How do I deal with panic/anxiety due to health and aging issues?

August 5, 2023 2:04 PM

I had some discharge from my ears which blocked them partially, reduced my hearing and caused tinnitus. I'm undergoing treatment and it's getting better. It's causing me panic, anxiety and restlessness. I'm not prone to panic and anxiety. Any advice on how to deal with the panic and anxiety, caused due to health/aging issues?

This panic I'm feeling is new and I was wondering if others have encountered this and how they deal with it. I've had clogged ears due to water and earwax before and it didn't bother me much. My eyesight is also deteriorating a bit, due to a combination of changing power, slight cataracts and floaters. This has been going on for some time and hasn't bothered me. But now it's triggering panic when I notice it.

I'm approaching 50. I'm generally healthy and in good shape except slightly high cholesterol and despite some chronic fatigue. I understand there may be a contradiction in that statement, but it's based on tests, doctors opinions and how I feel. I'm generally well balanced and not prone to panic, worry or anxiety.

Any insights or suggestions would be welcome.

posted by naveed to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

Have you tried noticing it in the moment, acknowledging that it's happening, describing the physical sensation to yourself, reminding yourself that the sensation of panic will go away and that you're not in any danger, and then just waiting for it to pass? I'm sorry that sounds a bit dismissive but it can be a helpful for some people.

Otherwise I sometimes try and manage my mood using music playlists. So some angsty tracks followed by something I personally find soothing.

If you're restless, there's usually not too much harm in going for a walk, particularly if you try and actively concentrate on noticing your surroundings.

Tinnitus itself sucks. It may verry well improve as your hearing improves. I find that background noise is essential for managing it. There's no point in trying to power through, just turn the radio, tv or whatever on loud enough to distract your brain from making up sounds.

Finally, being hard of hearing is tiring and being tired causes its own problems. If you can, use captions on tv/video, position yourself so you can make use of lipreading when talking in person, and allow yourself more time to rest.
posted by plonkee at 2:23 PM on August 5, 2023 [1 favorite]

If the treatment for your ear discharge involves taking medication, could the anxiety, panic, and restlessness be medication side effects? A lot of medications have potential "psychological" side effects like this. The fact that it is not something you have ever been prone to before and that it has come on with the start of treatment makes it likely that it's a medication side effect. It is worth talking to your doctor about.
posted by heatherlogan at 6:11 PM on August 5, 2023 [2 favorites]

To be more specific, steroids are well-known to cause these symptoms, and some antibiotics do as well. (In some people but not in everyone.)
posted by heatherlogan at 6:21 PM on August 5, 2023

I haven't had the opportunity yet to try this technique to see if it works:

Trauma therapist Lauren Aurer of Steadfast Counseling described how a highlighter can help to assuage the anxiety of a panic attack. She explained to hold the highlighter (or any other object) in front, focus on it for a few seconds, and then shift gaze to look beyond it. Repeat that process several times, and the eye movement will help calm the panic. This is a technique of brainspotting, a therapy that uses a patient’s visual field to treat trauma.
posted by little eiffel at 6:30 PM on August 5, 2023 [3 favorites]

Our senses are our interface to the world, so when something happens to restrict or disturb their functioning, it can be very unsettling, and often dissociative, to the point of triggering a fight/flight response. Since you are already aware of the link between your tinnitus/hearing loss and your anxiety, you have the tools to start working on this. Being mindful, using breathing, a cold compress or splashing water on your face, and changing your surroundings can be ways to manage anxiety in the moment. You can also work with a therapist to identify specific anxiety management techniques that work for you. For tinnitus in particular, finding another source of noise, like tv, music, or even just humming to yourself can be enough to take your mind off of it.

I am a long time tinnitus sufferer and have significant hearing loss. I have spent a lifetime developing coping mechanisms, and my general approach to my tinnitus is to regard it as an interesting artefact that I live with. There are so many different sounds and patterns I can experience, sometimes like a dinging bell, sometimes like there's a low male voice on the tv in another room, or just a static-y high-pitched drone. Yes, it can feel quite stressful to experience the intrusive sound, but I find that intellectualising it helps me respond appropriately. I note what I'm hearing and try to describe it to myself or to my partner; I think about how the "sound" I'm hearing is entirely manufactured by my brain (isn't that remarkable!), and I keep a mental log of what kind of tinnitus sounds I experience in different settings. It shifts it from being an uncontrollable thing that is happening to me to something I am observing, an object of study, humor, or commonplace experience.
posted by amusebuche at 3:58 PM on August 6, 2023