT a threat to your well-being, this gives your limbic system permission to ignore it. Then your tinnitus begins to fade into the background and not bother you. This is called becoming habituated to your tinnitus.
However, if you focus on your tinnitus, it won’t go away because you are treating it as a threat to your well-being and thus your limbic system cannot ignore it.
Nystagmus is a result of vestibular damage–so I think it will last as long as the damage is present. Balance therapy may help you control it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello sir if you could answer my question that would be very helpful?
Thank you
Hi Celina:
I emailed you privately yesterday using your gmail address. Check your inbox and spam box to see if it is there. If you can’t find it, email me privately using the email address you want me to use and I’ll resend it. My email address is at the bottom of this and every page on the Center’s website.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Neil, I’m really at a lost what to do. I’m mortified and devastated about whatever happened to me. I was born with severe hearing loss and have been wearing a BAHA hearing aid for 11 years with no problems. I always had mild tinnitus that I never heard til I go to sleep. My tinnitus never bothered me during the day cause I never heard it during the day except in quiet rooms. 7 months ago I developed a cold virus back in November and while I was recovering from that cold, one day I was at work and it started ringing loudly and I thought it was a fleeting tinnitus attack but I was wrong. It didnt go away and later i discovered it was reactive to sounds but at first i thought it was just me focusing on it alot so that’s why I heard it over everything even when it wasnt that loud in silence but I discovered as everyday I came home working from the grocery store and my ears are screaming and they never use to and the tinnitus tones trying to compete with every day sounds, I realized it was reactive to sounds. It makes most music sound distorted as I hear a ringing or tinnitus warbles trying to ride on top of the music and it makes voices on tv sound robotic as the tinnitus competes with every word spoken even my real life people’s. I hear a loud piercing whistle at times when cars drive by. I hear other tones when white noise or fans are on. I hear my tinnitus all day at work. I work in a grocery store. It stops from listening to most music and watching tv as it’s too distracting. I been trying this thing where I turn off my hearing aid for like 30 minutes to an hour or two for a month to give my ears a rest after being exposed to normal sounds for an hour or two. I dont know if ear plugs would work as one ear has no canal opening. I’m not sure if I’m making more sensitive turning my hearing aid off or putting it on the lowest setting or not. I just dont want go to bed with a loud spike and toss and turn all night and dread another day with reactive tinnitus. I’m terrified the virus permanently damaged my inner ear and maybe thatd why its so reactive . I worry about becoming one of those people with permanent reactive tinnitus who become recluse and have said they havent listened to music or watched movies in years and I dont want that. I wanna be able to get to a point where my tinnitus is mostly masked again so I can go back to forgetting I have it. The doctor told me I had fluid in my ears a few days ago and I hear occasional clicking sounds everyday. The ringing also gets loud for a minute when I stand out but its is constant 24/7 tinnitus. I’m terrified it’s been 7 months and what if treatment or finding cause is too late. I cry everyday for my old life. People with reactive tinnitus have said they weren’t able to tune their tinnitus out. I just want the reactive part gone so I can travel and watch tv and listen to music again. Do I just deal with the tinnitus competing with everyday sounds and hearing it over everything all day long in order to desentisize it? My dad gets mad at me for turning my hearing aid off cause he has to repeat himself. What should I do? I haven’t told an ENT about this yet. I didnt lose more hearing on my last hearing test 3 months ago. What are reasons reactive tinnitus doesnt go away after 6 months? I had a whistling I heard over everything for a week then it faded down to barely audible a few years back but this time it’s not going away.
Hi Ava:
Where do you hear your tinnitus–only in your deaf ear, only in your better ear, in both, or just in your head without any reference to your ears?
What side do you wear your BAHA–deaf ear or better ear?
Can you think of any other factors besides the cold/virus 7 months ago that could have caused your reactive tinnitus? Any medications? Anxiety or worry or depression? Loud sounds? etc.
In my experience, if you have tinnitus and then expose your ears to loud sounds, that is when you typically get reactive tinnitus.
Reactive tinnitus is, as I understand it, a combination of tinnitus and loudness hyperacusis.
When you have reactive tinnitus, you should treat the hyperacusis first and then after it is under control, then your tinnitus. In your case, it seems your tinnitus doesn’t bother you–if it didn’t react, so you need to work on the hyperacusis component.
With loudness hyperacusis, you don’t try to mask your tinnitus. What you do is listen to a very soft background sound–just barely audible, but never so loud it makes your tinnitus react. This sound may be pink noise, fractal music, water sounds or whatever is pleasant to listen to. You don’t want to listen to anything that is annoying or distressing or that makes your reactive tinnitus kick in.
Over time, you increase this background noise as your ears can bear it–but again, never so loud it becomes annoying or causes your reactive tinnitus to flare up.
Little by little you should find you can stand louder and louder sounds without it becoming annoying or distressing.
You may need to turn your BAHA down a bit at work (and at home) so your work sounds don’t make things worse. And you want to be careful not to expose your ears to loud sounds. Your ears need a rest from louder sounds so they can slowly heal.
Actually, it’s not damage to your ears–so quit worrying about that. What has happened is in your brain where the auditory filters that regulate how loud you perceive sounds have gotten out of whack and you need to help them to reset themselves to the proper levels again.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey Neil, thank you for replying. To answer your question, I haven’t been around loud noises except sometimes when I go for a walk, a motorcycle might go by but that’s it. If something loud happened at work then I dont remember. My dad is a musician and plays real loud music and has all the music equipment but when he does that I’m usually outside while hes in the house. He took a break from playing for awhile like for 2 or 3 months and one of those months was when I has the virus. I lived with him for 9 years and during those 9 years , the few times I went to his concerts, I never had an issue but I havent been to a bar or concert in a few years. The reason I thought the reactive tinnitus may have something to do with whatever virus I caught was because it happened right when I was recovering from the cold and I read about how people have lost their hearing or went completely deaf in one ear and they only have one good ear left and the virus they got was the zoster virus or maybe labyrinthitis or hydrops or something so they have inflammation or nerve damage to their inner ear from the virus and some of those people who got those viruses developed reactive tinnitus and from what I read, they are still living with reactive tinnitus 10 or 12 years later. I fear that’s what happened to me. One of them said alot of people who have a deaf ear and a good ear on the tapatalk tinnitus forum, have reactive tinnitus and because of the hearing loss its permanent for them and they tried pink noise and tinnitus retraining therapy and it didnt get rid of the reactive tinnitus for them. Some said it made it worse. I was born 75 to 80 percent deaf in one ear and the other isnt exactly a “good” ear but a better ear like maybe 40 or 50 percent deaf in the other ear but even though I took a hearing test a few months back, I read about hidden hearing loss so i dont know I’m not sure if i lost slightly more hearing than what I got. I do try pink noise but i can try it everyday. For the past month or so i have put my BAHA on the lowest setting when I’m in any environment with noise. I fear this reactive tinnitus is permanent as it will be 8 months in july. I read about lots of people with reactive tinnitus having theirs suddenly go away or improving after 5 or 6 months well its past that for me. Those people didnt have hearing loss, I think one did but it was mild I think. I get frustrated cause I wonder when I’m going to recover? My tinnitus seems to react to the lightest noise almost, even to my own voice. I’m not able to watch tv as its very distracting making voices sound robotic and distorted. It’s seriously affected my life. I worry I’ll never watch tv or movies or listen to music again. I try to listen to music but most times it sounds a little distorted especially pop music. 8 months with this almost. I will keep doing what you suggested with pink noise and the low setting on the hearing aid. Also is it possible to filter out or tune out reactive tinnitus? I read somewhere in one of your replies to someone that you have screaming tinnitus yet you can go for long periods being unaware of it. On tinnitus forums alot of people say they have loud or severe tinnitus but they can be unaware of it for most of the day but I havent been able to achieve that yet. I’m 98 percent of time aware of my tinnitus all day. I wonder if for those who can tune out their tinnitus not “hear” it when their busy have the kind of tinnitus where they can only hear it if they really look for it and they could find it in any environment but they have to really look for it. I dont really have to look for mine cause it pops into my awareness constantly whether I want it to or not. I will add that their are times when reactive tinnitus is not too loud but audible so it can be annoying but not unbearable at times at that’s when I can somewhat tolerate it at work. I think I almost turned it out completely a few times cause it seemed less interwoven I would think of a song or movie but most of the time I’m aware of it. Those with reactive tinnitus say they always hear it and not able to tune it out but I wanna have a day when I can go a whole day and be unaware but I question if its possible with this type of tinnitus. I’m not scared of my tinnitus anymore I just worry about this reactive thing being permanent so it’s always on my mind.
What I meant to say in the last few sentences was i have almost tuned it out completely and the reactive tinnitus seemed less intrusive and in the background but most times it’s in my awareness 100 percent like an unwanted guest.
Hi Ava:
I think you are confusing being aware of your tinnitus and focusing on it. Even when I am aware of my tinnitus (like right now), I am not focusing on it. I’m focusing on answering your questions. So if you are aware you have tinnitus all/most of the time, that isn’t a problem, as long as you focus on other things and just let it be there.
Over time, when you do this, it will slowly fade into the background so you aren’t even aware of it, but you will almost always be able to hear your tinnitus if you listen for it–not a good thing to do when you want your tinnitus to disappear. Instead, you want to habituate to your tinnitus–and I think this is slowly happening–which is great.
In order to habituate to your tinnitus you need to totally put tinnitus out of your mind, not dwell on it.
Habituation is just the process of adapting to a stimulus through repeated exposure. Thus, you can define tinnitus habituation as an adaptation process of your auditory system that not only reduces how loud you now perceive your tinnitus, but also reduces your previously-held strong reactions to your tinnitus.
You can do the same thing with your tinnitus. Since your reaction to tinnitus is a learned response, just like any other learned response, you can unlearn it. You need to weaken the conditioned reflex connections between your auditory, limbic and autonomic nervous systems before you can habituate to your tinnitus. This happens in two stages.
First, you must habituate your reactions by detaching the perception of your tinnitus from the negative responses of your brain. You do this by clearly understanding that you do not need to fear or be annoyed by your tinnitus. You have successfully done this when your tinnitus becomes just another background sound like fridge or traffic noise. It no longer annoys you although it is just as loud as it was before.
Second, you must habituate your perception of tinnitus by blocking (filtering out) any tinnitus-related brain activity before it reaches your level of consciousness. When you do this, your tinnitus actually fades into the background and often you will not even hear it.
Don’t focus too much on all the talk forums on the Internet. Often there is too much negativity there–and that just makes your anxiety worse–the last thing you want to happen. You need to focus on positive information.
The people that took TRT or used pink noise trying to treat their reactive tinnitus may have not had good advice. For example TRT is for treating tinnitus, not hyperacusis. In order to treat the hyperacusis component of your reactive tinnitus, the TRT program needs to be specifically modified to work with hyperacusis. And then you need to treat your hyperacusis first, before your tinnitus. Unless they do this, they can find TRT doesn’t work or makes things even worse.
You are doing well since you’re not scared of your tinnitus anymore. That’s a great step to make. Now you have to work on not being worried about your reactive tinnitus being permanent.
Just continue becoming habituated to your tinnitus by focusing on things other than your reactive tinnitus and let it continue to fade into the background. For example, if you are watching the TV and it sounds bad/distorted, don’t focus on the fact that the sound track is so bad–rather focus on the storyline and enjoying the program.
It’s a slow process. Keep on doing the good things you are doing and in 2 or 3 years, you should be able to look back and realize that you’ve come a long ways and that you are almost “normal” again.
Cordially,
Neil
The
Thanks for replying again Neil. So far i havent been able to find any cause for my sudden reactive tinnitus. I went to the ENT a week ago and told him sometimes I get a little ear pain and slight pressure feeling in the ears along with echo distorted hearing and that I get allergies so I got some sinus xrays done and I got a call today about my results on those xrays and the doc said he couldn’t see anything wrong with my sinuses, my Eustachian tubes look clear and everything looks fine. He looked in my ear a week ago too and didnt see fluid but a month ago the General doctor saw fluid but the fluid must of cleared up so while I’m happy there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with my tubes or sinuses despite me getting allergies like mucus in the throat, I’m pretty upset and disappointed they weren’t able to find anything that was causing it. The doctor told me the distorted hearing thing is probably cause I’m deaf but I know that’s not true atleast not what I’m experiencing. I’ve never had reactive tinnitus til 8 months ago except a few years ago, I woke up with a whistling sound that I could hear everywhere but that lasted 4 days or so then it faded to where I had to look for it in a quiet room. This is much different. I dont know what caused it. I wish I knew. I was hoping it was an ear infection that could get treated and clear it up since I’m extremely jealous of people who get reactive tinnitus or distorted hearing that can be treatable with antibiotics due to an ear infection or eustachian tubes get unblocked with surgery and their tinnitus problems or echoed hearing is gone. I get jealous of those who’s reactive tinnitus comes and goes like some people get good days where their reactive tinnitus is gone all day and they have very low maskable tinnitus. I havent had one day where my reactiveness is gone. I havent had what I’d call a “good day” yet. I get jealous of those who’s hypercusis/ reactive T faded around 3 months while I’m still figuring out why I still have reactive tinnitus 8 months in. Its not really less reactive yet. You said it’s a slow process and could take 2 to 3 years so I will believe you. Sometimes I question those who recovered from hyperacusis only 3 or 4 months in, their cause didn’t have any serious damage and maybe mine does but it’s not visible to doctors. Sometimes I worry something just broke in my brain since it came out of the blue. Anyway I wish I could go back in time and maybe I’d find the cause then as I don’t remember being around loud noise, I just remember it started around a cold.
Hi Ava:
You now know that there is nothing physically wrong with your ears, so its got to be something out of balance in your auditory system–maybe partly due to damage in your inner ear and partly due to the auditory circuits in your brain getting out of whack. Normally your brain tries to keep sounds in balance, but due to cochlear damage, it messes up in doing this–and thus sounds get too loud and get stuck there.
You know better than the doctors about the kind of thing you are experiencing now and that it is different from before. It is certainly possible that a virus got into your inner ears and did some damage to the hair cells or underlying support cells (spiral ganglion) that resulted in this reactive tinnitus.
The trick now is to get your brain to get properly balanced again.
It is possible to recover from hyperacusis in 3 or 4 months. Some people do. You don’t have to doubt them. But they are different than you.
I wonder whether your BAHA is giving you too much sound and your brain is having problems dealing with it. What would happen if you didn’t wear it at all for a month or two so your brain isn’t bombarded with sound at work and at home? A period of relative silence may help it rebalance itself. I know a couple of people that found that was what they needed.
Others listen to steady background sounds, and slowly turn the volume up as the weeks and months pass as their ear can stand it–and slowly get better.
The big deal is that your ears NEED to be able to hear sounds so your brain can rebalance things. Maybe the solution is to turn your BAHA down for a month or two and rely more on speechreading and writing things down rather than hearing/understanding what people are saying and give your ears a rest.
What are your thoughts on these ideas?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor,
I was being treated for a urine infection which was very painful and caused me to worry uncontrollably
After a week of high anxiety I had a very bad panic attack,Ambulance had to come,I have had anxiety since my teens.
