Hello everyone.. My name is Jari and I've been suffering from tinnitus since I was 12. Yesterday I turned 19 and I still have it. The doctors told me it'd eventually fade away within a few months or 1.5 years. I kept hoping it would fade away but it still hasnt by now, 7 years later. My passion is producing music and I've applied to a music production school. What they don't know is that I'm experiencing this living nightmare and I also know that it is probably the best thing not to tell them, since I know myself that my production ability is not held back because of it. But I must be honest, over the years I've learned and thaught myself alot and nowadays I hardly struggle with this disease. The only time it really bothers me is when I wake up and the sound is at it's loudest. After that I brush my teeth and my ears start to get used to hearing for the day. I have thaught myself to just not think about it and simply ignore the sound. With communicating there is a difference between hearing and understanding. I've accepted that I simply couldn't hear as good as before, but I've compensated that with trying to improve understanding. For example, when I don't hear something correctly I just try to finish the sentence by what I've heard and what's most likely to be said. Also, when I listen to music or when I'm focusing on other stuff like eating, drinking, watching a movie etc.. I don't even notice the tinnitus. Sometimes after a movie I'm like.. 'Oh yeah I got tinnitus' and then I'm most likely to chat with someone or go do an activity. Even now, writing this, I hear the noise, but I'm not listening to it. Maybe a golden tip for all of you out there: You'll only hear it when you listen to it. Thanks for reading this
Hey Jari, Are you from Finland? A Finnish sounding name... That is one of the most positive introduction post I've ever read! Very glad you have reached that stage. May I ask how you found Tinnitus Talk? If tinnitus doesn't bother you much at all, what were you googling for to come across our forum (assuming Google brought you here)? It's a great thing you did -- we need more people like you, showing our newbies and those who continue to struggle that there is indeed hope of a better tomorrow -- but I'm just wondering what caused you to find us.
I know I have a finnish name but I'm from The Netherlands haha, To be honest I was just watching random blog video's on youtube and I ended up finding a channel that represent people with transperger or something, I'm not sure what it was because I just got there randomly, and from there it went to watching people with real life struggle and how they can't cope with their disabilities. At some point it linked me to video's of tinnitus therapy, which had weird sounds that were supposed to reduce the noise (which didn't work for me, but I'm not disappointed for that since that's personal and I'm glad it was able to help other's in the comments). And from there I went on google and i typed: 'I have tinnitus and don't know what to do.' intending on sharing my own experience and how I cope with it. So it was kind of out of boredom and good will to come across this site Nontheless I'm happy I've found this.
Great post. Glad you are here sharing with us. It should be a success story post with the positive message of hope for young T sufferers. Your story reminds me of Zoe Cartwright who turned completely deaf at 15 and had tinnitus since. She is deaf with unmaskable T and yet she moves on with life and even made a tinnitus short film (on youtube). We need positive examples like that for young people to not give up when they think they are too young to have T. Thanks again for sharing.
@billie48 could you post the youtube link i would like to see that. About the story of Jari... I notice alot of people who are in a band or producing music have tinnitus. I am one of those persons. Maybe people who make music have more sensitive ears and therefore are more easier to get tinnitus, would that even be possible who knows. Bad english i know don't judge me
I mentioned this story in my success story "From Darkness to Light". It points to the page# and post# of the Positivity Thread where it contains the entire story and background of Zoe Cartwright and the link to her short tinnitus film on youtube. It is better you read the back ground comments before you see the film. The film may look like living with T is hard, particularly her loud unmaskable T (due to deafness). But her comments on answering questions on the film show that she really loves & enjoys her life regardless of her unmaskable loud T. What an inspiration. Go check it out.
Such a great post! I've also had tinnitus since the age of 12, but I'm only 17 (turning 18 this year). I can relate to what you're writing (most of the time anyways) and this was just really great to read!
So happy to hear this from a fellow music producer. Just like you i'm 15 and ears started to ring a few days ago. (Still hoping it may go) I won't let this sound stop me from Djing and producing music. Thanks man!
Wow! This is great. I'm 12 years old and I have PT. Whenever I hear my PT (luckily its not constant, it stops then comes back) I'm going to think about other stuff Thanks
