So anyway finally filled our pool went swimming this past Sunday, me and the wife on a hot Sunday afternoon....on my first dive under the water my left ear sounded like it was shooting darts 3 distinct PHHT PHHT PHHT thought nothing of it, nexd time under the water this time it was a distinct CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK, and again thought nothing of it, both sounds came from my left ear and I was having a moderate sound day. The next dive swam underwater to deep end and pulled up onto the side coming up from water, I grabbed the edge of the pool and looked at my wife....I began blubbering like a 1o year old my wife looked at me and asked what's wrong? I looked at her and quietly blubbered quiet. She looked at me and her eyes got huge as she understood what I was blubbering about, I held the side of the pool tears stearming from my eyes....heard nothing the my lone thought quiet....for the first time in 9 crazy maddening months...quiet. 15 seconds later my noise came back really low and stayed low for another 4 hours before it began to ramp up again to an all out spike, that spike lasted from Sunday till tuesday morning at 330 when I got up for work But I had 15 seconds of only one thought .....quiet. I have to tell you also it messed me up emotionaly the next day also, I had to try to keep myself together while I was at work had many moments of eyes welling up....15 seconds of absolute silence caused me to blubber. It was the first time in 9 months that when other than sleeping I was quiet. I consider myself to be of sound mind and body even with the noise in my head but how 15 seconds almost broke me down to a puddle of tears is mind boggleing. I have accepted the fact that this isn't going anywhere soon and that I will just learn to deal with it and accept it as part of my life at this time...after it's just a noise and it can't hurt me. I've been in the pool since my 15 seconds and there was no change either way so I'll just have to continue on with my life with my pal...tinnitus. Not sur if the 15 seconds was a gift or a curse or tease, or at best case I've started to habituate to my noise..but I'll just trudge along. I wasn't going to post this but my wife said it would help to let others Know about my 15 Seconds... Thanks Danny
Fifteen seconds of silence would be a wonderful thing!! I'm glad you shared this story, Danny. Maybe that means there is habituation going on. Thanks for posting!
Danny, I agree with Karen. It sounds like you're habituating! I once had my noise stop at 4 am--after a particularly obnoxious evening. It just slowed for a few minutes then stopped. I'm not sure how long I stayed quiet, but within a few minutes it began again, though this time it was calmer. The experience convinced that tinnitus is powered by some type of electro-chemical switch. Figuring out that switch and its mechanisms of action will lead to a cure. What turns on, must turn off!
Karen, Didn't you habituate once before taking that ototoxic drug in 2010? If you did habituate, did you still hear your tinnitus? Or did it no longer bother you? I believe I'm heading in the latter camp, but my tinnitus is also getting lower--just not consistently. I'm like click. My tinnitus flucuates.
Hi, @jazz, Yes, I had habituated to my tinnitus (which was noise-caused) before I took that ototoxic drug. What was it like? Well, I could hear my tinnitus when I listened for it in a quiet room, but it was not bothersome at all. It's as if you put it totally out of your mind. Back then, I could sleep, too, without being at all bothered by my tinnitus. Mine was continuous back then, and it is continuous now. It just wasn't in the forefront of my mind. I like what you said above about there being an electro-chemical switch, and that figuring out what activates that switch might lead to a cure!
@Karen. Thanks! Your habituation might be the most common. I've been asking people who've habituated--including three in my own family and two friends. The time to habituate varied, though it was usually a few years. But most could still hear their tinnitus in a quiet room or if they asked "Where is it?" Of course, no one asks that question once it gets quiet, anyway! I'm glad you agree about the switch!
Hey Karen, Jazz: Just curious: Do those you know who habituated initially have panic or anxiety reactions to their tinnitus? I feel like I am wrestling two monsters right now -- the anxiety and the tinnitus "sound" -- and wonder if the first will impact my ability to habituate. I am working both ends of the problem, though. My T came on in early May, the anxiety started about two-three weeks later. And thanks for your story, Danny. Your wife is right; it does inspire me to hang in there.