The day after the attack I developed a fluttering/twitching in my left ear,6 days it’s been with me now,there is no sound loss or muffled hearing,a slight pain.
The doctor I saw looked in both ears and said there was nothing in my ear and no damage around inner my ear and said it’ll go away.
Any answers.
Hi Mark:
What you have now is called tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS). It is largely caused by your extreme anxiety. It will probably go away once you get your anxiety under control. You can read more about TTTS in my article at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/do-i-have-tonic-tensor-tympani-syndrome-ttts/
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doctor. I’m 18 and I got tinnitus about 6 months ago. It used to so so loud I could barely even think. Every week or so, I feel it reduce in volume so much to the point that some times even when I listen out for it I don’t even hear it. I got it from an ear infection; very nasty lasted a long time but now it’s gone.
I know some people who have had tinnitus and it’s gone now in the space of 6 – 12 months. That’s what my audiologist keeps telling me. He said after onset, for most people it lasts about 6 – 12 months. Is that true because it seems to me it is, since my tinnitus is starting reduce so much I don’t even need to mask it anymore. Is it possible my tinnitus will eventually go away?
Thank you for answering our questions on this website 🙂
Hi Tom:
If you can’t even hear your tinnitus when you listen for it, I’d say your tinnitus is well on its way to disappearing. If you don’t nee to mask it, why bother? Masking basically is to help you ignore your tinnitus and not focus on it. If your tinnitus is not a problem so you basically ignore it anyway, this means you are habituating to your tinnitus and it won’t be a problem–even if you can hear it at times.
When your tinnitus doesn’t bother you when you do hear it, it really doesn’t matter whether it is there at times, or faint all the time, or totally gone away.
In your case, I’m hopeful that it will totally go away given your progress so far, but as I’ve said, it doesn’t really matter if its there and doesn’t bother you.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks so much for replying doc. The thing is that when it is there then it is really loud and really high pitched. It used to always be that way but it has gotten better. Last night however, the tinnitus was screaming at me and so high pitched so used a fan to mask after a long time and went to sleep easily. It’s really weird because it either never bothers me or bother me a lot at times. I wanted to ask, is it true that for many people, tinnitus dissipates from onset in between 6 – 12 months. I’m probably close to seven now.
Hi Tom:
If your tinnitus comes and goes like that–all or nothing–then you might want to see if there is anything that correlates to it–stress? Anxiety? Certain foods? Certain sounds or sound levels, allergies, etc.? Maybe something you can control is triggering it.
I don’t know where the 6 to 12 months comes from. Everyone is different and a lot depends on a person’s emotional/psychological make-up, the cause of their tinnitus, how loud it is, etc.
Some people’s tinnitus slowly fades away, but yours jumps back and forth. Hopefully one day soon it will jump forth and forget to jump back!
Cordially,
Neil
Is there even hope for my tinnitus to dissipate? I heard you say to someone else on this website that it can take a number of months. Also thank you so much for this website. I can’t thank you enough for how many people you are helping.
Kind regards
Tom
Also I have terrible posture! It is actually really bad and I’m currently working on it. Could this link to my tinnitus?
Hi Tom:
Tinnitus could be related to posture if your poor posture puts your neck out of proper alignment, or reduces blood flow to your head.
Cordially,
Neil
but would that cause high pitched ringing? I thought it would cause a thump like sound. So improving my posture should improve my tinnitus right?
Hi Tom:
Improving your posture will only help your tinnitus IF your tinnitus is due to your poor posture or a result of it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Tom:
There’s always hope your tinnitus will go away–especially in your case where it comes and goes.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
So I got tinnitus from a cold like 8 months ago. I wanted to ask the thing you talk about the ‘limbic system.’ Sometimes I’ve heard about people getting habituated to their tinnitus and so used to it that the brain filters it out and it actually goes for good. This creates a path to actually getting rid of tinnitus. Is this really real? I’ve kind of lost hope so I wish instead that happens to me
Also random question. If you didn’t message anyone on your very helpful website about tinnitus and and you didn’t talk about tinnitus all day, how many times would you notice it.
I’ve heard you’ve had it for 70 years! That’s like double my age.
Hi YT:
Of course it’s real. But you have to play by your limbic system’s rules. Your limbic system will not listen to you or do what you want just because you tell it to. It observes your reactions to sounds and that determines which sounds you will habituate to.
Habituating to tinnitus is no different from habituating to any other sounds apart from the fact that tinnitus is a phantom sound, not a real sound.
For example, say you live in a quiet country acreage and then move in to a city and live in an apartment above a busy intersection. I help you move in and you remark about how noisy it is there with all that traffic racket. A year later I visit you and this time I remark about all the traffic noise and you say, “What noise? It’s not bad.” You can say this because the traffic noise no longer bothers you because your limbic system has essentially filtered out most of it.
Tinnitus works the same way, but you have to treat your tinnitus the same way as you treated the traffic noise and basically ignore it because to you, it is unimportant background sounds that are safe to ignore.
Habituation happens, but it can’t happen if you focus on your tinnitus, you have to focus on other things and thereby ignore your tinnitus.
If I never talked about, wrote about or thought about my tinnitus, I don’t know how much I’d notice it. I know that hours can go by without my being aware it my tinnitus. It might pop into my consciousness maybe 2 or 3 times a day then. It would all depend on a number of factors–but it would not bother me in any case.
It’s sort of like asking how often you’d hear your fridge cycling on and off during the day if you were home all day. Because it’s not an important sound to you, you probably won’t consciously notice it but maybe once or twice a day, then you’ll just as quickly ignore it.
Yup, I’ve heard tinnitus for a lot of years, but its no big deal when you’re habituated to it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi doc, sorry to bother but I need advice.
On Monday I went outside for a walk, around 15 km walk, I did not had water nor food and I was sweating a lot . On Wednesday I have done the same thing like Monday. When I went to bed , I started to hear a noise in my ear, and my anxiety triggered. Since then I hear the noise , most of the time when I lay day, day or night.
If I’m up and walk or do something and stop there is no noise. When I’m going to lay down it’s starts. I sleep poorly, my anxiety it’s focused on the noise and so on.
Can this tinnuts be triggered by deshidratacion??
The doctor performed like 3-4 tests on my ears and nothing. Now I have to take more deep testing.
Thank you.
Hi Nic:
I’m not sure whether tinnitus can be caused by dehydration or not–but if it was, then rehydrating and staying rehydrated should be the solution.
When you only hear your tinnitus at night when it is quiet is a good thing–it’s much worse when you hear it 24/7. There are two things you need to do.
First, stop worrying about your tinnitus. It is NOT a threat to your well-being so it is safe to ignore–so ignore it. Focus your mind on other things, not on your tinnitus and let your tinnitus fade into the background where it will not bother you.
Second, you may find that having a low-level sound in your bedroom helps you ignore your tinnitus by decreasing the contrast between your tinnitus and total silence. One thing that works for many people is just having a fan running in your bedroom. It doesn’t want to be loud, just loud enough that you can hear it.
Other good sounds are water sounds played on your MP3 or other sound player or cell phone. Water sounds can be the sounds of waves lapping on the beach, waterfall sounds, babbling brook sounds, rainfall–whatever you find pleasant and relaxing. You can also listening to pink noise or fractal music or whatever is relaxing and takes your mind off your tinnitus.
This may be all you need to do to bring your tinnitus under control so it no longer bothers you. Then it doesn’t matter whether you hear it or not and typically you won’t really be aware of it even if it is there.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr. Neil,
2 months ago, I fell asleep with my earbuds in my ears with the music being somewhere between 60 to 75% volume. I must admit, I had a couple of drinks that night. The same morning, as I woke up, my jaw kind of made a big pop that it never made before as I didn’t have my night guard on. I do have some level of tmj disorder symptoms that started a few years ago (tmj popping when I eat or yawn, teeth grinding, etc.)
The next day, beside some mild hangover and very low tinnitus after music exposition, everything was fine. 2 days later, I recieved by mail the laptop I ordered. I started to set it up and it made some kind of very high pitched sound and the cooling fan was so loud that it kind of bothered me and disapointed me that it was so loud. I eventually returned the laptop since it was way too noisy.
Then a few days later, I noticed that I would be sensitive to some high pitched sound and my ears would hurt and be pressured. Also, I couldn’t listen to my music as loud as I did before because it would hurt my ears.
At first, my main doctor tought it was otitis since my ear canal was very red. So I put some ear drops and the sensitivity to sound kind of dissapeared but then I started to have tinnitus. Then a few days before going back to work after two months break because of Covid-19, my hyperacusis came back but this time any kind of sound or noise would hurt my ears, especillay truck engines or lawn mowers.
The most sensitive ear and the one I hear my tinnitus the most is the left ear and it is also the side of the tmj that pops all the time.
I changed my pillow, put my night guard back on and I noticed that when I wake up in the morning, my tinnitus is less loud since there is less pressure on my tmj. Also,my jaw pain deacreased a lot since then.
I also have/had some anxiety and depression issues in the past and I was on escitalopram for about 2 years and I gradually stopped taking it 9 months ago. Of course I had to start my medication again as hyperacusis brought back my anxiety and depression to the same level as 3 years ago.
The pandemic also made me more anxious and afraid I guess but not more or less than the average human being. I mean, I was a bit anxious to go outside and do groceries but who wasn’t?
Since then, I am doing much better, I started a sound therapy and my tolerance to sound has improved a lot.
I know that there is a lot of information here and a lot of causes that could have trrigered my hyperacusis but do you think that it could be because of my tmj disorder or you might think that it is because the eardbuds episode? Or maybe this might be related to my anxiety or maybe that laptop could have cause some kind of acoustic shock? I have an appoiment with a tmj doctor in 3 weeks but I would love to have your input on this.
Thanks for letting me know and for everything you are doing, you are the most reassuring information I have found online.
Best Regards,
Vlad
Hi Vlad:
Just because you fell asleep with your earbuds on doesn’t mean that damaged your ears. I’m sure you wear them for more than 2 hours at a time when you are awake with no apparent problems, right?
Now if they were too loud to begin with, then that could be a problem.
I agree that your TMJ being out makes your tinnitus worse, so wearing your nightguard is a good thing to do.
All of the things you mentioned may have contributed to your ear problems, but it’s hard to say which one is the most likely culprit or even the main culprit. Certainly your TMJ is one cause. And anxiety and worry can make things worse.
Your hyperacusis is very likely the result of exposing your ears to too much sound.
Obviously, giving your ears a rest from loud sounds for a few weeks is a good idea as well as getting your TMJ problem fixed if possible.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you very much for your reply Dr. Neil! It is much appreciated.
I guess that I just had that obsession to figure out exactly what caused my hyperacusis and tinnitusa but as I get better everyday, knowing the real cause isn’t that important to me anymore.
Nevertheles,
I’ve learned from my mistakes and I won’t listen to loud music for long periods of time and I will see a TMJ specialist in about two weeks.
Best regards,
Vlad
Hi i’m 21, so some months ago I got tinnitus. I wanted to tell you my circumstance now. I barely hear my tinnitus. At night, it takes me 20 mins to go to sleep when before it used to take me hours. I’ve seen that for the past few days, I barely notice my tinnitus unless I plug my ears and even then, it is considerably quieter. I don’t hear it in the morning, just sometimes a bit at night, even then it doesn’t bother me all that much. Would this be considered a transition from severe tinnitus to mild tinnitus? Also, would you think this recovery outcome is just as good as not getting tinnitus in the first place? After a long time, I feel like my normal self again.
Hi Tristan:
Your tinnitus is definitely going away. I’d call it becoming habituated to your tinnitus. In time you probably won’t hear it unless you listen for it–but trying to hear your tinnitus is not a good idea as that tells your limbic system that it is an important sound, and that is the last thing you want your limbic system to do as it will undo all the good you’ve done so far in dealing with your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil, I was wondering if my hearing aid had something to do with it. I wore bone anchored hearing aids for a long time with no trouble but its possible I need to try something different with the hearing aid. So you still believe it’s possible my reactive tinnitus can improve greatly by 80 percent atleast within a couple tears?
In a couple *years*. I’m hoping reactive tinnitus can resolve itself for some people even caused by the virus. I realize the tinnitus itself is most likely permanent but I hope the reactive/hypercusis part can go as I’ve been in tears on a daily basis and contemplating suicide over this thing as I heard some people who got reactive tinnitus from a virus got it permanently and has it for years and never got better and I dont want to be one of them . Theirs was from sudden sensonaril hearing loss or however that’s spelled. I didnt lose more hearing or vertigo or got mumps as far as u know so I dont know what kind of virus I got. It seemed like a regular cold to me along with sinus pressure.
Hi Ava:
You are expecting too much when you don’t get your emotions under control. Since reactive tinnitus is psychosomatic, you have to treat both parts and you are letting your emotions run wild–this is where you need to have help to get them under control. THEN you can work on getting your reactive tinnitus under control.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Ava:
I don’t see why your BAHA should have anything to do with reactive tinnitus unless they are set wrong. The fact that they never bothered you up to now makes me think it is not your BAHAs–but not turning them on for a couple of weeks or a month would give you a good idea whether they are the culprits or not.
Cordially,
Neil
If a virus got in my ear I might be screwed but you feel like its possible I can mostly recover and reactive tinnitus can greatly improve so I really hope this is the case for me. I feel like my life is over.
I’ve turned my baha down on the lowest setting for a month and didnt notice any changes so maybe I should do it for more months? Also I turn my hearing aid off after every hour or so for 30 or 40 minutes to rest my spike so could I do that ? I hope I’m not wearing my hearing aid door out by doing that as I pull the little door open and that’s how I turn it off. I been doing that for 3 months where I rest my ears without my hearing aid in for 40 minutes multiple times a day.
Hi Ava:
How far down does all the way down mean. Some audiologists set the range you can control to only a few dB, definitely not down to a very low level where you can barely hear a sound.
Are you saying that turning your aids off for an hour or so at a time several times a day isn’t making any difference?
As I see it, that means one of two things. 1. This isn’t the right approach for you. or 2. You need to leave them at a low level for several weeks–not an hour here and there, then slowly over a number of more weeks slowly increase the volume. The on again, off again isn’t the right approach.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Ava:
With proper treatment you should be able to deal with your reactive tinnitus. It probably won’t go away on its own since you seem to be so emotionally involved with it. You need professional help to get your anxiety, etc. under control.
Cordially,
Neil
Im sorry I keep adding comments but i forgot to mention although this might be completely irrelevant abd may have nothing to do with the reactive situation but I am at least 60 pounds overweight and i dont eat fast food but the foods i eaten have high salt and sugar and recently ive been trying to cut back. I hear diet can cause inflammation and I don’t really excersise. I use to be in shape so im wondering if this could help? Some people who changed their diet, their hypercusis improved and for others it made no difference. I use to drink so much alcohol that I would pass out only that lasted a few months it was before I got my cold and reactive tinnitus. Im wondering if possibly inflammation can add to it as well. Not every obese person has tinnitus though but everybody’s different so im hoping weight loss, better diet can not only help me cope but reduce some tinnitus symptoms and maybe if i do that and do what ypur suggesting where i keep the hearing aid volume low but how long should I continue keeping my hearing aid low? My own voice will set my reactive tinnitus off. Sometimes the reactive tinnitus is not as loud as others but i still hear it over everything meaning it can be annoying but not unbearable like other times yet it can still react to my voice on days that its quieter. Is it being quieter at times a sign it can possibly improve?
