12 Months Into Tinnitus: Closer to Habituation

First of all... thanks to all of you for your stories as this has helped me immensely.

Onset for me began 12 months ago (a constant tight high pitched noise of which I can hear over most things... even my wife telling me off)

I'm 40 years old. Perfectly healthy. Take no medication and take vitamins & minerals.
Work in an office environment.

I have been through all the horror that you are / have experienced in terms of anxiety... no sleep etc etc....

I wouldn't say I am completely habituated but I am getting there and I am trying to be positive about this infliction and this is coming from a glass half empty kind of guy.

I have seen an ENT specialist and I was advised that there is no physical cause of the tinnitus that they can see and it was indicated that it could have been earbuds that caused the tinnitus although in my opinion I rarely used them...

After leaving the ENT meeting and knowing there is no know cure I thought to myself take one step at a time i.e. sleep deprivation causes untold health issues so if I can resolve this that's half the battle....

I'm not saying this will work for everybody but I began to exercise. I began to cycle 5 miles a day on an exercise bike which I did for 3 months... this helped me tremendously with my sleep... I have now stopped using the bike (for no reason other than laziness) and I cannot keep my eyes open when my head hits the pillow now.... if you can fix the sleeping trouble in my mind that's half the battle... yes the noise is annoying during the day but with sleep it's more bearable...

During the initial few weeks I was thrashing out in bed with hot sweats through anxiety but now I sleep 8 hours a night... something must of clicked in my mind that allows me to fall asleep and telling myself the following has helped:

This is what I keep telling myself to keep calm...

This is not terminal cancer.
People are far worse off than you.
It's just a noise that cannot harm you... although annoying.

You get my point...!

I appreciate there are different levels to this but you are not alone... my noise is annoying as heck... my wife even said to me the other day 'oh are you still having issues with tinnitus' and this is because I don't talk to anybody about it because for me talking about my tinnitus is allowing it to win...

I get the odd quiet day every 2 or 3 weeks at the moment and I look forward to those days.
I will re-post if things improve...

Keep positive and stay strong...

Thanks for "listening".

 

Congratulations @Marcus80.

As someone who has been into this for a lot longer than I have, do you have any tips for beating insomnia? I’ve been experiencing it for almost a month since tinnitus started. I haven’t taken any pills or any counseling, I’ve been distant from my friends and I’m not doing anything other than searching for a cause and a treatment. But mostly, I limit myself because no matter how tired I get in the day, I can’t seem to switch off at night which is excruciating. I wholeheartedly agree with you that if one can sleep deep for 8 hours without issues, it’s winning half the battle indeed.

 

I'm no expert as I'm merely talking from personal experience but if you're able to exercise and make your physical being tired that's what helped for me. If you're physically tired hopefully you should drift off to sleep. Initially I was taking sleeping tablets for the first 2 weeks but then thought to myself I cannot take sleeping tablets for a long period because no good will come of that so took up exercise.
Like you I have searched for treatments / solutions etc etc but gave up with that prospect.

I have now accepted that this has happened and it's happened to me... I cannot turn the clock back but even if I could I'm still not 100% what the cause was....

For me exercise and then the realisation that apart from the noise I am perfectly healthy and I should be grateful...

Also try and carry on with your life as normal with your friends etc because this will increase your wellbeing... do not let it win...

 

Congrats to you @Marcus80. I think I had a few minutes yesterday of not thinking about tinnitus. Hopefully I can continue this route while still trying to figure this thing out. I wish you continued success.

 

And you mate... don't beat yourself up about it...
All the best.

 

Hi @donotringatme

I empathize with you. Sleep was (and often still is) a big problem since my tinnitus started 5 months ago. I would wake up every 2 hours and then struggled to return to sleep. I tried prescription (Trazadone) and the over-the-counter (Tylenol, Unison) products. They would give me about 3-4 hours and then stopped working after 2-3 nights, leaving me groggy with my tinnitus feeling worse (louder). A friend recommended 3mg melatonin which I started about a month ago. After the first week, I noticed a gradual improvement. Some nights, I would sleep 5 hours and I felt much better in the morning. It doesn't work every night, but it gave me confidence that I could control my tinnitus. Everyone is different, so it is worth a shot for you.

 

Thank you very much @DominicZ. I am adding it to my arsenal haha. I think at this stage, medication will be more beneficial than harmful.

 

Hey @Marcus80, when you say you get the odd quiet days, do you mean it’s actually quiet in volume? or you just don’t notice it because of habituation?

 

Hi @n_li808,

This may sound strange but I think quiet in volume. I say think... because it's been 12 months now so not sure if it's my mind playing tricks with me but to check I put a finger in both ears to block out all external sound and I can hear slight tinnitus in the distance so for me it's quiet and not habituated.When my tinnitus first began I had some vertigo also which dispersed after 3 weeks and the fact that I get the occasional quiet day I am hopeful in time the tinnitus will leave me. When a work colleague learned I had tinnitus he said he had tinnitus which faded for him after 3 and a half years and hes was caused by the misuse of headphones...

 

Hello @Marcus80 , thank you for sharing your thoughts. I too have had tinnitus for a year now, and although I’m coming to terms with it, I still have bad days when I feel like shouting at the world. I would say I generally have 2 good days a week, 2 bad days and the rest mediocre. My noise seems to move about, and the nearer to the front, the louder it sounds. I agree that lack of sleep definitely makes it worse, as does stress. Unfortunately these things can’t always be controlled. I’ve been told my tinnitus is caused by mild hearing loss which is age related.

 

Hi Pat,

I'm exactly the same in terms of a mixture of emotions over the course of days... however compared to where I was after the initial onset versus now I'm in such a better place. The noise for me seems to move around also and drops and changes in level sometimes. I'm still hopeful that it repairs and leaves me but I am in a better place psychologically. I have made a promise to myself... I will never never never ever wear any type of headphones again and will wear the ear plugs I bought in all cloud environments. I am taking this as a warning as I know people on this platform have far worse tinnitus than me... all the best with your recovery... You're not alone