Do You Consider Your Tinnitus a Disability?

It has a significant impact on many of us. That said, do you consider your Tinnitus a sort of disability?

 

In my case yes.

 

Right now yes

 

Good question.

Let's put it this way, to say that it cannot be a disability (in the everyday sense of the word) is to be completely ignorant of the manner in which it impacts some people - like folks who spend a significant amount of time here.

 

Yes, it simply disables you in so many different ways

 

Tinnitus not so much, bad Hyperacusis, A definitive double yes! Especially after my Acoustic shock!

 

yes ever since my H came back in dec. it has damaged my T for the worse. and my H is just as bad.i cant be with society right now as even the slightest sound will trigger a spike and bad headaches.

 

@Geo , Has your T worsened because of your H as well?

My T seems to have amped up as my noise tolerance decreased so I'm hoping that when I can get rid of my H, my T, hopefully, will decrease a little back to my old levels as my hearing test hasn't changed.

 

@RichL yes it has i blame the H.. When i first got H last july it hit me hard i took time off work and wouldnt leave the house it also damaged my T which was mild at that time.. Then 2-3 months later it went away.. Little by little got my life on track with T still there but it was tolerable even tho the volume went up.. Then again in december it came back due to being a exposed around a helicopter im guessing..but this time it hit me hard the H has damaged my T so beyond the limits i thought i can ever reach i hear it over everything thats all i hear .. And its still getting worse i blame the H as it is very strong and sensitive any litte ding and a spike comes in.. But yes like u said i feel once its gone your T should stop getting worse and actually habituate with that level if you can.. But the way my H is going idk when itll fade..

 

@Geo , yea I hear ya, I'm hoping I can obtain Keppra soon so I can get a little of my life back, you should try as well it is probably our only hope at the moment.

 

No. Irritating sometimes, but not a true disability like blindness or physical handicap. Those are true disabilities.

 

It's not a major disability such as losing sight or being deaf, not being able to walk etc. But imo a disability is anything which reduces your quality of life, and T does.

For example, not being able to enjoy the things you used to enjoy in life, losing sleep etc.

 

Those of you that state it isn't a true disabilty have no clue, you are lucky you have minor T. Some of us have it bad enough that it become impossible to function properly for even 10 minutes at a time. You would think that you would realize this by being members here. I guess there will never be this awareness brought to tinnitus, even people with T (although minor) don't get it, I am blown away by the ingnoance here. This is why there will never be a cure, most people, even here don't see it as a disability. Pathetic.

By the way the CIA uses 79db white to mentally break prisioners. They are called acoustic beatings.

I was more than productive in my lifetime, I am now stuck with debilitating screaming in my head and isolated due to H. I have spent 18-20 hours a day in bed for 14 months now exhausted so badly I can barely hold a thought and fight through every hour.

It's bad enough being crippled by this shit, but Not being taken seriously, even when you come to a support board for tinnitus just adds to this isolation. I Hope one day this condition will be better looked at and people will wake the hell up to its potentially devestating consequences!! Maybe when that day comes so will a cure.

 

I think a poll such as "Have you lost your job because of tinnitus?" would be more objective (and informative) in terms of evaluating tinnitus as a disability. (EXAMPLE ONLY.)

 

Just in case it isn't clear: the reason I suggest something like a "person losing their job" as benchmark for evaluating a disability is because holding a job is pretty much the basic premise for survival. And in that sense, people with otology disorders are particularly at risk as conditions such as severe tinnitus, MD, and severe hearing loss does not make sufferers eligible for disability (in general). This category of patients may literally end up living on the street.

 

Sorry if my post caused offence, I meant it from how my T is, not as a general thing if that makes sense. I completely agree with your post though, some people It is a major disability.

 

For me, no. For others, I can certainly understand how it can drastically affect one's quality of life. Been there, done that, and fortunately I habituated. But if one fails to habituate, I understand how the long-term effects can be debilitating.

 

My tinnitus is disabling, yes. Had to end my studies (were going for a bachelor and later master in arts/architecture), and can´t hold a job. To say that my life stopped in it´s tracks when my tinnitus became bad is not an understatement.

