Back to Silence

Great. That was what I did a lot too a while back, suggesting to the mind with positive messages whenever tinnitus was spiking loud. But honestly I feel if the technique IWLM has been using is working for him, then there is no reason to doubt that there are many roads to Rome when it comes to habituating and managing tinnitus. After all, I think his technique is a form of mindfulness without being in the meditative state. He acknowledges (measures) his feeling to the tinnitus sensation w/o running away from it and w/o inducing more fear about it.

Mindfulness is a powerful technique practised by many to deal with all sorts of hurtful sensations including chronic pain, fear, and anxiety. If you feel an uncomfortable sensation, instead of running from it or suggesting all sorts of catastrophic thoughts about it, you can train yourself to focus on the sensation without judgement, and say mentally or verbally 'this is fear', or 'this is pain', or for anxiety 'this is anxious feeling' etc. Then you can further suggest 'I will be find space and openness to allow this feeling', which is suggesting to the mind to accept the presence of such sensation without judgement, without painful and emotional resistance to it. This will slowly remove the fight or flight response to the sensation, and hopefully it will be easier to accept it. Dr. Hubbard in his success story post mentions that he used mindfulness to bring focus to his loud tinnitus sound during his struggle with tinnitus. So you may want to read that to see how it is done when it comes to tinnitus. Or better yet, you can ask him about it in the Doctor's Corner.

Here is a short 3 minute video of how mindfulness can be done by Dr. Susan O'Grady:

Three Minute Mindfulness Meditation

 

Incidentally, Claire's success story also reaffirms the effectiveness of the technique of IWLM. If you read post #18, notice the 2nd and 3rd paragraph, you will see she is almost describing what IWLM has been saying.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/oh-the-places-youll-go.6258/

 

Excellent suggestion. I also start with "tinnitus is harmless" and add a positive statement of 3 or 4 words.

 

@I who love music
Hey Terry.
First of all thanks for sharing your strategy here.
I followed it today and felt ok most of the time.
But I think this is really something that needs a strong will and persistence - like everything with severe tinnitus.
The day was good and I had moments or minutes where tinnitus was in the background.
But this high-pitched screeching oscillating in my head is putting me down again in the evening.
Yes, I should not describe tinnitus, only my reaction. So I will continue.
For all others: I am sure this strategy helps. I don't know if for every tinnitus.
But I hope so.

 

Hi. Glad it helps, even a little.
It's still getting better for me. Lately I'm learning that these responses to my feelings are getting boring. So lately when my tinnitus becomes intrusive and it's time for a response about my feeling toward tinnitus, I sluff it off and go on about my business. So it's getting easier... and quieter.

 

This is obviously a very powerful technique shared by IWLM. I like its simplicity and people can adapt the wordings to their own case and it works just fine. This 17 year old just wrote his success story using this great technique and he achieves meaningful habituation in just 3 months. Simply amazing. His wordings are 'I hear it but I don't care'. Simple enough. For those who like the 'tinnitus is harmless' statement, you can add to the beginning and it will be a powerful and positive self-hypnotic suggestion to the brain indeed.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/fake-it-until-you-make-it.7590/#post-88355

 

Question: I have been practicing this technique, and I have to say it does seem to be assisting me to habituate further.

I need to clarify (and I am sorry if this has already been addressed in this thread), am I to describe both positive and negative reactions...

Silvine made the point of not mentioning the negative?

Thanks.

 

Well, it's almost February. I want to offer support to those who are working on the 'Back To Silence' technique. It gets easier. I started it in September, October maybe. In a very short time I felt great and not stressed out anymore. The technique very quickly was carving out new pathways in my brain until today, when I can say I do not respond to my tinnitus at ALL. I thought I was doing good in November, but today is even better. Wow! If you've been working at the technique and you've had days when you were interrupted by your tinnitus and just didn't have the time for it, then this is your cue that you can expect even more "Silence" in the future. IMO

 

@I who love music Thanks for the update, it's great to hear that your technique continues to be successful and improving.