Hi Ava:
Improving your diet and thus getting your weight under control is a good step forward in terms of health and your self-esteem, but I don’t think it will help much with reactive tinnitus.
Cutting out the alcohol is also a good idea. It certainly doesn’t help the overall situation.
Any time you reactive tinnitus is less is a good sign. Analyze what is different that lets your reactive tinnitus calm down, and then do more of the same thing. You want to do what works for you that gets your reactive tinnitus under control.
If you can get professional help, that is something you should consider.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Neil, this will most likely be my last comment on this site for awhile but I do have some last questions for you. So I get a clicking noise in my ear or anyway I hear a clicking noise in my head and I’ll get these clicks very often everyday. I had them maybe a few times awhile back before the reactive tinnitus started but now their much more often and happen every day like 6 times a day and itll be a click click click click click sound then itll happen several more times in a day. Sometimes I’ll be in a quiet room and hear it and ok ther times when I hear a noise I get it too. I also get what feels like thumping or like a heart beat pulsing by my ear but I’m not hearing my heart beat. Could this clicking and thumping by my ear feeling be related to the reactive tinnitus? Could it be tonic tensor tympani syndrome? Could ttts give you hearing distortion and reactive tinnitus? Do you believe honestly that anxiety can make the reactive tinnitus more intrusive to the point where I hear a whistling or beeping noise when I talk and when others talk too? Its horrible cause it makes me not wanna hear others talk since its distracting when I hear the tinnitus beep with every word spoken to me . I hope one day I can have a conversation with my dad and hear his voice clearly as well as hear others clearly without the intrusive reactive tinnitus. I know I keep saying that but it’s the reason I dread getting out of bed every day . I miss classical musical as well cause even that sounds bad to me now, hearing whining tones over it and cant tell if it’s the music or coming from my head but its probably part of the hypercusis. I’m not sure who I can talk to about my worries over this cause I dont know if any therapists would know or understand what hypercusis is. I ordered some art stuff online so I can do crafts to keep busy since music seems to be mostly out for now but I try using it as a sound desentisizing tool. I just thought if the hypercusis went away then I’ll be much happier cause tinnitus would be more manageable and I wont have to fear noise and then I can enjoy music again. Maybe art will be a good distraction. I can try finding a therapist I just dont know how much knowledge they’ll have about it. I worry that anybody I talk to, I get distracted by the tinnitus competing with their words so I keep to myself now mostly. I’m not sure what to think if a year passes and I still have bad reactive tinnitus. Another question (last one) I dont feel like I’m making progress at all or I cant tell cause it’s so so slight. Most of the time it seems just as bad, maybe worse than onset. I didnt notice the tinnitus competing with voices and al music til a few months after it started. At first it was fans and running water, now its everything. When i told you that the reactive tinnitus seems lower at times well it does but during that same day its lower, itll get really loud towards the end of the day just like it did in the beginning and still react to my voice even with its lower in a somewhat noisey environment. People talk alot about how they have good days where reactive tinnitus is completely gone then comes back but I haven’t had a single day where it was gone or barely audible just lower but then it can be real loud in the evenings. I had days where it was loud in the mornings and afternoons too so I’m not sure if I made any progress or how to tell if progress is always clear. TV and music is still hard to listen to but music is a bit clearer after I wake up and play it for 30 minutes then it gets well distorted again that’s all I can say, it was like that at the beginning too but that tells me it has the capability of improving but hasnt yet that I know of. Reactive tinnitus doesnt just go away one day does it? Or is real real slow? When you said the spiral ganglion is damaged, do you think that its really possible that the brain can recover or rebalance itself to where external sounds sound good again? I thought when something is damaged then that’s it?
I also dont realize that I wrote an awful lot and I apologize. Like I said this will be my last comment and I hope in a year or two, I can maybe update you with something positive.
*How to tell if progress isnt always clear or not * and does reactive tinnitus very slowly gets better so slow you cant tell. Made some errors.
Hi Ava:
The clicking and thumping would well be episodes of Tonic Tensor Tympani. I don’t think it is related to reactive tinnitus. And yes, I believe that TTTS can give you distorted hearing as well.
Anxiety is definitely one of the important factors that cause/make worse ear conditions such as TTTS and reactive tinnitus. So you need to get your anxiety under control and not let it run (and ruin) your life.
If you can’t find a therapist knowledgeable about hyperacusis and reactive tinnitus (that’s going to be hard to find), at least talk with the therapist that knows how to deal with anxiety. You should learn some techniques that you can then apply to you ear problems that will help you get your anxiety under control.
You are right in working to treat your hyperacusis first, and then your tinnitus. Treating the tinnitus first typically doesn’t work, or you can work on both of them at the same time.
I think it is an excellent idea using art as a means of distracting you from focusing so much on your ears.
Good and bad days are relative. A good day doesn’t mean that your reactive tinnitus goes away completely (it may and that is a blessing for sure), but it means that it is lower than it is on bad days. So don’t go by what happens to others. Progress is personal to you.
Also, realize that some people find that mornings and evenings are their worst times for their reactive tinnitus–that it is somewhat better in the middle of the day.
Getting rid of the hyperacusis component of reactive tinnitus is a slow process. You won’t just wake up one day and it is gone. It should slowly go away over a period of months as you work at it.
When the spiral ganglion is permanently damaged, you get hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean that your brain can’t rebalance itself to your new level of hearing loss. You are confusing physical damage–like the death of hair cells which is not repairable–and things getting out of balance. Your brain is plastic and can rebalance sounds in its auditory circuitry with the right treatment.
I wish you could find a professional that understands reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis and could help you work though this until you reach a high level of success. It is so hard to do it alone.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I have had a difficult few years emotionally = bereavements and health scare for myself. I was prescribed Sertraline about 18 months ago for anxiety . In March of this year I decided to wean myself off Sertraline. At the same time, my father from whom I was estranged died. I began to have a slight whistling in my right ear which I more or less ignored. I then began to experience dizziness on standing up which was worse than usual.My G.P advised me to quit my blod pressure medication ‘cold turkey’ as my pulse rate had become too low. I did this and went into a hyper adrenaline state – extremely fast heartbeat and anxiety – every muscle in my face and head went into spasm – it was terrifying – for several days before I was advised by another G.P to take another Bisoprolol and another anti depressant. Since then the ringng in my ears has become almost constant – mainly in one ear and very high pitched but at times in the other too. I have also developed extreme sensitivity to noise at times and balance issues which has improved but do come and go. It is improving almost impossible to see a medical practitioner but suffice to say I am a real mess just now. I experience no enjoyment in life and am extremely anxious. Any advice as how to proceed and self help tips would be welcome as I feel completely alone in all this at the moment.
Hi Gail:
Anxiety combined with taking ototoxic drugs can certainly bring on tinnitus or make existing tinnitus worse. Sertraline and Bisoprolol by themselves can (and do) cause tinnitus, especially the Sertraline.
You mention that you are on an antidepressant. All prescription antidepressants also cause tinnitus and can cause sound sensitivity and balance problems. If you tell me which antidepressant you are taking, I can tell you its ototoxic side effects.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr., The day before yesterday I tried to nap ,but the sound or crickets in my head was so loud I sat up and googled ” do other people hear crickets in their head?” I was amazed to discover it’s tinnitus which I’d always heard was a ringing sound. I finally had a word for the sounds I’ve had since as far back as I can remember. As I child I actually was frightened that the high frequency sounds in my head at night were aliens or something trying to pick my brain. I outgrew that fear,lol, but the sounds never leave me, night or day. I have suffered anxiety, tenseness and at times depression throughout my life. I am 56 now. Drs. Always wanted to treat me with anti depressants and I have been on more than I can count with no success. Sometimes during especially intense conversations , especially with my mom or if I’m concentrating really hard on something I want to learn the sound becomes an overwhelming white noise like static until I feel my head will explode and I have to flee the situation. Immediately following this episode I get so hot it’s like I’m having hot flashes again, then it fades. I was always a hyper sensitive child and it seems this began after my parents divorce and my mother’s subsequent two remarriages. I’m wondering if the tinnitus I have always carried with me could be the REAL cause of my anxiety and general high strung self or if it’s the other way around. And since I discovered I have tinnitus I’ve been reading so much about it and trying to learn and that has made it worse. Also, I have my entire life gotten songs stuck in my head. Not simply like most people say that. I mean for days I’ll have a song on constant rotation in my head around the clock day and night like a running backdrop to my life. I can even carry on conversations and also listen to the song in my head. I have an appointment with an ENT in a week. I guess that’s where I should start, but as I type this I am tearing up because I finally feel I may solve or get help for the constant anxiousness and feeling that I might be crazy that’s plagued me since childhood. I am a married mother of three, and no one I know thinks I’m crazy, they just don’t know what to think. All my life people have told me to ” calm down” ” relax”. If only I could….any advice you have would help me. I eat well, excersize, but, I have abused alcohol on and off my whole life since I was 12, thinking it calmed me down. I know it hasn’t, but I feel desperate sometimes. Thanks, sorry so lengthy, sincerely, Megan
Hi Megan:
Yes, crickets is one of the many tinnitus sounds. I know we commonly refer to it as ringing in the ears, but that is only one tinnitus sound. I’ve never had a “ringing” sound and I’ve had tinnitus for more than 70 years. Mine is a high-pitched hissy-whine most of the time, but sometimes sounds like a flock of birds twittering in a tree beside me. Other times it is a low-pitched rumbling sound and the odd time a loud roaring sound.
I’m sure your hypersensitivity was due to your mom’s divorce and that can follow you all your life unless you get the proper help to deal with it.
It sounds like you almost have a panic attack when you are talking with your mom or studying hard that makes your tinnitus so loud. Normally, if you are really concentrating on something, you no longer hear your tinnitus because your brain only has so much cognitive horsepower–and if it uses it all on the studying, there is none left over to run the tinnitus.
It’s possible your undiagnosed tinnitus did cause your basic anxiety, but that’s not a given. I’ve had tinnitus all my life and it has not made me hyper–but then, I just accepted my tinnitus and didn’t worry about it. It was just “the sound of silence” that I always heard when I didn’t hear anything else.
Getting songs stuck in your hear goes by the colloquial name of “ear worms”. That is different from actually “hearing” these phantom songs as though they were coming from your ears. This is called Musical Ear Syndrome or MES for short.
The more you focus on your tinnitus the worse it gets. So once you have learned enough about it, its time to stop reading about it–especially from online tinnitus boards that are filled with doom and gloom stories.
My tinnitus always gets worse whenever I think, talk or write about it (like I am doing right now). It’s pretty loud now. But this is an occupational hazard for me because I have tinnitus and also help people daily with their tinnitus so I have to think about it.
However, the good news is that because I am so habituated to my tinnitus so it doesn’t bother me, within 5 minutes of stopping thinking/talking/writing about it my tinnitus fades into the background and I’m no longer aware of my tinnitus.
You cannot habituate to your tinnitus if you think of it as a threat to your well-being. As long as you think that way, your brain has to bring it to your attention so you can “save your life”. Conversely, if you think of tinnitus as a totally useless, unimportant background sound that is safe to ignore (and then do so), then you can habituate to your tinnitus so it is not an issue in your life like I have done.
Anxiety makes tinnitus worse and can even cause it. So if you get your anxiety under control, you will find it much easier to deal with your tinnitus and it may even fade into the background. So learning to relax and reduce your anxiety should be a priority with you. There are a number of good websites that teach you how to relax naturally. Ditto for getting control over your anxiety without taking drugs.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello, I started having bad upper teeth and head pressure 2
months ago. I now have ringing in my ears. Left ear constant noise and at times can hear heart beat. Right ear ringing only when I push my lowe jaw out. I am also dizzy or lightheaded or off balance and my vision feels off. I’ll get tingly sensations on the face and forehead, I have had 3 mri’s of brain, head, and neck and everything else as fine. Any assistance with the ringing and def stopping the heart beat in my ear causing anxiety,
Hi Aaron:
I don’t understand what you are meaning by having bad upper teeth and head pressure. How is this related to your tinnitus? Also, what’s the deal with the dizziness and balance issues and your vision off, etc? I need more background on all of this to help me figure out what is going on with your ears, etc.
From the little you say, I think your neck may be out, causing this, but MRIs don’t show the real problem. If I were you, I’d go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor (not a conventional one) and make sure your C1 and C2 vertebrae are in proper alignment. If they are “out” it can cause symptoms such as yours. You can find one of the special chiropractors by clicking on “Practitioners” at http://www.upcspine.com/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
8 months ago, I started to have issue with my hearing. Whenever I hear certain noises (exhaust fan, water running on sink), the noises became out of tone and i heard squeaky tones in my ears.
I did hearing test, which came out perfectly fine, i also did MRI scan which shows nothing.
I went to 2 ENT specialists that claimed that I have Tinnitus&Hyperacusis and they told me the same things that we have all been hearing in this site from ENTs : avoid noises, mask the noise using pink noise machine and control the anxieties.
Masking the noise does not really help me now, as those noises ‘trigger’ the uncomfortable noises in my ear.
Now just recently, I have been hearing 2 new type of noises: the first one is like a noise from a water pipe in your ceiling and the second one is a constant noise like from a broken radio (constant high pitch noise).
I am very worried now as I actually felt bit better before these 2 new noises started to appear.
It just happened all of sudden and I am very worried that my Tinnitus will never get better as I keep hearing new kind of ‘noises’ in my ear.
I asked my ENT whether I should have my neck checked up as it could cause the Tinnitus (I have been having stuffy necks before this happened), but she said not needed as she didn’t think it came from there. Is this true that she can just claim it like that without doing any test?
I am very clueless now as what about to happen in my life…I know you have been suggesting to ignore the noises and take control over my anxiety and it will go away. But because of what happened recently, I feel so tired and desperate.
I’m afraid I wont get better. I am just about to be a father, I’m afraid that I can’t live a normal life to raise my kid and for my family…
Can this be something else Neil? As my noises only get triggered by some other sounds, can this really be Tinnitus or should I get tested on something else??
Appreciate what you have done to all of us here Neil.
Hi Eric:
What happened 8 months ago just before you began to have these ear problems? Did you expose your ears to loud sounds/music/gunshots/etc. Your tinnitus/hyperacusis did not just come out of the blue.
I wouldn’t have expected an MRI to show anything. And since your audiogram came out normal, I expect you experienced something like an acoustic shock.
Either your ENTs told you wrongly or you heard wrong, but you do NOT mask tinnitus and you definitely NEVER try to mask hyperacusis. That is just asking for trouble and made your condition worse as you now hear even more sounds.
With tinnitus you stay below the tinnitus level and increase the sound until you reach the level where the tinnitus and the pink noise “mix”. That is the correct level for dealing with tinnitus.
With hyperacusis, you set the volume on the sound generator to a level you can just hear (and ALWAYS below where it begins to exacerbate your hyperacusis). Over time you increase this level as your ears can take it.
