5 Years Into Tinnitus — No Solution to Aid Concentration?

Dear fellow Tinnitus Talk friends,

the purpose of this thread would be to initiate a discussion in terms of advice and success stories of the kind, in respect to you being able to concentrate and maintain that concentration for extended periods of time with tinnitus ruminating.

• Have had tinnitus for 5 years, unknown reason, hearing test - very good (from 5/10 dB), no indication for sound induced hearing damage;
• Experience several deteriorations (no seen relationship with common triggers) leading to (current) 1 mid-range infrequent hissing sound in my left with 1 constant mid-range hissing + 1 high-range constant pitch in my left ear;
• Currently investigating the state of TMJ joint and other potential contributors as to avoid further "advancements" in the severity of tinnitus;
  
• Habituated to the extent that could fall asleep with top-notch earplugs so the sounds by themselves do not bother me when no active concentration is involved;

But when considering prolonged, sustained thought, particularly of internal reflective type (e.g. the thoughts inspired by a good book) or of musical nature, I still fail to muster the required concentration. As a person who previously could only study in complete silence, I habituated to noise generators and so forth as to be able to focus on medium-complexity information acquired by external stimuli (books and so forth) although obviously requiring more mental effort in regards to the fatigue experienced. Conversely, I have dropped the idea of thinking in music (played instrument since being child) instantaneously, as thinking in sound would simultaneously bring tinnitus into the most extreme focus and see no avenues of working around it (I accepted the fact that these 3 musketeers fight for the the same attention resources required for musical thought).

What does bother me is that I have not been able to find a method of having internal thought without having tinnitus paving it's way to the spotlight - and still earn for this ability. If I use noise generators to nearly the level of tinnitus in this kind of thought, they also interject into my concentration and require continual reverting back to the idea in mind. Anyone who endeavors in focus of greater depth (which almost always mean sustained thought for a period of time) knows that constant pulling of that focus result both in greater fatigue and in underdeveloped ideas (it takes a lot of brain power to 'fully' come back to your train of thought). Thus could anyone share their observations and recommendations regarding such situations? I have lingered with the idea of giving more time as to adjust with the masking sounds but almost 5 years should have done the trick and thus seeking alternatives routes. I can accept certain sacrifices but this I am still unable to.

 

I have the same issue. The T creeps up on me when I'm focused on something else, and takes me by surprise. Have you tried having reflective thought somewhere else outdoors like a park or the beach, where it may be easier to mask the T? I think as long as we view T as a threat, it will be difficult to have long reflective thoughts.

 

Hey Lilah,

wild nature helps (another reason why I love running) though they aren't as readily available due to location and seasonal cycles - finding a 'solution' for indoors is thus my focus. I wouldn't regard my T as a threat anymore, e.g. my ability to fall asleep in total silence, and I would accredit the disruption to it's infrequence nature in prominence, both rhythm and volume. In other words, 'if only I would have a constant pitch/hiss as my T' - feels strange writing this, I must say.

Note: small correction in original post:
Experienced several deteriorations (no seen relationship with common triggers) leading to (current) 1 mid-range infrequent hissing sound in my left with 1 constant mid-range hissing + 1 high-range constant pitch in my right ear

 

Do you ever have ear fullness? This is what worries me the most right now because they say its because your ear was exposed to damaging sound but mine seems to be random. I went to the doctor today and he says their is liquid in my ear but I'm not sure what to believe anymore.

 

I do at times but that is normal - the amount of fluid in your inner ear changes are quite frequent and rarely are they not balanced out after the trigger. I would presume that only in extreme, prolonged cases would fluid built up result in abnormal nerve activity, T including.

 

I too do much better outside with natural sounds. Just about any noises indoors including people talking eventually becomes more than I can take and I have to get away or at least plug up my one good ear.

 

My T and hearing loss came suddenly (no exposure to noise) and I too have been left with a fullness plugged up feeling on my right side. I think many experience a degree of the same thing.

 

As someone that has very intrusive and sometimes painful tinnitus + beyond horse chit hearing, I can chime in. Even with all this chaos that lives in my head, I am still able to read books and get my tasks done. Don't get me wrong, each day I ask my maker to just give me one day of silence or at least half the volume of this venom. Even with all of that ,having crystal clear focus and dedication is what makes it happen for me. I treat this nasty ringing as a friend and not a foe. It will do me no good to get frustrated about it, it won't change anything.

