16 Weeks Into This. Need Tips from the Pro's.

Hi guys.

Let me introduce myself: I was happy at the Gym someday and the guy behind trowed his weights one over the other. There was this loud high pitched sound, I felt something weird in my ears and surprise! Some days later I got high pitch tinnitus on both ears. I don't think it's especially loud. I own a Japanese, car and it's a little over the engine noise (maybe if I get a muscle car I'll be happier), and a little over my refrigerator engine, but it's "piercing" enough that I can hear it between dialogues, music, even over the water sound I use when I'm tying to sleep (needless to say, sleep is hard because whichever side I turn, I'll make the noise louder when I rest my ear on the pillow). I also got some hyperacusis and live in Latin America. You know the bad side of the tradition of girls kissing you on the cheek when they meet you? The pain I get in my ears every time I meet someone.

Ok, I've done the whole "I hate my life, oh my god why is this happening to me" routine for the past 4 months and now I'm looking for a way out of this misery. I have a home office and was used to working in silence (I even have double glassed windows at my house). So, now you get my problem. Some people around here give me the impression on doing this "habituation" stuff really well. If it's not too much, could you guys share some tips on how you do to keep working, concentrating, relaxing and reading (I really miss reading a book). You know, the stuff I used to call my life?

Thank you so much. The "Success stories" on this site are a really life saver, I'm far from being there, but hope to be soon enough.

Best to you all, Zug.

 

4 months in is still pretty early for habituation to be honest, especially "full fledged" habituation. Are you at least having brief periods of time where you don't notice the T?

 

HI @MidnightOilAudio , not at all. I hear it all the time.

 

Well, if you hear it all the time, you're clearly not habituated yet (or else you wouldn't have also created a thread asking for tips!).

I can only speak from personal experience, but only very brain-heavy tasks would capture my attention away from T in the beginning. I do some engineering work of the visual kind (as well as the audio kind) and I use a 3D modeling software program called SolidWorks for that. When I get really into a project, I forget about my T for long periods of time.

In my case, it would start out small. 1 minute. Then 2 minutes. Then 5. I still think about it at least a few times every other hour or so though. The key for me, is that when I DO think about it, I don't get as down or anxious as I did when it first appeared (I'm roughly 7 months in).

 

Thank you @MidnightOilAudio! Do you use some masker to tune out or just engaging the mind is good enough?

 

The only masking I use is music. I find that if I use "white noise" it sounds of rain and stuff, that when I turn it off, my T seems more noticeable. Music doesn't have that effect on me (at sane listening levels, of course).

 

Thanks a lot man!

 

Welcome @Zug to TT. Yes, habituation will take some time. The more the initial traumatic suffering, the bigger imprint the subconscious thinks that T is a threat. The T signal is processed and handled by the Amygdala which tends to cause us to function in fight or flight mode of the limbic system. The more calm and positive you are, the less stressful it will be to the brain. Stress and anxiety are toxic to T, as the brain learns from your response that T is a still a threat, and as such it will zoom in on T all the time, causing it to be perceived much louder and intrusive.

We tell newer members to try to get back to living and to pursue interesting projects or hobbies to help distract from T. The brain is tired and dying to have some interesting stimuli to regenerate its energy. Doing distracting things will help do that. The more we get to reclaim our life and have some fun back, the sooner the brain will learn through your actions that T is not a threat even though it is annoying. When the brain finally after some time learn to fade T out with more and longer duration, then the brain will finally realize that one can still live life and enjoy it with T. If you don't emotionally resist your reality, the brain will get the clue from you that T is livable. With that, slowly the brain will not react so negatively and will learn to accept life with T eventually, and habituation will occur slowly but surely. God bless your recovery.

 

Thanks so much @billie48 ! Looking back, the first 2 ENT's I went to shoot me down with the "There's nothing you can do, live with it." Those guys put me in panic mode. It was only when I decided "The hell with this", searched for an ENT who specialized in T (had to go to another city for the consultation), that I started to realize that I was making myself worst and started looking for ways to bring my anxiety down. Looks like a lot of people go through this, it's not like I believe those ENT's gave me T, but I do believe those professionals do not realize that they put me in a bad place.

My girlfriend, thanks god, made me start Tai chi classes twice a week and is also dragging me to the Gym a couple of days a week. Now, every time I start getting worried I just put anything on netflix and try to take my mind of the T.

I'll take your advice and look for more interesting things to do.

Thanks so much. It means a lot to me.