Hi iam 46 female from the South of England. My Tinnitus started in April 2013 i have never had any problems with my ears until then. First time i went to the doctors with the problem he prescribed me a nasal spray, the 2nd time anithistermine (sp) and passed me onto the ENT at the local hospital. Finally after 4 months i got my appointment to basically be told nothing we can do. I have bad bouts of tinnitus for about a week then it seems to quieten down for awhile (never goes away) but don't seem as bad. Then comes back extremely bad every 6 weeks or so for a week.When its this bad i hardly sleep its my whole head that is effected, a very loud white noise kind of sound. I have got to the point i hate bedtime, i stay up as late as possible but that still don't help, as soon as i lay down it starts, music do not help. iam at my wits end and wondered if anyone could give me any more ideas. many thanks.
Hi Angela - I understand the sleeping stuff - I dreaded bedtime as I knew long hours lay ahead willing mysellf to sleep. So my advice to you now is to go ans ask for help with this - in my experience which is only limited and I started with T in May and my biggest hurdle was sleep - I found the following worked eventually. Initially sleeping tablets from the doc = got me some sleep a few nights but didnt put me on the road to dealing with this so if you need a few nights sleep to recover then sleep tablets can help as a temp relief. Long term - I needed 2 sorts of Anti D's citalopram got me sorted after a few weeks but then I dipped again - I should have gone back to the docs then but I delayed and tried various other ideas - which didnt work for me but can for others - acupuncture, herbal stuff etc I followed good sleep routines etc etc but just couldnt regain my ability to 'go to bed and know I would sleep' The doc eventually put me on another type of AntI D that has helped and to date Im still on this combination I have also helped myself with the following - general rules - no coffee after noon - and I have started and enjoy relaxation routines for self help - everyday I take time to un-wind and listen to my selection of guided meditation stuff. I believe in doctors and drugs but I also believe in self help what ever that means for each of us. My T is annoying at the moment due to a cold I hope - recently before the cold I was sleeping without any masking but I now need this again and I have found white noise too annoying so I prefer different sort of masking - again its about finding what works and helps you and be prepared to change it. The other thing I did when sleep was a 'worry' was to sleep on the sofa - try not to think ' omg its bedtime' instead think im comfy on the sofa get a duvet pillow and settle down to watch TV put the TV on a timer so if you fall asleep it goes off and your warm and comfy and will sleep for a while if you awake try not to think negative think - I have slept and I didnt try !! Each night I did this and each night the sleep I got turned into a positive rather than a negative. Eventually I then moved back to the bedroom and did the same - focus on the positive sleep even if 4 or 5 hours dont think OMG Ive not slept 7-8 hours one day you will I promise. I now sometimes sleep all night and wake up amazed and proud I have - the nights I dont then I think well I got 4/5/6 hours sleep or whatever and then that will do until tomorrow ! Try to find positives and they will build into bigger gains - but do go to the doc for help if you need a little more support. Once you master sleep (from my experience) the rest will follow Cher xx
