Recent content by Tom Cnyc

OK, since people can’t seem to resist posting negativity in a thread meant to be positive, I’ll share a quote from Sarah Polley: “Everyone tells you to listen to your body, but very rarely does someone ask you, ‘How much are you listening to your body?’” Yes, be careful. Wear earplugs. But...

You are completely ignoring everything I have written. I am not suggesting a four-day rave on the first day. What I said is that you need to balance your nervous system and gradually reintegrate. Honestly, you might want to give it a try.

So, your body releases cortisol heavily twice a day. The first time is when you wake up, to help you get going. The second time? Around 2:30 a.m. This release helps transition you from deep sleep into REM cycles. If your baseline cortisol levels are too high, that 2:30 release can mimic the...

What helped you was exposure therapy, which is exactly what I am recommending and what you are dismissing. What is not helping you, or anyone else reading this, is believing that pizza will make your ears ring. I mean, maybe it will if you convince yourself of that. Salicylates are only...

Exactly. You just described the type of people who visit forums more than two or three times. More negativity. Honestly, moderators should lock comments on success stories. As a musician, all my friends have various levels of hearing issues. Most went through an acute phase and are now doing...

I feel for you, man. Ultimately, when you say you come to forums looking for hope, I get it. That is the whole point. But I am a good example. I got better, and I waited six years before saying so. Most people never come back to say they improved. That is why it is so rare to find hope here...

Dude, again — I’ve told everyone to feel free to reach out to me. I’m not going to write out a step-by-step guide to my recovery. It took three years, as I’ve mentioned earlier in this thread. It takes time to get back out there, but a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And...

Well, given that my tinnitus is gone most of the time, yes, it has improved. I cannot stress this enough. I used to have to wear earplugs just to talk to my wife. My tinnitus was louder than my dishwasher, television, washer, dryer, and air conditioner all running at the same time in a 619...

You have this experience because when you wake up, your body performs a kind of “systems check.” Asking yourself, “How do I feel?” upon waking is something we all do every single day. And quite literally, if you always search for your tinnitus when you wake up, you’re creating a neural network...

You completely missed the point of what I wrote. But cool—spend as much time thinking about this as you’d like. There is no magic bullet for this, and all the science points to a hyperactive amygdala, as shown in fMRI studies. This is your nervous system caught in a negative feedback loop...

Hey all, I haven’t posted a success story here in many years, even though I’ve been doing well for a long time. Not sure why, but I want to share something positive now. My tinnitus is gone most of the time. And it used to be awful. Louder than a teenager blasting terrible music just to annoy...

I used the Red Light Man before work for like 5-10 minutes per ear, and again at night. Typically I'd just do it when my wife was getting ready to leave and I was sitting there watching TV. I'd just lean it up against my ear. No need for safety glasses or anything but don't be a moron and stare...

Your mileage may vary. If you want to experiment, Red Light Man (google it) makes very cheap lamps with multiple wavelengths. DO NOT pay tons of money to one of the hucksters like Wilden or the dude in Sarasota. The lamp is like $100 as opposed to their $1000s. I am not affiliated. I did...

Personally, I spent years terrified to live my life because I spent too much time here with people telling me how dangerous the world was, which only made my mental state, and ironically, my tinnitus worse as it's absolutely related to the body's fight or flight system. Honestly, I don't give a...

My tinnitus was anything but mild. I sat in a small apt with a washer dryer/tv/dishwasher, and AC unit running and it screamed over all of it. I wore earplugs to talk to my wife because my hyperacusis was awful. It's very mild now. I'm in a quiet office and I can only hear it if I cover my...