Poll: Does Tinnitus Keep You from Having a Job?

Just curious.

 

I have a few health issues but work part time but would not be able hold down a full time job due to tinnitus,Menieres,COPD,VCD and sever asthma and RA and OA.
Love my job and gets me out of the house but only work 1 hour 15 minutes a day then as a mum doing house work etc and running a tinnitus support group 2 hours a week with another lady
......lots of love glynis

 

There are certainly jobs out there that T would keep me from doing.
Hustling pet food is not one of them.

 

Though I do have to travel to the manufacturing plant occasionally and it's nonstop 100dbs of massive thundering extruders. Will not enter that building without full ear protection..

 

Yeah my career is done, my social life is done. I can't think about that though, I'm putting everything I have into just making it through the day. I can't find relief, I end up spending 15 hours a day in bed staring trying to zone out, the rest of the time wondering the streets to kill the day or standing in the shower 4-5 times a day until the hot water runs out.

My T is all over my head attacking me, dentist drills, beeps so loud and high pitched that they hurt, it feels like electrical zaps in my brain. My ears feel like they are bleeding and infected all of the time. My H is bad, 7 hours in to the day I'm not talking anymore, my voice is too loud.

So yeah, not working, busy with this full time ear thing that doesn't pay me anything but suffering. It's a hell that I didn't think existed.

Oh sorry if that's too scary or negative for those of you that suffer from anxiety.

 

@Telis . You have tinnitus real bad I feel for you. and I thought mine was bad.

 

I feel so sorry for you. I know I have stayed in bed the majority of a week depressed about tinnitus but was able to get out after afterwards. I have only had H very briefly and it went away. I wish there was something that could be done. Some of the people on here have had success with Potiga. Have you tried that? I know the side effects have the potential to be bad but you seem to be in a horrible place.

 

Every day that goes it is forwads silence. Cure or death
Fortunately the life is not eternal.

 

Na haven't tried it. I've tried a lot of other drugs, I think it made things worse. I'm pretty scared to take any hard core drugs these days.

It's not depression that slows me down, it's my T, H and ear pain. I'm trying to get relief. I don't want to lay and zone out, I want to be out on the go, doing things like I used to and living my life but I can't. I going insane with boredom and suffering but at the same time I'm trying to calm the symptoms that are hurting me. I can try and get busy doing something and I get to a point where I shut down, and I'm done, my brain will not function anymore and I have to go lay in the dark in the silence. Even the smallest sounds make my head and ears go haywire. I don't avoid sound but at the same time it kills me. I expose myself to a healthy dose of noise everyday but I'm getting to the point where I can't take it anymore. It's seems too much.

I couldn't imagine that it could get this bad. I had moderate to maybe what some people might consider bad T at onset, not this shit. I'm a tough guy but I've been beat down so much by this that I feel like I can't take it anymore, but what choice do have, none.

My hearing and T are still getting worse by the month so I guess this is just a quickly progressing disease for me. I don't know, this is hell, these f//king T noises hurt my head so bad even if I'm busy doing something else and listening to other sounds. Some pulsate and others just jump around my head and in my ears, always shocking the hell out of me every few seconds. I don't know what some of the sharp noises are, way higher pitched than anything I have ever been able to hear in real life. They don't sound like real noises. Nails on a chalkboard would be a nice mellow sound compared to what I hear.

 

@Telis I don't know how you do it man I consider what I have bad enough ...you are one strong dude keep battling bro ....can only pray that things get better

Hang in there bro

 

Thanks man. I just keep thinking that it can get better, even though it keeps gets worse. I can't really face the reality that it stays the same or gets worse so every night I hope something changes when I sleep. I know I'm kinda naive in my thoughts but I have to think this way to survive. The other hope is that my next visit to the ent they find some physical damage that can be repaired. Again probably naive but I still keep hoping. Hoping and pushing through the long days is all I have

 

Tinnitus is awful. I took a bad fall jumping a wall. Hit my head on concrete. About a month later the ringing started in one ear. Ent said there was nothing wrong it was just timnitus. I wanted to smack him. Now for the last 2 years it has been always worse when I wake up but it is hissing. Non stop. I take zanax. Don't like too but I can function. It really stops. I have anxiety too.

 

@Telis oh I pray for you. I am having a hard time and I can't imagine what you describe

 

@Telis you do what you need to do to keep making it through day after day and I have to believe that somewhere down the road we'll have something to help us.
Keep battling stay strong
Carlos

 

No, it doesn't, my salary has more than doubled in the six years since my tinnitus got worse.

 

@Telis how could we help you? Do you have an idea?

 

I don't know if Potiga does anything with depression but supposedly it has lowered the tinnitus of some people on here. I checked out the tinnitus survey and some people rated it highly although it is a small sample of people. There is also some large discussions about it. It is a potassium channel opener. There supposedly more selective experiment drugs such as sf00034 and RL_84. You may want to talk to Bobby B on here because he seems to be fairly educated about these drugs. His profile page is here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/members/bobby-b.12444/

I really feel bad for you. That is terrible. I hope you get better and I am glad you still have hope.

 

Concentration for me is still a big issue. I'm improving but can't say I'm performing at the same level I was before getting T.

What has helped me in the past months was Massage - in the beginning I noticed I was very tense, I think massage was one of the first things that really helped me, and exercises that also work on focus and learning. I do Pilates and Tai Chi, I think it help me to get part of my concentration back.

