I've been suffering from tinnitus for nearly 6 months. It started with a low level tea kettle type sound in one ear which I could tolerate. My hearing is absolutely fine and they are sending me for an MRI to check whether anything physical has caused it.
The wait for the MRI has been hellish. I'm an anxious person by nature but the last 4 weeks have been absolutely nightmarish and it's likely the most anxious and stressed I've been for such a prolonged period in my life.
A week ago I started hearing a very high pitched noise which sounds like it is coming from the other ear but also sounds like it's throughout my whole head. I just wondered whether a spike like this from a prolonged period of anxiety/stress is common and whether the sound is common? I've never experienced anything like it. It's very distressing but I am pretty sure I've brought it on myself through my own worry. It's much better in the morning generally and gets worse as the day goes on. I expect my blood pressure is through the roof.
Welcome to the group and im sorry to hear you are going through this tough time. Know you are on a good forum with lots of experienced people in the the management of Tinnitus.
The stress you are feeling is a big contributor to tinnitus. Stress and anxiety lead to louder, more noticeable tinnitus which in turn leads to more stress and anxiety and you find yourself in a viscous cycle which at the beginning is hard to break. Having the MRI is common to check for anything untoward but for most people this will be clear which will leave you with the tinnitus to manage, and there are definitely things you can do to manage.
The spikes are common, there is a thread in the past day or so talking about this. It can be brought on by stress and anxiety amongst other things and can last for any period of time but almost always subsides to what you can call your baseline. They will happen again and again until you are used to them and with the familiarity may reduce the length of the spikes. This is what happened in my case and maybe others can agree (or disagree).
Work at lowering your anxiety and stress as best as you can, it is not easy but once it is under control you will find the Tinnitus a lot less bothersome and can look at ways to manage life better.
Thanks for the kind words Darren, I appreciate it. It just somewhat freaked me out to go from low level in one ear to full on static in the other and in my head but assuming the MRI is clear then the stress and anxiety is the clear culprit! The fact it is much lower level in the morning kind of makes me think rising blood pressure during the day is making it worse as well.
Darren's advice is spot on. If my experience is anything to go by once you've got it it's there for life. The challenge for you is coping with it.
I acquired it over 4 years ago and it got progressively worse until this year when it seems to have plateaued. I think you need to accept it and try not to think:
How did I get this?
Why me?
Will it just go away?
I just can't stand this anymore
It's totally ruined my life
All unhelpful thoughts which I have had over the years. Good luck and listen to all the good advice that you will get from this forum
P.S. I'd love to know how many others on this forum have needed to give up work because of the severity of their tinnitus.
I was an acute care nurse in a large hospital here in the states for 34 years . I found myself forgetting stuff I had been doing the same way for years .the lack of sleep the constant ringing the anxiety . I was worried that I might make a med error and hurt one of my patients . It has been depressing to say the least to not do the job that I loved so much . But I am finding other things to keep me busy thanks to great family and friends . Some days are better than others . It is what it is . I have a PHONAK device that I wear which has a masking sound like a giant semi truck tire with a hole in it . That has helped the most .
Basically everything that Darren said seems to be spot on.
I also, like virtually everyone I know with this condition, had the MRI and a CT scan which were clear.
My T started in 2015 was caused by a virus, similar to Covid from my experience of them both, but it also to my sense of smell and taste. I live with the screaming noise of what sounds like a jet plane.
For me the two big causes of ‘spikes’ are stress and tiredness. For me one feeds the other. The better times are when I’m distracted but don’t know it which makes sense after a while.
My key resources are my pillow with small speakers inside and a small sound machine that plays rain at nighttime when silence is a big problem for me. They could be purchased from the T website or Amazon I think.
Next my hearing aids, as much as I’m not keen on wearing them they help and have a built in background sound of the ocean.
These came from the NHS and really do help.
So don’t worry too much about the scan it seems part of the course but do focus on helping yourself with stress and tiredness.
Figuring out what distractions help you can give you a rest bite.
Hope this helps a little and also know you are not on your own.
Good luck....I've also been suffering from tinnitus the last few months....I somehow manage to get broken sleep...but I also have diabetes...which if I've been comfort eating...gets me up in the night regularly..toilet...and it can be hard to get back a sleep....as I write this...I've got very loud ringing in my ears....Next week I have 10 days off...might order a few things from amazon...sleep band etc....I'm a carer so that can be stressful...though supporting client in the community means I do at least 10k steps a day.....hope you manage to learn to live with it...though is a struggle
Hi! I’ve had T for almost 17 years. It’s become worse since 2017.
I was at an ENT doctor last week. Since I’ve been feeling like you that my T has spread all over the head, he has given me : Betahistine 24 mg in the morning, Sermion at noon and Stugeron in the evening, They are all for blood circulation in the brain.
It’s a little bit better.
Don’t worry about your MRI. I think it will be OK.
Pay attention to the blood pressure. It can influence T.
Hi Ana, I have had 24/7 head tinnitus for 9 months (static/white noise) and intermittent head tinnitus after COVID vax for nearly 3 years. ENT said nothing to be done. Interested to see that you also have tinnitus in your head not ears. Have these meds helped much? If so I may approach my GP about them. Thanks
My T is still there, and I feel it sometimes both in my years and my head. The medication didn’t help so I gave them up and started taking Ginkgo biloba.
I felt a little better after the medication for Staphylococus Aureus in my nose. There could be a link but I don’t know yet.
Know what you are going through, I was just the same when my T started nearly 3 years ago the same time as Covid was starting, unable to see anyone to ask about T. At times I thought no way can I carry on living with this noise in my head. But with a lot of help and understanding from my wife and family slowly things started to improve, it did take 2 years to get there but I now live a near normal life, yes the T is still there 24/7 and I do get the odd spike but I no longer let it get me down so the T is just mostly in the background.
Just some advice for when you have the MRI scan take some ear protection as it is very loud.
Mine started on March 24th this year. Mostly left ear tin. But that progressed to both. Stress at home contributed to this for me.. mostly arguing with my misses.
The fight or flight thing hit me just the same. Panic and anxiety. Basically I’ve graduated into sleeping at night. Still going to work although it’s a long story I’d rather not talk about.
I managed to get an mri.. all clear. Since then in the last 5 to 6 weeks I’ve had as much buzzing as much as anything else. All the emotions listed are normal and not helpful especially when thinking negatives..
I’m still working through my coping mechanisms.. Being angry and using that as a motivator probably don’t help either. The trick is acceptance. And this thing can be defeated in stages. Like stage 1.. sleeping.. stage 2..periods where you’re not thinking about it. Becoming more often and so in.
I’ve tried hearing aid notch therapy. It works if programmed correctly.. but there then becomes a dependence which may be dodgy I think.. as it’s all about habituation. Wearing hearing aids is not habituating but it gives back control when you need. Of course depends on your own hearing capacity. I tried meditation but found this tiring especially when hooked on doing it every night for ages. Let the recovery go in stages and with small victories. Still a work in progress too.
Hi 👋 I hope you can try and relax I'm new to tinitus and the worry is amplified that I may have harmed my kids as I set a loud alamr sound off, I'm anxious everyday their symptoms will get worse. My tinitus is coming up to 4 weeks I don't even usually go online but I feel alone and I guess others do in this situation aswell, hope you feel better
Laura you are definitely NOT alone. There are thousands of us. The lucky ones are here . Loud sounds are usually not harmful in short bursts. Is that how yours started?
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