Can't sleep at night

[siddhiagarwal]

Hi Community,

I can't sleep at night due to constant ringing due to this I have to take sleeping pills.

Kindly advice me what should I do?

[Suz_2]

how long have u been taking sleeping pills? I came off sleeping pills a few months ago as I felt very tired in daytime , after taking them - best not to take long term and not to become dependant on them. I take Valerian now ,which is a 100% natural product

[Happyrosie]

There is a lot you can do to help yourself, siddhiagarwal. There is no magic cure for tinnitus, so we have to take our health in our own hands. If you go to the British Tinnitus Association website, there is a lot of information there about how you can help yourself to deal with this. From the BTA front page, click on "What can I do about it?" and read what they say. I expect there will be something there that you feel will be helpful to you.

[surreycccfan]

Hi, sorry to hear you are struggling, I can totally empathise as I just couldn't sleep for months when I first had T. I can now say I can sleep well and in fact I am managing my T so well I am back to sleeping with ear plugs so the only sound I can hear is my T (I am at point in my management journey that my T no longer invokes a flight/flight emotional reaction, I habituate and can live well with my T).

• I used a sound generator app (I used ReSound Relief but plenty of others out there). I mixed sounds that (1) I found pleasant and (2) mapped well to my T. Audiologists tell us to map the volume of the sound to just below the volume of your T. As time went on and I felt more 'positive' towards my T I slowly reduced volume until I no longer needed the sound generator

• I tried to use positive reinforcement in relation to the sound from the generator app. The sound I had chosen was beach, waves, and rain, when I would go to sleep, I would listen to the sound and think of lovely holidays I have had walking on the beach. As T creates such a negative emotional reaction, these types of thoughts allowed me to calm down and think about something other than my T

• When I was lying in bed if I felt stressed and my mind was focused on my T I would follow a mindfulness body scan. I found this very calming and did take my mind off my T

• I used BTA support group to help me learn more about T and techniques to move towards living well with T. As I learnt more and managed to reduce the negative emotional reaction to my T I would even say 'hello' to my T when I first settled down to sleep. The reason I did this is I found when I was stressed by my T it was always at the forefront of my mind so I found that if I said hello to it then (1) I had acknowledged it and my mind could move on to something else (2) by saying hello I was reducing my fight/flight reaction to it and this helped me to 'normalise' it for me.

• I tried to follow a good sleep hygiene pattern (maintain a regular sleep routine, avoid daytime naps, don't watch TV or use the computer in bed, no caffeine after 18:00 and as I am a clock watcher I put the alarm clock out of sight so I wasn’t constantly looking at it.

• Exercise was also important as this allowed me to be physically tired

It took me quite a while to get into a better sleep pattern but as I said I can now sleep with my new sound of silence. The BTA has some excellent resources on sleep tinnitus.org.uk/tinnitus-an... and has good links to products such as sound pillows, headbands, etc. In the above link the vicious cycle graphic really highlights how the fight/flight reaction to our T inhibits our sleep. I found by practicing other distraction and behavioural techniques in the day I slowly shifted how I thought about my T (I saw it as less of a threat which took its power away) and in combination with the things I did at night I slowly got back to normal sleep patterns.

I hope the above may help in some small way. Take care

[Suz_2 in reply to surreycccfan]

hi - do u use the ReSound Relief app with an "in ear piece" or just the sound comin from yr mobile

[surreycccfan in reply to Suz_2]

Hi, I used it just from the speakers from my phone but I know others who have connected it via Bluetooth to both pillow speakers or Bluetooth headband. Hope this helps

[Parrcj in reply to surreycccfan]

I totally agree with your comments what encouraging words .

[ViHayhurst in reply to surreycccfan]

Excellent advice. Because of my sleep issues, I have been seeing a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist who is certified in Insomnia management. You are doing the same things for sleep hygiene that is taught and using those relaxation exercises that help in rebooting the negativity of Tinnitus to a neutral experience.

[surreycccfan in reply to ViHayhurst]

Thanks ViHayhurst, I am really interested in your experience with an insomnia subject matter expert. Is there anything else they have recommended to help with sleep in relation to T? Many thanks in advance. Stay safe

[ViHayhurst in reply to surreycccfan]

Just the known treatment for insomnia - sleep restriction, etc. Studies show that these steps do help in sleeping and in reducing the burden of tinnitus ( I may add, even in my case of pulsatile tinnitus with a known cause--- that is a left ear sensorineural loss picking up the vascular turbulence created by my Coratid artery fibromuscular dysplasia.

