Back to Silence

Hi @I who love music,
Is he trying to say it's no longer a 'sauce' of concern? Regards Phil

 

UPDATE:

I only hear my tinnitus and respond to it once every few days now. BUT... it seems that the method is working so well I'm getting REAL careless.
I'm a real believer in earplugs in loud situations.
But there I was yesterday, out of the habit of tinnitus worries, hammering away on some wood without covering my ears.

It seems I'm caught between living a normal life and HAVING to remind myself I have tinnitus. Which is wonderful compared to last year when I was caught between ssshhhh and eeeeeeeee .

 

To folks trying the BTS method, let's do a quick check-

Do you carry paper to note the number of responses or do you (can you) do it mentally?
Energy, better sleep, and happiness came to me before the number of new responses faded. Have you noticed these early signs yet?
Have you totally or almost totally stopped the awful pattern of describing tinnitus volume to yourself?

 

Hi @I who love music
That's the hard bit. When you get a glimmer of success there's a great temptation to check to see if it has actually gone. The worst time seems to be on awakening in a morning when you are off guard. What we are doing seems to me like the computer equivalent of creating an automatic email message rule on a computer.When a message arrives in the Inbox, the message gets moved to another folder, or in our case on hearing tinnitus, we use the method to move tinnitus to another part of the brain. The more we practice the more the process becomes automatic, and eventually becomes a background activity. Thanks again @I who love music for your continued support.

Best Wishes Phil

 

Thank you very much @I who love music

1/Understood, requires a 100% committment. In case I'm outside, should I write these notes on a paper, or should I do it mentally? It would not be easy whether I'm busy with friends or people. Should I do this anyway, even if I'm not alone?

2/Could it be combined with another therapy (CBT, TRT etc...)

 

Keep a small piece of paper with you wherever you go. You have to be able to look back and see and count the new responses. It empowers you and makes it easier to do as time goes by. There's only one way to measure your decrease of tinnitus and that is to SEE that you hear it less and less as time goes by.

I would try the BTS method all by itself for 3 weeks and I'll bet you'll be more than happy with your results even in this early phase. Other programs probably measure the tinnitus, the BTS doesn't. The BTS method has you measure your responses to your tinnitus. In my case, my tinnitus will never go away so I cannot spend my time measuring the volume and frequency of it. But I have trained myself to not hear it using this method and it's been great.

See how it goes.
Good luck.

 

Here's my new video.

 

Well done Terry and lovely to see who you are also...

lots of love glynis

 

Anything is worth a try.

 

Terry, congratulations, that's great!

Three things you said really stood out for me:

1 - My parents warned me, saying, "You will go deaf," but no one told me about tinnitus, the relentless,never-ending hissing and ringing in your head, 24/7.
2 - It's not enough to stop a habit; it has to be replaced with a new habit.
3 - Please tell yourself your true emotion.

I've known about tinnitus for a very long time and felt immune to it because I always protected my ears, or at least I thought I did, totally oblivious to the effects of high-pitched barks over the course of time. But it distresses me to know that so many youth have no idea what tinnitus is, and even those who know about it think it's just a little whine or hum. They need to know the truth.

I love that second comment I highlighted. It's like when a dog is chewing on your furniture, that's a bad habit. Give it a chewie to distract it from the furniture, good habit.

The third comment is a tough one, I would think especially for men. No gender discrimination here, it just seems tougher for guys to pinpoint what they really feel. Heaven knows I have trouble sometimes describing exactly what I'm feeling, because it can be a mixture of strong emotions with no dominant emotion in particular.

If you want your video closed-captioned, I can provide a transcript of your narration. That would be helpful for folks with hearing loss or hearing distortion who also suffer from tinnitus, and I can also post the narration on this thread for folks who want to print it out as a refresher or maybe make notes. Just let me know.

"It's pretty cheap, too. Pencil and a paper."

 

Thanks for making this video

 

Good job, Terry. Heartfelt, honest, and helping to change people's lives.

 

I'm starting this today. I feel optimistic about it and excited to take this beast head on. @I who love music thanks for giving me some hope. Will report back!

 

Good for you!!!!!!!!!!
Remember - Don't measure your success by the sound of your tinnitus.
Measure success by the number of new responses.
And I'm sure you see those responses decrease. It's very exciting.

 

Hi IWLM and all tinnitus sufferers. This is my first post on this forum and since I discovered it last week I have been reading this entire thread. I think that what IWLM (Terry) is doing is absolutely fantastic. There are not many people like you, IWLM, today. You gave me comfort when I felt down and I truly believe in your method. I have just started the BTS method and I will try to give feedback. I hope that IWLM will stay here with us to guide us when we loose hope. Thank you, God bless you all!

 

I think I will try keeping mental notes. I'm not a really emotional person. I will acknowledge the ringing and move on. I do the same for headaches. I have done that since high school. Oh, I have a headache. Okay. Move on and I don't feel the headache any more.

I think I can notice if it I notice the ringing more or less.

Since I have been using the in-ear-monitors for interpreting, my reaction to loud noises has gone down. Screaming children still drive me up a wall! Always did, even before the ringing came to stay. The other day, I thought the music was over, so I pulled the monitors out of my ears. Ooops! Not done yet! Still too loud! Back in the went. Wow! I'm very happy with the in-ear-monitors! The sound tech gives me only the voices, so I can hear them clearly and interpret better. My challenge is to find the right volume so I can hear clearly without going too loud. Perhaps that has brought my anxiety level down too. I use the foam sleeves on the monitors to cut the sound. I do get caught at times when the voices change from singing to the speaker. Those levels are not always the same.