When you have BOTH tinnitus and hyperacusis you treat the hyperacusis FIRST. You do not treat the tinnitus at this point. This is because the mixing point for tinnitus is louder than the level at which sound exacerbates your hyperacusis and thus will make your hyperacusis worse.
So you want to surround yourself with low level sounds–low enough that they do NOT make your hyperacusis worse. You want these sounds around you day and night 24/7. And as the weeks go by you increase the volume as your hyperacusis improves–always staying just below the level at which you hyperacusis flares up.
If you upper neck is out where it causes tinnitus, you’d have to go to an upper cervical spine chiropractor. ENTs typically don’t have a clue about this. If your C1 and C2 vertebrae are out, this could be the cause.
You have both tinnitus and hyperacusis, and you may have reactive tinnitus at the same time. But the treatment is the same–using the pink noise treatment as I outlined above.
And just as importantly, you need counseling to help you deal with your anxiety because both tinnitus and hyperacusis are psychosomatic conditions–part “physical” and part psychological (emotional). Treating one part without the other seldom works. A good counseling program is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy specifically modified for hyperacusis.
So that is the basic course of treatment you need.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Thank you so much for your prompt reply, I really appreciate.
All I can think what happened 8 months ago that could relate to what’s causing my Tinnitus and Hyperacusis was that I experienced a type of rare headache called Cluster Headache.
I also have history of vertigo before, but not so much over the last couple of years.
The Dr prescribed me with Verapamil.
The ENTs ruled out that this what caused my tinnitus & hyperacusis, they said they did not believe that verapamil caused this. However, they suggested me to stop taking it and I did that.
Sorry, I probably didn’t write it clearly in my first post. The ENTs suggest me to mask the noise, which as in using the sound generator (pink noise) like you mentioned above.
However, i really do not feel comfortable using the sound generators now as it triggered the weird noises in my ear.
Also, the lower the noise, usually it triggers my sensitivity even worse.
Is this normal Dr? As in, can tinnitus&hyperacusis develop ‘new’ noises along the way? I have been doing all the methods, but somehow all i got now is not a positive recovery but more to the backslide.
Do I need to get a blood test? I asked my GP if i should get one, but he said it’s not really needed.
Thanks again Dr.
Hi Eric:
I don’t know how you can rule out a drug (Verapamil in this case) as causing your tinnitus and hyperacusis when two of the side effects of Verapamil are tinnitus and hyperacusis. I’m not saying it caused these side effects, but it sure could have. Believing that it didn’t cause your symptoms is far different from ruling it out.
I don’t see how having a blood test would help in diagnosing problems with tinnitus or hyperacusis. You already know you have both.
As I mentioned in my previous post, you set the sound level BELOW where it causes any changes in your hyperacusis, even if that is a very low level.
And tinnitus can have a number of different sounds at the same time. I have 4 different tinnitus sounds. Mostly I hear just one at a time but I can hear two at a time. So it is not unusual to have or develop more than one tinnitus sound.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil,
Two of the ENTs actually ruled out the verapamil as the causing of my tinnitus and hyperacusis.
I actually did read that verapamil could cause it, but the ENTs confirmed to me it can’t be from it.
Anyway, appreciate all of your replies and all the good work you have done here for everyone. Stay blessed.
Hi Neil – I just wanted to ask you a question regarding my tinnitus if that’s OK?
I have experienced tinnitus for 12 years, going through stages where it’s been problematic and stages where I’m unaware of its existence. When it flares up, I seem to really struggle with it, and then seem to go through the period of habituation until it stops being an issue.
A week ago I started having what I can only call fluttering or thumping (feels like ear drum vibrating?!) in response to certain sounds. Initially it was loud noise like my children shouting or screaming, but over the week it has developed and is now happening in response to almost every noise I hear, even quiet ones. There’s a feeling of discomfort that accompanies it too. The last couple of nights I swear the flutters/thumping has been set off just by me thinking about it. Just over a week ago this wasn’t happening at all (at least I wasn’t aware of it). It seems to have gone from 0 to 100 in a very short space of time. Something similar did happen about 6 years ago, and my GP put me onto anti depressant meds to help me cope. From memory it did start to resolve a couple of months after starting the medication (these memories are a bit hazy now).
Do you think this could be TTTS? Is this likely to be my emotional state wreaking havoc on my system? I wasn’t aware of being overly stressed and anxious before it started (perhaps I was without knowing) but have been extremely stressed and anxious since it started (poor sleep, inability to relax, constant worry).
Kind regards
Hi Ben:
the thumping or fluttering you are feeling in your ears is called tonic tensor timpani syndrome or TTTS for short. What happens is that the tensor timpani muscle that attaches to the hammer which in turn attaches to your eardrum goes into spasm. When it does this is jerking the hammer which is jerking your eardrum which you feel as a fluttering sensation.
You are right, some people can make their TTTS flareup just by thinking about it. So it’s not some think you want to do. Discomfort and ear pain are often companions of this fluttering sensation.
I’m sure you have TTTS, and your emotional state is making it worse. Being stressed and anxious about it is probably what has made it got so bad that it has gone from 0 to 100 in that short time.
It would be nice to identify what caused it, so you can take action to avoid such situations in the future. A week ago just before it started had to exposed your ears to any sudden loud sounds, or something that startled you?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil.
Thanks so much for your reply.
In terms of exposure to loud sounds, I had been out on a run a few days before I noticed it started, and a firework exploded quite nearby that gave me a bit of a jump. I don’t remember feeling overly startled at the time, but who knows. Other than that, I think perhaps I’ve been suppressing a lot of work related stress without realising.
So to get this under control, I need to calm the body and mind? Stop feeding it with my anxiety?
Thanks again,
Ben
Hi Ben:
it’s always possible that you have some, or lots of, stress hidden away, and then the fireworks exploding unexpectedly nearby startling you may have precipitated your TTTS and hyperacusis.
But you have it right, get your anxiety under control and calm down, and don’t worry about your ears. Give them permission to heal on their own. Just protect your ears from louder sounds it makes things worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil
Thanks for taking the time to reply to me. It is very much appreciated.
Kind regards, Ben
Hi Dr,
You may I’ve come back to this website after 7 months. I got tinnitus from a viral infection 11 months ago. First of all, I want to say thank you for everything you said to me because you really helped the worried 16 year old me.
11 months later, my hyperacusis is completely gone, my nystagmus is also completely gone and my tinnitus is 50% gone. I definitely had to get my anxiety under control to see these improvements. It bothers me from time to time but not as much as it used to. I’m ever so grateful for this improvement but now, I just have some curious questions.
1) Does my age have a factor in my improvements? I’m 17 now which is still pretty young
2) Because my tinnitus has improved so much, could that mean it will carry on to improve and maybe one day I won’t have it anymore?
3) When people say that tinnitus becomes permanent after 1 year, is that really true (or is this just a made up time limit)? I know some one who had tinnitus for nearly 2 years before it dissipated. Do I still have hope?
Thank you again Dr Neil for all that you do 🙂
Anna
Hi Anna:
I’m glad I was able to help you so much Anna. But you did all the work. You had to get your anxiety under control yourself. No one can do that for you. They can help you and get you on the right road, but you still have to do the work. And it sure paid off!
1. I don’t think age has much to do with it. It’s the willingness to do what is needed to get better that makes most of the difference. Us “old goats” can get pretty set in our ways and thus refuse to change and do what is needed. Being young makes learning new things easier so you have a bit of an advantage there. I talk with lots of younger people, but older than you, who have the wrong mindset and focus on the tinnitus etc. instead of the solution and they are still stuck in their misery. They too refuse to do what is really needed.
2. Your tinnitus could continue to improve and eventually go away. That is entirely possible, but it may not happen. Rather, your tinnitus may fade into the background where it doesn’t bother you, but still be there, and you’ll hear it from time to time. But if you treat it as an unimportant background sound, it won’t affect your quality of life.
I’ve never been able to get rid of my tinnitus that I’ve had for 70 years now, but I choose not to let it bother me and so I often am not aware of hearing it. But whenever I think/talk/write about tinnitus like I am doing now, wham–there it is–making a loud racket. But I don’t care. It’s just there. And when I focus my attention on something else, within 5 minutes I’ll likely not even be aware I have tinnitus anymore.
3. It’s just a made up time limit. You are as astute young lady. The thinking is that if it hasn’t changed for the better in 1 year, it probably won’t change in the future–and thus be permanent. So there is a basis for saying that.
However, if a person works on it and does what needs to be done, they can get their tinnitus under control at any time in the future. For some people that have tinnitus from taking a drug, they tell me their tinnitus faded away after 3 years or longer-so their is no real, definite time limit for saying its “too late” and it is now permanent.
In my case, my tinnitus is due to my severe hearing loss–so that is why it has never gone away after all these decades. But being so habituated to it is almost as good as not having it. If I quit helping people with tinnitus, that would be even better, but I choose to help people even knowing I’ll hearing my tinnitus pretty loud when doing so. For some reason, right now it is only in my left ear. Other times it is in my right ear, or both ears or just inside my head. That’s just the way it is.
Cordially,
Neil
Hey doctor
So I’ve had a very difficult year because of looking after a sick and at risk family member and this whole pandemic stuff
Its actually been the most stressful in my lifw
I over itch my ears a lot with cotton buds because there’s some nerve which activates which makes them super itchy
So anyway as of two weeks ago i noticed when I lied down to sleep on the bed at night I would hear a sound in my right ear like a car idling sound. Very quiet, mixed with hummingbird like fluttering.
I kept thinking is it a electronic fixture because I didn’t hear it anywhere else during the day
I have had a lot of anxiety with a change in diet recently and a lot of palpitatiions. I’m in my early 30s and very overweight but am losing weight with the diet.
Anyway so this fluttering has only got worse. Where before it just appeared two weeks prior when I was lying down and went away when I listened to something else louder thanbitb, now it’s most of the time like a constant humming bird wings and fluttering and sometimes when I rush I feel my pulse in my right ear too and a little bit now in my left
It’s stressing me so much, and even more because I can’t get a doctor to see it because in the uk they are making it so difficult to get seen by a family doctor due to social distancing and tele medicine.
Is this TTTS?
How do I get the fluttering to stop
I know I should be less anxious but it’s hard when things are materially so difficult
The doctors initially said to me oh its wax but I’ve been putting oil in my ears to see if it soothed it and it hasn’t
I don’t have any wax because my ears itch way too much
I do use the cotton buds too deep though
If I go to the doc again I don’t even know if they’ll get a ENT to see me or just dismiss it as purely anxiety and prescribe me medication which I don’t think helps the issue
The issue is that the year has been crazy for so many people myself included
I think it’s reasonable to be anxious during that.
But I just want this ear thing to ease as it’s keeping me up and bothering me so much
Any help provided would be so welcomed
Used a nickname but it’s close enough to my real name
Salim
Hi Salim:
Your problem isn’t the stress so much as how you deal with it both physically and emotionally. If you don’t deal with stress properly it just leads to a lot of worry and anxiety.
I believe that you do have TTTS. And remember TTTS consists partly of a physical component–the fluttering sensation–and a psychological component–your emotions including anxiety and kindred emotions. You’ll have the most success if you get your anxiety under control. For some people that is all the have to do and their TTTS then goes away.
One way to help get control of your anxiety is to practice relaxation. There are many websites that show you how to successfully relax. That would be an excellent place to begin in order to get your TTTS to stop.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I am getting palpitations at night because of this hight pitch tinnitus as it is constant 247.
Do you recommend any herbal medicines for these palpitations.
They were on and off but now it been going on since 3 weeks.
My doc prescribed me Bisoprolol, is this ototoxic drug?
Regards, Fenin
Hi Fenin:
Why are you getting palpitations–because you are worrying about your tinnitus? If so, you need to get your anxiety under control. Since your tinnitus is bothering you at night, try reducing the effect of the tinnitus by having a fan or white/pink noise generator running in your bedroom. Many people find that this really helps them sleep. You could also play soothing water sounds such as waves lapping on the beach, babbling brook sounds, waterfall sounds, rainfall sounds etc. These sound are naturally soothing and will help mask the sounds of your tinnitus.
Any herbal preparation that helps calm you down should be a step in the right direction.
Bisoprolol is a beta-blocker used to treat high blood pressure. And yes, it is ototoxic.
What happened last month that caused these palpitations to start?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
Thanks so much for the response. I believe my palpitations started due to my anxiety which I am always thinking about my Tinnitus. I used to get palpitations once every two months or so but since 3 weeks they have been frequent. ECG etc are normal. My cardiologist told me that my mind is working in excess and causing all these issues. His advise is also to stop thinking unnecessary stuff and just relax. I hope these palpitations goes away as I will find ways to relax and calm my anxiety.
Regards,
Fenin
Hi Fenin:
I agree with that. Stop thinking/obsessing about your tinnitus and learn to relax. Just let your tinnitus be there in the background without forming any negative opinions about it. There is lots of information on the Internet on relaxation techniques that can help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Can anyone tell me what this could be? A week ago I started to get a faint ringing sound in my right ear and noticed that the ringing sound gets louder when another sound is heard at a certain pitch. It seems to be at the same pitch.
It’s not affecting my sleep but it is affecting my quality of life.
What could this possibly be? I’ve taken prednisone and pentoxifylline for the past week with no major improvement.
I feel sad and concerned.
Hi Benjamin:
What you are experiencing is a form of reactive tinnitus. Don’t be worried about it as worry and anxiety just make it worse.
If you want to learn more about reactive tinnitus, read my comprehensive article on the subject at https://hearinglosshelp.com/blog/reactive-tinnitus/ .
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for your support Neil!
I was wondering whether this can get better on its own over time?
I’m 41 and have been planning on producing music as my main outlet. The prospect of having ruined hearing is very concerning to me but I am trying my best not to worry. I just hope it eventually goes away with time. I don’t know what causes this.
Hi Benjamin:
It can–over time–but you have to protect your ears from excessively loud sounds. Typically this sensitivity to sound (and tinnitus) is caused by exposing your ears to sounds that are too loud for them in the first place. So if you are going to be around sounds in excess of 80 to 85 dB or so, wear ear protectors during those times. Keep the music levels down. A good level to listen to music is at the same level you hear conversation then you won’t hurt your ears and make your reactive tinnitus worse.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil
I developed tinnitus at the age of 16. I believe at that time I had depression and stress due to some bad things that happened in my life. This caused high pitched tinnitus mainly in the right ear, which was really loud. Then tinnitus caused more stress and it was a vicious circle. The doctors could not find anything wrong in my ears. It went away after nearly 3 years, when I accepted tinnitus in my life and I had changed my life style. I moved to another city, I was a student at Uni and I was really pleased with my life. I remember the day tinnitus went away. I was lying at my bed and I felt 3 spasms in my right ear. A few hours later it was gone. I could not believe it!
When I was 25 I developed again loud tinnitus during a stressful period. I went to a new doctor and he gave me Xanax and cipralex and after three months it had gone away. Now and then I used to have tinnitus (not very loud) and I could manage it trying to be calm, so after a while it used to go away. Each time it went away, I felt 2-3 spasms in my ear.
