A Year Later, It Got WAY Easier. There Is Hope.

It gets easier.

You will figure out what works for you AND also you WILL get used to it.

 

I think it depends on how loud one's tinnitus is. How loud is yours?

 

Bill my tinnitus is a LOUD screaming tea kettle from hell and I'm used to it

 

yup definitely used to it and fully adapted...dont even realize its there sometimes

 

I read your post in the middle of the night Aly P (don’t ask, nappy incident ). I don’t understand why you’ve deleted it all? It was a long and encouraging post and now it’s barely a sentence. I noticed you changed it after Bill replied to you. All I will say, is if you deleted your entire post (which must have taken you a while to write) because you feel you’ll get a negative backlash then I think it’s a real shame. Positive threads can really lift peoples moods, so don’t hold back. If you have the original draft then post the whole thing in all it’s glory!!

P.S. I’m aware I’m still here, but I’ve been getting a lot of PMs, so I’d rather not leave people high and dry.

 

Ed thanks for going out of your way to encourage, you read the situation correctly. Since I have gotten tinnitus I have been an observer of this site (off and on of course) but never felt comfortable sharing my own story or commenting on others. Once I posted, I wasn't sure if I should have shared because I do not want to make light of anyone else's situation. Here is the post in all of it 'glory' -- Hopefully, it gives some perspective and hope. However, I understand that tinnitus can impact people very differently.

I came down with Tinnitus in November of 2016. Little did i know that a common cold (and an associated ear infection) would leave me in a state of depression and anxiety which at times made me question whether I would ever be able to live a normal life again. To this day I still have the ringing in my left ear which when I focus on it, scares the living daylights out of me.

The reason I am writing this is that my wife reminded me today of how much progress I have made and how little of an impact tinnitus now has on my life. Unfortunately, it is common for one to panic (like I did) when they come down with T and turn to the internet and medical system for answers. For me this resulted in a search for a "cure".... which was never found...

The best I can do is tell you that there is hope and your T will not bother you the same way as time goes on. You will figure out what works for you AND also you WILL get used to it (I know, it sounds crazy - but I believe you will, if you let yourself!). Strangely enough, I sometimes feel like my T isn't even there anymore and I have to 'tune in' in to it to hear it.

I also wanted to share a few tips that got me to a point where I rarely notice my T and when I do I quickly forget about it. These thoughts are my own, and are in no specific order:

1) Bury yourself in a distraction (work, hobby, new skill, school). Really throw yourself at something so that by the end of the day you are too tired to think about your T. This will have the added benefit of helping achieve something else in your life/career. Hopefully it is significant and will make you feel like a rock star .

2) Use white noise to take the edge of your T. I believe sleeping with white noise helped me 'dull' my T over time. That being said, as I type, I am listening to my T and it is loud. The point is it does not bother me very often, no matter how loud the volume. The white noise takes the edge off of it.

3) Don't change your life - I tried avoiding situations, eating a special diet, etc.. in an attempt to control my T.... All these attempts had little to no effect and just added to my frustration.

4) Spend time with good people and talk it out. When I was in crisis, it was very important to really lean on my family, and friends. I spoke to a few audiologists, and a turning point for me came when an audiologist told me she had it too. Her approach was not to avoid concerts, and movies and to just go live life. She recommended I do the same and I over time I did. Protect your hearing if needed but don't be fearful of everyday situations.

5) Stop measuring - My T goes up and down and this can create lots of anxiety if I am always trying to figure if it is getting worse or better. I recommend to stop trying to measure it and refer back to 1. GET YOUR MIND OFF OF IT.

6. If you really need to research and investigate tinnitus, try to look up 'success stories'. Too often, the internet can be a dark place so you need to actively search out the good. Also, I do believe that many people forget to come back and share their success with T. Once you are over it, the last thing anyone wants to do is come back to one of these groups and talk about it. That is why I am posting today. I promised my wife a year ago I would come back if things got better, and they have.

Stay strong folks, and good luck.

 

Now that’s more like it . Never be afraid to share your story, or your views. Your opinion is just as valued as anybody else’s on here, and it’s quite refreshing to see.

 

Thank you so much for posting this. My T and hearing loss is from a virus, too, so it is very encouraging to hear from someone with a similar experience.

I am glad you reposted this. The constant questioning “how loud is your tinnitus” or claiming “oh, their tinnitus must not be severe” annoys me. As if we want to justify our suffering by arguing someone else does not have it as bad as us. I’m not saying that was Bill’s intent, but I feel we continually see that on this forum as if to belittle someone’s improvement.

