After a Reason to Hang In with Tinnitus

Hi, I'm Doug from Australia, I'm 62 and I have had unilateral tinnitus for nearly 4 weeks. It is the result of an anaesthetic gas I suspect ( sudden onset afterwards). It went away for a whole day after 3 days then came back. It is the fluctuations that distress me. I had a morning 2 days ago when I woke up quiet then it slowly came back over the day. Today is a really loud day.

It's a high frequency single tone, audiologist says about 6 kHz and actually not very loud by the test where she compared to the other ear but it sounds loud. I have mild high frequency drop in hearing normal for age. Most of the time I can cope, doing lots of walking, mindfulness, am on Mirtazapine and a sleeper as I got so stressed early on I admitted myself to hospital. I scored 46 on the tinnitus distress score.

I can cope when its a 1 or 2 out of 5 ( in my score a 5 would be catastrophic), but I can have a half day or whole day where its a 4 and it is so hard to function. Probably 30% of time is a 4, I can cope at 2 or 3. I don't notice it if I am out walking with some background noise. I tell myself positive things, it's just a noise, it is harmless, that I can still hear and see and think and smell and walk and communicate and basically do everything normally but no one knows what the really loud high pitched ringing does to your psyche. It erodes your coping and you feel like giving up. I want to fight it, I can't ignore when it's bad even though I say "it's just a noise, it means nothing" but man it's wearing me down.

Probably nothing anyone can do or say but nice to know one is not alone with it.

What I'm trying
Walking - heaps
Hydration, lots of water
Mindfulness frequently practice thru the day
Reassuring myself
Avoiding really bad posts on here
Listening to Julian Cowan Hill talks on YouTube, very reassuring.
Distraction, as much is feasible but I now hate TV
My dog

Given the duration some of you had had tinnitus, I must admit the thought comes to me that exiting the planet might not be a bad option if this continues

Please don't send me any negative comments but a little hope would be nice.

I have read some excellent posts by some members, it is really just habituation we are all hoping for but God it's hard to stay in a positive mindset when one day it's easy to tolerate and the next it's really bad with no apparent reason.

 

The scariest type of tinnitus is the one that is relentlessly at the same level. Don't think of it as tinnitus Becoming a 4. Think of it as your 4 tinnitus becoming 1 or 2 for half a day. You are so new to tinnitus, and already you are making a lot of progress. Over the next 3-6-12-18-24 months, it ought to continue to fade and spend more and more time as a 1 or 2.

I am a pessimist by nature. But honestly, I am very optimistic when it comes to your case.

If it went away once, it shows that it CAN go away, so it increases the chance that it will (eventually; recall that ears take forever to heal) go away.

 

Thank you Bill, that is most reassuring. Even with the bad days I have, I wonder how much courage and resilience some of the long suffering members must possess.
One day at a time.

 

Have you seen the studies cited in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-many-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

In a lot of cases of tinnitus there is a massive link between fear, the limbic system, and the loudness of the tinnitus. The practical effect of this being the more you panic about it, possibly, in some cases, the more likely it is to perpetuate and louder it will be. I think a good strategy for new sufferers is to just get that panic reaction – which is totally natural – under control just as quickly as you possibly can. Do you everything you can to calm yourself down. It sounds like you are doing exactly the right thing walking, distracting yourself, mindfulness etc. I too wasn't keen on TV but started watching more just to have a bit of background noise. It can be helpful to get a sound machine to play in the background or have a few radios around the house to try to mask the tinnitus, which helps with forgetting it.

I think the MAIN reason people panic so much when they first get tinnitus is everything you read about it suggests it will be permanent at the same level it starts at. In fact tinnitus does go away or reduce in volume in some cases. I conducted a big search of the literature on this when I first got tinnitus. There appears to be no good consensus on just how often tinnitus goes away. One doctor said to me, starting from onset, in about half of cases. I asked around amongst family/friends/acquaintances - a few had permanent tinnitus, but actually thinking about it was equally common for people to say - I had tinnitus for a few months, then it went. In one woman's case she had it for a year then it went. Now of course it might be permanent, no one can say for sure, but I totally agree with Bill, the fact that you have ALREADY had some silent days is an excellent sign.

 

Seems like you are doing all the right things, maybe also ; -

1. Avoid salty and sugary foods - this cans spike some folks T .
2. Be distracted and don't spent time torturing yourself asking why or how...it just is !
3. Don't use any sort of headphones.
4. Have some low level background music or noise on constantly - nature sounds or talk radio.
5. Sleep well - if your not get some help with that. I find L-Tryptophan and Melatonin both help - not together !

Healing or learning to ignore it takes a long time.

Don't put a time limit on it but it is more year(s) than day.

What @Bill Bauer said is very true.

Enjoy the good or better days and look forward to the next one.

Wishing you some peace soon X

 

Diary foods make my T spike. See whether or not this might be true for you too.

 

Hello Doug,

Mine is similar to yours, although I haven't had the loudness tested, it is constant, and a high pitch. I do have the days you talk about, but like you, I'm still hanging in there. I am grateful you posted because I have often wondered if mine started because of something I breathed for about 2 years. I rented a place where directly below my apartment was a workshop where they were making beautiful Ink Pens. They would buy they blocks of multi-colored plastic material, and put them on some sort of machine to shape them into the Pens. It smelled horrible if I went into the shop, but I never noticed it up in my apartment.

Anyway, whatever caused my T, I am desperately searching for relief as you are. But I love to walk as well during the days, usually about a 2 miler. Then, when I am home, where silence is my worst enemy, I have my soft, piano music going on Roku/Youtube or Pandora. Sometimes I have to have my phone app going beside me too. I found it in the App Store and it's called Chrome Doze. At night, I use a sound-spa that the "rain" sound seems best to cover the volume of the T.

I won't recommend anything I take, but I'll tell folks what I do take. So right now, the last 2 nights, I've gotten relief, I believe, but not sure, from Taurine, 5htp, or both. But the sound does come back in the a.m. when I get up. I also take magnesium glycinate, 600 mg and some other supps which haven't helped me with any noticeable difference in the T. I've only been supplementing since Oct. 8.

I am 66 this month, and retired. None of us can "feel" each other's pain. Only if we walked in each other's shoes. But we can relate to the emotional, mental anguish this monster inflicts on each of us. And physical pain isn't something I've experience from T but some even have that

 

All good stuff Kelvin, glad you are here. I had forgotten my 5htp has tryptophan in it, so that might be why I am getting some relief, only at night, but hey, always good to get a shot of hope

 

Plenty of great support here from members, check out @I who love music 's Back to Silence. This helped me and as far as I understand others beat the T bully. Best Wishes Phil

 

I'm no expert but T does seems all consuming and frightening at onset and a very dark place. Positive stories on here and help from knowledgeable kind people does show there is life after T. As a certain Doctor and former contributor once said "Don't let T drive your bus". Although I agree it's not easy at times. Regards Phil

 

My t is the same way. I have to look for it if I'm walking. After 9 months I'm doing better at not reacting to it though like you I hope it goes away.

The variability is good and the fact that you're off the med that caused it is good as well. Give it some time and hopefully you'll see improvement.

 

Thanks for all your encouraging replies

 

Glad you're here with us

 

Thanks Phil, it is the fear of the unknown but the support and knowledge that others can get on with their lives is reassuring