LadyDi, Karen can speak to this from experience! But I know that anxiety is a normal reaction to tinnitus. I was a wreck for about two months: didn't eat, couldn't sleep, total panic mode! But, while normal, anxiety also helps the tinnitus become more established. This means you need to work on both--calming your anxiety and working on your tinnitus. You are still in the acute stage; it could go away at anytime. Remember that! You might see someone for antidepressants. I believe most also help with anxiety. Drugs like Klonopin directly affect anxiety, but they have unwanted side effects and may be difficult to discontinue. For many people, understanding the disease and knowing it will not hurt them aids in calming anxiety. Combining understanding along with developing a plan to deal with your tinnitus should go a long way to helping you get on the right path. As you know, TT is full of good information on drugs, supplements, and therapies. I would add, however, to go to an audiologist and check your hearing. Even if you only have a slight dip in the frequencies most implicated in tinnitus--the 4 hz through 8 hz--you should get hearings aids. They've really helped me, and my hearing is generally very good with a slight dip in the tinnitus frequencies. And remember to avoid silence! That is critical in the beginning. Here are three quick sources to get you started, the last is how to read an audiogram: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsl...s-ringing-in-the-ears-and-what-to-do-about-ithttps://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/success-stories-tell-me-it-gets-better-pls.1735/http://www.wou.edu/education/sped/wrocc/HT Read Audiogram web.pdf
OK I'm open to any suggestions, you may be right might just of been a fluke...don't know but I enjoyed every second of it...and as of this posting enjoying my 15 seconds, as brief as it may have been. Danny
Mine stops almost completely every once in a while. Don't know if it's minutes, an hour, or more, as I have learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth. If I notice it's really low or almost completely unnoticable, I try to think about something else. It ALWAYS comes back, so figure I better get the most out of those times. Every once in a while I'll think to myself, "wow, I had a really good day today," then come to the realization that the T was completely in the background most of the time; hardly noticable. But there's the thing...just by recognizing that it's been low or even gone for a while, that switch to cognitive recognition, brings it back to the forefront. I've found it best to just keep moving; recognize it's there where unavoidable, then pass it off as just one more element of the day.
Just once... only once... I actually forgot that I had tinnitus. It was during a day when it had gone completely for over 3 hours. I appreciate every minute of silence but I still feel that it's harder to habituate when it fluctuates from nothing at all to screaming. Even even when mine has gone I still have to listen for it... if I don't listen, how will I know that it really isn't there? Back at the start of this horrid experience someone said something to me that I thought was crazy. He said that he didn't want his tinnitus to go away because he'd always be waiting for it to come back. I don't feel the same way but I can now understand what he meant.
TT should send all the "silence moment stories" and other positive posts to a shared T science database. Doesn't every medical science and research field have a global database for things like this? The answer to curing this thing could very well be hidden in the midsts of our experiences.
Hi Danny, I think that's fantastic news! Wow, what a treat for you and your wife that must have been. Whether or not it was habituation, I think the most exciting part of your experience is that if you can have that 15 seconds of silence then what's to say the next event won't be 30 seconds then perhaps a minute and so on until maybe one day the silence just "is". If you get me? On a side note, your wife sounds lovely, what a great support! @jazz - Boy do I know what you mean there. Every once in a while when I wake up I will suddenly realize that my T has been quiet for maybe a minute or so but as soon as that realization sets in it flips a switch and bam, the T is back. I have gone to such lengths as jump out of bed in a frenzy and run into my kitchen yelling "Don't think of it! Don't think of it!" (I hope the neighbours weren't privy to that performance ) but alas, once that very first miniscule moment of realization occurs I can't seem to go back.
The brain is a very complicated thing, it can mess with you. No silence since then but I'm good with that, maybe I'll fluke out again, I can only hope
