I have been living with tinnitus for about 6 months now. During the day it is not too intrusive in my normal life. However my sleep pattern is a disaster. I wake every morning between 4 and 5am with a really loud ringing noise in my head. It takes me a while to bring it under control and sometimes I manage to get back to sleep. But it means I am now consistently exhausted and can’t seem to break the cycle. It is not the tinnitus waking me up but my brain which is over active and now used to waking me up very early. The hearing specialist said hearing aids would help.
Does anyone else suffer the same and if so has anyone been successful in breaking the cycle?
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Night after night with disturbed sleep is not a good accompaniment for tinnitus (T).Rather than drugs (though they're always a last-ditch option), I use a CD by Dr Jeffrey Thompson called 'Delta Sleep System'. Here's a link to it on Amazon; I think it's for sale on ebay too.
If you haven't already tried it, it might work for you and seems to have dropped considerably in price.
Remember to listen to it from the beginning each night, be relaxed, in a completely dark room. Breathe from the diaphragm slowly and evenly. No distractions. Also, make sure you're well hydrated by drinking water before you go to bed. Yes, you might wake sometimes to use the loo, but good hydration is very important to enable a sound sleep cycle.
I hope you are able to get some undisturbed sleep soon.
No I haven't, but I've read about white and pink noise generating ones. I don't know how good they are...........Specialist advice is best about that - preferably NHS as they are unlikely to try to persuade you to buy any expensive product that might not work for you.
I was fitted with pink noise hearing aids, but too uncomfortable at night.The audiologist had now advised to use as hearing aids only, as the pink noise didn’t seem to help
Hi SS. This is very normal. Believe me. I hardly slept at all for the first six months. I felt as if I was losing my marbles. You're right. It's not the T itself - it's your brain's response to the situation. Bridgeit is spot on with her advice . Wish I'd known this myself in the early days. Relax, relax, relax. It's the only way. After a further six months of waking early I've returned to near normal sleeping patterns. You will too. It just takes time.
That's right. Hearing loss & T are closely linked. I have T in both ears but it's louder in my partially deaf ear. The brain compensates for the loss of natural sound. Hearing aid(s) are helpful. Has you GP referred you to ENT and / or audiology yet? There are long waits so the sooner you can get on the list the better.
Hi I too had this problem & still wake up early , I no longer go into panic mode though , like everyone says deep breathing definitely helps & I also have had to go to 2 pillows as I find it helps if I sleep higher up . It does get easier as you say sleep is a pattern & once you manage it hopefully it will improve .
I am much the same; I have been struggling with my 'central' T in the head and occasionally the ears for the last year. I have a 24/7 motor engine/industrial fan/howling blizzard in my head which wakes me around 4am each morning. The only way I can find a 'decent' kip is to use Clonazepam infrequently. Or alcohol. I've tried Mindfulness courSES and relaxation/music apps and countless other herbs and recipes and sadly I have not found anything that helps to nod off and remain asleep for any length of time. And I have to (dare I say it) smile at the suggestion that deep breathing helps: if it does for you, good luck, but I have never met a person in either NHS or private sector treatment that tells me it does. One doctor advised me to be my own "private detective" and discover my own solution! And that is about the best I can offer. I apologise for somewhat dismal response but I am just speaking from the heart, and you did ask if any of us suffer like you. I wish you well, please let me know if you improve your health. All the best
The doctor has given me a 10mg relaxant but I am reluctant to take it. I have allot going on in my life with family and work which makes my brain over work.
Initially I was just the same as you, reluctant to change, reluctant to rely on the meds. However, I now need to infrequently take the 'relaxants' otherwise I cannot sleep at all as my brain is generating so much noise. I have a book that is 2 months behind schedule for the edit and have recently failed an examination. Plus I have other health issues so I am at the stage where sleep - whatever it takes - is essential. I hope things will be OK for you.
I was the same but I found using the Beltone calmer app for some relaxing sounds and I took 10 mg of Amitriptyline a few hours before bed (that really helped) I took it for a few months and I’m now at a point where I don’t need it so with Drs advice I’ve been off it a week - sleeping ok.
It really is the minds perception of the sound rather than the sound it’s self, you need to accept it as part of you (not easy I know) and the mind will stop reacting to it - it just becomes another white noise like a fan or a fridge motor.
Hi Allgie, the sound doesn’t wake me up but is very loud when I do awaken. I think my brain isn’t relaxed. I’m told because of decreased hearing it isn’t tired enough???
Does the sound make you feel anxious or stressed ? What I discovered was it wasn’t the sound keeping me awake it was my body’s anxiety, And the stress response that the T gave me, The key for me at least was to deal with the anxiety and the stress. The small dose of amitriptyline I was taking definitely worked on two levels, first as a sedative I found it very easy to go to sleep and go back to sleep when I woke up in the night, Secondly The anti-depressant even though at a very small dose helped with the anxiety. I’m still taking 75 mg of Sertraline in the mornings but I’m looking to reduce that to 50 mg soon. My T has not improved but my mindset is light years away from where I was three or four months ago. Now the T simply doesn’t bother me and I’m living my life again🙂
2. go for a long walk or run (if you can) and then come back and try to meditate in a dark for 30 minutes with maybe some gentle music
3. You can infrequently use a sleeping pill from your GP - I managed to get ZOPICLONE .. it is addictive - but might help break the cycle! These tablets knock me out for 6-7 hours, but you will not get many from the GP.
4. Get SLEEPEASE from BOOTS the chemist or from GP AMITRIPTYLINE -these help dropping off into a deeper early sleep.
Hi B2, I’m in the gym 6 times per week, spin, weights, rowing plus yoga twice a week. I fall asleep immediately but am stuck in a rut of waking about 4am.
See if you can get Zopiclone tablets from your GP. My GP only gives me them 14 at a time and very reluctantly. I use 1 a week for a deep sleep. Maybe you could take 2 per week for 7 weeks and see if you can break the cycle and retrain your brain!
Out of curiosity what amount of zopliclone were you supplied with? I have tried it twice on the lowest dose and it had no effect but I've heard other mentioned it has helped them.
It sounds like you are trying or going to try many things to help you with this.
My take on it would be, as you suspect, your brain is already deciding that you are going to wake at the same time every morning. It's great that you see that it's not your T that is waking you, you have formed a waking habit, however that can be changed.
Maybe change your bedtime routine, only go to bed to sleep, not read or watch TV, or go on your phone, allow yourself to relax, deep breathing or a relaxation exercise.
Have a background noise playing, so when you wake you have something else to hear and not just your T, keep low enough so you can still hear your T, that way your brain puts Tinnitus and background noise in the same category.
Your subconscious has decided that you will wake every morning at the same time, so to change that you have to tell your brain that this is not correct. When you go to bed picture yourself asleep and being very relaxed and then picture a time on a clock or watch at the the time that you would like to wake. You are in charge or your mind and brain. Practice is key here, give it a go, it worked for me.
Try playing something relaxing next to you in bed, I’m in a tinnitus spike which can be loud, I put rain/steam video on YouTube ( 10 hrs ) when I go to bed so when I wake up all I hear is that rather than the Tinnitus
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