I have to say, I had to force myself and still do. At the very beginning I knew my work was sub par - for the first time ever my work was considered bad. But I washed the tears and kept pushing. I think I cried 2 or 3 times the first time I read a whole book after getting T, but I try to keep pushing my boundaries and now I read almost everyday.

So yes, I'd say T impacts your work (depending on the kind of work you do), but I also know great professionals with T and they move forward (from the top of my head since getting T I know of a CEO, an academic researcher and an audiologist who have T, they all told me it doesn't interfere with their work anymore, but did in the beginning).

Best,
Zug

 

@Telis , I feel for you. I wish there was something we could do to make it better. What you describe definitely sounds well beyond what is typical tinnitus. I can only imagine how bad that must be.

I wonder if a cochlear implant could be an option for you? I don't remember offhand how bad your hearing loss is, but I'm thinking it doesn't meet typical CI criteria. But I do know it is sometimes implanted for people with severe tinnitus. Maybe you could get some kind of exception?

I'm actually interested in learning if a CI could benefit me. Not for T, but for hearing loss in my deaf ear. I have a consultation this Friday to go through some tests to see if there could be any benefit.

-Mike

 

Let me add, I didn't answer the Poll because I think it's a little bit like asking "Does Cancer kills". I think there are different kinds and levels of Tinnitus. After I got T both my parents told me they never get "full silence" (to their amusement, they never felt the need to say it out loud before). I guess some people would say they have T, but their T and my T are whole different beasts.

 

To those who say "yes" how do you get by? Tinnitus is not considered a disability in most places (even though I know it can be debilitating).

 

Don't just lie down and take it...Power through it. Everyone in this forum is suffering to one degree or another; You are not terminally unique. Eventually, with or without improvement, you will have more good days than bad. The good days will come sooner if you accept your situation and move forward with stubborn determination. Yes, there will be bad days when you can barely function at work, but you can work, in some capacity or another. Staying productive and practicing gratitude on a daily basis would be a good start. Don't be the drug addict who excuses his miserable situation and moral compromise with "what do you expect...I'm a drug addict?"

 

Beware of CIs! Their main side effect is causing T. But no one selling CIs will tell you! It's the dirty secret of the CI manufacturers and physicians.
Moreover, CI is not comparable with normal hearing everything sounds robotic!

You sound like tiny T. No offense, but if you had bad T, you wouldn't state this.

You gotta find a psychiatrist willing to write down some mental disorder in your profile report. Or be rich.

 

You sound like tiny T. No offense, but if you had bad T, you wouldn't state this.[/QUOTE]

You nor anyone else has any concept of how "bad" my or anyone else's T is, just as I/we cannot know exactly what you are experiencing. We're all different with respect to T, hoping to find some solace, comfort, and perhaps some resources to cope with our own, personal condition. "tiny T?"... give me a break. The more you explore this chronic condition, I am confident that you will discover just how little you, I, or fellow afflicted persons know.

 

I certainly know little, but I know some have it really bad. Thus, staying productive as in work for a living is realistically impossible for them.

You don't say to a wheelchair bound person, "Hey, just keep on walking would be a good start."

 

Please don't compare me to a junky, I have debilitating tinnitus, H and ear pain, not a lack of motivation or whatever it is you are going on about, save the patronizing for someone else.

I do what I need to do to survive, you do what you need to do. If you feel better about your small self by acting like a big man online keep doing it. And if my ears get bashed up and I can no longer endure it, I will seek silence for some relief. If I have to do this everyday, I will do it. I don't need to beat myself up over it. And I have a physical injury to my ear/head, how the hell do you know that I'm not supposed be resting and in the quiet anyway genius?

I am honest about what is happening in my life, I'm man enough to admit it, but at the same time I don't need to be judged by some online hero.

I find guys like you that flap your mouth, act great, walk around telling people what to do and talking a big game are ALWAYS the weakest and the absolute worst people to take advise from.

 

When you go to the ENT ask him about hearing aids and if they could help. I am wondering if they could get hearing aids that plug your ear completely. Basically, they make a custom mold and attach it to the end of the hearing aid. Then ask if the amplification could be clipped at a very low dB. For example, mine are not supposed to amplify above 90 dB but yours would have to be significantly lower. The idea is that the aids will let you take in sound but protect you from loud sounds. I don't know if this would be too much for you but maybe a very low masking sound would help a little. Again I don't know if the hearing aids can do such a thing but it might be worth asking about. I really hope you get better soon.

 

Thx Dana. No I don't know. If it were just getting up and going like some people think I would do it. My symptoms are getting worse. I was up playing tennis almost everyday but I get dizzy, headaches, strange things with vision and the worst of all ear pain and hearing loss. I can be playing and loose hearing in my right ear completely at times. I don't know, I'm going back to see another ent here soon. Not really sure what is right and wrong, my symptoms improve if I do nothing so do I keep pushing? I don't know.

 

Hey, I was just curious. How did this all start? Also, is it possible they could do a CT scan on your brain?

 

I asked my doctor about hearing aids and he said to wait, he thinks there could be some damage to the tiny bones in the ear or something along those lines. My hearing is all over the place, today I can barely hear a thing in my right ear. Anyway they will further investigate. I'm going to a specialist (ent) just waiting for an appointment.