[Black-cat666 in reply to ViHayhurst]

Hi how do i find a clinic for insomnia who specialises in tinnitus plz

[ViHayhurst in reply to Black-cat666]

Unfortunately, that would be very rare. However, recent research has shown that treatment focused on insomnia, also helps to reduce the burden of tinnitus.

[Sassyjax1 in reply to surreycccfan]

What an amazing post! Currently recovering from an op and sudden onset, constant T. No sleep at the moment. If you have children, how did you cope?

[surreycccfan in reply to Sassyjax1]

Hi Hi, thanks. No issue with children and my T. Although when I was struggling my wife took on more household duties while I was trying to get on top of my T. All the best

[daverussell]

I've always had problems sleeping, so when I got tinnitus sleeping has been my biggest challenge. It doesn't help with the shorter nights at this time of year.

Exercise, generally not just in the evening, though it helps you switch off if you have a stressful day at work. Listening to relaxing music and mindfulness - all suggest above.

I use a headband speakers. These double as eyemask.

Sleep Headphones, Headband Wireless V5.0 Bluetooth Headphones, Eye mask Headphones, Built-in ultra-thin HD stereo speakers, Suitable for Side sleep/Sports/Yoga/Fitness and Air Travel

amzn.eu/d/7raquVs

[Parrcj in reply to daverussell]

These look great I have purchased today. What a journey my T has been. Never thought I would get to the stage I am at. There were some pretty dark moments, but I am gradually accepting the this constant ringing is now part of my life .

[daverussell in reply to Parrcj]

Acceptance is key, but it still has its moments. Speak to your doctor if it affecting your social life or work life. I'm currently on Antidepressants which helped me out of a dark moment recently - just temporary as it's got me through.

Wishing you the best and good luck with the headphones.

[daverussell in reply to Parrcj]

Parrcj How are you getting on well with the headphones?

[Parrcj in reply to daverussell]

The days are fine , nights still a challenge dropping off to sleep, they do mask the screaming 😱

[daverussell in reply to Parrcj]

Stick with it. It's 1am here with headband and screaming tinnitus. All the best.

[purenostalgia]

Learning the brain a sleep pattern has helped me a lot, I go to bed at midnight, put my phone on Talk Radio under the pillow. the tinnitus is still screaming in my ears but after about 15 mins I drop off to sleep.

No sleeping pills, this morning I slept through to 6am better than a lot of my friends manage.

Take Care

Mike

[msspinner]

It might not be the ringing which is keeping you awake but rather you can't sleep and then get stressed by the ringing? I recently had a problem with sleeplessness but started practising 'sleep hygiene' with the help of a doctor and it has really helped.

[mrsnosleep]

Hi, just to say I couldn't agree more with surreycccfan's advice (other than the sound masking as I found I couldn't stand yet more noise). I found that a short online CBT course (to help reframe my thoughts) and Nidra yoga (find it on YouTube), which is the sort of body scanning exercise that is mentioned in the earlier post has been great for helping me to drop off to sleep, despite the tinnitus. I also take a good quality magnesium theonate supplement which seems to have helped me experience better quality sleep, as I find that I don't sleep for as long as I did before the tinnitus but sleep enough to be able to function well enough. Good luck!

[Andy79]

Masking your tinnitus at night time is a good way. I use an app called Atmosphere. I also have sleeping tablets but I rarely use them now. Tinnitus is a problem the medical profession care little about. I advise listening to the sufferers advice more than the mainstream doctors.

[notdodgy]

Also rely on sleep mask type headphones. They are profiled around the eyes so comfortable with no pressure on the eyes. (Amazon UNIMI).I was using the free resound app, tried OTO for a month - excellent guided relaxation and therapy tracks but I found the sound tracks not so good with sound jumps when they looped.

My current goto app is Calm. Goto an offer on the subscription so it aversged at 60p a week and the tracks are longer.

You can overlay nature sounds on relaxing music including tracks for sleep.

I have found there are times when all you can do is get through a night as relaxed as possible even if sleep is not great.

In practice the headband falls off when I am asleep, If I wake up early I just put them back on and doze for a while longer.

The sleep phones were too hot to wear in the heatwave.

I could do with some earbuds that you can sleep in. Unfortunately the ones that look ok cost £££s.

[Andy79]

Relaxing Rain on roku tv is great too.

[Vincentguides]

ive got an MP3 player and headphones that i go to sleep wearing. I have the sound of rain to listen to. Not sure if this will make Tinnitus worse in the long run but I have to worry about today not the future. I usually wake up having taken the headphones off during the night, and the tinnitus is worse at 3am because theres no background noise at that time

[Portland135]

YouTube has great Tinnitus masking videos to listen to..Things like Tinnitus Sound Therapy and Tinnitus Frequencies and even Crickets Chirping..