CEO Here to Battle with Tinnitus

Because there is no study showing any causality between stress and T/H. Correlation is obvious, but causality, not so much. Stress makes it harder to cope with T for obvious reasons, but I've never seen it proven as a predictor. It's also quite difficult to establish as a predictor since everyone lives stressful lives these days. When was the last time you heard anybody tell you "yeah my life's not stressful at all - it's all peachy - I'm so relaxed".

There are, on the other hand, tons of scientific evidence linking pathologies in hearing to T/H. A very common study process is to induce T to guinea pigs through an acoustic trauma causing hearing loss. It works remarkably well.

 

Habituation... is that where people learn to live with it and have a normal life?

Thanks Bam. All I can do is approach everything in the right way.

 

If you figure that out, please do let us know! We're all learning as we go.

 

Yes you’re right. Everyone lives a stressful life.

By that I mean keep trying things and laugh. Rather than going to get a shotgun

 

All of my knowledge comes from reading this forum for the past 23 months, and having a reasonably good memory (so sometimes I am able to recall relevant posts). I don't have any medical background.

I can imagine stress causing problems for weeks or possibly a couple of months, but simply can't see how it could cause a problem like pain or tinnitus that lasts for over a year. Of course it is clear that stress can make T seem Slightly louder, or it might cause one to have a more intense reaction to the same level of noise.

It is when they are so used to the noise, they stop being aware of it. [For example, you know how eventually you (usually) stop hearing the sound of an AC after a while - same thing.] I can see it happening when T is quiet, but it is probably too much to hope for when T is loud.

 

And that my friend should get you through this. I’m in a mess but my reaction to T has been extreme to say the least. I’m just not the guy for this. I think you might be..... Just a hunch. Stay strong.

 

How’s your sleeping? Early thoughts are that is one of the biggest parts of the equation for how shit T can be.

 

Yeah I took mirtazapine for first few months and tapered off with lots of herbs and beer. I have to drink now. I’ve accepted a degree of alcoholism as an unfortunate consequence of this even though I was basically T total before. Bear in mind my T is loud and very high frequency. Around 13000khz. It’s a screechy sawing sound and a dentist drill. Easy listening it ain’t. I use heavy rain and cicada sounds on a Bose speaker. I wake up quite a lot but as I lost my career I can sleep on so don’t get stressed about the alarm going. I cuddle my dog when I feel anxious. No real tricks or anything new to speak of. I’m just trying to survive. All other ambitions are on hold.

 

Do you have bilateral or unilateral tinnitus?
How does your tinnitus sound, more like a tone, or more like a hiss?
Do you have better and worse days?
Is there anything, what has an influence to your tinnitus?
Is there somatic influence?
Sounds your tinnitus sometimes synchrone with your heart beat.

 

The anxiety is such a bitch. That’s the one I’m the most bothered about. I might try move one of the family dogs to London or get one here - that’s a class way to feel comfortable and love.

Doesn’t beer make T worse? I’ve been staying away from the alchohol because I’m worried about what it’s doing to my head. That would actually make things much easier. A few of my friends have suggested taking harder drugs in small quantaties to try and take my mind away from it. I think that’s not the right call as it could go the other way alltogether. Drugs are going to be the last resort for me.

My flat mates girlfriend took nortryptaline and that fixed her vertigo and made her T dissapear. That will be the first think I try and get in 3 months if there is nothing else that makes it bearable.

Any experience with that?

 

Cheers fellow Finn. Top man I will do.

 

A lot of people are going to be very interested in that fact.

Drugs never suited me. I tried amitryptyline and that was awful. It’s strong stuff and Mirtazapine even at tiny doses is great for sleeping but again you feel like shit in the morning I found and it made me even more aggro about the whole thing. Maybe psychosomatically annoyed about taking it......All this is personal of course.

I stopped drinking for a month recently just to see if it helped but it made no change to T. I just find a few strong beers takes the edge off the noise a bit mentally.

Can you take the dog to work if you had one?!? Otherwise it might be an added stress walking it. Unless you get a dog walker or day care or something. They are a lifesaver in terms of coping.

