Ngo13

I've been to a few restaurants/brewery with my 20db plugs and been OK. Although these places werent overly loud, topping out at about 75db/80db. Your milage may vary though.

My t went lower while I had COVID

I had COVID twice and neither time affected my tinnitus! Rest up :)

I spiked when I had a fever but otherwise it seems to be ok, whew! It spiked less than it did when I had a cold in December

Same here :/

Same, never ending cycle that prevents alot of us from being truly free

Same, if I knew with certainty that mine was just going to stay the same I would be feeling so much better and on the road to habituation, but I know too well that anything could make it worse for a long time

@Ken219 no, I don't think so. It changed a lot in the first months but has since settled. Sometimes I feel like it has gotten softer sounding but I'm not sure if that's just the beginning of habituation.

I know how you feel, I'm coming up on 9 months myself.

@Ngo13 I really didn't start to feel better until about 18 months.

Nice. I’m assuming you’re referring to the combination of reading from a kindle and drinking chamomile tea (my personal favorite tea too) while bathing in epsom salts and using sound therapy that you’ve been doing lately?

Not going to lie, I kinda want to try this out too.

You’re so cooL, @Ngo13!

@ZFire yes, I see you saw my post in one of the threads. I think anything that can be done to bring joy to a small part of our day us important.

Yeah definitely agree

Same. It use to work for me, but not anymore after my severe onset.

I wonder why. It seems like it works for most people.

Hopefully it won't be too far away to help :D. It may not cure completely bit if it helps to lower the volume or get rid of some tones I'm all for it :)

34 years Tinnitus and everyday I dream there will come better treatments or cure!

@Ken219 there will be soon!! :)

Really crazy. I have a lot of friends who play in hardcore bands and others that are DJ’s, but the person «presented» with T and H was me…

@ZFire thanks for the reassurance I hope it's the same for me

My spike did subside, finally. Whew!

Great to hear @Ngo13!

Hi @Ngo13, I hope everything is alright with you. Yeah I feel you, I hate this game of Russian roulette and wondering if a medication is going to make T or H worse. It’s so stressing and adds more difficulty to our already difficult lives. That said, I have no experience with benzodiazepines, but have been on ADs. Tinnitus was unaffected while trying Prozac and Nortriptyline. 1/3

I’m in the camp that believe antidepressants are not ototoxic. When antidepressants do cause or worsen tinnitus it’s usually temporary and reversible. There’s no structural damage to the ears being done. It’s likely the brain chemistry(ADs affecting serotonin changes in the brain) is just making the tinnitus more perceptible. Stop the AD and T will go back to baseline. I have seen that to be the case here. 2/3

But anyways, it’s totally normal for people like us to be afraid of worsening. It’s definitely best to take a non-drug route to see if we can safely ease up our limbic system and make dealing with tinnitus a bit more easier. But if nothings helping and your life is still a struggle, then medication should be explored. If you do decide to take medication, look for ones where the side effect profile are pretty low. 3/3

Yes, it will. It took me years to get there, but absolutely makes a positive difference. There are times I don’t think my volume is actually lower, but out of fight or flight it seems to be. If I concentrate it’s as loud as ever. Once the flight or flight stops it’s less noticeable most of the time. It’s a hard phenomenon to describe until you experience it.

@spedgas thank you for that glimmer of hope. I will keep trying to use it and hopefully I will get there one day.

So sorry to hear that, is difficult with people around. My partner sadly got Tinnitus too, we did got it very similar time so she totally understand me and support me from day one. My friend son the other hand, is totally different, nobody understand how difficult is to live with ears issues

These are stupid conditions indeed @Ngo13. It’s so frustrating trying to convey the complexities of our ear issues to close ones only for them to not understand any of it and then downright dismiss it.

I hate how sophisticated tinnitus can get. I wish it were a much more simpler thing for everyone. Something that was constant and never spikes.That way, it’d be much easier to manage at least.

Thanks @CRGC, I will check out those articles.

You’re doing great.

Same. Keep on keeping on.