 

IWLM, I just started your technique last night. I also began the affirmation "mirror" technique today. I sure hope these two simple mind reprogramming techniques work for me? I understand it's a few months before results my be achieved but I look forward to the challenge. I'll keep everyone aprised of my progress.

 

If you do it right, you should notice a sharp decrease in your responses VERY soon and new feelings of being relaxed and happier. That's what happened to me. Good luck !! Keep at it.

 

Last four days, one of my tones was very low or disappeared. It is the highest-pitched tone oscillating in my head. When this was low, I was left with "only" a buzzing head. So more a buzzing than a pure tone. The buzzing is always there and audible. This was something I could function to some extent and can think of some sort of habituation.
Now, my high-pitched tone is back full force. I don't know why it disappeared or why it re-appeared. This dog whistle is oscillating in my head. Awful. Even if I sit here and not react, this is nothing you can become unaware of, whatever technique you chose. Yes, I know. One can habituate to anything. So I will continue on my journey and tell myself, this is harmless.

 

Wow! So just acknowledge that it's there and go on about your day? I'm going to try that.

 

Yep, it seems to be helping me. You might want to read this entire thread. Lots of good technique advice. Good luck! Mick

 

Here's something that occurred to me that may be related. If tinnitus is a brain problem then mindfulness is potentially rewiring the brain, which is a (partial?) solution. (If you're not familiar with it, google the term mindfulness.)

I have practiced transcendental meditation in the past, so I'm familiar with the redirection happening here. I tried your method a couple of days ago with almost immediate response and relief. Now I practice the "notice-and-then-ignore" option. If I go hours without hearing the tinnitus then it is, in effect, gone.

The mindfulness method is already helping and I'll keep it up. Who knows, maybe I am reprogramming my damaged brain.

 

I'm just confused how to ignore it when all I can think is tinnitus and it's causing me nothing but fear, panic and misery?

 

The more you think about it, the more important it becomes to you and the harder it is to ignore it. The conscious mind inhibits emotional responses from you unconscious mind when it realises they aren't of any importance to your survival or well being or they might get you into trouble by acting upon them. Inhibition is the conscious mind's default setting; it's more "free won't" than "free will".

By thinking of your tinnitus then you're removing that natural inhibition of your emotional response and it comes into your mind like a flood. Then of course you think about it more and the inhibition becomes even less in a vicious circle. The only reason the whole system doesn't run out of control and turn you into a basket case is that it would be impossible to spend all your time thinking of your tinnitus. Life gets in the way. Maybe a Tibetan monk could focus on their tinnitus if they had 20 years practice at it.

Although there are exceptions to what can and cannot be inhibited, the ones which cannot are the "clear and present dangers" to yourself. The emotional mind has an executive over ride function if it thinks you're going to get killed or seriously injured. (which is why you can hit the brake in your car when a hazard presents itself before you even realise you've done so) tinnitus doesn't even come close to this level of threat, it's inhibited (the emotional response) quite easily when you stop caring about it.

Change the way you think about your tinnitus and you will change the way you feel about your tinnitus. Once you've changed the way you feel about it then it disappears unless you focus on it. You're actually inducing neuroplasticity in your limbic system and rewiring your brain.

 

@Silvine

What if t is considered as possibly harmful through suicide?

 

That would make your tinnitus worse as you're ascribing huge emotional content to the sound. If anyone feels suicidal then they need professional help. It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

Nearly everyone who gets tinnitus feels depressed about it at the time, but when you habituate you feel pissed off about the time you wasted being depressed. Tinnitus is a con, it's like the wizard behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, it gives you or should I say "let's you" think it's a big deal but when the curtain's thrown back it's exposed for what it is: A harmless noise. It doesn't cause you physical pain, it doesn't mean you go blind or become paralysed, it pretty much doesn't do anything at all. It's just one of thousands of sensory inputs hitting your conscious every second of the day; you only become aware of the important ones.

Make it unimportant.

 

Yes Silvine I love your posts! They always make me feel a lot better. Thank you.

