Tinnitus Gone

Hi!

Hmm... Improvement of 30 seconds to 5-10 minutes of silence came within the first month, but all in all it took 5-6 months I think. It came September 2017 and I posted this thread March 2018 feeling pretty certain it was over. I'm sure it varies from person to person, but I tried working at it consistently and not think about how long it would take. Actually that's a big factor in the focusing, to not measure tinnitus or calculate how long you've been trying or if there's progress at all. That's why the progress is hard to measure. If you check on tinnitus to see if you're experiencing silence, tinnitus will automatically stream in because the focus is back on registering/checking. Then that will make you doubt the whole process, which I did throughout it all. So I don't really have any advice on how to stay motivated. I wasn't!

The book is in progress! But very belated. Only the last month have I worked on it seriously because my daily job has taken a lot of me these past years. I'm trying to set aside time each day for writing now so most of it is editing old text that I thought was good, but can now clearly see sucked Thanks for asking btw!

 

No, nothing

 

Hey @norwaygirl
When you went to the cafes, was it loud?? Did noise cause spikes for you? I feel like that’s the only issue with mine... it stays stable until I’m exposed noises.

Did you also have fluctuating tones?

 

Hi! Yes, it felt a bit loud at first. I chose very calm cafes but not too calm... Certain noise caused spikes, it could be anything but I found no pattern in why so and so caused it. Especially our living room lamp. It was like it enhanced the tinnitus frequency and it got super shrieky - so odd. Same with construction sites and trains, and many other random things. I think the tones fluctuated a bit, yeah, especially the pitch.

 

@norwaygirl ahh well I’m so glad it went away for you! Hoping mine does the same.

 

I haven't visited this site since early 2018 which was when the tinnitus stopped bothering me. I've been extremely stubborn about returning here (despite being curious) as it would bring back the dark place I was in 2017.

Since my last post I had fully habituated in the 2 and a half years, but a couple of weeks ago I got overwhelmed with emotion one night and started remembering the years before I developed it, and now I'm going through a setback.

I'm hoping this is temporary and I'll adapt like I have done for these past 2 years. And maybe looking up about tinnitus isn't helping. But it's great to see somebody who comes on here with success stories like this one.

 

Hi @David G -- Sorry to hear about your setback. -- If you have any interest in spiritual or energetic techniques, I described what has worked for me in a couple of different posts. [Post 1 Post 2] -- Take care!

 

@norwaygirl, hello and thank you for your wonderful success story in mastering your tinnitus. Its really offering people a lot of hope.

I just wondered if you may or may not be able to advise me?

I have been suffering with my suspected tinnitus now for 6.5 months. I hear it only in my right ear. Up until Christmas I was hearing it on and off but I swear it did stop in the mornings and sometimes for entire days (my record was 4 days).

However for the first time since it began, it has settled into a consistent noise I cannot stand and which no longer stops.

Well the perceived volume of my tinnitus I believe has gone down which is encouraging, for example with background radio on plus central heating it almost entirely masks it from your attention. It's now very difficult to hear it outdoors. It's a low tone and a pulsing whir whir whir noise which I find really annoying as when you tune into it it distracts you too much to, say, watch tv and I will always hear it when I go to bed etc.

It's been this way consistently since Christmas and in many respects I wish it was a static noise as I find that far less annoying than something that feels like a quiet background pulse whirring and moving. It is quiet and compared to many poor people I am convinced I don't have the worst scenario but I simply cannot get my brain to tune it out when the world falls silent.

I've read several opinions, some say just to do nothing to aid with habituation (in other words if it bothers you, just let it do so and try not to react).

Your approach got me curious though, because I can get through the day mostly by masking it with background noises, however eventually I will have to listen to it. My fear is it will forever be in this pattern and by ignoring it I'm not facing my fears head on by listening to it.

I kind of accept it just before bed as I'm tired and need to sleep but it's the evenings when I'm watching tv or when the ambient noises get quieter, be it a programme or other sounds, I cannot relax as I hear my tinnitus.

I genuinely feel lost as I don't know what the best approach is for me as forcing myself to mask it all the time is essentially falsifying reality.

I've sort of lost hope of it naturally going away now that it's been over 6 months. It is quieter but now settled into an irritating pattern I can't seem to shift.

I am desperate to find a way of telling my brain to put it further into the background but I seem hopeless of doing this so I fear it's not possible for me.

Should I seek some sort of CBT to change the way I feel about the tinnitus?

I know there's worse things but my brain is really stubborn and if I can't get it to stop completely, the next best thing is to no longer care about the tinnitus. But I can't seem to get to that state at all.

I fear that too much time has already passed without any major positive breakthrough for me.

Kind regards and again huge congratulations for your success

 

Hi @Pughma84 -- As far as you not knowing what's causing your tinnitus, THIS POST describes how a man from London got rid of his tinnitus after 14 years by using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). I think there's clues in his story about why tinnitus can improve for some people from fasting, or changing up our diet in ways that improve our gut function. -- All the Best...

 

Thank you so much @norwaygirl for taking the time to post. Congrats. This means so much to the rest of us and is really lifting!

 

This is a fascinating story, @norwaygirl. I'm still pretty new to tinnitus (it didn't seriously start until a couple of months ago).

Last night it was ringing pretty badly and I couldn't sleep so I was reading this forum, including your post. Later on, as I lay in bed, I tried to focus on something other than the tinnitus. I'm not exactly sure how to describe how I did it, but by focusing on not hearing the tinnitus I was able to lower the volume to something barely noticeable. The tinnitus tried to break through but with some effort I was able to keep it low for several minutes. The fact that I could actually lower the volume consciously, gave me hope.

 

Hi @norwaygirl,

Thanks for your post. It's given me a lot of hope that my symptoms will follow a similar course as yours.

One question: was your tinnitus reactive? Did it get louder around external sound, or did you hear it less around external sound? For me, I tend to hear mine most when there is some kind of droning sound around me, like a fan or a car engine for example.

Cheers!

 

Hi @norwaygirl

I read your post and it is fantastic that you managed to get rid of it.

I was wondering what the pancea was? Was it time? De stressing? To elaborate, my job is fairly stressful and I carry much of my family's stress on my shoulders.

In addition, I would suggest that I am anxious in general. So when I read stories of people overcoming tinnitus by relaxing and accepting I wonder if I could ever do that.

From reading your post, and apologies how this sounds, you had your own anxiety issues at that time.

My question is, how does a stressed and anxious person, lose these traits? Is there a particular mindset change you made?

Thanks heaps,

H