At the age of 39 I developed again tinnitus and I try to manage my stress and convince myself that it is nothing and that it will go away, as it has done before. Unfortunately I have it for 20 months. I know that it will go when I feel these spasms in my ear. Doctor said that this spasm is TTTS. But TTTS causes tinnitus, while in my case when I feel the spasm the tinnitus goes away or reduces.
So what do you think? How can I make this muscle or nerve (I don`t know what it is) in my inner ear spasm so that tinnitus goes away, as it happened in the past?
Thank you, Best wishes
Christina
Hi Christina:
You certainly have interesting experiences with your tinnitus and the fluttering. I think you have done very well in trying to habituate to your tinnitus each time you get it.
I have some questions for you so I can better understand what is happening with your ears.
How many times have you had this fluttering and then the tinnitus going away?
Does this fluttering always precede the tinnitus going away? How long after do you notice your tinnitus going away?
When this fluttering occurs are you particularly relaxed, or anxious or what? I’m wondering if it is related to your being totally relaxed like it seems you were when at Uni.
Where do you feel this fluttering? At your eardrum, or deeper in your ear?
Does this fluttering occur only when you have habituated to your tinnitus or before you habituate to it?
These flutterings (spasms) only give 2 or 3, then stop, correct?
They may be TTTS, but only happening 2 or 3 times and stopping isn’t really like TTTS behaves. So I trying to think what else could be happening.
Were you ever in a car accident or had head trauma?
Is your neck “tight” or relaxed. Ditto for your shoulders and face?
Anything else you can think of that may be relevant that you haven’t mentioned?
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Neil for your answer.
Regarding your questions
1) I had this fluttering in my ears about 8 times in my life.
2) This fluttering always precedes the tinnitus going away. Tinnitus goes away 2-3 hours later.
3) It goes away when I am relaxed and pleased with my life. Tinnitus begins when I am really stressed and I feel like sth studently bursts in my ear (I can not exactly describe it). I try not to be stressed so that I don`t get T in the first place, but unfortunately stress can not be completely eliminated in our lives. However, once it had started after fainting (not stress related) and that time it had lasted for one month.
4) I think the spasm occurs deeper in my ear and not in the eardrum.
5) I can` t say that I have ever managed to habituate completely because it is really loud. However I try to accept it in my life.
6) This fluttering usually gives 2-3 spasms and then stops. When T is louder it may give 4-5 spasms.
7) I never had head trauma or exposed to loud noises. I haven`t tight neck and I have no other health problems. T is the only problem I have. Obviously it is stress related, but I don` t know why it does not go away this time (non-stop 20 months). I am not stressed this period but I was until October, because I had to deal with some very serious matters.
I know it is a riddle… I try many years to find more about this. What is this spasm and how I could make it happen sooner so that T goes away earlier. I hope this time it will go away again, as it always used to do.
Thank you very much for your interest.
Regards
Chistina
Hi Christina:
I have a few more questions.
When you get this fluttering sensation, I assume it is in both ears, correct?
Do you ever have a spasming sensation on the side of your face when this happens or only deep in your ears?
What does your current tinnitus sound like–a higher-pitched hissing sound, or a lower-pitched buzzing sound or what?
As you probably know you can get this fluttering sensation from one of two muscles. If it is from the tensor tympani muscle (which causes TTTS) you feel your eardrum “fluttering”. If it is stapedius muscle, it doesn’t affect your eardrum as this muscle attaches your stirrup bone to the oval window so the fluttering sensation is deeper in your middle ear.
Both of these muscles are sensitive to stress and anxiety and can go into spasm when you are under a lot of stress or have a lot of anxiety. Usually, they go into spasm in reaction to a loud sound that precipitates it.
The sounds they produce is a form of tinnitus. It’s not that they cause tinnitus but you hear this spasming as a kind of somatic tinnitus.
Calming down and relaxing can allow this spasming to stop.
In your case things seem to be working backwards in that when you calm down and relax, this triggers the temporary spasming then your tinnitus goes away.
Since your tinnitus is triggered by anxiety and stress, you need to work on relaxation techniques (lots are available on the Internet) and learn how to properly deal with any anxiety and stress. Note that it is not the stress as such that is the problem, but how you deal with it that makes all the difference.
I still don’t have a clue why you get the few spasms and then the tinnitus goes away. This definitely isn’t the way it is supposed to work!
I’m curious as to the answers to my questions above. Maybe they will give me a clue.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil I wish you a happy new year and many thanks for your good advice!
Regarding your questionsQ
1) T. is mainly on my right ear. My left ear has given T. only twice in my life and it is not so loud at this ear. I had these spasms in the left ear too when T. was about to go away from this ear. These two times the spasms were not simultaneous at both ears. But I felt fluttering in the right ear 2-3 days later. So it was close but not at the same time exactly (3 days .
2) No I don` t have a spasming sensation on the side of my face when this happens. I feel it deep in my ears.
3) My T is high pitched hissing sound, like many cicadas.
I am thinking to take valerian root. I am perfectly healthy (apart from the T thing). How long do you think I should take it to see if it is effective? If it has a good result for how long can I take it?
Hi Christina:
Valerian is a calming herbal. Herbals typically do not have a harsh effect on your body so it can take up to three months before you can be sure they are helping. Of course, they can make a difference quickly too. So in answer to your question, try it for a month at least before you wonder whether it is helping or not. Looking back after a month should give you an idea if you can see any positive changes. If so, take it for a couple of more months and then see how things are progressing.
The only caution is that if it revs you up (which it can do to some people), then stop taking it right away as you are trying to calm yourself down, not rev yourself up.
Cordially,
Neil
Dear Neil
I have good news. After nearly two years with tinnitus, I am free from tinnitus again the last 2 weeks. I had lost any hope this time. A doctor suggested I had endolympathic hydrop in my ear and that the spasm is caused when the hydrop diminishes and then tinnitus goes away. He told me to take betaserc. I also had a check up. I had insufficient magnesium and vitamin D. So I have been taking betahistine and supplements mg and vit. D since last month. I don`t know which of these helped. Maybe the combination? The truth is that I had run out of mg tablets for 3 days and tinnitus started again these days. So maybe magnesium helped me the most. For how long do you think I should take magnesium? Dr said to take mg for one month. I am afraid to stop it for fear tinnitus starts again….
Thank you
Christina
Hi Christina:
I think it is the magnesium that has made your tinnitus go away. I should have caught this. When you are low in magnesium, your muscles tend to cramp–and the ear fluttering is a type of “cramp”.
I wonder if you have been chronically low on magnesium for most of your life. Your ears NEED magnesium to function properly (they need zinc too) so it makes sense that your tinnitus went away and the fluttering too when you got your magnesium levels up.
Since I think you are chronically low in magnesium, it would be a good idea to take magnesium supplements in the future. I’ve been taking magnesium supplements for a good number of years just for good health. You probably need to do the same. I take magnesium in the form of magnesium threonate–which is the most bioavailable form of magnesium.
I also take relatively high doses of vitamin D3 supplements daily (10,000 IU). For optimum health your D3 levels should be around 70. Most people are down around 20 to 30–which is way low for optimum health.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello doctor,
I’m 18 years old. I remember getting tinnitus in April 2020 and I think it was because of earbuds. Throughout the years I have used earbuds many times and was exposed to loud sounds. I also suffer form anxiety and depression as I worry about everything but it is something I deal with by myself without medication or counseling. Anyways, I got used to my tinnitus because I began to ignore it and I only heard it when it was quiet. Also I got hyperacusis and it affected me very much. But that went away. It all took about a month or two to get used to. But now recently 4 days ago I’m not sure if it was because I got super stressed and anxious or if it was because I used headphones but I woke up two days later after that incident and my tinnitus was way worst and loud on my right ear (both ears are bad) and my hyperacusis is back also. I’m very anxious and stressed at the moment because I feel like i won’t be able to get used to it this time. (There’s times when I’m stressed and my tinnitus gets loud or I get hyperacusis but this time it’s not going away). I was wondering if tinnitus from noise induced can go away or atleast go to a level where you don’t even notice it? I’m asking because this is the second time and I’m not sure if I’m able to get used to it since it’s louder. I do notice that if I don’t pay attention to it it doesn’t bother me but it’s just people talking or certain sounds that are bugging me and making me anxious. I can’t seem to keep my mind off it.
Hi Brianna:
I suspect that the combination of stress and loud music caused the recent flare up in your tinnitus and hyperacusis. You’ve damaged your ears in the past so they are very likely not as “robust” as they once were. Thus they can’t absorb as much “punishment” as they once did.
In the future, you NEED to keep the sound level down. You shouldn’t listen to music any louder than you’d have it for listening to people talking or listening to a lecture. Otherwise, you are going to have more and more ear problems in the future.
So protect your ears from louder sounds for the next 2 or 3 months, and continue to ignore your tinnitus and hyperacusis as much as you can–and hopefully you can habituate to your tinnitus again. You know how to do it. And learn how to get your anxiety under control. You might try various relaxation exercises and breathing exercises that you can find on the Internet will help you a lot in this regard. And focus your mind on the loves of your life–NOT on your tinnitus/hyperacusis.
You can do it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr.
31 yo male who had covid mid October and was recovered having no issues for over 2 months before a slight dizziness/nausea returned. A month later I experienced spells of minor ringing for 5 seconds spurts for a week in my right ear (normal other than the amount of times). I then had it occur where after the initial loud ringing, a minor one remained in my right ear (Feb. 3)
A week before this I had been cleaning my ears with qtips and I do generally produce a lot of earwax. I went to a walk in clinic who saw the blockage in my right ear and flushed out a big ball of wax. ( Feb. 6). I then used ciproflox dexameth for a week as the ear was red after removal. I started getting what I can only describe as electrical zaps in both ears although the right definitely has another tone that is more consistent. There are times when I don’t hear it in either ear and i seem to be able to go to sleep fine. I have also noticed kind of like a clicking and pressure in both ears occasionally (feeling when on airplane but maybe not even half that) as well as heightened sensitivity to sound
Went to an ENT the other week (Feb. 16) who didn’t see any issues with the outer ear and my audio exam was fine. He did not believe that the tinnitus was caused by covid but that my dizziness was; let me know to give it at least 3 months and both will resolve
My questions are (1) is it known if covid can cause tinnitus? And (2) is it too early to worry about this being a chronic issue?
I started taking Lexapro the morning after (Feb. 4) the ringing persisted as a side note as I deal with stress and anxiety; my Dr had finally prescribed and recommended for me. I know this is a lot but any response would be appreciated!
Hi Ryan:
Did you take any drugs to treat your Covid-19? If so, they could be the culprits in your dizziness and tinnitus.
Then, if the doctor was a bit forceful in cleaning out your ears, that could have resulted in tinnitus. And taking the Ciprofloxacin could certainly have caused more tinnitus. In my opinion you shouldn’t take Ciprofloxacin except in dire cases–and a bit of redness in your ear canal does not count. You unnecessarily risk all sorts of ear problems when you do that.
1. It’s hard to know whether Covid causes tinnitus or whether its the drugs used to treat the Covid that cause the problems. But people do get tinnitus as a result of one or the other.
2. I would expect that most of your symptoms will fade away, but some tinnitus may persist. If so, just ignore it and focus on the loves of your life.
Cordially,
Neil
Hello Dr.Neil
I have quite quickly developed tinnitus out of the blue. It Started innocently with a slight high pitch in my right ear that would last about 30 seconds once a day. This started about month ago. It has now progressed to almost a continuous sound in the right ear and intermittent sound in my left ear.
It comes and goes though, sometimes I don’t hear anything (or it’s low enough that the background noise masks it). There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why it increases or decreases and will see an EMT soon.
My questions though are two:
1. what are some good signs/indications that Tinnitus is acute, rather than chronic, or is it too early to tell?
2. Is it possible to have tinnitus caused by bacteria/virus/fungi without having any other symptoms other than tinnitus? (trying to figure out what caused such a sudden progression without being exposed to loud sounds)
Much appreciation if you could reply! My anxiety is hard to control as you can imagine haha.
Hi Geoff:
There is always a reason you get tinnitus. If possible, it’s always good to try to figure it out as that has a bearing on its treatment.
There are ever so many causes. It could be as obscure as you are low on magnesium, or as obvious as exposing your ears to loud sounds, or taking a drug or medication, or developing a hearing loss, etc.
So, to you it came out of the blue, but did you expose your ears to any loud sound, even just blowing a whistle really loudly could do it? Are you on any medications? Were you under excess stress, or anxiety or depression? Did you have a cold, flu or active virus in your body in the two weeks before the tinnitus began? Was there anything different going on in the days before your tinnitus began? Etc.
1. Intermittent tinnitus is a good sign. That shows it doesn’t have to be constant and permanent.
2. It’s possible. Viruses can cause tinnitus. So can just being exposed to mold. I know a lady that gets tinnitus just from eating canned peaches due to the bit of mold allowed in canned foods.
The fact that your tinnitus is progressively getting worse makes me think you could be exposed to something ongoing. Perhaps my above questions and comments will give you an idea.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you kindly for Replying Dr.Bauman!
In answer to your questions, I have not been exposed to loud noise that I can remember but I usually wear earbuds to block out environment noise as I do have a slight sensitivity. I’ve been doing this for over a decade but not all the time (at work for instance) and never play loud music through the earbuds.
I’m currently on metformin and gliclazide for diabetes and recently changed my diet to lower my sugars since hearing the ringing (sugar was over 10 before starting the diet). I used to be on cipralex for anxiety, only from May to about August when I felt better (the anxiety was causing hyperacusis, where I became sensitive to car mufflers driving by)
Was not under stress before getting tinnitus that I was aware of, although I do completely loath my job and sometimes took days off because I dreaded going in, so maybe I am under stress. Also, I have had dysthymia since forever.
I might have had a virus recently as I did have diarrhea for a good week or two but attributed that to my gliclazide being increased. This would also be shortly before the ringing started. Currently taking penicillin in case it’s bacteria in my ear but it’s not doing anything.
I also cleaned the dust out of my room that had been accumulating for the last couple years as I noticed I wasgetting random sneezing and runny nose whenever I got home from work.
Got an appointment with an ENT a week from now but for now it’s all I can do to control my anxiety and tempted to go back on cipralex but I heard that could actually increase tinnitus.
Some other info:
– There seems to be a ‘physical’ aspect to my tinnitus. the ringing in my left ear (but not my right ear) increases when I yawn. Also, I can sometimes make the ringing louder or quieter by bending or stretching my neck. Also, standing up and walking around usually decreases the ringing.
– I find if I’m standing and talking to someone I don’t notice any ringing at all, but that could just be that my brain is ‘distracted’.
And lastly, just today at work something odd happened. This only happened once but suddenly my right ear (the one with quieter ringing but started ringing first) went deaf and I heard this odd tone that was lower than the usual hissing, like an old computer chip tone. It lasted only about 10 seconds and then went away and my hearing returned. The usual ringing then decreased in both ears significantly for at least 30 minutes before returning to normal.
Forgot to mention. Sometimes, my left ear will start having a dull ache and sometimes there will by tickling/itching inside either ear but these might by psychosomatic.