 

Just an update on my mindfulness approach. When I notice the ringing in my left ear I observe it, rate it, and then ignore it. I've gone as long as a couple of hours between notices, meaning I don't hear the tinnitus. For a couple of days in the last week I noticed the volume decreased from normal. In the last two days, it's been loud.

I'm still learning how to do this properly but it does seem to help, sometimes greatly. I actually tire of noticing it, sometimes but, like I said, it's a work in process.

What I haven't mentioned is that I suffered a fall on my head from a bicycle four months ago which has caused a harmonic buzzing in the left ear (same one with the loud tinnitus) when I speak. That's obviously a trauma thing.

I had an ENT exam a couple of weeks ago. The doctor was nice and said he has tinnitus as well (hello compradre!). However, he seemed at a loss on the harmonic buzzing saying it might be nerve damage from the fall. He said to call him back if it becomes intolerable and he might work on masking devices.

The left ear has been a problem since I punctured the drum in 1978. The drum healed well enough but I had a tearing noise in my ear when my baby daughter cried. I never had that looked at because I figured the drum never healed correctly and I could handle it with earplugs. It went away by itself by the time she was a teenager. How does a 15 year healing process sound?

The new sound is similar but not identical. Mindfulness helps with the tinnitus but it can't help with the harmonic noise. My advice is don't fall off your bike.

Sorry that this is not exactly on topic but sometimes I just need to vent, I guess.

 

Hello.
If you've been working at the 'Back To Silence' technique, I have great news. Please hang in there. Yesterday I had 5 seconds of silence. FIVE SECONDS OF SILENCE!!

I did the unthinkable, I listened for my tinnitus (which I'm not supposed to do) and it was GONE!!
This is another step, although unexpected, in my progress. Hang in there. When I started it was tough. I was breaking habits, forming new ones, apprehensive, a little fearful and a little excited too. As the weeks went by I found myself measuring my response to my tinnitus fewer and fewer times, which meant I was not hearing it as often. In time (a short time) I became more happy, content and energetic - due to having very few responses a day. Even better was when I did hear my tinnitus and it was time to respond, but I didn't - because it didn't bother me. I was too busy for tinnitus. Too busy living. That's where I've been at for a few weeks - happy to be in control of tinnitus and not hearing it but maybe once or twice a day. Then yesterday, WOW. Like I've been standing in the middle of a busy road and finally stepped off to the side. It was a wonderful 5 seconds. I truly believe it'll happen again, thanks to this technique, but if it doesn't that's OK. For now I'm telling tinnitus who's boss.

-Terry
Tinnitus since '74

 

Fantastic!!!!

 

Good for you. I still get intermittent silence sometimes, problem is my H still whistles like hell when I breathe through my nose.

 

Quite interesting.

 

How wonderful! This was just what I needed to hear tonight. I'm logging off now to leave on a positive

 

Good news if you've been doing (what I call) the Back To Silence method. I've been doing it since October and I think I've entered the final phase. I don't know how it could be better. Yes, I have tinnitus but I don't hear it and it doesn't bother me and I'm in total control of it. If it appears I can shut it off in a minute. Please hang in there. Please don't question it, just do it. That's what I did when I learned about it here on the forum. The first week or so was actually a lot of work trying to respond to my tinnitus in a new way. Then I started physically feeling better. Soon after came a new sensation of calmness. A couple months later, when tinnitus would make its appearance, I realized I was only hearing it once or twice a day. Recently, if it's intrusive, I can get rid of it very quickly by simply doing what I did in the beginning. It's a technique anyone can do and is SO simple. The last week or so I'm not bothered at all when it's time to respond to tinnitus, I feel in complete control and 99.9% tinnitus free.

How does it work?
Well, imagine you were walking through the woods for instance, and you were with a buddy. All of a sudden you stepped in a little hole and felt your foot go sideways and you hit the ground.
Would your response be -
A) "I believe all of my weight was on my right leg when suddenly I was unable to support myself as my foot lost the ability to do its job. The pain is radiating almost to my knee. It becomes sharp pain closer to my foot. I don't know what I'll do to fix this."
OR
B) "Damn, I sprained my ankle. I'm afraid I won't be able to make it back to the car." ??

