I have had constant tinnitus since Jan 2023. It arrived suddenly after I had been taking Fluoxatine for the previous six weeks. I stopped taking the medication (depression related) in April 23, after reading of its connection (albeit small) with tinnitus! I have generally managed OK, until I went and saw GP in August last year, who when I mentioned Tinnitus told me he would only be worried if I had it in a single ear. I asked why that was so and he replied due to an association between this and brain tumour. I then told him I do only have it in one ear and also that it changes when I am in mid exercise, i.e. jarring actions such as star jumps make a pitch difference etc. He referred me to ENT.
I have heard nothing further. I live in a remote NW Scotland Village so nearest ENT on NHS is 60 miles away in Inverness. In the last 3 weeks my tinnitus has sudenly increased in severity - still constant but at least twice as loud and with an inner ear pressure, like when you have water in your ear. It also makes hearing challenging.
I have not slept more than a few snatched hours for most of the last 3 weeks - out of the 21 nights I have slept 3 solid nights, the rest have either been less than 2 hours, or patchy throughout the night). I am very worried and struggling here and just do not know what to do, scrolling tinnitus sites in the night and sadly tuned in to the constant pitch oy my own Tin, which gets very loud as all else goes silent. I am worried it will cost me my job (I am a remote worker who leads HR projects and works exclusively online with lots of online meetings etc - focus and concentration is now very difficult.)
A pharmacist has given me 7.5mg Zopiclone tablets, i.e. sleeping pills. I am reluctant to take these, however I think I am running out of choice!
Sorry for this long ramble, already familiar to so many here, in your own similar experience. It's your experience I am seeking.
My questions are:
1. experience in taking Zopiclone to sleep - useful or just an addiction risk with its own problems and does it make T worse at all?
2. where to start on my journey - I am told ENT up here will be at least 2 years. If it is a tumour, I wil be dead by then, so I am assuming it is not....but I cannot wait two years to get help
3. CBT - I think this is probably the way forward. Anyone familar with a course accessible and useful online specifically for Tinnitus coping, or someone I can see with background in Tinnitus anywhere in the Scottish Highland - Glasgow to Inverness or anywhere in-between?
4. Other methods you may have tried that have helped both to reduce the tinnitus (mine is constant and very high pitched, modulating from time to time) and/or to sleep and generally cope with this condition.
I have had what is refered to as suicide ideation in recent weeks. It shocks me and while I recognise it as 'my thoughts' and therefore entirely in my control, it is not comfortable thinking.
Thank you
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EarRinger
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Firstly, there is help available, you are not alone! Many of us have been exactly where you are - it's bloody awful, it's worse than bloody awful!
Please start by going here - tinnitus.org.uk they can give you the initial support you really need.
I see a private specialist in Glasgow - invizear.com I realise not everyone can afford private, I was not offered anything from my local NHS and was at my wits end.
DO NOT self medicate with alcohol, I've been there - you do get respite while drunk and may sleep, but it is a vicious downwards spiral, especially if like me, my tinnitus is perceived to be even worse the whole of the next day.
Before I started seeing my medical professional, I used to use an app called 'Resound-GN' to help mask it. You can find 'your sound' and even make your own sounds up within the app. Unfortunately I found it doesn't work all the time - your brain is a very complicated thing!
Dalesnail on Youtube - youtube.com/@dalesnale has lots of sounds to stream that may also help. Like above though, one day it may work, the next it won't. You can stream for over 10 hours which may help you sleep.
Spotify has lots of tinnitus playlists - open.spotify.com/track/75vP... this used to be my goto sound, it may not work for everyone but it used to work 75% of the time for me.
I bought BOSE Sleepbuds to use at night to help me sleep, I don't think they make them anymore BUT I was told another company does make something very similar (They were Bose employees and started their own company apparently)
DONT sit in silence in the house, play white noise (what ever sound you find help you) or have the radio on.
STAY CALM - stress in the enemy of tinnitus (I am always being told this by my specialist and he is bloody right!) It's easier to say than do at times though.
Best of luck and don't worry (also easier said than done!). The key is not to be bothered about it (something Im still working on!)
Thank you so much for your reply. I will check those playlists. I have stopped on alcohol, primarily due to gall stones, so no worries on that score. I will check out the sound tracks and perhaps I can find my own masker. I am trying and failing to disregard the T, as in not give it brain space, but I am failing miserably it is all I think of right now and it is as extreme as I have felt it.
How did you get on with invizear? They are a 5 hour drive south of me, but a drive I'll happily do if it helps.
Many thanks and also, all the best on your own journey with this issue. I appreciate your advice
I still try and often fail to ignore my tinnitus, it's very difficult but the end goal is habituation! A few years ago, I tried to start keeping myself very busy to ignore it and ended up burning myself out physically after a few weeks 😂 I just didn't know how to implement what everyone was telling me to do! That's why I ended up seeing private, it's a complicated story!