Something I’ve noticed is I’m walking and there is the slightest environmental noise, it will almost completely mask the ringing. However, as soon as I sit down, the ringing intensifies even if there is the same amount of background noise. It’s quite baffling!
I’m sorry this is so much information but I feel it’s important to know everything.
Hopeful,
Geoff
Hi Geoff:
I always look at what went on before your tinnitus started–and you say you increased your Gliclazide just before the ringing started. So that could be the problem. Gliclazide is not very ototoxic on its own, but doubling the dose you cause the tinnitus, especially in conjunction with the Metformin which is more ototoxic than the Gliclazide. And on top of that, taking the Penicillin which also is not all that ototoxic–but both, or all three together may have put you over the top resulting in tinnitus.
Going on Escitalopram (Cipralex), which is also ototoxic to some degree, could also make your tinnitus worse. So you want to be aware of this.
If you go back to your old dose of Gliclazide and your tinnitus goes away, you’ll know that is what caused it. But your tinnitus may not go away.
It does indeed seem that your tinnitus is also related to your body movements. So you have some degree of somatic tinnitus and this is not related to the medications you take, but to tight muscles in your neck/head/shoulders and may indicate that your vertebrae in your neck are not properly aligned.
You could also have some degree of tonic tensor tympani syndrome (TTTS) resulting in the dull ear ache and tickling sensation.
I don’t know what that was that made your right ear go deaf for a few seconds and your tinnitus change. Was it related to a particular body movement?
So you may have tinnitus from ototoxic side effects of your medications and also have somatic tinnitus from your body movements due to your vertebrae not being in proper alignment.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi DR.Bauman,
To clarify about the penicillin, I didn’t start taking that until I had already noticed the tinnitus. I though maybe bacteria was causing it since I had a sore on the inside of my mouth near back, where the top and bottom jaw connects. but I no longer think it’s bacterial as the penicillin didn’t do anything and have finished taking it.
Regarding Gliclazide, I forgot to mention that my regular doctor suggested I go back down to the previous dose, this was over a week ago but it doesn’t seem to have helped the tinnitus (but maybe because I started taking Penicillin a couple days afterward).
Based on what you’re saying, I’ll try not to go back onto Cipralex and try to see about having my Gliclazide and Metformin significantly reduced or cut off altogether as long as I can get my sugars under control (I know high blood sugar can also affect tinnitus)
Just before writing this I was laying back in my chair and I noticed the ringing was getting louder, but when I sat forward suddenly, the ringing reduced to about 30% of what it was. So there is definitely something going on with either my blood pressure or some nerve being affected. Sometimes the volume increases or decreases for no apparent reason and other times it’s definitely related to posture.
In regards to the solitary episode of the weird computer tone and loss of hearing, I wasn’t in any weird position or making any sudden movements. A friend suggested it might have been some kind of build up breaking up and temporarily blocking the eardrum.
Is it possible that the ear is somehow connected to the hip joint by some kind of nerve? It’s strange that the noise decreases when I’m standing. Also, last night, on was on my bed cross legged and the ringing would go away, but as soon as I laid down on my stomach and straightened my legs out, the ringing went right down to almost nothing. I did have a hip inflammation not too long ago that I only recently got over.
BTW, thank you for the time you have taken to respond to me. It’s very kind of you!
Much appreciative,
Geoff
Hi Geoff:
I wonder if all/most of your tinnitus is really related to posture or body position/movement. To me that indicates that a nerve is being “squished” to use a fancy medical term. When you shift position, you relieve the pressure and your tinnitus drops. If I were you, I’d see a chiropractor and be sure your vertebrae are all properly aligned. My preference would be an upper cervical spin chiropractor if the problem is in your C1 or C2 vertebrae. A conventional chiropractor can align the rest if the problem is lower down.
It’s not that you ear is connected to your hip, but that the spinal cord goes through all your vertebrae and if one or more are out, it could pinch various nerves causes various problems–so it could affect your hip area and your ears at the same time.
It depends how your vertebrae are “out” as to whether your tinnitus is louder when standing or sitting/laying down. For example, if the weight of your head is pressing on a nerve in your neck causing tinnitus, then laying down takes the pressure off that nerve and your tinnitus can reduce/go away. Then next morning when you stand up the weight is back on pinching the nerve and your tinnitus comes back.
The reverse can also happen and laying down can pinch a nerve causing tinnitus, but when you get up and shrug your shoulders to realign everything, the tinnitus goes away.
So you have to experiment, but a chiropractor should be able to help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Iv just recently been told that I could have a form of hypercosis and tinnitus Iv had this for 3 weeks I would tend to be a very stressed out person I notice it gets worse when I got into panic mode any idea why this is
Hi Amy:
You can get tinnitus and hyperacusis from stress, but it can be from taking any of a number of medications, from exposing your ears to loud sounds, from hearing loss and a number of other things.
When you are highly stressed or in panic mode, your body goes into “fight or flight” mode and your auditory also becomes overactive–thus leading to your hearing tinnitus and perceiving sounds as too loud (hyperacusis).
You need to learn how to get your stress and anxiety under control. A good counselor should be able to help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I was with the ENT specialist the other day and he told me that my Tinnitus is due to high frequency hearing loss (3K). My question is if I go with the hearing aid that catches the high frequency will this help in my Tinnitus not being noticeable when I wear the hearing aid.
Does hearing aids helps in masking the tinnitus? Mine is constant high pitch on the right side.
Thanks, Fenin
Hi Fenin:
Assuming your tinnitus is a result of your hearing loss, and it very likely that it is, wearing a hearing aid typically masks your tinnitus while you are wearing it. Just as typically, your tinnitus comes back when you take your hearing aid off at night.
Yes, it often masks your tinnitus, or at least you aren’t as aware of your tinnitus when you are wearing a hearing aid and hear sounds for your brain to process so it doesn’t “need” to process the tinnitus sounds.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you Dr. Neil.
It bothers me only when I am trying to sleep or sitting in a quiet room working. I ignore it when I am busy outside or with friends etc.
Its great to know that I can mask when ever I need a quiet time.
Another question is that does it affect my hearing more after wearing the hearing aid continuously.
Thanks,
Fenin
Hi Fenin:
If you are masking your tinnitus, you still hear the masking sound–so you don’t have a “quiet time” as such.
I’m not sure what you are asking. Tinnitus does not affect your hearing.
Cordially,
Neil
Wow, this is fantastic! Thank you for your holistic approach to dealing with this. Here is my quick story. I had was built up in my ear. I did not know. I was working so hard (teacher), 10 or more hours a day that I just had to nap. I put ear plugs in one Saturday afternoon to nap (I have a two small kids) and one of them pushed the wax down a bit. It did not bother me but my ear did seem a little plugged.
The doc said to put oil in it and flush in shower. The oil after a few days made my ear so full. I went to the doc to get wax removed… the resident was young, inexperienced and said that she does now know what the ear flush feels like and then proceeds to induce severe pain in my ear with the procedure.
I did not know what happened… and neither did she. She left me saying that I had permanent hearing loss. The ringing was BRUTAL.
The next day I saw a doc. She said that the resident possibly tore my ear drum, but it was hard to see.
A few days later, I was able to see my doc was able to remove A LOT of wax. I could hear perfect. No ringing at all. However, I noticed a few days later there was a slight hiss in that ear but it did not bother me at all. I slept fine. I could sit and read and did not notice it. Just when it was very quiet or when I was outside walking with a hat on.
Five weeks later I asked my doc about it and she said that she did not know why I had this hiss sound. She did see a spot on my ear drum and said it was wax and would not cause a this sound (later we found out that there is healing spot on my ear drum). Well, I just went into panic move… anxiety unlike I had ever experienced… paralyzing anxiety. The ringing in my head was brutal. I was in that state for a month or so thinking this was going to last for ever.
As I have calmed down (still have some work to do), the ring is light but there is still a hiss in my ear that seems to louder with sound. The doctor still sees the spot on my ear drum and says that it is healing. I was given Prozac but did not take it.
I was eating a clean diet for a month and noticed that the ring seems to be less (but the hiss sound that is worse with noise is still there). I think I have caused my self tinnitus because of stress/anxiety. I had not tinnitus before the doctor tore my ear drum. I have not taken any meds. But I have had gut issues for a long time.
Just wondering if this tinnitus that I brought on because of stress could go away? I am back to a super clean diet (I need to do this for my gut anyways).
Hi Wendy:
What I think happened is that you got the tinnitus from the “rough” treatment you got when the resident tried to get the wax out. Obviously she squeezed the syringe too hard and forced your eardrum in (and possibly ruptured it). Suddenly pushing your eardrum in as far as your inner ear is concerned is like hearing a sudden loud sound and that can result in tinnitus and maybe loudness hyperacusis.
That is why the hissing gets louder when you are around other sounds.
I think the hyperacusis component will fade away in time. You may always hear the faint hissing, but just learn to ignore it by focusing on the loves of your life. It won’t bother you if you don’t let it. And keep working on getting your anxiety under control. That is a key element in this whole condition.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you for the reply. I truly appreciate it.
Thank you for all your help, I have a special dilemma. I am guessing my tinnitus arose from my anxiety… and I am dealing with it in all ways possible, therapy, acupunture, diet, and so on. the main problem is that I am obsessing, and there is one big dillema I have
You say, we should continue with our loves. What if my love is making electronic music, how can I continue on with tinnitus….
Hi Vladimir:
You need help in learning how to reduce your anxiety and obsessing over your tinnitus. That will make things easier on you.
The secret is to keep the volume of the music down to the same level as you hear people talking normally. You don’t have to listen to music at high volumes. You can hear and enjoy music at low levels–and that is what you now need to do. You don’t have to give up your music–just keep the volume down to normal speech levels–50 to 60 dB and you should not exacerbate your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for your response!
I had my second Covid vaccine on May 4. As of May 6, I have been struggling with what I am being told is extreme anxiety and panic attacks (which I never dealt with prior to the vaccine). My latest anxiety symptom is noise sensitivity (almost unbearable at times) and a fullness feeling in my ears. Any advice for me to cope or treat this?
Hi Lacey:
Are this panic attacks caused by the vaccine or result of worrying about the possible side effects of this vaccine?
When you say you have noise sensitivity, is it all sounds, or just some–say mostly higher-frequency sounds? Do these sounds seem so loud they hurt, or what? How loud do sounds have to be before you are sensitive to them?
Sounds like you have loudness hyperacusis, but until I know more, I can’t really help you.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr Bauman,
Hopefully you can help me understand the cause..
My story starts with a lot of stress over a 3 month timeframe because of a blood clot I’d gotten from a picc line. I needed the picc line for 8 weeks due to pseudomonas received will in the hospital from back surgery. For weeks I stayed stressed feeling like this clot would take my life. My doctor prescribed me Prozac of which I put off taking because I didn’t want to take medicine. My family thought it was a good idea to take it to help me cope. Here’s where I need your thoughts please.. that night I took a nattokinase/serratiopeptidase herbal supplement to help naturally thin my blood (I had took Eliquis prior but had been off of them for about a week). About 30 min to an hour later I took the Prozac. Almost immediately I felt a burning up the back of my neck and my lips felt swollen.. after looking in the mirror it looked a little red around the outside of my lips but they weren’t noticeably swollen. I went to bed roughly an hour later and woke with ringing in my ears. I’ve had my hearing checked, it’s fine. Neurologist did MRI because of headaches now.. it came back fine. I can’t pinpoint a particular ear that this is in.. I’m pretty sure it’s “in my head”. I don’t know if this is caused by ototoxicity or stress. Does ototoxicity always cause hearing loss? Can it cause damage to a nerve instead? My sleep has been all over the place since the clot as well. I thought when I got the stress and sleep under control, the ringing would subside.. it’s been 4 months now. Is there a chance it would stop? I kick myself for taking the one Prozac. What’s your thoughts please? Thank you!
Carrie
Hi Carrie:
There are around 30 different ototoxic side effects. Hearing loss is one of them. You don’t have to have hearing loss to experience ototoxicity. You could experience one or more of the other 29 ototoxic side effects–and you have–your tinnitus.
You are not alone in having bad tinnitus after just taking 1 Fluoxetine (Prozac) pill. I’ve heard from another lady who had almost the same experience as you. She still had her tinnitus 6 months later. Not that this gives you any comfort, but shows that it can happen and you are not crazy for thinking it did.
Tinnitus can seem to be in one ear or the other, or both, or just in your head–and can change “locations” from time to time. That’s the way it goes. Right now mine is just in my left ear for some reason. It will move around as the day progresses. That’s normal.
Since your tinnitus is bothering you, I’d suggest you start a program to reduce your tinnitus. Just learning to relax and calm your anxiety might be all it takes. Taking a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy program could help you. If you need more, then adding sound therapy to this would be helpful.
Cordially,
Neil
Have you ever heard of Microwave Hearing? Look it up. Allen Frey. Lots of people suffering from this and it is ignored by the medical community. Don;t ignore this very serious issue. Thank you.
Hi Veronica:
Yes, I’ve heard about Microwave hearing–I’ve even written about it. What was your point in bringing it up here?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr. Bauman,
I few months ago, everything in my left ear began sounding robotic. I was under a lot of pressure with exams and moving. I’ve been diagnosed with anxiety and regularly see a therapist, however they hadn’t heard of my problem before. I didn’t take any meds at the time either.
It’s gone away since, but it used to happen several times a week. Was it anxiety?
Hi Julie:
A number of things can cause distorted hearing. A few people call in sounding like a robot. Others use other terms. One cause is having an active virus in your body that also gets into your inner ears. I’ve never heard of anxiety by itself causing distorted hearing, but I’m sure it could be a contributing factor. Some drugs can cause distortion, but since you weren’t on any drugs at that time, we can rule that out.
Exposing your ears to loud sounds or having some degree of hearing loss–particularly if the loss is different in each ear could also cause this.
Do any of the above ring a bell with you?
Cordially,
Neil
Hi
I’ve been hearing a heartbeat in my ears for a long while now I get dizzy spells, zig-zag and blurred visions and headaches that come on hard and fast and last for days with me feeling tired and sick. My doctor has just said it’s anxiety and wants me to go back on drugs or beta blockers as been having heart palpitations but he just put it down to that. I read about tinnitus but I didn’t want to say to my doctor because his response is just it’s anixiety what did you expect the outcome to be. I mean I heart my heart beating in my ears all the time sometimes louder that others . Any advise
Hi Nathalie:
When you hear your heart beating in your ears, they commonly call this pulsatile tinnitus, but technically it is not tinnitus at all, but is really one of your body’s somatosounds.
No matter what you call it, pulsatile tinnitus is related to blood flow in your arteries whether it be turbulent blood flow, often caused by hardening of the arteries), or increased blood flow due to blocked or partially blocked arteries and nearby blood vessels expand to carry the load, high blood pressure, blood vessels too close to your ear, glomus tumors (benign tumors composed of masses of blood vessels in or near your ear), benign intracranial hypertension (probably the most common cause of pulsatile tinnitus, Carotid artery disease (probably the second most common cause), and there are a number of other causes.
