Chronic Tinnitus

Hi everybody I'm Chris. New to the site and feeling desperate. I have chronic T and feel like I can't cope with it. But I don't want to kill myself. I just want someone to talk to. How do you cope with T when it is so bad that you feel like I do. Please help.

 

Hi Chris,

welcome to the forum. I understand what it feels like to have a loud sound come out of my head. It is permanent and it has been with me for over 30 years. I understand how you feel and I have empathy for your pain. All of us here are on the same boat, some more severe than others. My tinnitus is louder than the freeway, if i stand on the side of it. The noise is just louder and just awful.

Coping, habituation, takes time and lots of positivity. I speak for myself, if I wanted to cope and habituate...I HAD to accept what was going on and NOT fight it. I told myself that event hough I have my current situation, I STILL CAN live my life and enjoy it.

Yes, my life had adjustments and I had to modify some things, but it was ok. All of us at times need support and love. Tinnitus can make us emotional and non of us like having it.

I have had it for 30 years and I don't fight it. I have accepted it and just live my life. We need to protect our ears but not go overboard either. There are quite a few relaxation techniques that you can read about. Just do know that It takes lots of patience, self love and support to get a grip on this matter.

This board and it's amazing members are always here to lend a helping hand and help another member out

I know it may seem tough right now, trust me I have been through it and still going through it.....Just know that you can make it and each day can lead us into coping and habituation.

take care

 

Thanks for sharing your story, I just get nervous when someone who has had it for 30 years hasn't habituated yet and think to myself, I'll never habituate to this thing!

 

Dear Fishbone, thanks so much for your words of wisdom and taking the time to reply. I've only had acute T for 6months so it is all relatively new to me. Life is so difficult at the moment and I welcome any support and advice out there. The main problem for me is sleeping. My T is very loud indeed but l find drinking red wine helps. Two or three glasses dulls the sound and makes me sleepy. But l feel dreadful the next day. Obviously l can't go on like this and need another strategy that is more realistic. Glad that I found this forum and l wish you all the best and thanks once again for your kind response.

 

@Chris Garfield ,
Welcome to Tinnitus Talk.
Try Melatonin to help you sleep and soft music or a fan on to take your mind off your tinnitus.
In the day keep background sound on TV or radio or play relaxing music and when it's warm open a few windows .
Tinnitus can cause unwanted emotions giving you a bit of a wobble that we all go through at first like anxiety and low mood but as you get to know about tinnitus and time with it you wont feel the same and more at ease with it.
We are here around the clock to support you so your never alone.
Love glynis

 

People use various methods to cope with it, and I've seen instances of success reported. I think a lot of it depends on how much of your distress is psychological vs physiological. There's a lot that can be done for the former though CBT, meditation, etc... The latter, on the other hand, is more complicated, especially since you have a source of T that is currently not curable (very few are).

I'll tell you one thing though: you don't have much a choice. Like you said, you don't want to kill yourself, so coping or not coping, you'll still be here tomorrow, and it will still suck, but the simple passing of time will give you a different outlook on it.

The good news is that T gets better in a majority of cases, so you could find hope in that statement. The other piece of good news is that there is some research going on that seems promising, but anyone could have said "a cure is less than 10 years away" any day in modern history, so take that info with a grain of salt.

In the meantime, there are crutches you can use (medication, hearing aids, masking/sound therapy, etc). I have a hearing aid, and I think it helps a bit. I didn't feel like psy help was very helpful, but that's just me. I was already equipped with CBT tools before T came on, so I didn't need to rehash that.

I'd suggest going for a comprehensive hearing test to see where your losses are, and explore whether a hearing aid can help you out not just to hear better, but alleviate the T stimulus.
Also make sure you take care of your ears (avoid loud sounds).

Is that you playing the guitar in your avatar?

Good luck!

 

Hi Greg a. Thanks for the reply. Yes that's me playing guitar. It's being in bands that gave me hearing loss and T. Hearing aids haven't helped me at all,but CBT has quite a lot. I know that there is no easy way to get my life back,but I will persevere with it. Good luck to you and thanks again.

 

How loud is your tinnitus? Like is it so loud that you can hear it over a normal conversation? Also if your tinnitus is from hearing loss, maybe getting a hearing aid would help mask the sound more.

 

@Equalizer You seem to do nothing but spread negativity and the wish for death. Just because you are miserable does not mean others, with worse T than you have, are miserable as well. People find a way to cope and deal with it, and have it lessened over time. Others experience complete resolution. Because you don't and you feel your life is a living hell doesn't mean you have carte blanche to try and drag as many people down with you as possible.

 

Hi, my T is louder than conversation,TV, etc , and only decreases out in the open air on a windy day. I have hearing aids but these are useless at combating the T.
CBT and habitualisation are my goals . Any advice on how to achieve a bit of peace would be welcome.

 

You kinda have to have an outer body experience for a awhile I mean separate you from T which in turn is a slow process to habituate. Now there are other interfering factor like anxiety which could make it worse and complicated. Sleep you have to work on make a routine, I have masker hearing aids with no hearing part. You have to learn how to calm down and I mean inner body. Try doing quite hobbies.

 

@fishbone - for a very long time, I was getting nowhere with my “T” - I was desperate, hopeless, suffering like hell, wanting to “go.”
Your positivity, encouragement, determination to live a good life despite your predicament, made all the difference.
You made me think ‘perhaps even I could do it?’
You turned me round my friend.’
I will always be grateful to you for that.
I am sure you help so many. x
Jazzer.

 

@Chris Garfield

Hi Chris,

I'm brand new to the forum, but have had tinnitus for roughly 3 years now. Mine was caused by over exposure to music too. I don't know how bad yours is/what sounds etc as everyone's is different, but I've managed to still carry on enjoying music, I've just had to make adjustment. Headphones are a no go. If I'm listening to music in my car or in my home through speakers then the volume is quite low (say where I might have used to have the volume at 8-10 I'll now have it at 4-5)
I always wear earplugs to at concerts and when jamming/recording. And take breaks. Don't play for too long. I play drums and I used to be able to jam along for at least an hour or a whole album. Now I'll just do 2-3 songs max, and less frequently. Hope that helps.

 

Hi, I'm guitar player and I have been pro all my working life. Playing Rock music mostly. I'm retired now because l don't want to risk making my T worse as it is bad enough now. Plugs are ok but can't protect you from the unexpected stuff like feedback . I have a pension and investments so I can pay the bills and also want to spend time with my family. May do occasional accoustic / quiet stuff but not touring like I have been doing. I am learning to cope with T and know that it's going to be for the long haul. Good to hear from you and all the best for the future. Cheers. Chris Garfield.

 

I know a touring musician takes tenacious discipline and will power to constantly learn new music and the stamina to perform show after show. Use that same mentality to power through this. I recently retired and can tell you no longer working is tough, quiet times in the house are when I hear it the most. Keeping busy is key for me and while I hear it every day I have learned to put it in it's rightful place as back ground noise. I would estimate if I didn't have tinnitus I would be 100% happy. With tinnitus I can honestly say I'm 99.9% happy.

 

Couldn't have said it any better myself

 

Hi Ambassador. Thanks for your thoughts. I will indeed employ the learning and stamina as you suggest. My main problem is the unavailability of Tinitus specialists to see. There is one but he has a several months waiting list and when My turn came I was away on vacation. So I went back to the bottom of the list. !!!!. So left to my own devices. I can't afford private care either. You seem to have coped well with your T. Well done. All the best for the future. Cheers.