Sorry to hear this. I similarly woke up one day with bi-lateral tinnitus at about an 8/10 in loudness. Thought I was going to lose my mind.
After about 9 days one morning the right ear completely resolved and the left ear was at about a 5/10.
Very, very, very long story short, I did a ton of digging and experimenting and realized it was related to a neck injury (a lot of people with whiplash have short-long term tinnitus). Over a year of physical therapy later, the tinnitus in the left ear is usually gone and only flares up if I lift weights with poor form.
If you've had a neck/shoulder injury in the past 1-2 years, it's something I'd look into.
Now that is interesting, thank you for giving me a new angle to look into. Never thought that there might be a relationship with other things other than just my ears.
I know I can make it instantly worse by clenching my jaw, so that should have been a hint already.
TMJ disorders are linked to tinnitus because of the nerves that run near it. In my case, if I force an underbite I can make both of my ears ring but I don't have any TMJ issues.
There are some physical therapists (also dentists) that focus on maxillofacial dysfunction and TMJ disorders, so that's an avenue to go down as well.
The other two common reasons for tinnitus:
* Hearing damage (gunshots, explosions, etc.) and those are not reversible as of yet
* Ototoxic drugs. When I last did research on it it years ago, like hearing damage from gunshots, was also irreversible.
Can confirm.
I've had like 2/10 tinnitus for all my life, can't remember the last time I heard "silence".
Got a C5/C6 hernia a year ago, about 6 months after that MASSIVE tinnitus in my right ear and clear increase in the left. Like "can't hear shit" levels of noise.
Eventually I figured out that doing a basic shoulder workout + going on a walk eased it off in a few hours. A month ago, due to a doctor's suggestion, I discovered that taking muscle relaxants just before going to sleep a bit, I've woken up with maybe 3-4/10 tinnitus a few times.
Definitely a neck thing.