Just wanted to thank you for the advice you gave me in the job thread. Polished up the resume a bit to include keywords companies look for. I’ve also started to get some contacts through LinkedIn as well. I feel like it’s opened up another explorable path for me which is great. Thx

Hi @ZFire, yes it has mostly settled now...took almost 3 weeks. Might still be a tad worse but I'm trying not to analyze it. Good otherwise, been keeping busy with my baby and my job!
Hope all is well with you. Glad your job search is getting better. I saw you had a good interview the other day- I hope it works out!

@Ngo13 I didn’t think we have much choice. I hope it settles for you.

@Forever hopeful I did it, because having noises while I sleep etc was even worse, because my tinnitus was so loud and having a white noise machine so loud causes headches and I was not able to sleep. So I said, you know what, I need to make friend with this sounds or I will go crazy trying to have noises around me 24/7 try it to hide it.

I still now have stomach and MEM/TTTS and other health issues, so I live in agony every day.

@CW Dragon this condition really puts things in perspective doesn't it. If a cure were to be found I'd feel like I had a second lease on life

I would never complain again.

@CRGC yep, i feel so disconnected from my old self, still feel like I'm in a nightmare trying to wake up. I go to sleep early/stay in bed till like 8am and hope I wake up to the end of it, but it doesn't end.

Thanks @ZFire, I certainly hope so. Spike is still going strong...
Btw, hope your job search is going well!

@ZFire Hoping mine is a long spike too. Almost 4 weeks.
@Ngo13 Hang in there.

I've had similar episodes. Spikes are not permanent but last for 2-4 months.

I was concerned to be around my AC unit when it was turned on. After continuous exposure to it, i now know that it doesn’t worsen my T and now I’m okay to be around it. You’ll start to figure it out as you go along too. But remember if there’s anything makes you feel uncomfortable or that you know is too loud, then take pre caution.

@ZFire I hope it gets easier. I'm trying to use those experiences where my T doesn't get worse as my proof that it's ok. Just hard since my T fluctuates a lot during the day and I can't seem to pinpoint why yet.

Have you had another hearing test? Sometimes the loss is not immediately measurable.

Hang in there. I had T resolve twice after at least a year for both.

It gets better, but takes time.

Yup same thing for me too.

Mine gets aggitated in the evening

Many people say it can. My T likes to play up when I’m feeling down, but stress seems to be OK.

Hope your seeing improvement.

@makeyourownluck I'm still not 100% convinced it was from stress but the spike seems to have passed. I am, however, a bit less stressed now so who knows!

I feel like I keep going backwards to zero. At first when I was using sound therapy and found some noise I would play it and go to sleep with it now my sensitivity is worse than the volume of my T and I startle at small noises. Torture.

Me too. I startle easy with usual sounds now..mostly its my mental state. It very loud when I chew hard food. Its all a nightmare I want out of fast. How long for this to heal...

@martinberryhorse acceptance has been what has helped me the most. No cures and I’m not getting better. Time to move on or not. Sometimes my brain blocks it out

@Steph1710 its stories like yours that have made me try and stop. The pressure can get so intense though. Piping the became a habit.

@Ngo13, I also think mine is correlated to the weather. Things expand in heat so maybe that why? Idk. I really would advocate for a steamer, it’s the only thing that has even slightly helped. That and reducing my earplug usage but this is risky. Mine has a wee bit for essential oils.

@Steph1710 How did you pop them? Valsalva?

Mines has negative pressure on every hearing test I take. I don't know how much longer I can take this. My sound sensitivity is so bad that my body sounds are so loud that T is screeching. It's used to screech but be in the back of my head. Now in front. I don't know everything I did made it worse

Hi @Ngo13, I know how you feel. How long have you experienced your tinnitus? For the first couple of months, I couldn't stop thinking the same thought.

@Joe Cuber I've had it for about 5 months now. Just tired of it...

Thank you everyone. Just trying to take it day by day

@Guywithapug I used to, my last guy went over the Rainbow Bridge a couple of years ago

@Ngo13 Ah I see, I used to have several in my youth, they are so sweet.

@Mal25 same here, 2 years of ups and downs mentally, but T and H just worsening every day.

@Nadia231 my T is already loud it's 6:13am here. I cannot take it anymore no one knows how to fix it. I should've stayed in silence and not drive or came outside. I don't think I can come back

@Mal25 I understand how you feel. Just hang in there, give your ears a rest and hopefully we'll make some progress at least on how we feel about it.