I've sprained my ankle 3 times. My response has always been B.

Now that I'm having success with this tinnitus method, I've asked myself, "What was I doing responding to my tinnitus like this? Oh God, it's louder today, a little louder on the left. I think it's getting worse. I'll be hearing this all day. I wish there was a new pill or something. It's a hiss, but a hiss louder than the TV. I can hear it with the radio on.

I QUIT describing and measuring the tinnitus. Who sits in the woods describing a sprained ankle ? And why should I waste time describing the volume and sound of my tinnitus, especially to myself?

It's not easy to break old habits and have faith in something so simple when it comes to tinnitus. Since 1974 I've tried to conquer tinnitus with earplugs, cotton, avoidance, doctors, pills, drops, chiropractors, ENTs, masking, exercises, acupressure, vitamins, hypnosis, & diet change.

Please, if you're not having success, it won't hurt to try this the next time your tinnitus becomes intrusive.
Acknowledge it, describe your feeling toward it, and get on with life.
Do not spend another SECOND measuring tinnitus, or describing the sound of it, or thinking about it in any way. Instead, think about your feeling toward it. Think about how your feeling toward it today is (or is not) different than the feeling toward it yesterday.
There is no guarantee this will work for you. No one guaranteed it would work for me. But to my surprise I noticed improvement quickly and now, 4 months later, I don't know how it could be better.

Stop measuring the tinnitus.
Start measuring your response to tinnitus.

Good luck.

 

I am walking the walk and talking the talk. I pray for good results.
Thanks for the the update.

 

Here's how I did the Back To Silence method. I can only demonstrate how it worked for me. Hopefully it'll work for you too. In 4 months I went from being very nervous and consumed with thoughts of tinnitus to now, where I don't hear it and have to listen for it. Also, I've had two short periods of silence which were pleasantly noticeable (maybe more). This is the best thing I've tried in the 40 years I've had tinnitus, and I don't know how it could get much better. Thank you to whoever posted this great method.

The method simply involves thoughts of emotions to be a substitute for thoughts of tinnitus sounds.
"I hear it. I'm happy it doesn't bother me as bad as this morning."
"I hear it. I'm fearful but I'm glad too that I didn't hear it since this morning."
"I hear it. But I'm pretty busy and not bothered by it."
etc...
I do NOT tell myself or others how loud it is, what frequency it is, what ear it's in etc......

The first few days were harder than I thought they'd be. Trying to tell myself how I felt instead of telling myself my tinnitus was bad, loud, and intrusive actually was difficult.

Within A Week I started feeling more energetic, happy, and by lunchtime I started noticing I hadn't responded to my tinnitus upon waking. This was another important, difficult step. Because upon realizing I hadn't been responding to my tinnitus feelings meant I hadn't been hearing it. I tried hard not to listen FOR my tinnitus, knowing that this was the very thing I was trying to stop doing. So I kept responding only to my feelings of tinnitus when I heard my tinnitus.

Only a couple months later, when my tinnitus was intrusive, I was actually too busy to worry about my feelings and brushed the tinnitus aside. Can you imagine how empowering this felt?

Three Months into this, I started feeling in total control. The feelings about tinnitus are all I have, and I only respond to the feelings when they pop up, about once a day. The measurements, my descriptions, and 99% of the SOUND of tinnitus are gone.

At the end of each day, I have a habit (good or bad?) that tells me how I'm doing. I ask myself how many times this day I responded to my feelings about tinnitus. As you can see, I believe this method is great because it constantly hammers home the point that tinnitus sounds don't matter, but FEELINGS about tinnitus certainly do matter.

 

I honestly believe this method is helping me. I'm still annoyed by my tinnitus but before I can even really think about it, I realise I've already responded to my feelings - it's almost becoming instant and I'm moving onto a task or something that will help distract me quicker than before when I used to wallow.