 

My tinnitus is constant, sometimes it is just stronger than others. When I’m busy in a loud office or watching a film I can sometimes get it out of my head until I focus back. Othertimes in silence it gets very bad. It’s also like a ringing in my head along with my ears.

It’s a tone, a high pitch tone but probably one tone below something that would be unbearable.

Yes better and worse days, I think this is mostly linked to my mindset and anxiety that comes with it. If I stay positive and remember who I am and how I operate I can deal with the tinnitus. If I start feeling like it’ll be there forever and I’ll never live the same life - that’s when it’s really shit.

I thought smoking made it worse - so I’ve kicked the smokes as of 3 days ago. If I get less sleep it also makes it bad.

What do you mean by somatic influence?

No it doesn’t go with my heartbeat but sometimes when I sleep on my side I’m very aware of my heartbeat and can hear it more in my head.

Thanks for the Qs and interest buddy.

 

How come? Is that a drug other people have heard of. I was going to go straight for it - but thought I’d try everything else before going on it.

Yeah I can take a dog to work and have a couple of people that work for us personally full time that would happily love the dog during the day in or out. That wouldn’t be a problem and will add that into phase two.

Do you play any games like FIFA or COD and how do you find they work for your head?

 

I meant the fact she got cured. But yeah nortryptyline is commonly used, but being cured not so common. Lucky her.

I don’t have a PlayStation but it has to be beneficial as a distraction if you’re home alone. Maybe keep the volume down though when you’re shooting people.

 

Headphones - does anyone know the craic here?

I’ve ordered these Bose sleep buds - they are pretty shit and only play 7 songs, prefer listening to my phone on speaker. I suppose will be handy when not sleeping on my own.

I’ve just tried the Bang and Olufsen noise cancelling and they actually made the sound worse than without the headphones on. Wasn’t expecting that but it’ll be a no go.

So I’m left with my air pods for listening to films whilst on the plane tomorrow. If anyone has any advice it would be very much appreciated.

Finners

 

Many people on this forum believe that their T got louder following the use of headphones. Earbuds are even more dangerous than over-ear headphones. It is also the case that some people got T (or got a T spike) after using noise cancelling headphones.

I always wear earplugs underneath my Bose 25 noise cancelling headphones. This setup works very well when I fly.

 

Just any earplugs? Maybe I can use the sleep buds but not turn them on.

 

I’m sure post people have seen this....

But I feel like this guy needs an MBE.

I’ve said this a few times over the last few days but positive mindset and thinking it’s going to go is such a game changer. Kind of like a placebo effect but actually in your own head

How to help tinnitus - 15 tips

 

The function of the earplugs is to protect one from the noise cancelling headphones. Even the best earplugs's (3m's 1100 plugs) noise reduction can't be compared to that of Bose 25 noise cancelling headphones.

 

Bill have you watched this video? Thought it was pretty good. 4 mins in.

Tinnitus: Ringing in the Brain | Josef...

How long have you been in this game for?

 

Sorry what I mean here is to put the sleep buds under the noise cancelling headphones.

 

If there is a good seal around both the buds and the headphones, then it sounds like a good idea.

Mine began 23 months ago, on February 2, 2017. If you hover your mouse over people's usernames (on the left side of the screen), you will see their "Tinnitus since" information...

It is interesting. Thank you.

He says that one is likely to get T when one gets noise trauma and is under a lot of stress. That doesn't seem to imply that it is possible to get rid of existing T by becoming free of stress.

 

Some of you people with hearing damage and you own dogs I don't get. A klinky dish will send you over a cliff but a super loud, barking dog does nothing to you. I'd just get a cat.

 

Well, if someone had a dog prior to getting T, there is not much they can do...

 

I have a big dog with a big bark, and I absolutely adore him. Even people with normal hearing are annoyed by the sound of a barking dog. It seems normal and expected to be pained by the sound of barking. I should not have pain in my ears from eating a bowl of soup! It is abnormal and triggers fear in the brain.

 

This helps with reducing tinnitus?

 

no, migraines.

 

Get earmuffs for the plane ride.

 

lol this guy talks really smart and shows some complicated looking charts but he has been trying to raise $50,000 and in several months has barely raised over $2,000 even with the publicity of a TEDtalk. I'm not even sure what his idea is to treat tinnitus. I don't think he even has a clue TBH.