Cannot Sleep Properly!

[keyran]

I've had anxiety and panic attacks for the last 2 months now, and somehow i've always managed to get to sleep fine, but recently I got tinnitus, went to the Doc's about it, she looked in my ear's, did a simple hearing test, and said it should go away within 2 weeks, and if it doesn't, I should go back to her. This tinnitus is driving me crazy as I cannot sleep properly AT ALL now, all I hear is this constant buzzing/hissing sound, and no matter how much I try and drain it out (Put the TV on, listen to the radio, etc), nothing seems to work. I also do Diaphragic Breathing to help relieve my anxiety and panic, but that doesn't help whilst i'm trying to get some sleep, I practice this technique whilst in bed for around 5-10 minutes, but still no luck.

Please please help me, I feel REALLY tired, but still can't sleep :(

[Steven Y Park, MD]

For your tinnitus to get better, you need to sleep better. Your recent onset of panic attacks might be be due to obstructions and arousals at night, leading to a heightened nervous system.

Your symptoms are sometimes misdiagnosed as anxiety/panic attacks. Frequently, patients are given anti-anxiety medications. These medications numb the nervous system, but doesn't treat the root cause. If you look at the natural history of your condition, you're predisposed to developing obstructive sleep apnea later on in life. Right now the problem is that you obstruct when you're entering deep sleep (due to muscle relaxation), but wake up very quickly, whereas apnea patients stop breathing for greater than 10 seconds and then wake up (sometimes up to 30-40 seconds!). One or both of your parents snore heavily, right?

This also heightens your hearing, amplifying any mild ringing into an annoying tinnitus. It makes you edgy and en garde all the time. The same process occurs with pain—the less quality sleep you have, the lower the pain thresholds, leading to sensing pain at a lower level. Your ringing is another form of sensory input.

Keep doing the diaphragmatic breathing, not only before bedtime, as also throughout the day on a regular basis.

Make sure you eat at least 3-4 hours before going to bed and the same goes for alcohol. If you don't follow this advice, they aggravate the sleep-breathing problem. Don't sleep on your back (you're probably already doing this, right?).

If your problem doesn't get better, see a sleep medicine doctor. Even young, thin men and women that don't snore can have significant obstructive sleep apnea.

[keyran]

Thank you for replying.

I slept a bit bitter last night, took around an hour to get to sleep instead of the usual 3-4. Do you think my Tinnitus will go eventually if I learn to sleep better, or when my anxiety dies down?

To answer a few of your questions..

1) I think both my parents snore heavily on some occasions, but not all the time, sometimes I hear my father snoring really loud, whilst my mother can be dead silent, and vice versa.

2) For the last few nights, I have been sleeping on my back, but usually I sleep on my side. I've found that I can sleep easier whilst on my back, and sometimes it can reduce the sound of the tinnitus, but i'm going to make myself sleep on the side from now on. How come we shouldn't sleep on our back?

Thanks once again,

-Keyran