BTA Tinnitus Information Days in the UK

The BTA will be bringing the next in their series of FREE one day Regional Tinnitus Information Days to Aberdeen on 7 May 2016

If like myself, anyone on this forum lives in Aberdeen (Scotland, U.K) or is within close enough travelling distance to come along the BTA is holding an event on Saturday the 7th of May 2016.

Please see the link before for more information. For anyone who can come along, I look forward to seeing you there!

http://www.tinnitus.org.uk/aberdeen

 

The Irish one is on May 12

 

Aberdeen. Talk about an out of the way place to have it
Handy for all you northerners though!

 

Haha yeah it's really good they're coming up here! Should be a good turnout in that case.
It was actually my girlfriend that noticed it was on so we're heading over next week!

 

Sweet. Post an update about it, would love to read about it.

I see we've had tinnitus roughly the same amount of time. How you dealing with it?

 

Yeah alright, in the beginning it was torture and I thought it was the end of the world. But gradually I got used to it, my brain sorta tuned it out but it still drives me crazy when I'm trying to sleep or focus at work. My worry is that it gets worse, I'm only 26 so it has plenty of time to get worse!

How are you coping?

 

Yeah after the initial 4/5 months at the beginning i totally habituated to it. Made a mistake by going to a gig without earplugs a couple weeks back and now it's spiked, so hoping it goes down again soon.

Yeah I have that worry too. I'm almost 35 so i'm still young enough that I have to live with this for a long time.

Peace!

 

The event was fantastic, the speakers were really good and the Mindfulness session by Dr. Laurence McKenna was a particular highlight.

Really appreciative of the BTA to bring this event to Aberdeen and give us this opportunity.

 

The British Tinnitus Association is holding a free tinnitus information day in Manchester on the 2 July 2016 at the Manchester Conference Centre.

The event will be free of charge to attend for the general public and our tinnitus experts will be giving talks throughout the day about the basic facts on tinnitus, treatments available, how to manage stress and methods of relaxation.

Registration will start at 9.30 with the meeting commencing at 10.15, and we will finish around 3.30pm. A light lunch and refreshments will be provided free of charge, there will be communication support available and a chance to sample Yoga/Tai Chi and mindfulness as a stress therapy during the lunch break, there will also be a number of exhibitors on hand for advice and information.

The aims of the day are to familiarise patients and families on all aspects of the impact of tinnitus, draw attention to the therapy choices and have an opportunity to share information. To benefit fully from the day, it would be ideal to attend for the whole event and take part in the taster sessions during the lunch break, however there is no problem in arriving/leaving early.

People who have attended previous tinnitus information days, have said:

"The day was invaluable"
"I wish I could have heard all this 20 years ago"
"Absolutely loved the day, calmed my tinnitus"
"Completely changed my perception of tinnitus"
You can also book through the Eventbrite site http://bit.ly/1Tkx9U5

The event will take place at Manchester Conference Centre, Sackville Street, Manchester, M1 3BB.

If you would like to book over the phone or by email please contact Krys at the BTA on krys@tinnitus.org.uk or 0800 018 0527,

 

We are delighted to announce that the British Tinnitus Association’s annual Conference will be held at the Manchester Conference Centre on Thursday 22 September 2016.

The BTA Conference is dedicated solely to tinnitus and the programme includes presentations by leading researchers and clinicians, covering new developments in research and best practice.

With an incredible line up of speakers, and a Poster session on tinnitus research, we are confident that the event will be a huge success. If you would like to book a place, you can take advantage of the Earlybird bookings which are again available. Please find below a list of speakers and topics, for full details feel free to download the programme to the right of this page. Full details are also available by clicking this link - you can also book on the Eventbrite page http://bit.ly/1RwJnU6 or by calling the BTA office to book with a debit or credit card on 0114 250 9933.

 

Hi! Have you been to one of these before? How are they?

 

Usually go on for a day or two days .
The BTA also run daily workshops around the country to help people with tinnitus.
I think the next one is in Manchester on 2nd July.....lots of love glynis

 

Anyone going to the BTA Information Day in London?

 

Anyone going this Saturday?

 

Great turnout, people from all over the UK.

