CEO Here to Battle with Tinnitus

Hi everyone,

Hope you’re marvellous, or as good as you can be with this absolutely dreadful ringing in your ears.

I’m 28 and run a company in London. For the last 27 years my health has been perfect bar the odd broken bone.

Before this hit me I had no idea that tinnitus was even a thing, it took me a few weeks of feeling it before I diagnosed it as I thought it was temporary and just hit me from work load or having too much of a party at the weekend.

Now 5 months in, I’m very accepting of the fact I have tinnitus. It has dramatically effected my quality of life and now I’m determined to whack this bugger out of the park.

It pains me to see how many people have the same struggle with it and that there have been no definite cures. Until I found this forum I felt very shit and a little bit like I was dealing with it on my own and tried a lot of the things people talk about; seeing specialists, multiple ENTs, MRI scans, Herbal meds, CBD oil, white noise to sleep etc - so firstly thank you to all of you for taking the time to write in here and share stories even if not positive. This forum has definitely helped as I have seen people follow the same thought process as me.

The last couple of months have been pretty bad and I’ve had to leave the office a couple of times as my tinnitus has recently paired up with migraines. I tried to just work through it and usually spend 12-15 hours in the office (I love what I do, not forced to do those hours) but this has recently been impossible.

I found myself losing the battle and approaching this the completely opposite way I approach the rest of my life - with a defeatist attitude. Which is what I think it does to you, pulls you down, makes you feel alone and like you can’t fecking win, not even for a day, hour or minute.

So this Christmas break I’ve tried to take more of a grip on it and make a plan for trying to fix it. I’ve been reading on all the things to cut out, no caffeine, alcohol or shit thoughts - the last one seems like the main thing as anxiety is perpetual and the more worry that this will never go away seems to make it worse.

This seems like a quality of life battle, I don’t want to do a lot of the things I enjoy doing as much and the last thing I need is negative thoughts running through my head.

And I’ve started adding in all the things that I think will help - being as positive as possible, less phone time - used to have 8 hours screen time, now doing <3, walking, playing tennis, drinking more water, taking ibuprofen, sleeping as much as possible (taking phenegan, CBD, Manuka Honey) laughing as much as I can with comedy or funny friends, going to the spa, going for walks and playing with the dogs.

Overall I feel better but my tinnitus is still exactly the bastarding same so you return to the dreadful noise at sleep or silence which takes you back -3 steps.

So now I’m taking all the possible physical treatments that might help. I’ve worked bloody hard and fortunately I’m not broke so I am lucky to be able to throw a bit of money at what might help. If I can eliminate all of the rubbish and find exactly what helps I’d love to share with you all to see if we can start having a better quality of life again.

I’ve asked a specialist and my cousin to work with me for the next three months working through each one and making sure I stick to it and we go to war with this thing properly. Here’s all the things I have so far... Please do share anything else, happy to be a guinea pig apart from taking drugs. Want to stay off the narcos until a last resort as want to keep my mindset.

Acupuncture
CBT - I have a therapist starting next week
TRT - I think this is with the noises and and hearing aids, if not that’s what I mean
Stronger CBD oils
Mullein Garlic oil in my ear
Botox (my cousin told me collagen can help stop it, so worth a go)
Stem cells in my ear

Any help or advice much appreciated and I’ll put updates as to how I’m getting on if anyone wants to know.

Here’s to having a real go at trying to stop this nightmare.

Happy holidays.

Fin

 

Some of the information at the link below might be useful to you
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

Patience, support, distraction from the noise, sound enrichment have been helpful to myself and many. Tinnitus is a journey and all of us are riding the wave.

 

Stop taking ibuprofen bro. It's ototoxic. How much have you been taking??

 

If you can go try some stem cells!

 

It’s for the tingling or migraines I get in my head - maybe 4/6 a day for the past four days.

Head has got better and T feels similar, woke up this morning with a hell of a ring though.

What else should I be taking for the migraines/headaches? Paracetamol didn’t help.

Thanks!

Fin

 

I get migraines about once a month and I take 2 things to get rid of it. either a high sodium meal. soup with a lot of soy sauce works too. or a cup of hot dark chocolate. not too sweet. more on the dark side. don't ask me why. they just work. been doing this for years. and plenty of water. even minor dehydrate can trigger migraines.

 

Thanks mate, will try.

Dropped the Ibuprofen now.

 

Now you're a C EEEEEEEE O.

 

Good on you! A strong, positive mindset will be very helpful! Hope you manage to kick it’s ass!!

 

Haha - excellent.

 

The best therapy is becoming hyper cynical and constantly making fun of yourself while posting memes in my posting place. This is something thats known by a few of us here.

 

Have you done a hearing test with an audiologist?
I doubt that your T is due to stress. It probably has a physiological cause that you just haven't figured out yet. Most of the time (some researchers will go as far as to say "always") it's related to your auditory system somewhere. That doesn't mean that it's always measurable with todays testing methods unfortunately (there is such thing as hidden hearing loss, for example, which doesn't show on an audiogram).