Anxiety and tension could bring on some of these causes. So your doctor may be right about anxiety being a large part of the cause, but there are at least 25 different causes of pulsatile tinnitus.
If I were you, I’d go to a different doctor (perhaps a good vascular surgeon) and see if one of the above is what is the root of your pulsatile tinnitus, and probably exacerbated by your anxiety. Depending on the exact cause, surgery can often correct it.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi mr Neil
I would like your valuable help, because i am kind of desperate.
Just my background in brief description. I am 33 years old male, working in industrial environment the past 8 years, always wearing hear protection. I was really excited from my job and life. Short burst of stress occurred only in work.
2 months ago i had burnout and exhaustion signs due to work overload , resulting in getting vitamins and rest. At the same time i got overstressed suddenly because of a personal matter. This lasted a while around one month. However, also one month ago some weak tinnitus started in both ears. Immediately went to doctor that told me is nothing and relax and will go away. Indeed nothing from tinnitus the next days, however started to re appear slightly 3 weeks ago. This put me in state of constant anxiety that will remain forever. Suddenly i got also vision problems and floaters that still remain as well.
Went again to another doctor two weeks ago and found some hear loss in both ears in 4khz and 6khz of around 25 db. He told me its slight loss and does not explain tinnitus, it’s mostly because of stress. He gave me vitamins, betahistine and flunaristine for 15 days. So far no improve. However to be honest, no improve also in my anxiety. Because the pitch tone is in my ears 24/7 i am also anxious 24/7. I am sleeping well however around 7-9 hours per day
I asked also another doctor’s opinion and said that this hearing loss can explain tinnitus and will never go away. He also said that could be some thrombosis from Pfeizer vaccine.
I have also observed that feel my Jaw cracking a lot lately. Two times i opened my jaw, it hurted me and tinnitus suddenly stopped for 5 minutes. I also hear all the time popping my ears when i swallow or open my jaw.
I also feel my back fully intensed, and my muscles terrible.
Finally, I visited one physiotherapist,he touched some vanes near carotide , it was really painful and told me they are terrible. Blood and Oxygen do not go to eyes and ears easily. We booked some sessions for next week to work out physiotherapies.
Another issue is that i am in CBT these 2 months, and my therapist insists that since my root cause (personal matter) was solved recently, everything will pass step by step as they are physical responses of my body to my stress.
I would like your advice for any of these i described. I am really stressful now because i really need to have my head as before. I always had perfect vision and hearing, and really cannot understand what happened the last 2 months.
Many thanks in advance
Hi Kyprianos:
Very often tinnitus accompanies hearing loss, so your hearing loss could explain your tinnitus. Since your tinnitus is in the high frequencies, it is quite possible that you have hearing loss above 8 kHz that could also account for your tinnitus.
In addition, your audiogram seems to indicate you have a “noise notch” at 4 kHz. This commonly indicates you have exposed your ears to excessively loud sounds and this shows up as the 4 kHz noise notch. It also means you could have some hidden hearing loss (cochlear synaptopathy.
And also the one doctor’s opinion that it may have resulted from a tiny blood clot in your ears as a result of the Pfizer vaccine is also valid.
As you know, stress, anxiety, etc. can make tinnitus worse. So there are several reasons you have the neurophysiologic tinnitus right there.
In addition, you you also likely have somatosensory tinnitus from your jaw, neck and shoulders being so tight–and causing your jaw and cervical vertebrae to be out of proper alignment.
Going to a physiotherapist or massage therapist to relax your muscles is a good idea to help eliminate this source of somatosensory tinnitus.
If your hearing loss is partially due to lack of blood flow to your inner ears, then the physiotherapy may improve your blood flow and some hearing may return–and when hearing returns, typically tinnitus begins to fade away.
Using CBT to resolve issues and learning to relax and be less anxious is another step in the right direction. So stop worrying about your tinnitus, learn to relax, and you’ll find your tinnitus may begin to fade away, and be easier to cope with.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for your time mr Neil,
Really helpful all that you explained to me!
Well it seems strange to me regarding the loud noise exposure, the only thing coming to mind, is that recently i was exposed accidentally to sudden firework sound will i was in the car these days which was a bit irritating but nothing extraordinary. It seems i was in great luck if that caused the damage to me.
Forgot to mention that some months ago i was found B12 deficient and started supplements.
If the case is that the noisy environment of work does some damage despite the hearing protection i use, could be a great issue for me for the future. I use over the head earmuffs which into my understanding hide all the bad noise. Maybe i should look further?
Thanks again for your time!
Hi Kyprianos:
If your ear protectors have a protection factor of around 30 dB, then if you work environment is below 110 dB, you should be safe.
Cordially,
Neil
Good evening
My name is frank in brief I’ve had tinnitus for 2 years and getting worse by the day
I work in factory for 15years had hearing test with a little hearing loss in right ear in where the tinnitus is
First symptoms was head dizzy and tinnitus everything was gone except tinnitus
I have been on endep for tmj for 10 years (25mg)at night it makes me sleep
Have you got any ideas why this is happening
Thanks
Hi Frank:
Is your tinnitus a result of working in a noisy factory, or from other causes? Do you wear ear protectors while you are working or not?
You say you got dizziness and tinnitus when it began. Did you have any other symptoms?
Taking Amitriptyline (Endep) can cause dizziness, tinnitus, hearing loss, etc. Sometimes it takes many years for these symptoms to show up. Other times they show up right away. So one possibility is that the Amitriptyline is causing your problems. Another is that it was brought on by loud noise exposure.
I can’t tell which is more likely from the little information you have given me.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I have tinnitus and pulsatile in my right ear only and its loud since a month.
This caused me to be very anxious and in stress a lot lately.
Someone recommended to take Ashwagandha for anxiety and stress control. Do you recommend this or anything else?
Thanks
Kavi
Hi Kavi:
You have two problems. For your pulsatile tinnitus, I’d recommend you see a good vascular surgeon to see exactly what the cause of your pulsatile tinnitus is. You have a good chance of it being successfully treated medically or surgically.
Instead of worrying about your pulsatile tinnitus, take the above action and get it under control. Ashwagandha has been used as a health aid for thousands of years, so try it and see whether it works for you.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Bauman,
I am post covid 10 weeks and 2 weeks ago i began to hear my heartbeat in my ear only when i lay down at night and only at bedtime.
I have an ENT appointment soon.
I also have Tinnitus in my left and right ear post covid.
Any suggestions as my BP is controlled. Thank you sir.
Hi Jake:
Personally, I’d just ignore it for the time being and see whether it goes away in the next month since you BP is controlled. You can also see what your ENT says.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi!
I can hear like my heart beat through my right ear. It’s like a swooshing heartbeat. It comes and goes. It gets louder when I lay down. If I push on my neck it almost stops it. But I have to keep a hand on my neck to get the noise to stop!
Hi Nicole:
When you lay down, it may seem louder as the environment is typically quieter when you are in bed and thus the heartbeat stands out more and seems louder.
It could also be that when you lay down you partially compress an artery that makes the blood flow more turbulent and thus you hear it louder.
When you push on your neck one of two things happens. I can’t tell by your description which one it is so I’ll mention both. Either you are physically pushing your neck into a better alignment so your blood flow to your head is less turbulent and thus it is softer.
Otherwise, it may be that you push on your carotid artery enough to stop most of the blood flow and thus the blood flow isn’t turbulent and you no longer hear it. Numbers of people can stop their pulsatile tinnitus (temporarily) by pushing on the neck arteries.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
Its been so many decades still not cure for Tinnitus. Is it too complicated that medical science cannot figure it out or no funding to find on the research and they just ignored it.
I do hear a lot of cases these days about Tinnitus.
Thanks,
Rane
Hi Rane:
You cure a disease. Tinnitus is not a disease, it is only a symptom of something not quite right in your body somewhere. Tracking down tinnitus isn’t a simple matter. There are many things that can cause tinnitus. Furthermore, there are different kinds of tinnitus, and each kind of tinnitus needs a different treatment.
It’s easier to prevent tinnitus than it is to try to eliminate it once it has started. For example, protecting your ears from loud sounds would cut down the incidence of tinnitus enormously. So would not taking any of the hundreds of drugs that can cause tinnitus.
Part of the problem with the common kinds of tinnitus is that it is part psychological and part physical. The psychological part is up to you to change–no one can do it for you. For example, if you are stressed out, anxious and/or depressed can result in tinnitus. So looking after yourself so you are not stressed out, anxious and depressed goes a LONG ways in eliminating tinnitus.
Tinnitus typically accompanies hearing loss, so preventing hearing loss can prevent tinnitus from this cause.
As you can see, it is not the tinnitus that is the basic problem, but the various conditions that lead to tinnitus. So instead of focusing on “curing” tinnitus, it is much better to focus on living a happy, healthy lifestyle and not exposing your ears to loud sounds that ultimately make the difference.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Doc… I just want to mention – wow. The long, informative and caring responses you take the time out of your day to give people is truly astounding. Thank you for being a special one to care.
I have an issue with TMJ- my jaw is slightly uneven. Although I can’t tell if it has become this way over time or if I was born with it. I do have ear ringing, I experience ear muscle spasms which I assume is the tensor tympani… but one thing that really creeps me out is sometimes I have this like high pitched tone followed by extreme muffled hearing for a few seconds and then it goes away and hearing is back to normal? It normally only happens every once in a while, but when I tend to dwell on it and give myself a panic attack it comes on more often. I read that most people tend to experience this phenomenon every now and then, but I am wondering if my TMJ / uneven jaw could have something to do with these things. I also tend to clench my jaw and possibly grind during the night like bruxism as well. I wake up with sensitive teeth. If you could let me know your thoughts. I know you are a busy guy!
All the best
– Alyssa
Hi Alyssa:
When you hear “this high pitched tone followed by extreme muffled hearing for a few seconds and then it goes away and hearing is back to normal?” you are experiencing Transient Tonal Tinnitus, which is perfectly normal, so don’t get creeped out about it. I experience it too.
Here is a quote from my book, “Take Control of Your Tinnitus” on this subject.
______________________
Transient Tonal Tinnitus (TTT), otherwise known as Sudden Brief Unilateral Tapering Tinnitus (SBUTT), or just Transient Ear Noise, is typically a daytime phenomenon where you suddenly hear a tone or piercing whistle in just one ear that quickly becomes extremely loud. It arises out of the blue, reaches a crescendo in around a second or so and then often quickly fades away in another 2 to 10 seconds, but could last for up to a minute.
For example, maybe once or twice a year I will experience a sudden piercing whistle. The volume builds up to a peak in a matter of milliseconds and then rapidly reduces to nothing in maybe 5 to 10 seconds.
Absolutely everyone experiences Transient Tonal Tinnitus (transient ear noise) at one time or another during their lives. It is 100% universal whether they remember such experiences or not.
Transient Tonal Tinnitus occurs sporadically and seems to occur completely at random without anything precipitating it. It may only occur once every five years, or much more often. In rare cases it can occur more than 100 times a year.
It typically occurs as a sudden whistling sound and may be accompanied by the perception of hearing loss. Often the ear feels blocked during the episode.
Experiencing Transient Tonal Tinnitus is perfectly normal and is part of the way your brain calibrates your auditory system. Although it may seem scary, stay calm and relax as it will quickly disappear.
_____________________________
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much for the prompt response! That info definitely eased my mind. It seemed like it was occurring more frequently for me… I’m sure my anxiety doesn’t help that. I tend to dwell on symptoms that happen to me (trying to work on that)
I’m going to have to check out your books. I assume that TMJ and teeth clenching (my jaw is somewhat misaligned as well) can do some weird things to the ear? You’ll really ease my anxiety if you say this is true. Haha.
Thanks again for your time and your reply, Neil.
Sending you all of the best
-Alyssa
Hi Alyssa:
Anxiety plays a part in worsening many ear conditions including tinnitus and hyperacusis. So it’s always a good idea to keep your anxiety under control.
TMJ and teeth clenching often figure in somatosensory tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Neil!
It’s strange because I swear I am experience the transient ear noise more frequently. It freaks me out every single time. Like you said it can occur more frequently for some people so I’ll try not to worry. It just seemed odd to me that it’s happening more often now. I’m wondering if the pressure on my nerves can cause that to happen more between my teeth clenching and tmj. I made an appt to see an upper cervical chiropractor. Last night I had shooting pain on the left side of my head only from my temple all the way down to behind the ear. I think my trigeminal nerve is being affected.
Would also like to know if there’s a way for me to donate or anything as a thank you for taking the time in discussing this with me. Out of pretty much any doctor I have spoken to, I haven’t gotten nearly as much info.
Thanks again
Alyssa
Hi Alyssa:
What do you call “more often” for this transient tonal tinnitus. Remember it can occur between once every 5 years to around 100 times a year.
It can be sort of scary when you don’t understand what is happening, but it is totally benign.
I’m sure your TMJ and teeth clenching isn’t helping matters, nor is your high anxiety level. I sure hope your upper cervical chiropractor can fix your neck if it is out of proper alignment and solve the problem. There are no guarantees, but but knowing that your neck is properly aligned eliminates a number of possibilities for the source of the problem. Let me know how it goes.
As you know, I freely give my time to help people. However, donations to help me to continue helping people are gratefully received. The easiest way to make a donation is via PayPal. My email address is at the bottom of any page on my website. This is the one that is registered with PayPal. Thanks in advance for your generosity.
Cordially,
Neil
Since it can occur up to 100 times a year, maybe that is the answer to my question. It just seems that lately (the past couple weeks or so, which also happens to be the time frame I started having anxiety and dwelling on my ears) it seems that I have experienced it a couple times in this span of time. Instead of it usually being every once in a while. I feel like my ears have had an overall greater sense of pressure too, which makes me feel like it’s my anxiety causing all these symptoms to suddenly amp up. I’ve noticed that stress can do some pretty weird things to the body. I wish I could turn it off like a switch. I usually am not like this all the time. I get in these phases when something occurs, and then I immediately dwell on it. Like the transient ear noise for example. Does this make sense? Let me know what you think.
I will happily donate.
I couldn’t be more thankful for your advice.
Thanks Neil
-Alyssa
Hi Alyssa:
I think you understand it perfectly. So you also know what to do. Get your stress and anxiety under control.
Stress by itself isn’t the real problem. The problem is not handling your stress correctly. You need to do the right things to reduce/eliminate your stress. Not taking action just increases your stress.
Here’s a very basic example, but you get the idea. Let’s say you decide that you are going to stay in bed all day and just do nothing. So you don’t bother getting up, but stress soon develops. Your body has other ideas. It decides you need to make a pit stop. The more you resist this idea, the greater the stress until you finally decide to get up and make a pit stop.
Notice what happens next. The stress goes away–at least for a few hours, then slowly builds up again. Thus, the secret to stress is that you need to take care of stress as in builds up by taking positive action. If you don’t you will ultimately “explode” one way or another.
You can also relieve anxiety by taking action. Procrastination just lets anxiety build up more and more. You need to squarely face whatever you are anxious about and deal with it.