Oh and @Ed209 I am glad you’ve stuck around for a bit. Your attitude is very encouraging!

 

Absolutely @Tinker Bell. I thought it was an awesome post; then I saw Bill reply, and it disappeared. I honestly thought there was a glitch on the site at first. I’m just glad @Aly P saved the draft!

 

Will not make the same mistake twice! Thank you Ed. Oddly enough, I read a bit about your struggle late last night too. You seem to have made profound impact on others in this community. I know you are fighting your own fight right now and I feel for you. Sending positive vibes your way.

 

I don't know if I will ever get used to it. I am working like crazy because that's my only deviation from T. I am spending more hours at work like you said what makes you distract. I hear my T over white noise too sometimes in my bedroom and that makes me anxious and have bad sleep nights. How did you fall asleep even when you hear your T.

I am asking this because I was a very sound sleeper before I got T(since 1month). Now I wake up like atleast 10-20 times in middle of the night.
I increased my bed time but its annoying that I wake up so many times.

For me having this forever makes me think can I ever have a normal life again. Can I ever have the things I planned for. Seeing your post gives me a positive hope.

 

I am by no means an expert.. but a few thoughts come to mind:

1. Time -- Your body will naturally adjust and your T will become the new normal as time goes on. It sounds like some nights you can still escape it which is positive in itself. Also, I noticed your T came from a perforated ear drum. When I first got it one of the people who had an impact on my improvement and helped me through some of the dark times was a friend who got it the same way as you. It took him 3 years to adjust but his experience allowed me to fast-track my recovery by learning from him the notion that 'it does get better even if the noise doesn't go away'. I believe the closer you get to positivity and acceptance about our condition the better you will get. It will take time! How much, I cannot tell you!
2. Could your waking up through the night be related to anxiety related to the T as opposed to the loudness of it? Anxiety is a tricky thing BUT perhaps working on that (in whatever way you decide) will have an affect on your sleep, and thus reduce the annoyance of your T.

I am glad my post gave you some measure of HOPE

 

My sound is bad during the day because it’s hard to mask, but at night it’s a full on symphony. It doesn’t really bother me anymore. In fact, I haven’t given it much thought for quite a while now. I also have other ongoing issues, and I’m under 3 different consultants at the moment for 3 different conditions. On top of that, my daughter was diagnosed with hip dysplasia (which we’ll hopefully get the all clear for tomorrow).

I know what’s it’s like to have a lot on your plate, so I can feel all of your pain on a very real level. The secret is to continue with your life. Don’t spend all day talking and reading about tinnitus, because you are ultimately prioritising it and giving it more of a foothold in your psyche. Go a bit crazy and do some stuff you’ve never done before. Paint a landscape; draw a portrait of your other half; think outside the box. Think of something other than tinnitus, but make sure it’s something that captivates you. Ultimately, time is the biggest healer, and if you learn to break the thoughts that bind it, you will set yourself free. If your brain doesn’t care as much about the noise then neither will you. It’s a tough journey, but we can’t have happiness without pain.

 

On the other hand, there are postings that strongly recommend intensive hearing protection.
I am sceptical about that too. Sceptical that hearing protection cures tinnitus. Rather, I got to know people whose tinnitus grew stronger and stronger the more they protected themselves from noise. Ultimately, they developed severe hyperacusis and/or phonophobia, possibly a worse condition than a tinnus alone.
Okay, I don't know in the end. Hearing protection in everyday situations is simply out of the question for me because my tinnitus screams like a fool with hearing protection. In this respect, I am not tempted to go down this road at all.

 

@Tinniger - Good points - IMO - It's a deeply personal decision. I no longer try to protect my hearing like when I first heard my T. As we speak, I am listening to music (maybe louder than I should) and bopping my head (aka ENJOYING IT) - something I def wouldn't have done 6 months ago. That being said, very noisy concerts still freak me out and I avoid or minimize when I can. Arguments to be made on both sides, I am sure.

 

Some people can have severe tinnitus and adapt to it rather quickly to where it doesn't bother them, whereas others might have what we would call a very mild case of tinnitus and be in mental agony. It all depends on psychological makeup and how our brains are wired.

People who develop misophonia can have a ballistic reaction to the sound of a paper bag being crumpled, or the sound of chewing. That's just the way they're wired, and yet most of us don't give it a second thought. The brain is a very weird thing.

I hope one day to say that my tinnitus never bothers me at all, without mentioning how loud it is or what it sounds like.

