18 Year Old; Starting War with Tinnitus

Hello all.

I'm eighteen, and working hard on some projects I intend to make a living from someday.

Two years ago I got tinnitus when I followed a lucid dream technique where you cycle through the different senses and focus on them for minutes at a time.

Yeah, bad idea.

Won't describe that that much. The takeaway is that it stayed with me.

At first I went through quite a lot of emotional turmoil. It really got to me. Most problems in life I can deal with quite well by 'retreating' from them intellectually, and looking at them in third-person or the like. Or entering and exiting 'defense mode' for an issue in situations where it's present.

Of course, that doesn't work that well with our good friend tinnitus. He sits right where you are and makes himself louder the more you think about him. (not permanently--but still...)

Anyway, I got over that initial fear and anxiety portion, and can actually function fine now. It doesn't ruin my life. I'm still mad at it though, because it removes a lot of the good resting I like, and also, it's distracting. The first is bad because it removes some of the nice parts of life, and the second is bad because it limits your achievements.

Because of that, I'm making plans to deal with him. He's in the way of my projects, and so one of my projects has now become defeating him. I intend to spend many hours studying this topic as a side project over the years, producing experiments and tools to understand and control it.

Most likely, professional researchers will come up with solutions faster than I will. But hey, it won't hurt--and it's possible I will be able to come up with something. Anyway, it helps make me more relaxed about the topic, knowing I'm doing something about it.

Here's the actual thread for the project: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-noise-experiments-project.7752

Anyway, thanks all for making such a great community! I find a lot of comfort in reading through all your experiences and thoughts on the topic, and look forward to doing what I can to try to help understand and eventually manage it better.

 

Welcome to the board, Venryx. You are a distinguished 18 for sure. You have a lofty dream to beat T with your research someday. Not many 18ers will have such goal in life. Hope you find success with this.