Broken sleep

[Beaglelo]

New to tinnitus. Broken sleep. What can I do about it?

[TinnitusUKPat Partner]

We have some advice on this topic on our website, Beaglelo - tinnitus.org.uk/understandi...

[vincentchan]

Good news from tinnitus cbt book

46

Living Well with Tinnitus

of the night, and achieving restorative sleep. About 70 per cent of patients seeking help for tinnitus report some form of sleep difficulty. But it is not clear whether the degree of sleep difficulty is related to the loudness or quality of the tinnitus of whether it is related to the psychological impact of the tinnitus

In a study conducted in our clinic in collaboration with the Universities of Nottingham and Cambridge, we assessed whether the loudness of tinnitus was related to sleep dis turbances (insomnia), based on data for 417 patients. The analysis showed that the loudness of tinnitus is only indirectly related to the severity of insomnia. In other words, louder tinnitus does not necessarily lead to more sleep disturbances The severity of insomnia depends on the amount of depression and annoyance caused by the tinnitus. The more depressed and annoyed a person becomes due to their tinnitus, the more sleep disturbances they tend to experience. According to the theory behind CBT, emotional disturbances such as feeling irritated or depressed are not directly due to hearing tinnitus but rather are the result of our thoughts about tinnitus and its impact on our behaviours. Therefore, in order to reduce tinnitus-related sleep disturbances, we need to manage our thoughts and behaviours. This is the aim of CBT for tinnitus as described in this book. Listening to music or background noise at night-time is an avoidance behaviour, and it does not address the key cause of the sleep disturbances, namely the tinnitus-related negative thoughts. In the chapters on treat ment, we discuss how to use CBT to sleep difficulties. manage tinnitus-induced

[Tinnitus70]

hi, buy some pure Magnesium spray of Amazon or EBay spray a small amount on your pulse points and rub in before going to bed, give it a bit of time to work I now get much better sleep and it does ease the tinnitus

[Philip6]

you could try Kirkland sleep aid pills. Non addictive and antihistamine based. They are excellent, you get them from Costco or eBay. I take a half very occasionally, but it’s nice to know they are there if needed.

[Notreve7766]

Hi Beaglelo

How long have you heard your Tinnitus for? Did you have sleeping problems before Tinnitus?

[Beaglelo in reply to Notreve7766]

Over a year. No I have not had sleep problems before tinnitus.

[Notreve7766]

I remember reading that we don't GO to sleep but we FALL asleep. This really helped me when i was struggling and I realised that i needed to stop trying and just let it happen.

I found watching documentaries helped relax me and also the sound of a Fan (Not too loud but loud enough to give my brain something else to think about. It was also really relaxing when the fan blew over me. I also tried listening to podcasts but they had to be non stimulating or that would keep me awake.

[Notreve7766]

Breathing Slowly also really helped me to relax and i tried body scanning mediation helped me at times

[Notreve7766]

Lastly just creating a relaxed environment, lavender helped. Tidy room, organised drawes only small things but all adds up Hope this helps

[GrimGraze]

At first i couldnt sleep too. I took a small dose of mirtazapine (7.5mg) every night to help me sleep (worked great) and slowly tapped out.

[Tlyna]

My tinnitus gets louder at night frequently so I found a YouTube vid of 8 hours of a stream running through a forest and another of gentle ocean surf, I set it to play at low volume as a form of white noise that helps with the tinnitus yet it won't be disruptive. I find it helps me to sleep whenever it starts really bothering me..