Coping with My Tinnitus: My Story

Hello all,
My name is Ryan B. and ever since September of this year, my life has changed. Since the time that I could remember I've always had a very very quiet ringing or humming in my ear that I could only hear in a pitch quiet room and my ear on a pillow. And even then it wasn't that loud. But recently, things have changed.

My impactful tinnitus started in September of 2017 after one day of work at my local grocery store. I was working in the back when the gate from our bailer (cardboard crusher) slammed down right next to my ear. Throughout the next coming days my ear seemed full and a little bothersome, but not oo bad in terms of some other forums that I've read about on here. During this next week, my condition only seemed to be getting worse and I found that my next weekend I was very depressed. I didn't have any energy or happiness in my life due to this constant lack of hearing and ringing in my left ear. I thought that there was no hope and my life over for me.

During the week of Sep. 17th, the ringing got too a point that was so bad that I had to go see an ENT. During my visit, I found that I had allergic rhinitis, Eustachian Tube Dysfunction, and a 15db loss in my left ear. The doctor prescribed me a nasal spray, told me that there was nothing to worry about and that I'd be back to normal soon. I wasn't really sure if I could believe her or not cause I felt that there was much more going on in my head than just congestion, headaches, popping ears and all the other allergy symptoms. I was certain that I wasn't going to get any better.

Fast forward about a month and the ringing was still there and loud as ever. I decided to go back to my ENT after a weekend of non-stop popping and crackling in my left ear. He diagnosed me with the same things as the previous doctor and gave me an even stronger nasal spray. He told me to take it for a few weeks and get an allergy test done as well. I followed up with him on all of his recommendations, and after a week I got a major relief one morning. I woke up one morning after a good night's rest (which I've been constantly trying to do) and the ringing was almost non-existent. I started dancing in my bedroom right next to my bed cause I was so overjoyed at the fact that the ringing was going away and I was going to get my life back. This happened on a Monday and for the next few days, I was feeling the best I've felt in months. But on the Wednesday of that week, it changed. After spending about 3 hours in the gym with my headphones on, my left ear exploded into a loud noise. The music wasn't even louder than 50% of the volume bar. Ever since then it just seems like my ears will never be the same as what they were like before the incident.

So, how do I feel to this day?
Well, I've recently gotten an allergy test which came back positive for basically every form of ragweed and grass, and I'm still getting waking up with my left nostril congested and my nose congestion off and on throughout the day and my ear is still popping and crackling every once in a while. Is my tinnitus as loud as it was when it first started? No, but its still at a level that's annoying.

So, what about the future of my condition?
Slowly, it seems that my ringing is starting to become something that can be masked. Over this last week, I've noticed that I don't have to play things as loud as I did before to mask the sound or at least not let me hear it as much. And much of the time that I'm focusing on other things at work, or if I'm hanging out with my friends, the ringing is either much quieter or not even there at all.

I feel like the moral of my tinnitus story is that the more I stress and think about it and worry about how it will change my life in the next months to years, the worse it gets. Most of the time that I'm having fun or staying calm and in the moment of life that's in front of me, the importance of my tinnitus kinda gets pushed to the back of my mind. This causes the ringing to become something unimportant. Do I still hear the ringing in bed? Yes. Do I still hear in class at college? Yes. Can it change someone's life drastically? Hell yes. Can I do something to change how I feel and react about it? YES!

So if there's anyone out there who feels that their tinnitus is something to end their life over is not thinking with the right mindset. I can sit and stew about my tinnitus all day and it'll keep getting louder and louder and louder but I've decided to not do that. I believe that if I focus on the more important things in life like friends and family, over time the tinnitus will become of much less importance to me. It will take some time, but with the right methods and beliefs in helping myself with this disease, I will get my life back and one noise in my head won't be able to take that from me.

To conclude my story, as in the words of Tony Robbins "You must change your life from expectations to appreciations. Once you connect your mind, body, and soul to the things you appreciate and love in your life, nothing can stop you from achieving your goals."

Thanks for Reading,
Ryan B.

 

Many people on this forum believe that we shouldn't be using headphones, now that we have T.

There is a high chance that your T will fade over the next year.

I wish your poll were to have options
I've had tinnitus for XYZ, and I haven't habituated.