I am still under my specialist and have been for nearly a year, it's not an easy or quick fix but we have definitely made huge progress in my eyes. A 5 hour drive is a lot to see a specialist, I travel from the Southwest of England to see them! 8 hour drive, 10 hour train or a combination of coach/ train, plane and bus! After a few initial face-to-face appointments, we catch up and talk remotely via the hearing aid app (he can log into them and make changes remotely) or zoom. I do need to see him every 6 to 8 months though to check my hearing aids out and continue the treatment. It's not a guarantee they can take you on, they are very busy!
My hearing instruments have various settings to help me out during the day, they do amplify what I need (over amplification is bad, I have met and heard so many people buying cheap hearing aids off the internet and just end up not wearing them) with options to also hear rainfall/ white noise directly into my ears at different levels. The main part of my TRT is to stop my brain re-acting to the tinnitus in such a negative way.
Hope this helps! If you need to ask anything specific or privately, please do PM me!
Thanks again Andy - I am encouraged by your (and other) replies here. Last night was a bad night once again, however it was more out of frustration than it was depressing. This week is a particularly busy week for me (self employed starting a new contract), however I others have recommended sound masking and learning to live with, not fight against etc.
So this week, I will contact Alan at Invisear (or at least complete enquiry) and I will see about cost and availability of going private for ENT Consultation. I've joined tinnitus.org.uk and per your advice, downloaded Spotify app and found tinnitus relief tracks - one of which (rainfall) I used last night. It did diistract me from the sound of the T, however I was still awake until 5.30am and had to then get up to start work by 8am.....so a long day, but all doable.
One thing I was reading about is the difference between laying awake and thinking "Oh God, tomorrow wil lbe awful" vs. "I think tomorrow might be awful..." - the latter allowed me room to turn it into a positive and to question the thought - successfully.
Yes!!! It's all in the mindset!!! That's also much easier to say, than do!!!
Your reaction to the T is making it worse, fighting is a vicious circle (this is from personal experience) the more you think about it, the more you get wound up - its our own bodies 'fight or flight'!
I was told to think 'Today is going to be a good day' every morning - I'm still working on it!
Stress + tinnitus = bad! An easy formula but also bloody hard to work out at times LOL. Our brains are very complicated and we are our own worst enemy at times!
Ihave been using apps to play sounds. Widex has several like rain that help me.
I have had it for 9 months now and the first 5 were terrible but I have started to adapt and things ard better.
For sleeping, my doctor and I tried several things but nothing work. Zopiclone helped me but gavd me bad nightmares and he said they couldnt prescribed for long anyways.
He then prescribed Quviviq and it has been helping me so much in case you want to ask them about it.
CBT has also helpto manage and adapt during the day.
Really good advice on here in this thread. I've attended Invizear on line forums - loads of info about causes and research. Really good resource.
I had a negative experience with Sertraline during lockdown, when I took it for distress with the tinnitus and depression. Took it for a year. It addressed the depression but not the tinnitus. I've been left with permanent "brain zap" zip zip noises when I look extreme left or right, which is a side effect when you come off them that should go away. It was mentioned on a panorama type programme about use of SSRIs. It's a thing & I'm living with it but it's put me off taking any ssri again, personally.its of people have positive experiences with them though & come off them fine after long term use.
1 & 2. Acoustic neuroma (benign tumour on the acoustic nerve) is the #1 worry for tinnitus sufferers. If you Google, you can find places in your neck of the woods that provide a private scan to check for this. In East Anglia, where I live, it would cost about £250. For peace of mind, because you've been told you have to wait 2 years for an ENT consultant and your quality of life is so badly impacted (totally relate by the way) that would be a good spend imo. You could also consider having an initial private consultation with an ENT consultant in Glasgow. Do you have a Spire Hospital there? You shouldn't have to resort to this, but this is where we're at. Also, I asked my GP outright for an NHS MRI while I await ENT (wait time here for ENT is 4 months) I've only had to wait 1 month for the MRI apt to come through. It's at a private hospital thats being used to reduce waiting lists as part of gov policy. You can't take Zopiclone for more than couple of weeks, but it may help to re establish a sleep pattern again. I took it when I was distressed by a loss in the family years ago. It worked and didn't make tinnitus worse, but I noticed that after I took it in the evening it completely zoned me out and I had no recollection of anything next morning from the point where I'd taken it, so get to bed quickly. Preferably, take it in bed! It didn't treat the depression. It just addressed the sleep dysfunction. 3 & 4. Lastly, and really importantly, because you are frightened by your own thoughts, you must be very honest about this and tell your doctor, ASAP. Get some urgent emotional health care going. I've started CBT - too soon to comment on effectiveness but the 1st appointment allowed me to get all my fears out there and I've got relaxation "homework" to do. It felt better just being able to talk to someone who is qualified with emotional health problems and understood about negative thoughts. I self-referred through NHS website at the suggestion of an ENT nurse and was given option of face to face or telephone. The response was very quick. Online form filled in and they called the next day.
