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Had all the nasty parts, reactive, hyperacusis and not even close to maskable. No pain though…

Hi, am not here that often because I consider myself cured. Let me know if I can help in any way😊

@billie48, thanks for the encouraging words! I have seen you around here from my early days with tinnitus and always deeply appreciated your positive attitude. If I could pass on just a fraction of that on to new members, it would mean the world to me!

I did turn this around 2 times with white noise generators and so can you. Unfortunately there is no quick fix. You have to give it time.

My tinnitus high-pitched and very unstable. It is not masked by anything but the shower. Sometimes not even that. My audiogram is fine up to 6000 Hz so it doesn't typically interfere with my hearing. In my early days I could not stand anything like frying pans, vacuums, fans, etc. My tinnitus...

It took me well over a year until I started to see signs of improvement. 2 years until I forgot my 3M Peltor earmuffs every time I went away from my home, and 3 years until I started to forget putting in my white noise generators every morning. The white noise generators saved me. At first it...

There is no magic with the Sound Oasis. It is just a decent speaker with a sound catalog. Any good speaker would do. Pick a sound that you like and do not put the speaker too close. For me sound stimulation during the day was far more important than during the night. Sound stimulation is the key...

To me there is no general rule for benzos. We all seem to be very different. For me they were a lifesaver. Once I got my panic under control, it was ok to slowly taper. I still use a small amount and it is of no concern to me. There are only a handful medications that might work for severe...

I used Ativan and Ambien for many years on and off. It worked well for me and did not affect my tinnitus. When at my lowest point, I popped 3-4 1/2 tablets to get me through the night. Once I got my stress under control, it was not too big of a deal to slowly taper. I tried Remeron as well but...

Hyperacusis and reactive tinnitus can get much better over time. I was so bad that I needed to use 3M Peltor earmuffs inside at home when the neighbor cut his lawn 3 houses away. My life was a complete mess. Now I just use 3M soft earplugs occasionally. I am still extremely careful with loud...

I am here to give hope. I lived more than a decade with severe reactive tinnitus, and for many years endured with bad hyperacusis as well. I live a normal family life now with few limitations. I lost many years to nothing but suffering. If I only then knew what I know now. Life can be as...

No, I did not. But except for that I tried pretty much everything. For me an SSRI and benzo worked fine, but did not do too much for the tinnitus sound itself.

I cut grass for 30 years without any problems and no hearing protection. Most ears can handle this but once your ears are weak, you have to be really careful. I assume you got something like this: Popular Mechanics: The Best Zero-Turn Mowers I changed all my lawns to use Husqvarna robotic...

The goal of treating severe tinnitus should always be that you can learn to live a good life despite your diagnosis. For the ones that suffer the most, that seems to be an illusion and all you can think of is to get your silence back. It takes many years to change that mindset. Trying to sell...

And do not blame yourself too much about that. That is how life can be from time to time. Take it day by day and week by week and improvement will come.

@gameover, I have been exactly where you are now. I am your age, married with 3 grown up kids. I know things can be turned around. You need to get your compulsive orientation out of your system. Once at rock bottom, people kept saying the same thing to me. It was all just an illusion for me...

I will try to explain this better. After 12 months with sound generators: Overall mood: Significantly better. Reactive tinnitus: Much better. Sound sensitivity: Better, I used to use soft earplugs 24/7. Now I only use them in the city and when driving my car. Tinnitus: Same or a small...

All I can say is that this is by far not a linear improvement. Even though I had had great success with sound generators in the past, it took me well over 6 months until I knew for sure that I was going in the right direction. And now after 12 months I feel a dramatic change for the better.

Yes, I would say that I am still improving. Day by day. It took me well over 12 months of consistent use of sound generators to get where I am now.

I have been around here for almost 10 years. For the second time, I have been treating my severe reactive tinnitus with sound generators with great successes. I now have longer moments where I do not think of my tinnitus at all. I am by far not tinnitus free but I do not live my life in pain...

Being outside. Family chatting. TV on low volume seems to be ok as well.

I agree. Digital noise is by far the worst. I hate those speakerphones that we have in the conference room. I try to stick to natural sounds.

Yes, I very much do. High pitched, unstable, unmaskable as well. The reactive part is the reason I come to Tinnitus Talk at all. I have a lot of friends and family with tinnitus without the reactiveness and they do not seem to care too much. I was basically dysfunctional for 6 months knocking...

Travis, I know you have been going trough a really rough time. I have been there too and know the pain. I think we have some similarities. I messed up bad with LLLT. If I remember correctly, you had a similar experience? It is possible that we both messed up our tiny nerves in the cochlea in a...

I actually think that my tinnitus is a little bit worse compared to when I started with sound generators. To me it is all about reaction. I will have to deal with my tinnitus for the rest of my life. It took me 10 years with severe tinnitus to come to that conclusion. Sound generators, a benzo...

Even if @Michael Leigh could come out as being a bit intolerant, he is very sincere in promoting sound generators for severe reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis. I suffered bad from both. Anyway, those sound generators gave my my life back. It could be quite a challenge to start with sound...

@DeanD, yes, quite bad hyperacusis. I used to protect inside of my house from some quite normal sound coming in from the surroundings.

@ErikaS, as you've been reading, I had some severe tinnitus periods a couple of times after stupid noise incidents. A few times i totally lost faith in life. My tinnitus used to be exactly like yours, reacting badly to anything, like frying pans, vacuums and hair dryers. Out of everything I ever...

@Eleanor89, @MindOverMatter, @Michael Leigh: Hope you all are fine :) I just want to thank you for giving me support when I needed it the most. I have been using the sound generators now for 8 months with some good results. The reactiveness and the sound sensitiveness are definitely better but...

