Worse in the afternoon and evening - feeling low

[LyraLilly]

Hello everyone, great to see such a supportive community.

I have had tinnitus since about November last year and i am waiting for an ENT appointment to check out to see if it is anything more worrisome. My T is mostly in my left ear ( though the right ear is catching up) and it is like a car alarm going off in the distance, very high, pulsing in time to my heart beat. It always seems worse later in the day or night. Is that because I am tired? Or because I have spent the day in meetings and its only when I 'stop' working that I notice it? I hear it in the morning but it seems worse the later it is.

I also find hearing words / voices more helpful in distracting me than any of the tinnitus sound therapy that seems to be around. So i try and use wave noises via my hearing aids ( partial hearing loss) and via various apps/ spotify and i have tried, white/ brown/ red noise but it doesn't seem to be helping. Is there a certain time period i should be doing this for? At the moment I tend to just have it on. whilst I work - I am studying for an MA in the weekends and evenings. But I wish it helped more. Anyone have an experiences like this, that they can share/ reassure me with?

anyway, thanks for letting me moan cheers LL

[rabbits65]

hello Lyra, nice to hear from you and your experiences. Mine is slightly different to yours because I have no loss of hearing, but I can tell you that definitely when I get tired my head pressure is much worse and T seems to feel widespread. I have to rest my head down for a couple of hours. I think that we are all suffering slightly different experiences, I do believe in trying to keep as busy as possible helps , plenty of fresh air too, walks in the breeze and listening to nature etc. I hope you get some replies .

[waterfalls123456]

Hi, i have tinnitus 24 hrs per day and providing there is continuous noise im ok. I wonder if work and the MA is causing stress. Academic pressure to think, remember, present cogent arguments etc can add extra pressure. Yes ive tried all those noises. I find new age music the best with background nature sounds. But you like voices. Are there any podcasts you can listen to related to your MA or otherwise. So you can lie down rest but learn at the same time . It is so hard being an academic yet having continual interference from tinnitus.

[Fridays_Child_62]

It seems you may have what is called pulsatile tinnitus, linked to your heartbeat. Mine is not of this type (although I have experienced it), but this year my T has usually been worse in the afternoons and into the evening. I'm not sure whether this is connected with food intake. It generally gets worse when I eat lunch but then calms down before building up again later in the afternoon. It then often gets better during dinner (the opposite effect of lunch) but may deteriorate again during the evening. I am no dietician and I can't figure this out, but it's possible that these variations are related to food and the levels of something in the body at different times of the day. Have you noticed any correlation with food?

If voices work well to distract you from your T, you might want to try guided meditation CDs. I have found the Paul McKenna meditations to be good. I also like those associated with a book on mindfulness that I bought - if you like, I can provide a link to the website from where you can stream the meditations.

[LyraLilly in reply to Fridays_Child_62]

Hi Fridays_Child_62 thanks for the suggestions, i haven't made a correlation with food, but I might keep a food diary and see if i notice a pattern. I have lots of access to guided mediation through the Calm App and Spotify, there are even recordings of ' office' type environments and 'cafe chatter' that might help - thanks for the offer of the link though. cheers LL

[Happyrosie]

You may have put your finger on it - "when I stop working I notice it". Tinnitus loves it when there's nothing to distract you.

Personally I find the "masking" noises don't help but everyone is different.

You are a busy person no doubt but please try to make time to care for yourself especially by taking walks in nature. We've all heard a lot about the curative value of nature in the last few years. Listen to the birds and the trees.

And what's already been said in reply to your post is spot on.