Making use of sound therapy has been very helpful for me. When I use it, the noise is never as loud as my tinnitus, it's a soft sound that I try to hear. It's a sound that I use, so my brain can hear something else and not just the menace that blasts out my head. For me It's impossible to not hear this venom, but i do not fixate on it. I do not let it control me a bit. Finding your focus is key with tinnitus and with life in general. You can read a book no matter how loud your tinnitus is. I do it all the time and my ringing is pure hell and it is - what it is.

The key to all of this is to try to relax yourself even when the ears are ringing. Find a way to soothe your mind, soothe your body. It's never easy but it can be done......

 

A very inspirational post @fishbone Your knowledge and expertise on tinnitus knows no bounds. You are right, coping with this condition is all to do with a person's mindset and having a positive mental attitude, which you have in abundance. This does take time to acquire and will depend on what stage a person is at with their tinnitus, meaning length of time they have had the condition and the level of its severity?

I have much respect for the many posts that you have written in this forum and often recommend that people read them, to help find their way when this condition becomes overbearing. Although I am a positive thinking person, I have to say there are some limitations to the way a person can handle it depending on how loud and intrusive it is?

When my tinnitus is intrusive it is very difficult for me to concentrate on reading a book and getting pleasure from it the way that I would when it's not so loud. I was unable to read a book for two years because my tinnitus was so severe. I have written about in my post: My experience with tinnitus, available on my "Started Threads". Habituating to tinnitus back then took 4 years from: 2008 to 2012. Even now six years on, I have difficulty concentrating on reading a book which is a great passion of mine when my tinnitus is intrusive. It just feels like I'm reading the words but unable to create any imagery in my mind of what the Author is trying to convey through his or her writing as the loudness/intrusiveness of the tinnitus blocks this process and thus, I have put the book aside until it calms down and I feel better.

This also happens when I write, as the creating process for me at least is temporarily blocked - the words do not flow from my mind with the fluidity that I like and it can be immensely frustrating but I'm able to cope with it through being positive and reflect on the times, when it was much worse during the four years of habituating.​

I am currently reading a book by the fabulous Author Joseph Finder, who writes similar to my favourite Author Peter James. Their books can be thoroughly engaging, very detailed and having many twists and turns to keep the reader enthralled. When my tinnitus is: silent, mild or moderate - bordering on intrusive I'm still able to cope and derive pleasure from what I'm reading. Once my tinnitus becomes severe or very severe, reading becomes near on impossible and sometimes clonazepam is needed to calm things down.

Take care and please keep up the good work.

Michael

 

You said no indication of sound induced hearing damage, but may I ask if you had been exposed to loud music, cars, headsets, or loud work place?

Some people have no detectable hearing loss and tinnitus.

 

Hey my T colleague,

I follow you - I rarely have trouble focusing upon external objects hence reading books is rarely an issue. Nevertheless, 'daydreaming' internally and explorative thought is a different story.

Re. sound therapy, I suppose finding that 1 sound that is so obscure in attention demand is the way to go. Easier said than done - we all know how much time is required for the mind to slow down and become bored allowing for some spontaneous thoughts to enroll; to do that with T and constant noise around is still a skill to learn for me.

I'm glad that you found a route which works for you and thank you for the support. My advice to you is to stop asking for your maker to give you silence - imagine if he:she did that for 1 day but just 1 day, the prayers and complete obsession that would follow afterwards heh!

 

Indeed, by 'indication' I was referring to no diagnostic markers observed during the test which was <20 dB (if you cannot hear lower than 20dB, then it was considered a sign of acoustic trauma) whilst the frequency range was actually wider than the standard spectrum with no 'sinks'.
Retrospectively, I played music throughout my life, did go to number of live gigs without protection (even orchestral music or jazz trios in small cafes can be deafening) and experienced a tangible account of antibiotic use in teenage ears hence in principle my case shouldn't have been completely implausible [I actually started using headsets very late in my life nor did I have any exposure to loud cars/races). What made it hard to accept was it's onset in early adulthood (22 yo)- for the sake of accepting and moving past it at the time, I had to rationalize it's origins. I've settled with the idea that my musical exposure (formal training etc.) which led to sensitized hearing in specific ranges (a common adaptation of musicians actually) did not absorb all the stresses of that particular period and was injured,- beyond the sensitivity of tests used to measure large bandwidths within a small set of metrics.

 

Does this mean some people have no detectable T, or they don't have hearing loss with T?