Keith, this is what I am using, very easy settings and can do both white and pink noise:

@Kevin4444, I don’t think this is too much of a problem but long term it is not a good idea. Having said that, I have been using Zopiclone and Oxazepam daily for 6 months. I am about to taper. So far it does not seem to be too much of a problem. I would prefer Zopiclone over Alprazolam because...

@RadioKid722, and how much did your tinnitus improve with B1? Do most environments mask it now? Thanks!

@RadioKid722, so happy for your success! What product were you exactly taking? Where did you order it from? What type of tinnitus do you have? Head? Ears? Stable? Unstable?

@Chinmoku, I admire your focus to pull this off with severe disabling tinnitus. I sincerely hope this works for you.

How did you treat your hyperacusis? Sound generators?

It was a big struggle to get going with the sound generators but I think it is slowly improving. Mine is reactive to all types of fans, frying pans etc. I think I improved 5-10 dB in a month in tolerance.

Seems quite similar to mine. Mine is also reactive. I am treating it with pink noise for a month now. Still too early to say but I have a feeling that it gets thinner and thinner.

Michael, you know I am a great supporter and highly appreciate you advice. I just have one question. Even you must have had your doubts about TRT when you were at your lowest?

One thing that I noticed after starting to use the sound generators daily is that my tinnitus changes a lot more. From ringing to hissing to more like morse code. Always very unstable pattern. Sometimes maskable by faucet, sometimes not. I also have the normal 10-15 second intensive tone...

@bikerbandito, good to meet you! How would you best describe your tinnitus?Pure tone? Unstable? High pitched? Cicadas? Morse code? Hissing?

How many hours of sleep do you get every night? Have you considered Z-drugs or benzos? I use that in combination with an SSRI. As you know, benzos can be hard to stop with but once you get your tinnitus under control it should be fairly easy for most people.

@Michael Leigh, you often mention the risk about setting your sound generators too high (masking tinnitus or close to masking). What about the opposite? Is it possible to set them too low?

@BrysonKingMe, thanks for reporting back to us. Means a lot! What type and how much of benzo are you using? I have used two types, Zopiclone 10 mg for sleep and Oxazepam 30-40 mg. I stopped the shortest acting Zopiclone, and now only use 15-20 mg Oxazepam. I am somewhat better. I think the...

We might be 50 people active here on Tinnitus Talk with really severe tinnitus. It must be at least 100,000 people with that diagnosis per year in the world. Would we be the few unlucky ones immune to standard treatment for severe tinnitus, meaning sound enrichment and counseling? I am not too...

This means that you should never try to mask severe tinnitus. It might just make your condition worse. The sound generators should be set very low (but still very audible) and far from masking your tinnitus.

@Michael Leigh, in a lot of aspects of life I am very fortunate and I also got a lot of loved ones. I need to keep remembering that when at the bottom. Thanks again!

The catastrophic days are really a challenge to handle. I get paralyzed pretty much for a full day. How to learn to live with that?

@Michael Leigh, you are perfectly right. After 2 good days (tinnitus 3-5), I am having a setback (tinnitus 7-8). The old bad intrusive reactive one. I just need to figure out what could be causing the worsening? My SSRI? My small dose of benzo? Sleeping position? Too much sound exposure (I do...

@Wrfortiscue, will you have any amplification on your sound generators? Mine are very simple. I can choose white or pink noise and volume up and down. For now I set them so I clearly hear them in a quite room but not more. My tinnitus is fluctuating a lot. From an intrusive unstable hissing to a...

@Eleanor89, I also felt that my ears were exhausted in the beginning. It is not too bad anymore. I just kept telling myself it was similar to exercise pain. I think I will try to raise the volume of the sound generators soon to build up sound tolerance even more. Just I few months ago I could...

That´s good news. Are you on any meds? Did you start on the sound generators yet? I think sound generators would be the best way to get full control. As you know, I struggled a lot to be able to use them for longer periods of time. I did quit several times. Now I almost feel naked without...

Tinnitus wise I had my best day today in a very long time. I have a lot less reactivity and sound sensitivity. It could be the sound generators starting to do their job. Also starting to think that benzos might make things worse. I did cut out all the fastest acting benzos like Zopiclone. I only...

Hi @Stacken77. I think my sound generators still make my tinnitus a little worse at the end of the day. I try not to think to much about it. It requires quite some dedication to start using sound generators with severe reactive tinnitus. To manage the stress involved using them, I had to go back...

Happy that you got some relief in Korea even if it did not help with the reactive part. Let's hope there is some more effect to come later. What type of tinnitus do you think will have the best effect of the Korean treatment? I think reactive tinnitus is related to some nerve damage of the...

@DaveFromChicago, that might be the weakest point of TRT. The counseling is given by an audiologist: They are simply not a trained professional in counseling like a psychiatrist. To me the strongest part of TRT has always been the sound generators and how to use and set them. They are doing...

@DaveFromChicago, just curious, is it cost involved with TRT that makes you negative or is it sound enrichment and counselling in general?

Michael, Did you use sound generators the second time around for 4 years? How long did it take before you noticed any improvement? First time around I used sound generators for one year with good success. Thanks, David

Michael, I know this was a long time ago but do you remember if the improvments was linear or did you see most benefits in the late part of the treatment?

@Silentreign, I take a SSRI called Escitalopram. I also take a benzo called Oxazepam (but not too much anymore). For sleeping I take Zopiclone. You should also consider the sound generators.

@Silentreign, I also have a terrible reactive tinnitus. I am treating it with sound generators and a high dose of SSRI. Just almost stopped all benzos that was essential in the first few months. I think things are slowly improving for me. Back to work for the last few days and have less panic.