Luckily I have two things a lot of other sufferers don´t have, and this is what keeps me going. My fiancé have never pretended that he knows how it feels to have this thing blasting all day long, yet he says he believes me when I tell him how it is, and he tries as best he can to take this into consideration in our everyday life. Like when I´ve been awake for, lets say three hours, and are so tired I want to go back to sleep (I have medication for this), he says "Ok, go relax, I´ll do something else". The understanding from him is worth everything to me.
The second thing is that I´m on 100% disability (not sure if that´s the right term, but when you receive money from the state because you can´t work). Not a lot of money, but enough to make a living.

Yes, my tinnitus is a disability.

 

Yes its a disability of not hearing silence again

 

@Telis i completely agree with you.. Most people on here have very mild T and will never know what real severe T is.. A lot claim that their is really horrible when its not but for the ones that actually do have it bad get overlooked for the reason that everyone says that their T is severe when its not and just being over dramatic.. I would give a leg just to have my mild t back.. When i had mild t . I still had a life. But with really bad H its making my T even worse and crippling my life. Some of you have no idea what we go through on a daily basis because you base your T with ours.. I heard that only 10% of T patients will develop it severe so the rest of you consider yourselves lucky. That you still have lives.. And yes i had to stop working my job is outside and my bad H killed that its been over 8 months and havent returned yet..but before that i was working two year with T before the H came.. The H is the killer and mixed with T it is hell..

 

I have mild T and mild H but when it all started it was realy bad...and that is an understatement. So I know what you guys are going through. Yes I hate my mild T and mild H. Although my mild T is screaming berserc when it is in a silent room. The only thing I can say is that during the day...it can be easly masked so I consider that mild. At night when it is silent it is very loud, but still ... I had spikes that were much worse and remembered me how it was on the beginning of this monster.

That being said...with all the things I posted I keep in mind what you guys are going through. Do I consider myself lucky? No, because I still hate it but have to live with it.
Is it a disability for me...yes it is...it effects my whole life...even when habituated it does.
There is not a day that goes by that I do not think about the likes of you and Telis... because I think I have it bad I know it can me much worse like it was in the beginning.
I am scared for my future and should live more day by day...but I am only human so of course I think about my future. What if T becomes worse? What if my H becomes worse? It scares the shit out of me ...
From being an healthy person who has nothing and I mean realy nothing....I went from severe eyefloaters to severe backpain...to tinnitus to hyperacusis....to anxietydisorder and a depression. Like a train that never stops......
So yes it's a disability because my whole life turned up side down....

And my T is not severe....I'm just a perfectionist which makes me hate everyting out of the ordernairy ...as long as my T can be masked I'm will never say it is severe. That does not mean I hate it as much as it was in the beginning. It is easier to deal with...that is a fact. I know people with mild T can sound ignorant saying T is not the worst thing in the world. But I guess you should read it like..."It is not the worst thing in the world for them".
They cannot speak for you. Last night ...and this is no joke... an old girlfriend called me out of the blue and asked me how I was doing so I told her about my "mild" T.
First she acted like she cared and shit.... but after a while she started to make jokes about it. Thinking that it is just some minor thing that bothers me. If people never experienced "mild" T they do not know what they are talking about.
If people with mild T act like T is nothing speaking to a person with severe T...they also do not know what they are talking about.

I realy think that people with severe T should have their own thread where people with mild T cannot post stupid stuff like saying T can easly be ignored. Severe T is speaking out of a total different perspective.
I cannot tell you to put a van on so your T can me masked.... for severe T it would be stupid to say that.
Mild T can easly masked perhaps with a van on or some birdsounds or what ever.
When people like Telis , you and other severe T sufferers are talking.... I am listening..... and I try to understand what you are going through..... Sometimes I feel ashamed that I am complaining about my mild T and H.

But at the end of the day I am still stuck with my mild T and H and it does effect my life.... I know it can be much worse, but I still have to deal with the stuff I experience at this moment and for me with the anxiety and depression it is kind of hard every day.

Should we watch out what we say regarding T in combination with people with severe T....Yes .... but it will not happen here. Because people who just got T...even if it is mild or minor....for them it is the worst thing that ever happend to them... When after a month or 6 they got used to it ...they sound like they overcome severe T and make the severe suffers feel like they are crybabies , but they just overcame mild or minor T.

Since my T was of the charts at the beginning I can relate ..... A friend who also has T told me on the onset ....Put a van on and you can mask your T.... well the van was 1 centimeter from my ear and my T was still screaming and went through everything....My T became less and my H came up a bit....form 6 different tones I still got two left... I know they will never go away. But knowing how bad it can be is always in the back of my mind.

