6 Weeks In; Coping Well

Hi all,

Just thought I'd post my disease progress for you, and a bit for me.

Mostly I'd say I'm coping well. It helps that I sleep no problem, with only two or three nights of being up, or waking up, for any period of time. This is helpful, because it means one less thing to be anxious of.

So, yeah, coping well. Definitely some days [hours, minutes] are worse then others, but overall I think it's improving somewhat. I've been extremely diligent in keeping track of my symptoms (thank you Nomie app for facilitating this!), and as I look back, it looks like both my pitch and volume are gradually, if non-linearly, decreasing. According to my own subjective ratings, volume has ranged anywhere from 2-5 out of 10, and pitch anywhere from 4-7 out of 10. Hard to know how accurate this all is; but it's probably not bad.

The days where volume was rated a five constituted what I interpret to be 'spikes'. During these times - twice - my tinnitus was two to three times as loud as baseline. And when I trigger, I can expect it to take 4-7 days to get back completely to baseline.

Mostly though I'm beginning to notice a bit less triggering by loud noises. When this first started, every last noise led to a change in my tinnitus. The fridge turning on, the tv or radio speaking to me, the sir conditioning whispering through the house. Then, after about a month, this level of sensitivity began to diminish, and I would only get triggered by louder noises - dishes clanking, someone screaming. Of course those sounds still bother me, but perhaps not quite to the same amount. And tonight - tonight I went to a birthday party, and managed through 90% of the night without plugs. This with children squealing and dogs barking and everyone talking at a good 75 dB clip. I did, at one point, out in plugs, when the kids were chasing me around and putting me in "jail"; but this was only for about 15 minutes. Three weeks ago, my head would have been screaming now. But now, four hours later, I still feel mostly untriggered.

Will things continue to improve? Who knows. But I think mostly I'm lucky - the tinnitus is mild enough to allow me to go on with my life; if it improved further, even better.

I'll try to post more entries like this, as I know I found it useful reading through other's timelines and symptoms, learning about who, if anyone, got better; or worse.

Matt

 

I've posted progress updates in a number of other places, but it's been a long time since I added to this thread, so will do so now.

It's now been just over 4 month with my tinnitus - oh, how time flies when you're having fun.

Overall, I'd still say that I'm coping "reasonably well". My specific symptoms have, I think, been tapering off slightly. It's so hard to tell though, what's a true reduction in sound, and what's my increased tolerance and/or coping with the noise. But either way, I *perceive* there to be a slight tapering off of volume (but not of pitch). In fact, according to my calculations, if things continue tapering at the pace I perceive then to be tapering at, then I could be completely done with tinnitus in a short, sweet... 16 months. Ummmm... yeah.

But hey: better than a pole in the eye ( or an increased volume).

Things also seem to be getting a bit more stable: not quite as many highs, and not quite as many lows; rather, the sounds seem to be finding a bit of a Goldilocks middle zone. Again, that's what I perceive at least.

My mood is mostly good.
My motivation remains high.
Usually I'm able to tolerate my personal symphony.
So that's all good. The sky has not fallen yet.

But I still say I'm only coping "reasonably well", because I can sense that I'm developing a bit of a fear of the great information indoors - malls, restaurants, movies: why is everything so damn loud? Today, for instance, I had to go to the mall with my wife to pick out a new sports coat. Fine - I wore plugs and checked my decibel app (83 dB!) and adjusted the filters in my plugs, and went about the task... but the whole time I was worried, and that worry sucks. Not just because worry sucks, but also because worry distracts you from the moment. I was supposed to be out for a nice afternoon with my wife, and all I wanted to do was get out of there as quickly as possible.

The good news is I'm back home, and don't seem to have spikes or anything, despite being there for nearly 3 hours (83 dB!!). That said, my spikes often seem to delay 6, 12, even 24 hours sometimes. So we'll see what tomorrow brings before counting our chickens.

So, anyway, mostly I'm coping. And possibly things are slowly tapering off. But still: progress, if there at all, is slow as molasses, and in the meantime worrying about potential sounds around every corner does suck.

I'll likely be back to post another update in a couple months. Maybe sooner if there are any new developments.

Cheers
-Matt

 

Congrats MattS, I hope things continue to improve. Don't be paranoid, just be prepared.

Post note... Shopping malls are an American abomination of art and culture and should be avoided at any cost, unless you have copious amounts of drugs to make the experience bearable...

That was a joke... kind of... I really do hate shopping malls... but am sincerely happy for your progress... keep going and enjoy it... you are healing...

 

Thanks Daniel - I'm not sure if I am or not, but I hope so!