Take care. You are not alone, for sure and there are steps to take to help cope better as people have already said here. I use the Resound GN ap another respondent mentions by the way. Good masking noise tools on there. Dalesnale does a range of masking sounds on YouTube and there's music therapy specifically for tinnitus sufferers on you tube if you search. I've book-marked my favourites. Tinnitus UK has loads of advice articles too. All the best.
Thank you TTP - I appreciate you taking the time to share your insights....I hope it was not at 4am though Yes, you are right, I will move forward on the ENT, as the Doctors throw-away comment (made be he even asked in I had T in just one ear or both), has played on my mind ever since. I certainly cannot continue to do nothing, or wait on the local NHS, which appears to be on a resus programme itself! I could not find the R|esound GN Ap (unless it's also called Eargym?), but I have found others. I like your idea of creating a play list and that is something I will do, as I have experienced that certain sounds do calm or mask the T, better than others.
Good luck with your CBT - it defintely sounds like a good thing to do to take control and manage mind-set etc. I will explore the same - it seems from the postings here that there is a lot I can try for myself, as wellas seeking progressional help where needed.
The GP I was seeing and therefore one who knows I have these times, has retired. I went in to see the locum a few weeks ago - but I did not talk about this, as I felt no connection and also did not want yet another prescription for an SSRI - been there and done that (and that I believe also started the T just over 2 years ago now). I will follow up with ENT.
Thank you for your comments and for sharing - I wish you well on your own T management.
That's not correct. Not eating foods with salicylates practically made mine go away..please everyone. Read about this and change your diet. It might lighten up for you too
It would be hard. Almost all good fruits and veggies have salicylates. If I have a smoothies my ears will ring. Same with sweets, pop, red sauce, bacon, peanut butter, etc. Have u heard of Liam Stops Tinnitus? He's on Instagram and you tube. A lot of free info. Some people say he's a fake, but I didn't buy anything and he has a lot of free information. I definitely can't take anti-inflammatory meds cuz it will cause it right away. I worry about the future with some arthritis.
Hello - and I am so very sorry to hear what you're going through - please forgive brevity of reply but has to be in haste this morning..... PLEASE DO contact INVIZEAR - I live in the south of England but have joined them many times on Zoom. Your contact would be ALAN HOPKINS, an absolute (in my opinion) authority on Tinni. Ask when their next free, online support meeting is (Zoom) - he will not give you a cure, of course, but will try to help you with, particularly, the 'Tinnitus Distress' - many will recognise that term and the need to be able to try to deal with it (I can't say I've mastered it but I'm the better for having participated in his groups) - and he IS in Glasgow.
'Tinnitus Distress' - OMG, what an absolute f*****g pain in the arse! This small two worded phrase ran my life in such a negative way, without Alans help I would probably be divorced, an alcoholic or maybe worse - I know there are other specialists available to be fair on every other tinnitus specialist but that man has made me cry - twice! (obviously in a good way!!!). I had been given a therapist through work for mental health but looking back, it didn't really help as much as someone with knowledge of tinnitus can help! Alan is a tinnitus sufferer, he knows what he's on about.
I had forgotten he gives free help via zoom meetings! Yes, try to speak to him - although as I've said, he is a very busy bloke! He also initially spoke to my wife for around 45 minutes, explaining to her what I was going through and how it affected my brain and why I was reacting how I was. I had told her so many times (a wife not listening joke could pop in here!) but after a specialist spoke to her, and includes her in as much as possible, she now understands what I'm going through.
Thank you Bb. I will follow up, as you and others have recommended this course of action. Glasgow is not so far away and it's more than time I had a visit tot he Big Smoke! I could look fwd to that at the same time. I wil lcheck out his online meetings as well.
Thanks for taking the time to recommend - I apprecaite that. All the best on your own T journey too.
I really understand what you are going through, tinnitus can be a really scary and lonely experience. I was terrified at the start and looked constantly on the internet for help. After using an antihistamine for awhile to sleep I stopped using it as it was making me spaced out in the day. What has helped is listening to Julian Cowan Hill - he is on YouTube and has his own website Quieten. He explains and has techniques that have helped me calm down (a bit!). I have also used Oto app which you do pay for - it’s an online CBT and the breathing exercises, with practice help me to get back to sleep.
Sounds like there is a good clinic you could access from the other answers, I wish it was near me.
Also through Tinnitus uk I have got a befriender, someone who has longstanding tinnitus and we talk weekly - I also ring him when I’m having a bad day.