If you can’t do something positive to eliminate the anxiety, they very least you can do is practice relaxation exercises to reduce your stress. And also learn how to reduce your anxiety by calming breathing exercises. The good thing about breathing exercises is that you can do them anywhere as you have to breathe all the time. So you can practice them while driving in a traffic jam or while being reamed out by the boss–virtually any place and any time.
When you don’t take action, stress and anxiety build up. You need to take appropriate action. This applies to life in general and specifically to your ears. Now that you know what causes your transient tonal tinnitus, and that it is a natural occurrence, you don’t have to be concerned about it. So any anxiety you feel is now unnecessary and is of your own making. So stop it.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for all of the info Dr. Bauman… if you don’t mind, (while I’m still dwelling on this subject because I needed to stop like yesterday) I wanted to hear your thoughts on one last thing…
I had tubes a couple different times when I was younger. Always struggled with ear infections. One of the last times I got tubes I was a little bit older maybe like 7th grade. When the tubes came out my holes never closed. Around this time, the doctor said that it may be a good thing for me because since I would always get infections the holes would work as a “natural tube”. The doctor checked my hearing and said it was actually fairly good considering the holes. Well as time went on I never seemed to have issues with infections again. So after all these years I decided to get a check up to see if the holes were still there or if they ended up closing on their own. (The doctor told me there was a POSSIBILITY they could close but most likely would not) so anyway. I went to an ENT this last august. He confirmed the holes were still there but other than that ears “look good”. I told this doctor my situation and the natural tube etc. As you know by now that I have health anxiety, I of course talked the doctors ear off to see if he thought this was ok and so forth. He agreed and said that if it seems to be working that’s a good thing and say we patched them what if I just start getting infections again… so I said ok. He said that there are many people that come into the office that he has to put holes in because of so much pressure and infection etc. anyways, I left feeling pretty good about it. I of course always cover my ears anytime I shower to not get them wet. But I wanted your opinion is to if you think agree and think this makes logical sense. I feel like I’m NOW in my head about it because I’m 29 and it’s like well if I need something done I’d rather do it now than years from now when I’m older. I don’t know. Possibly thinking too much again.
Look out for a PayPal from me by the end of the week. I haven’t forgot!!
Thanks so much again.
-Alyssa
Hi Alyssa:
I think the answer lies in how long ago you had your last ear infection. If it was say 10 years ago, then it would seem that you have outgrown ear infections. Thus it would make sense to close the holes as the chances of having more infections is pretty slim and by closing the holes, you won’t have to worry about water or other stuff getting into your middle ears and causing problems so your risk of outside infections should go way down. Furthermore, your hearing should improve as your eardrums will work better without holes to let some sound energy leak away.
So the pluses seem to have it IF you haven’t had any infections lately. However, if you still regularly get ear infections, then your doctor is right that leaving the holes is probably a good idea.
Cordially,
Neil
Thanks for the reply! You know the anxiety part in me thinks if I close them I will start getting infections even though I haven’t in a very very long time. While I sit with that info for a bit, will everyday sounds harm my ears since there is this hole? I sure hope not. I never really thought about that until now.
I feel like my anxiety is causing majority of my symptoms. It’s easier said than done to try to stop dwelling on things. But it must be done. Thanks again Neil
Hi Alyssa:
Everyday sounds won’t harm your ears whether the hole is there or not. So you don’t have to worry about that.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi, thanks for this forum.
I developed covid on 1st March 2023 at night time. I noticed a couple spells of ringing in my ear that week but on the 8th March it became permanent in my left ear only. I’ve had it ever since. I had a positive covid test until around 12th March.
I’m convinced covid caused my tinnitus but now tinnitus is causing me to panic slightly as I feel trapped.
I read, usually anxiety causes tinnitus where it is my tinnitus that has caused anxiety as I’ve never suffered from anxiety before really.
I saw a gp who told me to take my allergy tablets once a day (cetirizine hydrochloride) and spray beconase hayfever spray (beclometasone dipropionate) in my nose 2x each nostril twice a day. I have done this since 14th March. I guess he thought I may be blocked but surely I can’t still be blocked 10 days later?
People keep saying, wait to see if it goes but after 2 weeks of having it I don’t see it disappearing?
I am seeing a tinnitus specialist on 28th. and I am on waiting list to see an ENT.
Do you have any thoughts on covid causing tinnitus. I didn’t take any drugs for covid except anaesthetic throat spray 0.71 ormucosal spray as I had a bad sore throat.
I did have grommets in my ear when I was a child, apparently, as I have the scarring to prove it and I was sensitive to loud noises as a child. None of which have causes me any issues as an adult.
Thanks
Struggling person
Hi Mark:
There have been lots of reports of Covid causing tinnitus. Ditto for the Covid jab.
Actually, it works both ways. Anxiety can cause tinnitus, but perhaps even more often, tinnitus causes anxiety. So either way, you want to keep your anxiety under control.
Tinnitus may or may not be permanent. You won’t know for several more weeks.
One of the secrets of successfully dealing with tinnitus is to NOT focus on your tinnitus. If you think of your tinnitus as a threat to your well-being, and thus focus on it, it can get worse and become permanent. However, if you think of your tinnitus as a totally unimportant, useless, background sound that is safe to ignore, and then you ignore it, it will tend to fade into the background and not bother you, if you even hear it.
For example, I’ve had tinnitus for more than 70 years. You’ve only had it two weeks. However, I don’t let my tinnitus bother me and much of the time I’m not aware I even have tinnitus because I don’t focus on it.
However, whenever I think about tinnitus–like right now writing this–my tinnitus pops up rather loudly. But I am so habituated to it that within 5 minutes of sending this, my tinnitus will fade into the background again. You can learn to do this too–then whether your tinnitus goes away or not, it’s no big deal.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr
-A couple of years ago i developed this habit that particularly on Sunday’s i would not be able to fall off to sleep and constantly get up with a urinary urgency. This was fluctuating and over a period of 5 years, i developed ‘sunday scaries’ and was never sure what was going on. There were periods it would completely go away. I also developed a fear to sleep due to this.
-Long story short, in Sep ‘22 i developed urinary urgency constantly and was diagnosed with something called ‘chronic pelvic pain syndrome’
-I had taken a medication called norfloxacin which is considered ototoxic but no one has ever reported ototoxicity
-Due to the diagnosis of pelvic pain syndrome, i believe i started become chronically anxious as there isn’t a medical cure
-The dizziness last for close to 3 months (non-stop) and it went away when i was on holidays for example which made me believe it is anxiety
-I fell into a chronic anxiety cycle due to my health and in January out of nowhere, i suddenly realised that my colleagues phone was unbelievably loud
-Fast forward, it was confirmed that I have hyperacusis and that meant further anxiety
-Over the 5 months; i have been on SSRI’s which have been helpful, been to 4 audiologists, 3 ents (my hearing is completely fine), brain mri is perfectly normal
-I have now seen an onset of mild tinnitus adding further to my anxiety
-I have seen some improvement but its been extremely challenging mentally to adapt to my new lifestyle (limited social life, avoiding restaurants, pubs)
-I even had to downsize my wedding..
-My therapist believes its a central sensitisation issue due to my anxiety as both my illness are due to the underlying anxiety. Believe it or not, i am more anxious of my health than anything else! I also a high performing cognitive rigid person apparently in my career, personal life etc..
-I am also noticing TTTS symptoms with Jaw pain and guess what i have also been diagnosed with TMJ disorder now!
-I have severe neck stiffness and shoulder pain down the trapezius region
– I have Agitation with “sudden” noises since they sound louder now . Even if they actually don’t seem louder, the sudden noises agitate me. Not always but sometimes
-Ear pain in the ears when i use my phone, or when people laugh (ifs pretty random)
– When I put on my earphones, even at low volume I feel this “ache”
-Generally everything seems louder to me
-Developed this ‘agitation’ with people sneezing, clearing their throat (like my brain sees it as a flight to fight response)
-My ears feel tired if there has been constant conversations by the end of the day
I don’t know how to go about this..i am exhausted seeing different specialists and spending thousands of dollars.. i don’t know if its the TMJ disorder that needs to be fixed to alleviate my H&T & TTTS or/and my anxiety.. i am just baffled that it is a ‘mind body syndrome’ or a physical issue like a tmj disorder needs to be addressed..
I am doing all it takes to be positive, doing sound therapy, trying to live a ‘semi normal’ life, avoiding loud places of course, avoiding ear plugs to the best of my ability (but in the gym i have to use my earplugs)
I am trying to practice CBT with my therapist.
Is there any hope? I have a long life to live and this condition has taken a lot away for me…i would be grateful if you help me Dr 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Hi CD:
Constant anxiety can cause all sorts of physical problems–both in your ears and elsewhere in your body. Basically, it hyperstimulates your nerves and then bad things begin to happen since the nerves don’t work properly.
Why on Sunday nights? Were you particularly anxious about going back to work on Monday morning? (Monday morning blues?)
I’m sure your urinary urgency is a result of your anxiety hyperstimulating the appropriate nerves giving you this symptom. And that led to fear of sleep, thus compounding your anxiety.
Norfloxacin is indeed ototoxic–although there are not a lot of reports on its ototoxicity. Tinnitus and dizziness are two of the most common symptoms I’ve seen reported.
I wouldn’t be worried about a medical cure for your pelvic pain syndrome because as I said above, it is most likely due to your excess anxiety. You need to calm yourself down. No doctor can do that for you.
I agree with you about the dizziness going away while you were on holidays due to reduced anxiety. This shows you how much your medical symptoms are really caused by underlying anxiety.
Hyperacusis is a psychosomatic condition–meaning that it has a physical component and a psychological component. I believe that the psychological component (anxiety in your case) is the major component, and thus getting your anxiety under control will probably cause your hyperacusis to fade away.
Often tinnitus accompanies hyperacusis and can also be caused by anxiety. But it can be caused by the SSRIs you are taking as well.
TMJ can also be caused by anxiety. So can your stiff neck and shoulders and the resulting pain. You are a classic case of anxiety causing all sorts of problems and the more anxiety you have, the greater the number of problems that surface.
When you have hyperacusis, your ears no longer can stand sudden changes in sounds like they used to be able to do. Thus you have the agitation.
I think you have a “mind-body” condition rather than having physical symptoms such as TMJ etc. that can be treated medically.
You are doing some good things to cope with your various conditions, but you are not effectively addressing the real underlying issues–and that is getting your anxiety under control and then getting your nerves to calm down and get out of their hyperstimulation mode.
Now I have some good news for you. Obviously you haven’t found success with any of the medical professionals you have consulted, so it is time to think outside the box and go to someone who understands what you are going through–been there, done that–and thus can help you on the road to recovery–just like they did.
Here’s what I’d do if I were in your shoes. I’d go to the anxiety centre website and read everything you find there. The link is:
https://www.anxietycentre.com/
If you carefully read and study everything on that website, you’ll see what you have to do it help yourself. In addition to all the free information there, if you sign up to be a member, you’ll have access to more than 1,000 articles that will help you. And membership is cheap–$7.00/month, or $30.00 for 6 months or $55.00 per year.
In addition, if you need professional help, you can find the people there that can help you (for a fee of course). They have all been through the anxiety thing and come out the other side and back to normal so they know how to help you.
I really think this website and people there have the answers to basically ALL your problems.
Cordially,
Neil
Dr i had done the brain mri 10 days before the signs of Hyperacusis, but i was chronically anxious going into the MRI as I was dizzy. Could this have caused the sound sensitivity?
Hi CD:
Hyperacusis is a psychosomatic condition and anxiety is one of the main things that causes loudness hyperacusis to form/become worse. Some people do indeed develop hyperacusis from getting MRIs. However, not that the hyperacusis typically doesn’t develop at the time of the MRI, but often appears up to two weeks later. This is likely what happened in your case.
Cordially,
Neil
So is there any chances for hyperacusis to fade away? I really don’t know how to tackle all of this. Its debilitating.
Hi CD:
Hyperacusis is largely caused by anxiety and worry. Therefore, getting your anxiety under control can go a long ways towards getting your hyperacusis under control. Combining anxiety control with sound therapy is probably the best way to bring it under control.
Cordially,
Neil
I am still on the Amitryiptline which i had started around the time i got the Hyperacusis. It helps me get a good night sleep.
Anxiety, brain mri, Amitryiptline are the 3 possibilities. How should i go about this Dr? Any help would be appreciated 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
Hi CD:
If the Amitriptyline works for you, you probably want to stay on it. However, it could be the cause of your hyperacusis. It’s hard to say. So getting your anxiety under control would probably bring the best results.
Cordially,
Neil
HI Dr Neil,
I have high pitch tinnitus in my right ear and pulsatile tinnitus as well. I have elevated blood pressure and my cardiologist prescribed Norvase for blood pressure. Is this an ototoxic or can I take it.
Thanks
Ron
Hi Ron:
All blood pressure drugs are ototoxic to some degree. Amlodipine (Norvasc) is no different. The trick in many of these medications is to take the lowest dose that will do the job. That way you can fly under the ototoxic radar. I take this drug myself and have had no changes in my tinnitus. You can probably do the same.
However, if you begin to experience any side effects including hearing loss, tinnitus, ear pain, balance problems, etc. you’d be wise to dump the drug and get your doctor to prescribe something else.
Cordially,
Neil
Thank you so much Dr Neil.
I agree that all medications come with some or the other side effects. I will start this medication and hopefully does not affect my tinnitus as it is already a very high pitch. He also said that the pulsatile should calm down once I start on the blood pressure medication as this could be one of the reason I feel the pulsation.
Thanks again for your feedback.
Ron
Hi Dr Neil,
My Tinnitus increased suddenly since a month and a half and I would say it doubled in pitch not sure why this increase.
I have GAD and the family P told me is that due to this anxiety it is causing it. Do you think this will calm down and goes back to the base levels as before.
Thanks,
Mac
Hi Mac:
What happened a month and a half ago? Did your anxiety increase dramatically? Did you begin taking a drug or increase the dose on an existing drug? Drugs used to treat anxiety and/or depression can all cause tinnitus.
Those would be the two main reasons for an increase in your tinnitus.
If it is just anxiety that is causing it, when you get your anxiety under control and any hyperstimulated nerves calm down, you could expect your tinnitus to drop back to its old level.
Cordially,
Neil
Hi Dr Neil,
I have pulsatile tinnitus and six months ago my GP recommended Amlodipine for my blood pressure and since I started taking it my pulsation with high pick has increased and as reading through the comments on your site and online, I see that this is a highly ototoxic. I am planning to change my medication in a week or so. Do you have any BP medication that is proven and that is not ototoxic and not effect my tinnitus.
I have a colleague who came of Amlodipine and his tinnitus went back to normal in two three days.
Appreciate your help.
Jani S
Hi Jani:
The good news about ototoxic side effects of taking Amlodipine is that they often go away when you get off this drug–but there are no guarantees as some people find the side effects permanent.
Unfortunately, all blood pressure meds are ototoxic to some extent and can cause tinnitus. Therefore, the trick is to find one that doesn’t bother your ears yet still does the job.
If you want to stay with a Calcium Channel Blocker you might want to consider Nifedipine, or switch to a Beta blocker such as Labetalol or an ACE inhibitor such as Benazepril if any of those will do the job without affecting your tinnitus.
Cordially,
Neil