Keep digging. This may help guide you (and your docs): https://www.tinnitusresearch.net/index.php/for-clinicians/diagnostic-flowchart

Good luck!

 

Try taking Tylenol. It is the least ototoxic painkiller...

 

Excedrin Migraine is the only thing that works for my Migraines....

 

No history of tick bites?? Neurolyme can cause migraines and other neuro symptoms

Try magnesium threonate

Low dose naltrexone can tweak the immune system, reducing inflammatory cytokines driving your migraines?

Try curcumin with piperine

Liver detox products can help with eliminating toxic substrates that might be contributing to your pain. Consider n acetylcysteine, silymarin, and dandelion.

Omegas

An australian stem cell clinic (mcquarie) are conducting trials using adipose derived stem cells to treat migraines. I actually received stems last year at this clinic for severe joint pain and headaches. I think it helped drive inflammation down along with improving my tinnitus and hyperacusis.

If migraines are new, you might need a medical evaluation to rule out more sinister causes of migraines.

 

....and it’s a job for life.

 

The best therapy I've discovered for my decades-long battle with chronic neck and head pain is a combination of DMSO and magnesium oil. Works great for reducing inflammation and increasing cirulation--and reducing pain in the process.

 

The things I found helped the most to achieve habituation were time and avoidance of loud noise - the latter is particularly important in not worsening tinnitus. I take Ibuprofen quite regularly and don't find it worsens my tinnitus at all. Definitely worth seeing your GP about the tinnitus and headaches though so that some things can be checked and hopefully ruled out.

 

Thanks everyone. Migraines haven’t been as bad the last couple of days but I’ll order these products and bring that up when I meet the stem cells expert.

I’m dodging all the loud noise. Going shooting clays in a few weeks and I’ve bought about 9 ear defenders still trying to keep doing the things I like.

I’ve also subbed out my apple airpods for some bigger over ear noise cancelling headphones that are arriving next week.

One thing I did yesterday that has made me feel better is get a Fitbit - it measures the exact hours that you sleep and when you are restless. Now I know that sounds terrible if you’re getting sod all sleep, but I actually thought I was more restless last night than I was and I was reassured when I woke up. This tinnitus makes you have a negative outlook, so getting the facts about how much sleep I got and how much I woke up made me feel better.

The nighttime routine is a lot better now. I have a Nytol or Phenegan before sleep. I’ve subbed out the air pods for a speaker at the other side of the room and do audible with a sleep timer of an hour. That usually allows me to get off to sleep and if not I set another 30/45 minutes. Then when I wake up if I don’t have to be up yet and it’s ringing like mad, I’ve downloaded relax melodies and made a few songs that work for me that I have on shortcut to play and block out the noise to try and help me get back to sleep which worked this am

Meeting the alternative medicine specialist tomorrow, she’s lovely and going to learn about acupuncture.

Will keep you all updated with progress and good luck with the battles until then.


Fin

 

Just a cautionary note: If you keep taking it (for years say), I think there's a good chance it may eventuall affect your tinnitus to some degree. Sometimes effects don't show up until years down the road.

I'm not exactly sure what "shooting clays" is, but it sounds like it would be loud. -- Just to mention, vibrations hitting the areas around the ear (mastoid bone?) can also be problematic. So protecting just the ear from getting direct sounds may not always provide the degree of protection we need, especially in the critical first months after ear injury.

 

Hey Fin
Also remember to have your teeth checked for cavities and abscess. I’m fairly certain my bad teeth problem isnt helping my TMJ and T.

Give it hell in a relaxed way. Lol I’m praying for you and and great outcome.



Finn

 

The trigeminal nerve supplies the upper and lower teeth, jaw, ear, etc...

 

We’ll beat it Bam.

I’m starting to see how much of all of this relates to your mindset and how you think of it all. If I’m doom and gloom my ringing seems louder and more present. It’s less easy to focus away and I can’t think of it ever leaving.

How long have you had it for?

 

I’ve had two with different audiologists and both came out saying pretty normal for my age. This is promising though as maybe stem cells will be able to help.

Why do you doubt stress and workload? Interested to hear as that’s 90% of what I think has caused it along with all the things that go with it like 5/6 hours sleep a night, working for such long days/having fun on weekends. I reckon it has been too much and my body is saying that to me.

Thanks for the guide and keep up the fight

 

Do you think it is possible for someone to experience chronic pain nonstop for years mostly as a result of stress?

 

A little over a year. Feels like 10.......You’re doing well bud.

 

I’m very new to this forum and reasonably new to this absolute shite that is Tinnitus.

I’m not talking about dropping a hot chocolate or being late paying bills. I don’t think that could cause it.

I do think high amounts of non stop stress and drama along with other bad lifestyle decisions can cause this to happen to you. That’s what I attribute mine to.

You seem to be very knowledgable and sent over great information, so I’m interested to hear why you think that is a 0% no go.

Fin

 

I wouldn’t say well just yet. Up and down.

 

Up and down is the best you can hope for in the first year. Trust me you’re doing well. No meds at all. Still working and keeping positive. You’ve got habituation written all over you mate. Trust me. You’ve got this.