2 Years with Tinnitus — I Returned to My Normal Life

Hi!

I’m a 21 year old man. I have always been that guy that didn’t care at all for loud music and sounds. But one day, for around two and a half year ago I woke up, and there was this high pitched tone in one of my ears. I have had it before, but that was after I had been to the nightclub, concerts and so on. But it always disappeared during the night. But this time, I haven’t been to any concert or so, I just woke up and had this tone in one of my ear. I was told that it was going to disappear within a week or so, but it never did…

My first 4 months were very hard, I got like depressed, how am I supposed to live with this? I thought about it every minute I was awake. I started to feel like it gets worse and worse. During these months I started to quit a lot of things that I thought was fun, stopped going out with friends and so on… This was the hardest part for me, that I couldn’t do what I thought was fun in my life, so maybe not the sound itself.

But one month after a half year or so, I decided that I can’t live with this anymore. I just started to live my normal life as I did before my tinnitus. Of course it was not just over one day, but I started to go back to my normal routines more and more.

It took me around 1 year to get back to my normal routines, to live my life as before. The only thing that is different now is that I always have earplugs with me if I feel like the noise is to loud.

Today, more than two years later I still have my tinnitus, I can still hear it. I don’t know if it is worse or better, but it’s probably around the same level. The thing is that when you are going back to your normal life, you stop caring about your tinnitus more and more because it doesn’t affect your life quality anymore. During the day I don’t notice my tinnitus at all, well I do it sometimes but 95% of the time I don’t. The only time I hear it is when I am going to sleep or I am alone in a quiet room. I hear it but I don’t care, it’s like a background noise that is a part of me now. It’s not harmful, it’s just a sound.

And yes I am going to nightclubs and things like that now, but I wear earplugs. I know that a lot of people here is against stuff like that. But hey, it’s an important thing for me, I’m young and want to have fun with my friends. And it hasn’t affected my tinnitus at all. But who knows, maybe it get worse some day? Maybe it gets worse even if I’m not doing stuff like that? But I don’t want to sit there when I’m old and regret things that I never did.

Why I wanted to write this was because when I had problems and anxiety with my tinnitus I said to myself that I am going to write a post on the day I am better, so I can help other people come to the point I am today.

So my tip is to you, start living your life as you did before. Or at least live the life as you think it should be. And one thing that actually helped me is that I stopped reading this forum when I had gotten the help I wanted. Because if you are reading here everyday, you will think about your tinnitus more.

Feel free to ask anything you want! I will be happy to answer your questions

 

With tinnitus do you also experience sensitivity to sound, or noise induced pain?

What about jaw pain, facial numbness, these problems ocan go together after noise induced hearing damage and are not frequently talked about. I'm trying to figure out symptoms that go with tinnitus people aren't talking about or may not realize go with tinnitus.

 

I feel more sensitivity to sounds now, but I don't actually know if that is because I care more about my ears now or not. But I haven't felt any jaw pain or facial numbness, or I haven't recognized any change in that at least. In the beginning I got jaw pain after I had slept, because I "pressed" my teeth during the night. But I think that was because I was so stressed in the beginning and "pressing teeth" during the night and stress goes together.

 

Was your somatic? Could you change the loudness by moving your neck or jaw?

 

Did you have a history of jaw pain before the incident?

 

I have no idea what somatic means. If I bite hard the sound is peaking a little bit. Can that be one of the causes?

No

 

Sort of. What about moving your neck? If you move your neck all the way left or right does it make it louder? Just want to see if it's the same as mine?

 

Hmmmm if I stretch my neck hard to the left or right it change to sound a little bit. But not that much, it's more if I clench my teeths

 

Thanks for this! Very helpful! How loud was/is your tinnitus, is it maskable?

 

Low sound doesn't mask it, but medium sound does.

 

What would you rate the loudness? 1 out of 10?

 

Maybe 6 or something like that.

 

6 is still pretty loud compared to mine. At 2 year mark I could barely notice my tinnitus. After 30 months, I am getting more and more complete silent days now with on and off very very mild hissing. Mine is not noise induced and not somatic either. Hope you will get better and better.

 

Thank you Johan for posting an update on your success of dealing with tinnitus. I am a month and a half in with mine ( high pitched ring in right ear) and I am struggling so much. I am looking for people with stories like yours to give me some hope but of course on this site I see a lot of despair and depression and it makes me feel so much worse. I know I need to stop reading these forums but today I just needed to read some success stories. Anyway I appreciate you taking the time to post again.

 

@Alynngirl is yours somatic? Can you modulate it by neck and jaw movement?

 

No, it’s a steady ringing.

 

Thanks for sharing your story. I’m so glad you found peace with your tinnitus. That’s life changing. I’ve only had Mine for two months and I obsess over how I got it because I don’t know what caused it., it never goes away( high pitch tone in both ears) and I’m always checking on it., like is it still there? is it better? is it worse? Why? . It consumes me. But I realize positive self talk helps. Like you said,, it’s not dangerous I’m not dying, it’s ok it’s just annoying noise. I have to keep telling myself this. I also just bought ear plugs just in case I need them for any reason. I really hope there will be a cure for this. This is my hope for all sufferers.

 

What brand of earplugs do you own?

 

Great advice! This is exactly what I did. It is okay to read online when help is needed, and once you know everything, leave it and get on with your life. Spend more time reading about tinnitus = make the tinnitus to become a part of the daily life.

 

Hi bill I bought Hearprotek high fidelity music earplugs 20db

 

3m 1100 foam earplugs are rated 29 dB. Since it is a logarithmic scale, it is much more of a reduction than 20 dB. I would still not want to rely on even 3M earplugs when it comes to loud noises. But if you have to wear earplugs around noise, you might want to try 3M foam earplugs.

 

The highest rated foam earplugs are NRR 33, and for loud exposures, like mowing the lawn, I use them. Examples of these include Howard Leight Max1, Moldex Meteors (sold under the Flent's brand in the US at Walmarts), and others.

 

Have you been taking and meds? Curious about the source of yours. MIne started because of sleeping meds I believe but not 100% sure

 

Mine is not noise induced either, so I am glad to hear (no pun intended) that your T is improving. Gives me hope. Mine is mostly a hissing/static noise going on about 11 months now. It is also noise reactive, but I have decided to wean myself off of using ear plugs all the time and that seems to be helping.