It was a top line presentation and fast paced so I’ve done my best to capture the info, most of which Tinnitus Talk members already are aware of:

- 1 in 10 people with T has no hearing loss

- Most people with hearing loss have no tinnitus

- Life expectancy no different in T population, in fact slightly better

- Damaged hair cells in cochlea cause T? No because:

1. Some people have normal hearing (No mention of hidden hearing loss, which makes me question how plausible is the HHL theory is)

2. Some people have cochlear damage and no T

- Need a brain to have to but not the inner ear

- Talked about Autonomic response makes it louder – nervous system involvement…a bunch of stuff I need more clarity on.


MEDICATIONS

- Low salt diet – dubious even for Menieres/ alcohol different for different people

- In the BNF – 187 drugs that have a mention of T

- Illness itself is a stimulant of the limbic system, this may explain why when being ill and taking a drug one gets T and the T could be the result of the illness rather than the new drug.

- The only verified drugs are:

Aspirin – very high quantity – in animal studies 100 aspirins in one go

Antibiotics infusion

Cancer meds

Diuretics in high doses

Quinine substances equivalent of 50 gin and tonics

- The only verified recreational drugs are:

Hallucinogens and solvents

*An ecstasy trial was taking place in New Zealand

OTHER CAUSES

- Tumours in the brain, he talked about some benign tumors

- He talked about Pulsatile T in its various origins vascular and non vascular

- TMJ – cause and effect or coincidence – still question mark

- Apparently by moving several areas of the body (wow) people can change the intensity of their T. This does not lead to any change in treatment unfortunately – you can treat the affected are, say neck if it is giving you problems anyway, but don’t expect T to improve. People who don;t have T can make a jaw movement to provoke it.

- Myoclonus ear in its various types – very frequent for people to experience it temporarily

- Menieres, unusual


Psychological

- Why do some people suffer more? Intuitive answer is loudness but that is not the case.

- Arousal pushes T

- Many clinical diagnosis of depression and anxiety with T, slightly higher than with other physical conditions

- Links between PTSD and T in veterans

- Response systems 1 and 2/ Automatic thinking /thoughts not accurate

- High percentage of people who have difficulty with T had anxiety and depression before T

- Stroop test – drawn in by meaning, couldn’t tell colours

- Perfectionism amongst people with T


Diagnostics

Otoacustic test

Pitch loudness

Speech audiometry

The above 3 not generally performed as they are not helpful, the 3 below are:

MRI/CT

Eye Test

Audiogram

Tympanometry


Protection

Quite vague, they referred us to plug’em website


Therapies

Hering aids/maskers

- Not real noise can’t always drown it out

- Important to correct even small hearing loss

- Some modern hearing aids cancel background noise which is not helpful to T, make sure you get it adjusted correctly

- Hearing aid brands – some can stream noises from phones:

Oticon, Widex, Siemens, Starkey, Resound, Unitron etc.

TRT

Hard to come by in UK, not much training has taken place in Europe in the last few years

New treatments being looked into:

- TMS – a temporary improvement in 50% of people

- Drugs

- Active Neuromodulation

- Neuromonics

- Sound Cure

- Vagal Nerve stimulations

- Mute Button – a significant study will now take place

- AM101 – would only help newly acquired T

- Autifony - flop


HABITUATION

- Biological response when we cease to respond to the stimulus.

- Harder to achieve when:


Significance you attach to the t – “the thing that..” (…stops you doing this or that, makes you miserable)

- Help yourself by reducing arousal and other stresses or health conditions that are draining your resources.

- Study of Relaxation versus MCBT (8 weeks, two hours once a week) 47 pc improved with RT and 64 with MCBT – both numbers got better later on…


Anyhow, have some questions, may buy the book - which they did not mention. The presenters were Lawrence McKenna and Don McFerran (ENT). Lawrence McKenna came across as a good psychologist, knew his stuff and didn't take himself too seriously.

Please note - see your doctor before ceasing meds, don't use my post as medical advice, if you've been told to go on a low salt diet carry on with it, same with medication etc. Additionally can't guarantee 100% accuracy as was really fast paced.

Also there was no mention of withdrawal from drugs which is a question I would have liked an answer to.