Tinnitus and stress!

[MaryDandy2]

I probably know what you are all going to say about this....I have tinnitus which seems to be spiking at the moment and not giving me the quiet days it did, last week I slipped and broke my foot and injured my hand which has caused me a lot of pain and stress and not much sleep! Can this sort of thing impact on my tinnitus? I worry a lot about my tinnitus anyway and get very upset about it which also doesn't help?? Suggestions and tips welcome, is CBT good? Mindfulness? Thanks everyone.

[Happyrosie]

MaryDandy, the short answer is yes! Tinnitus will do anything it can to insinuate itself into the brain.

You’ve had three things happen to you which tinnitus loves. The first is pain, the second is lack of restful sleep and the third is that you aren’t doing the normal activities which ‘take your mind off things’. So tinnitus gleefully rubs it’s hands together and says “I’ve got a cushy number here!”.

I don’t know how familiar you are with the British Tinnitus Association website, but even if you are familiar it’s worth revisiting. Especially, there’s a sort of learning module you’ll find there called “Take on Tinnitus”. If you read this it will give you lots of pointers - including, as you say, CBT and mindfulness.

[MaryDandy2 in reply to Happyrosie]

Thank-you so much for your reply, that's very reassuring, I do panic about my tinnitus and again that makes it worse!! I'll go on the website and look up what you have pointed me to.

[TurboTrace]

yep 😔

[ETHEL103]

My tinnitus is also bad at the mo.I think i need a gps advice but dadly i think it wont do much good.

[Marydandy1 in reply to ETHEL103]

worth a try though? You might get a referral to ENT - that’s what I got eventually

[JustinDownes]

you can get stress out of your life then T seems to evaporate. I am moving house and T has soared

[Chumpiechops]

Hi, I find my T does appear louder when I am stressed as I concentrate on it. It definitely helps to be distracted and I’ve noticed by using headphones as opposed to ear buds help.

If you haven’t been to the GP then it’s worth talking to them, I have some medication for helping my stress and sleep issue which made a huge difference

Good luck in whatever you do

[Shells1 in reply to Chumpiechops]

what medication are you on? if you dont mind me asking, my GP gave me amitriplyine but I haven't started taking it yet as it says it can cause ringing in the ears but I want to take it for ringing in ears!

[Chumpiechops in reply to Shells1]

Hi, Sertraline for the anxiety and a very small dose of Amytriplyne for sleep

[Marydandy1 in reply to Shells1]

I take 10mg amytriptyline- it’s a small dose but helps me sleep through the night and calm down I think!

[Shells1 in reply to Marydandy1]

does it make your tinnitus worse do you think?

[Marydandy1 in reply to Shells1]

no I haven’t noticed any change due to the amytriptyline- doctor said it’s often prescribed for tinnitus as it’s for calming nerves? Who knows! It gives me a night’s sleep though without waking up through the night and checking my tinnitus which I was doing!!

[Bellyboo in reply to Shells1]

that happened to me and the ringing got louder so I stoped it after a week

[AldoArgentina]

Hello Mary. I had loud T all the time, with crazy spikes! Until I took this: 1.- Passinflower plant in the morning and at night before sleep with l-theanine (supplement or three green tea Matcha per day), but you don,t have to take medicine for sleep! 

2.- Magnesium L-Threonate (only this Magnesium works well with T.) five hours before sleep.

3.- GABA at midday with Gingko Biloba.

I'm sure the T. will change for the better!!

[Bellyboo in reply to AldoArgentina]

where can I get the magnesium from / many thanks

[AldoArgentina in reply to Bellyboo]

Amazon, Mercado Libre... if you want to get T lower you have to take all together. Another extremely important thing is to control your blood pressure.

Best wishes!