Hello there. Apologies I've got nothing to add to the comments above other than to say they are excellent and just to say do have a little understanding what you are going through, as others say please try not to feel alone.....easy to say I realise. What helps me is listening to music in the day and words when trying to sleep. All the best to you. I've had mine since 21 and had a similar path to you. Life does get easier in cycles
În 2017 I started having another sound in one year and I had MRI . They wanted to see If there was a little non-cancerous tumour called Schwannoma. I didn’ t have. That extra sound disappeared after one and a half years.
Don’t worry about it because it’s not cancerous.
Your GP should give some supplements as Magnesium, Complex B.
Surf the internet and you may find good pieces of advise there.
Try to ignore your T.
For half a year I have taken 1/2 pill of amitriptilyne. I manage to sleep . This is with prescriptiin. You may buy Melatonine over the counter.
Thanks very much Vic24. Ignoring the T ands not worrying about what it may mean is correct - but bloody hard to do, when it is screaming 24/7. That said, I am learning to mostly ignore it in the day. Amitryptilyne is a drug I use dot take many years ago to manage migraines. It did not really help me, other than to make me half out of it the next day. That said - I do recall it helped sleep, post migraine - so might be worth a try.
Have you considered going for a private scan if there are any near you . I know it is costly. When I first got my tinnitus, I was told that because it was only in one ear I would need an MRI . I waited a month for the letter, which gave me an appointment in 3 months. I decided not to wait . My reason being that, I couldn't cope with worrying about it for that long. I was so cross because I rang the hospital MRI department and asked when it could be done if I paid privately , answer "tomorrow". So I paid and the result was fine , nothing wrong. Actually its quite rare for it to be anything untoward.
Try to have some sound in the room at night =tv . radio, music. Youtube have lots of T soothing sounds or buy a sound machine( I have 2) Other stuff= Acupuncture, gingko biloba, CBT. Hearing aids?
I’m really sorry to hear about what you’re going through.
Tinnitus, especially when it worsens suddenly, can be overwhelming, and the impact on sleep, focus, and mental health is significant. You're not alone, and there are steps you can take to manage this.
1. Zopiclone for Sleep – Risks & Effectiveness
Zopiclone can be helpful for short-term sleep relief, but it does carry a risk of dependency. Some tinnitus sufferers report no worsening of symptoms, while others experience an increase in awareness of the sound upon waking.
If you decide to take it, try to use it sparingly and monitor its effects. Alternatives like melatonin or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) might also be worth exploring.
2. ENT Appointment – What to Do While Waiting
A two-year wait is frustrating, but in the meantime, consider requesting a hearing test from an audiologist, which may be available sooner.
Since tinnitus worsened recently and is in one ear with pressure, pushing for an MRI through your GP might be worth discussing. If private care is an option, you could explore a private ENT consultation to get faster answers.
3. CBT & Online Tinnitus Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been effective for many people in managing tinnitus distress.
The British Tinnitus Association (BTA) offers resources and may help you find a suitable specialist online or in Scotland. Treble Health and Tinnitus Hub also provide structured tinnitus-focused CBT programs.
4. Coping Strategies for Tinnitus & Sleep
Sound therapy – Use background noise like pink noise, crickets, or soft music to mask tinnitus, especially at night.
Neck and jaw relaxation – Since your tinnitus is affected by movement, muscular tension could be a factor.
Consider seeing a physiotherapist who specializes in TMJ or cervical spine issues.
Sleep routine – Avoid complete silence at night. Try relaxation techniques like guided breathing or progressive muscle relaxation before bed.
Diet & supplements – Some people find relief with magnesium, zinc, or NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine), though results vary.
5. Urgent Mental Health Support
Your mention of suicidal ideation is deeply concerning.
Tinnitus can push people to a dark place, but please know that help is available, and you don’t have to face this alone.
If these thoughts persist, please reach out to a mental health professional, a crisis helpline, or a support group.
Your situation is difficult, but there are steps forward. Getting a hearing test, exploring CBT, managing stress levels, and using sound therapy can all help in the short term while waiting for medical follow-up. Please don’t hesitate to seek support—you are not alone in this.
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Yes, you are right, I will move forward on the ENT, as the Doctors throw-away comment (made be he even asked in I had T in just one ear or both), has played on my mind ever since. I certainly cannot continue to do nothing, or wait on the local NHS, which appears to be on a resus programme itself! I could not find the R|esound GN Ap (unless it's also called Eargym?), but I have found others. I like your idea of creating a play list and that is something I will do, as I have experienced that certain sounds do calm or mask the T, better than others. 
Tinnitus 4 Weeks In.... 
New to Tinnitus 
Louder tinnitus in one ear
Dizziness, tinnitus, tingling 
Quick question 
