How strong is the association to stress and tinnitus in your opinion ?

[Alanhello]

Do you ever find that you get rid of your tinnitus if you get rid of your stress. I've had mine for about 4 months now. It definitely seems to get worse when I'm very stressed so it's the best strategy to do all you can to relax? What's your experience thank you Alan

[Annie07]

Hi,

In my experience stress definitely does make tinnitus worse. I got tinnitus five years ago and really struggled with it in the first year. I would have problems sleeping and get anxiety attacks. I couldn’t get the noise out of my head, my brain would just fixate on it and that made it worse. I was referred to tinnitus therapist and that really helped. We worked on relaxation techniques like breathing exercise and progressive muscle relaxation. I got myself pillow speaker to play white noise to help me to sleep. It really helped talking about it as well. After two years I developed habituation to the tinnitus to the point I forgot I even had it. However, since this week for some reason I don’t know how or why my brains decided to fixate on the tinnitus and it’s caused me a great deal of stress again. The stress definitely does make things worse as its been affecting my sleep majorly and has been the cause of anxiety attacks. The more I think about tinnitus, the more stressed I get and you just get stuck in a loop. I’m slowly working on it again and hope to get through it. For me personally (I cannot speak for others that suffer from tinnitus) it has a lot to do with my mind. I don’t think that relieving the stress will relieve the tinnitus but it would help a lot to reach habituation. I think you can reach that through teaching your brain to ignore the tinnitus through changing the way we perceive and react to it.

[1Dar in reply to Annie07]

Hi Annie , I can totally relate to your condition , I developed tinnitus 4 years ago after having a grommet put in my ear. Since then I have had 7 operations on my ear and I’m now onto my second cochlear implant , the first one was painful so I had it removed. So I’ve had high tinnitus, pain and anxiety on and off for 4 years. You didn’t mention anti depressants for anxiety or sleeping. .? Have you tried these, they may help you ... they did help me for awhile and certainly got me through the tough times . I’m trying CBD oil on Monday, for my pain and anxiety. I live in Australia ... it’s been hard to get but I’m going through the proper channels, through a Dr so it’s been about 6 weeks to wait. I’m hoping it will help me as I’m tired of all of the chemicals.

Panic attacks are awful ,,, I’ve had them , wouldn’t wish them on my worst enemy and have had bouts of tears so you aren’t alone that’s why it’s nice to share experiences . Do you wear hearing aids? That should help you!

Anyway just wanted to say I know exactly what you are going through. Take care ,

Jenny

[Annie07 in reply to 1Dar]

Hi Jenny,

Sorry to hear about your situation. For me, my Tinnitus is very frustrating in the sense there is no apparent reason as to why I got it. And the knowledge that you can reach habituation but then you can also lose it. It’s very stress inducing for sure. I haven’t had any anti depressants, I was trying to stay away from them as I was a bit wary of the side effects. I’m glad to hear though, that they helped you in your tough times. I do not wear hearing aids, I’ve had tests done and they’ve come back good.

With anxiety and depression it has its ups and downs, and it never truly goes away. At the risk of sounding stupid, what is CBD oil and it’s benefits?

Thank you for sharing your experience with me, it’s always comforting to hear from someone who has shared a similar experience. I really hope things improve for you!

[1Dar in reply to Annie07]

Hi Annie , so good to hear from you . Yes it’s great to share each other’s experiences. CBD is Cannabidiol oil which is basically medicinal cannabis but without the nasty cannabis in it. You can buy it on the internet, but I have gone through a Dr. I live in Australia and my application had to go through Canberra ( capital city of Australia) and it took 6 weeks to be approved. I wanted to go through the correct channel. It’s meant to be good for anxiety and pain which is what I wanted it for. I was worried about taking chemicals and I take a small dose of Valium which I don’t like doing . Don’t worry a lot of people haven’t heard of it. Every day I regret having all of the operations as that’s what’s caused the pain. I had the grommet in and our 3 times, a stapadectomy ( a bone removed ) and 2 cochlear implants so my poor ear is so sensitive ! So if you can avoid it, don’t have any operations . You sound like you can control your anxiety which is fantastic, I spend too much time dwelling on it! I had to give up my teaching job which was disappointing ... I just couldn’t cope with it. If you want to private message me , that’s perfectly fine too. I like to think if I can help someone that’s great.

Take care Annie , I will let you know how the oil goes, but it’s perfectly safe or so they tell me it is,!!

Keep happy.

Jenny 😊😊😊

[SaywhatIsee in reply to 1Dar]

Hi all. I have had tinnitus in my left ear for 45 years, with the medicals not telling me how or why, although I could over do the headphones then. I then got it in my right ear 20 years ago, due to a car accident as a passenger, trying to exit through the front window. I saw a specialist, who just looked down my ears, had an MRI, nothing. I then went for a hearing test with a noise machine, and was given an hearing aid that emitted an adjustable noise, that you match with your ear, done nothing for me.

What I have found without looking, is that if I am reading, not often, or watching a film, then I do not notice the noise. Also, after reading the odd paper on the subject after my right ear, I am not an expert, but it suggested that it was nerve damage to the route that the brain takes to the ears. Got some plausibility to it. So I am with you girls, in that focusing on other things can help, but I do not sense a cure anytime soon. I also do not panic or get stressed, as at the end of the day, it is not going to help.

Good Luck.

[Chall11 in reply to SaywhatIsee]

Hi there. Yes I agree with the assessment of your experience. I believe mine is damage to the auditory cortex of the brain after a very severe labyrinthitis infection. I already had mild tinnitus and hyperacusis and now both are pretty off the scale. I was very fortunate to get hearing aids for white noise during the day. I would recommend them to anyone with bilateral tinnitus and hyperacusis. The habituation is slowly happening and I am 4 months in. Very grateful for this forum and the support I have received 🙏🏼

[SaywhatIsee in reply to Chall11]

Hi, Chall11. Thank you for your response. It is my first time on site, and just wanted to try to help given my longevity. I am an older person not an expert, and I forgot to enter that we are all different, different pain levels and different anxiety levels, but should still try to find a happy medium, rather than beat ourselves up, it is not going away unfortunately. There are 3 words in your piece that are not in my world, yet, but I will look up, as I am just a " joe soap " from SE London. Have a good week.

[Annie07 in reply to 1Dar]

Thank you for your kind words. My anxiety is up and down as you are probably aware. Wishing you all the best with the CBD oil, please do keep us updated.