If you ever feel offended by a post of me......please do not...because I have the upmost respect for you, Telis and otherd with severe T. When I give an opinion...it is out of my own experience and I can never tell if T is the worst thing in your life or not, because mild T do not have to be, but severe T does.

I wish you all the best and if there is a god I wish he would help you guys first instead of me....because I can wait until it is my turn, but i think you people should be helped sooner than us mild sufferers.

 

I respect your emotions because you suffer a lot, but I think you are stepping a step to far to judge people for marking `no` (if I understand your post correctly of course) ... the question was - is YOUR tinnitus a disability. So the answer is very personal and should be respected as a personal opinion. I just think it is good for you not to start judging because you already have it bad enough ... no need to start making invisible enemies on the board here. The only one that will suffer your opinion is you ... you know we are all here together .. don`t feel isolated because no matter the fact that your physical case is severe ... it is only a mental projection to feel isolated from the members here .. in the end who the hell are we talking to but ourselves here? we never see each other, posts pop up randomly and automatically ... we are just communing with the universe here .. you can even say you are speaking to god ... so light up this place by your appreciation for your fellow sufferers ... we are here for each other. I wish you all the best and hope the cure is comes soon!! for you, for me, and all of us! good luck Telis.

ps - to all of us ... I do consider my T a disability because there are a ton of jobs I can not do because they are too loud or need some type of concentration which can not be achieved because of T .. Disability has to be in light of job security, not if you can handle your T when amongst friends or doing groceries. Also the amount of stress and depression it causes will add to the disability factor. I for one work in a restaurant in the weekend now. Just to get by ... because my lack of sleep my brain has become tired and it is hard to follow orders and work with computers and counting, also it`s hard to hear the right order sometimes because hearing loss and to always smile is also hard when you are not truly happy ... but I do it anyway ... why? to prove myself wrong.

 

Wow Rico. Amazing post.
Yes, my T disables me. I don't know if it is loud or not. But it is the frequency, which is so high that I hear my T everywhere, even in the shower sometimes.
The problem is not only T, but the tension, anxiety and depression. This makes things so difficult.
And like for you I don't know if I will ever accept it, even it becomes milder. I want to have things fixed.

 

Those were the days when i could easily mask it watching tv or being outside or just being social.. I really hope the H fades away i do think itll tone it down just a bit.. @Telis youve had H for 14 months? This second time around has been 4 for me and i just want it gone already..

 

yes

 

I have had H from the start, it hurt but I didn't pay attention to it. Now its so bad I have no choice. I tried to push through it for a while, things just got worse. Things like hockey, going out with friends were the things that I refused to let be taken away from me. Every time I went out my ears felt like they were bleeding and totally wounded , i just kept doing them. Now, the noise my dogs paws make on the floor are serious amounts of pain. Things like shutting doors, getting a plate from the cupboard are hard. At first these things bothered me but now the pain leads deep into my brain. My entire brian hurts, I don't know, it is bizzare. Some days I don't even believe this can be real and I must be imagining it.

 

@Telis yup thats was me too i feel like i had it but minor so i was still doing regular things like gym, friends etc.. But as it got worse is till kept at it.. Til eventually the T was like no you aint no more and i have been its prisoner since.. I feel you man i have a big family and they were loud at first and now they see how much pain im always in so theyre really careful around the house now.. But u still get those accidental slams and shouts..

 

I am saying no, but mainly as I feel this helps me not let it take over, and in fairness it's getting better, either that or I am habituating.

 

@Geo and @Telis I don't know if you have already tried this but a magnesium deficiency is said to at least contribute to sensitive hearing, maybe magnesium supplements might be worth a shot for your hyperacusis?

 

@nills, certainly this poll/question is a subjective one just like our suffering we experience every day and night. However, if you compare T with other ailments (e.g. blindness) and state that those other ailments are TRUE disabilities whereas T is NOT you do not only generalize T but you do profoundly downplay its severity, and the very fact that there are -- more than a few -- people that do suffer gravely beyond sanity!!!

Most of them would rather be in a wheelchair, lose a leg or arm, being blind, having cancer, anything but debilitating T; let alone H.

Of course, nills, I know you mean no harm. As you said we are all in the same boat. But @Telis and @LifesABeach are spot on, if people with mild/moderate T don't see it as a disability what can we expect from the non-T society? With that kind of attitude we will never ever get a cure or awareness. Never.

I'm suicidal. I think these three words say it all. This isn't life anymore for me.