 

I agree, which is likely why both volume and mental state are a better judge of tinnitus severity.

 

Thank you for your story. I'm sure it will help someone knowing that it can get better. I myself found some comfort in it eve though I'm already in a pretty good spot compared to others on this forum.

To the loudness vs habituation discussion. I read somewhere (can't remember where, though) that no studies have found a reliable difference in the loudness of T in people who have successfully habituated vs people who haven't. The only real difference was the fact that people who had in fact habituated didn't perceive T as a thread. They just went on with their lives like they had always done. (They hopefully started to protect their ears in loud environments but I don't know)
Knowing that the loudness of T is hard to measure objectively and that pitch probably also has something to say in how easy it is to habituate to one's T I think that there is some truth to the statement. You can't habituate to a sound that you perceive as a thread (it being a physiological thread or psychological)/is constantly afraid of because your brain will automatically tune in on sounds that is considered dangerous. It is an evolutionary feature that helped us avoid getting eaten by bears hiding behind bushes and is actually the opposite of habituation known as sensitization. The more you react emotionally to a sound the more you will hear the sound because your brain will think that it is in some way important for your survival that you listen out for that sound. I guess this is what creates the vicious cycle of freaking out about T because normally sounds that is considered dangerous by the brain disappears but T doesn't, so you'll continue to hear it and thus your brain will continue to look out for it making you freaking out even more and so on. So in that sense it makes sense that people who doesn't consider T a physiological/psychological thread habituates fairly quickly because they doesn't give it the attention it needs for the brain to tune in on it.

 

Is it pretty much a given that you will get used to it, in general? Or do you only have success with that if you use sound enrichment or other things? I guess what I'm asking is, is there such a thing as trying to do too much to get used to it faster? Some times I wonder if I think too much about what I can do to get past it. I have to keep telling myself as well that, for me, it's only been less than 3 months.

 

Well i'm my own study of 1, i had moderate T in 1 ear and mild T in the other and habituated to it, i now have severe super high pitched T in both ears and head and can't make any inroads toward habituation, for me there's a massive diference.

 

My story is very similar to yours. And I was thinking exactly the same as you are now. The difference is time. It’s been 2 and a half years since my tinnitus got a lot worse, and I’ve gone from feeling suicidal, ruminating and obsessing over it, to moving on with my life and not really thinking about it much anymore. The difference is staggering, but I wouldn’t have believed it even if I went back in a time machine and told myself. I thought my life was over. I didn’t even get out of bed for a week; it totally crushed and destroyed my life at the time.

Time and acceptance are the greatest healers.

 

When I was in 3 months in I was in rough shape too. Lots of progress for me came after the 6 month mark so don’t be hard on yourself.

Ultimately I don’t think you can fast track but you can be more open to the idea of getting better. Some of this is mindset and allowing yourself to accept you have this condition. Healing starts from there.

@Ed209 hit the nail on the head. Time and acceptance.

Stay strong!

 

How much time ? ivé had T for 11 years! and it's been at severe and now extreme for almost 12 months.

 

Sound coming through the tympanic membrane (eardrum) move the cilia. At the tip of the cilia are potassium ions which send electrical impulses to the cochlear nerve then to the brain. This is not a one way process. The brain sends neurotransmissions [NT] (electrical impulses) to the entire body. Your heart wouldn't beat if [NT] stopped.
Regardless of the original cause (trigger) 'T' becomes an entity unto itself. A defined increase in neurotransmissions [NT]) flatten the cilia. The cilia send random signals to the cochlear nerve (tinnitus).
However the brain is now receiving abnormal impulses so it increases the [NT] automatically to engage with the cochlear. This keeps the cilia flat . . . and so 'T' increases . . . . and so forth. This becomes a pattern because the brain is neuroplastic.
The muscles in body can actually store electrical impulses. Systemic tightening of areas (back, shoulders etc) which strangle the skeletal structure decreasing blood flow and nutrients brings the onset of arthritis. The brain is not receiving the correct response from these areas so it reacts the same way and increases [NT] throughout the body.
The cilia being hypersensitive to increased electrical activity creates a spike in the 'T'.
I recently discovered this.
By chance I underwent a treatment 'Dry Needling' . . . . a shocking experience literally!
My tightened lower back was treated releasing stored electrical current down both legs.
The current came from 'me' and was very painful, but my back felt better and as a bonus my 'T' reduced by 70%, but lasted for only 2 days then gradually increased.
I will be undergoing this treatment every month starting February 2018.

Footnote: I have been researching Neurobiology for the past 4 years.