After a Week with Tinnitus It's Getting a Little Easier

I realized that I have 2 types of tinnitus; a high-pitched tone in my left ear and a clicking in my right ear. For the first few days the clicking in my right ear was in overdrive. Getting out of bed was rough. Just rustling in my covers set off a ton of clicking. After a day of that I went to bed thinking, "!@#$ it, I won't let this beat me."

I've noticed that my tinnitus varies in direct proportion with how much attention I pay to it. The slightest shift in my attention to increases in intensity in my left ear seem to increase my perception of it by double or triple. My current strategies are to create a habit where instead of listening to my tinnitus I'm focusing on the sounds that I want to hear like music or even simple things like running water, the wind or leaves rustling. When I'm actively engaged with something my awareness of the high pitch tone gradually drops.

In-terms of the intensity of the tone I'd put it at about a 6.0 to a 7.0 out of 10. When I'm focusing on different activities and not thinking about my tinnitus this drops to about a 3.0-4.0. Much more manageable. Hearing is just one of five senses we have available to us; we also have sight, smell, touch and taste. I have much more respect for the other four senses and how they're utilized in day-day life thanks to tinnitus.

Does it drive me crazy sometimes? Sure. However, looking at interesting art. Smelling what's on the stove for dinner and the various aromatic spices used. Something simple like getting a hug or trying to broaden my horizons as far as flavor and tastes go? Far more interesting and far more worthy of my attention. I've found laughing to be a great way to take my attention off of things as well.

I think it will be important for me to disassociate tinnitus from the sound. By giving something a name I'm allowing myself to just casually think about it without meaning to, "Oh my X is bad today, Ugh." Whereas otherwise I'm having more success ignoring it and allowing it to gradually fade into the background. The first few days even typing on the keyboard was setting off clicking in my right ear. Now? Not so much.

Our brains are very associative. Think a word. Hear a sound, imagine an idea, touch or a taste. In a sense I'm starting to voluntarily work out habits that allow myself to exercise more control over my perception. I won't say that my strategies are perfect -- they aren't -- but tinnitus is only a minor disability. Perception is everything and when I allow myself to think, "Tinnitus is a problem" it becomes more of a problem.

I'd like to get to the point where I hear tinnitus and think, "lol, this is a joke, what else is on the radio tonight?"

 

This forum needs more posts like this! Perception in life and mindset is everything. People can deny it all they want, but it's proven. Good for you on your attitude!

 

Deny it all they want? Saying tinnitus can be debilitating isn’t some negative nonsense, it’s just the reality of what tinnitus can be and that’s a devastating neurological condition for millions of people worldwide. Your mindset can help you in how you cope but it won’t allow you to overcome this condition and be able to live a normal life in every case. Facing this truth and trying to raise awareness will help severe sufferers far more than telling them they can all just voluntarily dissociate from their pain.

 

I agree with you on your points, but you missed what my point was. Tinnitus indeed can be debilitating, I know this one quite well. I been through the horror and still have it in my life. It's not negative non sense, I fully agree and I have sympathy for those that have to face this garbage on a secondly basis (like myself and members of this forum). I DO NOT live a normal life at all, and mindset is not going to help me live pre-tinnitus, it won't. Even if you do not possibly live a life like you/we use to before tinnitus, mindset and adjustment can help us live it in a different ways.

When I say that "deny it" I am saying that if you think mindset and dedication is all BS and made up mentality, then in the end you are just limiting yourself and holding yourself back. This is is reality, go and read up on what people have used mindset for and what they been able to achieve. I have severe tinnitus that I at times hate with passion, I still say to myself "wow this is too loud" and it really is.

I am ALL FOR raising awareness. I been educating people since 1988, and telling them just how bad tinnitus can be and how it can impact our lives. I still do this all the time. Go right ahead raise awareness , and help find a cure. I cannot dissociate this pain, I don't know where In my posts you read such things.

I live with pain daily, I live with screwd up ears (ringing and hearing) BUT I still live my life and push myself for greatness. My ears are ringing louder than ever now and get even louder. I have wanted to quit my martial arts many times due to them. I won't, I love doing it. I have thought about quitting the gym many times (I power lift) I won't(this is how i live my life and not encouraging others to do martial arts or lift weights ).

One second I can hear kinda ok, next second ....the ringing is a way too loud and it will not go down.

I read your post and I agree with what you have said, but I never ever denied what you wrote in the first place. My point is that mindset and how we think in life is SUPER important no matter what Hell or paradise we face.....

 

Thank you for your response! Definitely cleared up how I should have interpreted your first post in this thread. I'll keep your reply in mind when reading more of your posts!

 

These forums are definitely helpful, and it's good to be positive, but I'm not going to waste time obsessing over my T and various snake-oil treatments and cures. If there's anything I've learned it's that T is different for everyone. T is absolutely a devastating condition; it's frustrating and psychologically devastating in conjunction with depression and anxiety. However, physically? It's not cancer nor is it an auto-immune disease like MS.

I spent a lot of my early high school years battling depression. I've spent enough time beat down and unhappy. Enough is enough. I'm going to do the things I want to do with or without T. I'm going to go out. I'm going to volunteer, meet new friends, old friends, meet new cats/dogs and laugh. If there's anything you need to know about me it's that depression did more damage than I will ever allow tinnitus to do.

Depression left a lot of big empty holes in me that I've been slowly repairing over the years. In comparison to that I'm not going to let T turn my emotional state into swiss cheese. I guess what I'm saying is, is that there are a lot more things that I have control of than those that I don't, and I'd rather empower myself than walk out into the rain and scream.

 

I'm only about 3 1/2 weeks into this crap but I am already way further along than the first few days where I truly thought there is no freaking way I can live WITH THIS!! As with many T sufferers, I have good days (or hours) where for whatever reason the T just doesn't bother me much. When this first occurred, I mistakenly would think it is actually going away, only to be disappointed later as it came raging back. Never the less, I began to realize that when it is really bad, I starting to remind myself that there are going to be bad days, but also l'll have those good days. And then I began taking note of the type of environment where I would have those good days or moments. This allowed me to feel a little bit more in control, verses feeling like the T was in complete control of my life. This helped me to more or less "compartmentalize" my T, as a "thing" that that's over there, and I am over here. Again, helping me feel as if the T is not manning the ship. I am still captain of this ship, and I will dictate how the T effects my life. I am still working this out day by day, but "for me" this is the path I am on and like I said before, things are much improved over even a couple of weeks ago. Once I came to grips that I "can" live with this and still have a certain quality of life, it was a major step forward on the positive path. Having said all this, I still am cognizant of the fact that one shoe does not fit all with this stuff. Your T may be a completely different beast than my T. My T is pretty significant, but I can't hear your T, and you can't hear mine, so the way I describe my T Is surely only a relative description that pertains to myself. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being a mild ringing that most of the time you don't notice, and 10 being "somebody please shoot me", I would say that mine is (during the day) usually about a 4-5 with some periods where it goes up to a 6 or 7.