Background: I have had sleep problems for several years and started using
headphones to play white noise to help me sleep at night (I wear them the
entire night) earlier this year. I had been doing this for the past three
months because they are extremely effective.  Then the other day I was
visiting my parents and didn\'t wear them for the first time--I also hadn\'t
slept in 24 hours--and when I tried to go to sleep, as I was about to drift
off a loud buzzing noise would suddenly develop in my head. Each time it
would distract me and wake me up. This happened probably fifty times before
I gave up trying to fall asleep and got up. After about 30 hours of having
not slept I used some sleeping pills and some white noise (not headphones)
and was able to fall asleep finally.

My question is... is this tinnitus (noise-induced)? And since I don\'t hear
it at all when I\'m awake (only when drifting off to sleep), is it evidence
of neurologically-based tinnitus?

I would also like to add that since I read about tinnitus on google last
night after observing the problem, I have felt extremely depressed about.
I\'m seeing my doctor next week.

Thanks for any help.