I still sit in front of the drums with the subwoofers in the wall next to me and whatever monitors are on stage. I can even feel the stage vibrate under my feet. None of that bothers me anymore. And I don't strain to understand what someone is saying or singing, like I did with straight ear plugs.

I agree with others here. I seem to hear the ringing more while I'm reading on the forum, because I'm thinking about it. Funny Catch-22. To learn about how to reduce or get rid of the ringing, we have to visit the place that can cause it to be more noticeable... Oh well... I think this method should work for me, even if I do it my own way. It surely doesn't hurt to try it my way first. I can always do it the right way if this doesn't work.

Thank you for sharing! I believe this will help many!

 

I saw an old musician buddy of mine today. The first thing he said was, "How's your ear ringing doing?"
I was tempted to tell him that my left ear is always worse than my right, that I don't think it'll ever go away, and I can't play loud music anymore. But I didn't. I answered him in Back To Silence language. I told him, " I only respond to it a couple times a week." He looked puzzled then said, "Man, that's great."

It IS great.

 

UPDATE

It's been a while since I did an update. Well, it's been almost 2 years since I started this method. Looking back, most of the improvement in my energy and moods, and decreased responses to tinnitus, happened in the first couple months. As time went on there was a slow and gradual improvement over a year and a half. Now I'm responding about 3 times a week. I still do the method when I notice my tinnitus, and will forever.

I've been in contact with a few people lately and seems that step #1 is the tough one. It was for me too. Actually, on the edge of impossible. But I was lucky and felt a change in my body, more energy and a loss of fear and anxiety about tinnitus, pretty early on. These changes seemed to make me forge ahead. That's why, in the video, I say it is SO important to 'take note' of changes. Yup, it was very tough at first. That first step is a big one.

 

UPDATE:
Man, it doesn't seem like almost 2 years.
I'm still improving. Now I've been going a week or two with only one response.
This is just incredible. And I've learned how much tinnitus affects everything in life. Tinnitus really stinks.
But I threw my paper away a long time ago and now I only make the mental note, "One response this week."
If I hadn't experienced this myself, I truly don't know if I would have believed it. So simple.

Hang in there, folks.... and keep that pencil and paper handy.

 

My very uneven experience with this method continues. I've had improvements in mood and energy and other things, but not in tinnitus. In fact, the tinnitus has been worse than average (about a 6 in my right ear, a 2 in my left one) for the past week. It's difficult to not be discouraged, but I am still trying to see the upside to this after seven weeks of practice. Maddeningly, I know that my mood and energy would naturally improve if the tinnitus went away, so I'm getting the "side effects" without benefitting from the effect.

 

I like this idea a lot. But when I tried it today I noticed that since my tinnitus is constant there are long stretches of time when I am aware of it all the time, then other times when I am not noticing it as much. At the times when it is constant and I'm aware of it, I often I don't have a lot of very strong feelings about it so I'm not sure if this technique will move me to the "better" part of my brain?

 

Quick update: I'm at work, and I noticed the sound, and am shocked to say it doesn't bother me too much right now! Maybe this method is working!

 

After a couple years of doing the method, I believe I've hit my best time now. It may get even better, but for now, I'm fine with hearing my tinnitus only once every couple weeks.
Is it loud? Yup.
Do I hear it? Nope.

 

@I who love music Do you not hear it even when you are about to go to sleep? I use masking sounds but it becomes so loud in my head at bedtime.

 

I used to but not now.

 

You are a Godsend my friend. I have been just saying how I feel to myself everytime I notice it.
-I hate this
-I'm frustrated
-I'm pissed off
-I'm scared
-I'm nervous
-I'm worried
-Meh it is what it is
-This sucks but I'm still good
(At this point I noticed my shoulders start to relax)
-Hey this is cool I'm ok
-Ok now I'm a little annoyed by it
-I'm still feeling wary but it's kinda cool
-I'm feeling pretty relaxed now
-My gosh that's annoying


All this happened in the last hour or two as I read through the forum. The old thinking kept creeping in every now and then but I even expressed how I felt about that and I was able to get right back on track.

Thank you so much Terry. Do yourself a favor people...don't say I'm going to TRY this. Say to yourself... I AM doing this.

If I remember, I will report back again in a week or two.

I am already feeling waaaaay calmer than I was feeling just a couple of hours ago.

Blessings to you all!

 

I'm so glad I watched your video and read this thread!
I am going to give it a go!

Thank you and bless you!

 

Sounds like you used cognitive behavioral therapy on yourself. Or dialectal behavioral therapy. It really works.

 

Sharpen your pencil, SallyT. Do it right and you'll be amazed.

 

New tinnitus. In my 30s. It's not 'loud'. It's not debilitating itself, it's a high pitched tone, like there's an old TV on in the room.

It as brought about some anxiety, nausea, and lack of appetite and lack of sex drive. While I fully expect those to subside as I begin to adjust and cope, did you find that your technique helped you with similar problems not directly related to the tinnitus? You mentioned 40 marks a day, I started using your method, And I hit 40 marks in 2 hours. Do you only mark when you notice it? Did you use sound masking over the course of the day/night to help, or did you cut that all out?

Thanks. You gave me a inch of hope.