A Life with Tinnitus at the Age of 21

Don't worry about it. First of all you only have it for 4 days so it can go down or even go away within the next few months. But even if it doesn't go down, things will get ALOT better. I literally shed a tear in the bathroom of my internship company when I got my tinnitus, because I still had to go to work but I felt like my life was over. Why would this happen to me!? My view on tinnitus has changed alot since then. I still don't consider myself 100% habituated but I don't feel depressed anymore. I'm going to a 3-day festival next weekend with hearing protection and I'm stoked for it. It's gonna be an amazing weekend, whether I have tinnitus or not.

Your life is far from over. The best part of your life is still ahead of you. You're gonna habituate to it like everyone else does, no matter how long that takes. Also one of the thoughts that scared me at first was "I'm gonna have this noise in my head for the majority of my life...", but thats not true at all. Since so many companies are now working towards a cure good things are coming our way. Within the next few years we can expect something to alleviate tinnitus and within the next 5 years we might even have something that completely cures it.

Just don't worry about it all too much, focus on other things in life. I know how much it can suck at first, but soon you'll go through your day without even noticing it. When I focus on my tinnitus I can hear it over everything, but today I didn't hear it at all, because my focus was on other things so my brain just ignored it completely. Obviously now that I'm writing this in the silence of my own room I can hear it, but tinnitus maskers help alot with that (also when you're trying to sleep). You can message me whenever you need someone to talk to.

- Roy

 

That's pretty much the attitude I have towards tinnitus. Even if I have to live with tinnitus, I'm going to build a life for myself. We're all gonna celebrate the day that a cure is found, but when that day arrives I'm not gonna start from zero. I'm gonna have a great life already built, waiting for me like a "welcome home" sign. I refuse to let tinnitus defeat me. I'm gonna carry on and let this experience make me mentally stronger. Luckily carrying on becomes easier as time goes by.

Give it some time and getting through the day won't be a challenge, tinnitus will just be a minor annoyance. I've heard from others that its not even a minor annoyance anymore, its nothing to them, no matter how loud it gets. I haven't reached that point yet and probably won't for a while, but I'm content with where I'm at for now. You will feel alot better too, I'm sure of it.

I'm always here to talk, whenever you feel like it.

- Roy

 

Thank-you so much, Roy114. you are very kind.

 

This thread was helpful and gave me some optimism. I got the T from listening to cheap headphones on a night of drinking. Thought I was doing the right thing, not bothering anyone with my shitty music. Now my hearing is screwed with high pitch T. Never use headphones is the lesson I learned. Let everyone listen to your shitty music. Two weeks in now. I'm hoping for a personal miracle still.

 

@Roy114

Yeah this one kinda went off the rails, ... "neckbeard"... I'll be using that, thanks.

I just had my 2 month anniversary with T yesterday. I'm no where near habituated. I'm still at the stage where I'll often sit behind the computer trying to work and listen to it, waiting for it to change. It's been all over the place as far as volume and tone. I'm pretty fortunate in my living situation in that I work for myself with my wife and she can take the pressure off. Until there's some kind of medical intervention, I think all we can do is force ourselves to get on with our lives. My personal plan is to just be as healthy as I can and be engaged in my life. If I'm busy, I don't really think about it. I know ignoring it isn't a cure, but it makes me feel better. There's too many accounts of habituation giving relief to "our kind" to ignore. There was a pretty interesting post about cognitive behavior therapy I was reading on here last night as well. I've started to look into that, unfortunately, I'll have to find a way to do it on my own. I live on a small island and we don't have access to things like that here. I'm 52 and I'm not going to live the rest of my life like I have these past couple months.

 

As I told someone else on here. In the first few months it can still go away or at least get alot quieter (for some people that even happens years after they get tinnitus). Hope can help alot, I know it did for me. But the best thing is to not worry, even if it doesn't go away, things will get alot better. The day a cure is found will still become a yearly holiday for us to celebrate, and thats most likely gonna happen in the near future, but until we reach that point we can all habituate to this. Everyone can reach that point if they give it time.

Also using headphones doesn't hurt, as long as you're careful with the volume.

 

Listening to it, seeing if it changed at all is something I used to do ALOT. It didn't help at all, it just made me feel worse. I had to accept that my tinnitus won't reduce in volume, as soon as I did that I could try to let go of it. I don't consider myself habituated but I do think that I can live with my current condition. As long as I focus on other things it won't bother me, the only parts that still suck is when things get quieter around me. Also my pitch is very high, so not many everyday sounds can completely mask it. I would hear it over loud traffic if I let my brain focus on it. I've heard so many stories about people not caring AT ALL about their tinnitus, no matter how loud it gets. They've accepted their condition completely and continued living their lives as normal, not having any less fun as they would without it. I want to reach that point, hopefully before a cure is found. Its a goal I set for myself and one that others should go for too.

I'm glad you've at least told yourself that you can't go on feeling bad about it. Life will continue, and it still has alot to offer. I'd love to hear how you progress the coming months in dealing with your tinnitus.

When the day arrives that a solution or cure is finally found, and that danceparty everyone talks about happens, it would be more fun having a succes story instead of having to tell a story about how you were barely hanging on, wouldn't it?

 

Well when that day comes I will dance. My wife will probably dial 911 if she sees it though. I think this ringing in my head has caused me to look at my life differently and make some positive changes. Truthfully, I've settled into that comfort zone in my life, that makes me pretty much a turd floating in a toilet bowl. I don't have money problems, my business is good and getting better, I married the right woman for sure, my kid is healthy and too smart for her own good. Maybe a little gratitude is in order. Maybe I should get off my ass and take care of myself. People deal with and live thru much worse. One thing is for sure, sitting around and suffering isn't the answer.

 

Getting some perspective on our lives is effective indeed. There are so many people that have it much worse. I saw someone who compared himself to a 30-year-old man that thought he had a common cold, but it turned out that common cold was actually a flesh eating virus that caused him to lose both his legs, one arm and half of his face within a month. Reading stories like those makes me incredibly happy that tinnitus isn't actually of any harm to our bodies, just to our minds. But letting it harm our minds can be prevented or overcome. Suffering really isn't the answer, its all about learning to live with what we've got until improvements can be made, which will be soon.

 

That where I want to eventually end up a small island, what island you from?

 

@Roy114 Well whatever the answer, I don't think sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves is it. I know some people have T way worse than mine is but I know you can retrain your brain. I'm inquiring about some online CBT coaching, just waiting to hear back from the guy. Seems pretty legit just hope I don't have to sell a kidney to pay for it. My Audiologist is saying I haven't given my hearing aids a chance. I put them in first thing this morning and I'm going to use them for a few days. Maybe it takes a couple days for my ears to get used to getting the extra sounds.

@Rajin I live on the Island of Guam, about 7 hours from Hawaii.

 

Okay so last weekend was my 3-day festival. I was so worried during the festival that my tinnitus would become louder since they turned the volume and bass up SO LOUD. Even with my earplugs the bass still went through. Also our campingspot was next to the afterparty tent which also played VERY LOUD music until 3am. All this being said, I can safely say that my tinnitus did NOT get louder. I'm not sure if I feel like its worth risking it more than once a year, since festivals seem to turn the music up by 10db every year. The custom made earplugs are enough to protect my ears from any harm.

So don't worry about damaging your ears further when you go to that festival, just focus on enjoying it.