A question about Tinnitus? (Experts please)?

I'm 26 and my tinnitus started 2 years back. It's not too serious, usually during the day I can't hear the ringing (its only through my left ear). Only when I wake up or if it's really silent then it's loud. If I get enough rest the ringing lowers in volume but if I lack sleep it gets loud. For a while I thought it was acoustic neuroma (tumor in the nerve tissues that causes tinnitus) but my ear doctor assured me twice along with my family doctor it wasn't after a hearing test and didn't recommend a MRI. He basically attributed to just getting older but I still consider myself young. I have normal blood pressure as well. My aunt has tinnitus as well for many years. What else do you think could be causing it? I was considering acupuncture or herbal medicine. Do you know anything that could work? Let me know your opinions. Thanks!

I have been lacking 8 hours of sleep for a loong time. Do you think proper sleep might solve this problem? Would seeing a neurologist help as well?

if you have tinnitus it means that you probably have hearing loss and that noise means that your body is trying to fix up your hearing problems.
do you listen to loud music/hear loud things? thats usually the cause
check this site out, it will help a lot:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinnitus

I second what the other poster wrote. Exposure to loud noises like headphones cranked up, loud concerts, loud movies, garden equipment, loud audio systems in cars or in the home and the list goes on. This is most likely the cause of the hearing damage in your ear. Limit of these noises is the best advice for you and anyone as this is becoming more common.