rockin'robin

WEDNESDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- For people with tinnitus, which features chronic ringing, buzzing, hissing or clicking in the head and ears, poor sleep makes it even more difficult to cope with the condition, researchers have found.

The study included 117 tinnitus patients treated at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit between 2009 and 2011. The more severe the patients' insomnia, the greater their complaints about their tinnitus symptoms and the worse their emotional distress, the findings showed.

"Tinnitus involves [mental], emotional and psycho-physiological processes, which can result in an increase in a patient's distress," study co-author Dr. Kathleen Yaremchuk, chairwoman of the hospital's ear, nose and throat department, said in a Henry Ford Health System news release. "Sleep complaints, including insomnia, in these patients may result in a decrease in their tolerance to tinnitus."

"Treating patients with tinnitus is challenging," Yaremchuk said. "A chronic tinnitus patient presents a challenging clinical picture that may include anxiety, depression, annoyance or self-reported emotional distress. And one of the most frequent self-reported complaints of tinnitus patients is 'getting to sleep.'"

The researchers said their study also offers further proof that treatment of insomnia in patients with tinnitus may reduce tinnitus symptoms' severity.

More than 36 million Americans have tinnitus. The exact cause is not known, but several conditions have been found to trigger or worsen tinnitus, including exposure to loud noises, wax build-up in the ears, sinus or ear infections, head and neck injuries, and disorders such as Lyme disease, fibromyalgia and hypo- or hyperthyroidism.


The findings were presented at the recent Combined Otolaryngological Spring Meetings in San Diego, Calif. The data and conclusions of research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Tinnitus Association offers tips for managing tinnitus.
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Poor Sleep Heightens 'Ringing Ear' Disease Symptoms: Study - Yahoo! News

Deafness

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Jolie77

Ahh, thanks for sharing this.

Tinnitus is the most irritating thing I ever have. It drives me nuts every time I have it. Fortunately it doesn't occur every day but whenever I sleep, the tinnitus tends to come up. Grr. It makes me have a compelling urge to whack myself out cold, lol.

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rockin'robin

...Same here...I even knocked myself in the head with a hair brush late one night...and one of my sons heard me saying "Shut up, shut up"!......he looked at me ....

deafdrummer

Sleep is very important. I learned just how big a factor sleep really is about a year ago when I started a test with myself by going to bed around 9 PM every night as much as possible AND sleeping with an eye mask. Consider this - when the First Generation was on Earth (in other words, where were the parents?), they had to go to bed as soon as it became dangerous to walk about because they couldn't see, and they got up as soon as they could see in the morning. This is bed time. The other factor is light pollution. In my case, there was enough light in my bedroom to trick my mind into thinking it was perpetually just after dark, so I wouldn't go into deep sleep until I was finally too exhausted to stay awake any longer. And there was also the feeling that I was constantly watching for things or people moving around in the bedroom (which probably is instinctive at night when dangerous animals are apt to be hunting, because I don't feel this need to watch my surroundings during the day or with the eye mask on). I'd end up sleep deprived, and it finally caught up with me at that time. When I was like this, I would feel tired and feel like I wanted to hide from people on my bad days, and I would feel short of breath. These days, I feel A LOT BETTER. I cannot stress how important this is. I feel NORMAL almost all the time. This is why I don't want to play in a rock band in a traditional sense, because it's not worth being sleep-deprived.

Sensory deprivation is the key for me.

Angel1989

Good article RR. I have done the "shut up" thing too. Sometimes it is just my dog, but the look is pretty funny. My Dystonia is really bad right now in my neck and shoulder. My right shoulder is pulled down about 3 inches lower then my left from muscle spasms. God, this headache is going on its 8th day and the HUMMMMM never stops. Sleep would be amazing right now!!!!!

Ausrider

I have no idea if its related but i always found that when im really tired my hearing seems to drop a fair bit and i need to turn my aids up

AJWSmith

My own experience matches what this scientific study claims. The noise levels on my tinnitus does go and down, and it always gets louder when I'm suffering badly from insomnia.

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kjohns92

Very true! I recently stopped working overnight and while the pulse in my ear is still there(for some reason louder in both ears at night), it's much easier to deal with. I've actually learned to fall asleep to it

LoveBlue

This happened to my yesterday morning after not sleeping well the night before. I didn't sleep well last night either, but didn't notice the tinnitus this morning.

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KristinaB

Even when I sleep very well, I still have the most annoying tinnitus. Lack of sleep does not make it worse for me at all.

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