I have developed T about 10 weeks ago and like many of you I was shocked, upset and confused. I started reading reliable information and thankfully found a wonderful ally to help me.
Initially, I had occasional days when it seemed less intrusive and this helped me enormously. However, even when I had a good day, the T came back as soon as my head hit the pillow. I don’t mean that it was because the bedroom was quiet, it was my head physically touching something. I have found a couple of others on here and tinnitus uk that are the same as me. However, I spoke to a CBT tinnitus specialist yesterday, she’s treated literally 1000,s of people and she said no one has ever said that before.
Now I’m concerned that this is more than just stress related. I’m 64 and started at the gym in July this year to try and help my weakened bones get stronger. My concern is that I’ve now damaged my neck and this is contributing or the cause of my T
My concerns are that I am now going backwards, as the T is getting louder and louder. Background noise like fridges and freezes, which I could hear only a few days ago have now been eclipsed by the T.
I had been managing to get roughly 5-6 hours sleep, without the aid of medication, tonight I’ve had two and not sure I’ll get any more due to how loud the T is. Hence positing at this time of the morning.
My gp despair of me because I’m not taking Amitriptyline as they have prescribed because I’m scared of it making the T worse. I haven’t been able to get anything to help me sleep.
intitiaally I was able to go about my day as usual, now I’m finding it hard to get out the door and with so little sleep, I’m becoming a liability
I’m absolutely at my wits end with worry about what will happen next.
Written by
Lilliecat
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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
I have tinnitus and mine started in the middle of sleep. Sleep is the time when it’s most quiet and your brain is trained to make the noise when it is quiet and I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve psychologically trained your brain for it to start when your head hits the pillow. It’s a brain training exercise to lessen it. Sure I’m sure things can make it worse but you have to ignore it. It sounds easier than it is I know and a bit bonkers but it is happening because your brain thinks it needs to make the noise and responds when you emotionally respond. So you have to train yourself to not react and be okay with it, you should find it starts to lessen. I’ll add that I’m 44 and have had tinnitus all my life pretty much as I have hearing loss due to a hole in my left ear drum. So coming from someone who started suffering hard and for a medical reason… it does work.
Hi there Lilliecat, sorry you are suffering with this, but this is the right place to discuss.
I have constant tinnitus, which appears hearing loss related. However I exercise a lot (resistance and cardio), and have often wondered if I'm making it worse when T first occured
Firstly I asked doctor and PT and there's little that correlates for them between exercise and T. However I will say heavy lifts do raise my T temporarily
I did have audio test (boots and eventually NHS) Nd this showed hearing loss, I now have ha to mitigate and this over the last two years has really helped me with the anxiety. Hearing tests are free and may be worth checking if not done already.
I've noticed since COVID changes in the way my body reacts to heavy cardio which I'm still working on with GP.
For the exercise, do you stretch, or work with a PT? Most gyms should offer this service. Yoga may help for stretching. A physio may help with massaging the areas if you feel you have over worked muscle groups and can offer advise.
Also with lifting, make sure you breath and don't hold your breath (sometimes tempting), and take an appropriate rest between sets. Don't rush.
May be worth booking GP appointment and just asking them to check as well. I didn't tablets are a very dubious area to get into and have avoided conpletely.
Thank you for your reply, it’s really useful to have other people’s take on things. At the moment I’ve decided to stop the gym and swap it for walking and being in nature, alongside Tai Chi and yoga. I’ve often been a fast paced, perfectionist, must do better kind of person. This has made me realise I need to slow down as racing around has not served me well. I may resume the gym in the future, but the gym but its very nature is striving for better results, lift more, push harder. There’s nothing wrong with that but I know I need to take my foot off the gas.
Yes, the idea being that your body doesn't build up a fast resistance to it and you have to increase the dose to get the same effect as at the beginning. Amitriptyline will get you to sleep and the half-life of the tablets is good; that is why GPs are willing to help with this, and not the heavy stuff such as benzo's. Depending on what mg the tablets are, you may have to half the tablet to achieve the desired effect. Hope all goes well 🙏
I’ve been really reluctant to take Amitriptyline due to its links with causing Tinnitus in some people who take it, although tbh, there doesn’t seem to be any really reliable literature regarding links to it increasing T.
I have tried Mirtazapine half tablet and got an amazing nights sleep and relief from T for the following day. However, it came with horrible side effects that I’m not sure I can deal with. The inability to be able to drive due to feeling so tired and having no ability to concentrate was really unpleasant, not to mention getting the shakes and feeling more anxious than ever I really don’t like how it made me feel
Hi. Yes I know it’s for anxiety but it’s makes my anxiety worse, giving me the shakes and feeling incapable of doing anything, especially driving, etc.
My point is Mirta and Amtrip are two completely different drugs; and if you want sleep, then I would suggest you take the Amtrips. I've been on and off them for 11 years and have never experienced any worsening of my T, unlike Sertraline. But, we are all different.
Just saw your message about the gym. I hope you realise that, as you say, "push hard, push on" that the body will produce cortisol and adrenaline and, in my case, and all of the T sufferers in my gym, this spikes the T.
Yes, I do understand that. My anxiety around it all is that as I’m a woman in my mid 60s and borderline osteoporosis, I don’t want to damage my cervical spine which could potentially lead to T. However, having had days when the T has been considerably improved, I don’t think that it’s s problem.
I’m the same. GP’s just prescribe anti depressants and all of the ones I’ve taken make me feel ill. I haven’t tried Amitripyline yet as I read the side effects too. I despair too. This high pitch incessant noise in my head gets me down for sure. I feel for you and hope against hope you can cope
Thank you. Yep, it really gets me down but the side effects of the Mirtazapine are so severe, I’m not sure I can deal with them. I only took 1/4 tablet last night. I did get some decent sleep but the T is here today, which it wasn’t yesterday afte taking 1/2. However, feeling so drugged up was not good and it made it difficult to get through the day. I don’t feel quite so woozy this morning but I don’t feel great. It’s all so confusing.
I think dulling the brain with anti depressants can only be bad as when you don’t take them the T will be harder to cope with. My theory is focusing my thoughts elsewhere, hearing aids and masking. We have to help ourselves. It’s tough though
You are so right Ear Health. I’m just exhausted with all of it. Not really able to sleep. The best night I had was with the Mirtazapine and T was much quieter but the side effects are awful. I feel like I could only cope with them by having someone with me all the time and that’s just not a possibility.
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High pitched Tinnitus 
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