Does It Truly Get Better?

Feeling low today. Developed T randomly last month. Not noise induced- I did have a mild head injury but was never diagnosed formally with a concussion (doctor didn't check). Other doctor told me it was ETD a couple of weeks ago, but he checked my ears this morning and said they looked perfectly healthy. Asked me to go to my dentist, for TMJ issues, which was ruled out.

They said my hearing was fine- referring me to an ENT anyways. Asked if I was stressed (ha). Yeah, since the T started.

Has anyone ever just had T develop out of the blue like this? It's a very high frequency tone for me (*EEEEEEEEEEE*). Consistent, primarily right ear, but seems to "echo" into my left if that makes sense.

I have barely slept this month, melatonin doing f*** all, and naturopath told me to take it easy with exercise.

I have read some success stories here and they give me a small bit of hope, but currently, I'm losing it...

 

On a 1/10, how much would you rate it for you? The level of your T.
I understand what you're going through, it -will- get better, that's what everyone says, so it has to be the case.

 

Have you been under a lot of stress lately (I mean before the T)? That is a possible cause. Otherwise this is called "idiopathic" (cause unknown) tinnitus.

You need to sleep. Many people on this forum use mirtazapine as a sleep aid, which is an antidepressant, but at low doses (~15mg) it is also a potent sleep aid. Its safety profile is much better than that of benzos - because it is an AD it is meant to be taken long-term (many months, years). It can help you tide over the worst of the initial T experience.

 

Also try to stay out of silent area's, mask that T!

 

You could also ask yourself a rhetorical question: if it truly does get better, why would a board such as this exist in the first place?

 

On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd put it at a 5 during the day, an 8 at night when attempting to sleep. It has awoken me from deep sleep.

I wasn't stressed at all prior to developing the T. Quite the opposite, life was good.

I'll look into that medication for sleeping. I was hoping to avoid sleeping aids but I am at my wits end.

Thank you all for the words.

 

Because this thing is scary, and it takes time to adept, hence the support we need.
It depends on the level of T of course, louder T will take longer to habitate to. But there is no reason why you can't, check out the succes stories for instance.

 

80% of them are self-deceit. A fairy tale made to convince the original posters (themselves) that it gets better.

 

A lot of people pop in here when their tinnitus starts or worsens, stay for a few weeks/months, then leave when they feel better. At any given moment there are some people who are struggling, so the forum is sustained - but the membership in 2017 January is probably much different from the membership of 2015 January.

And yes, there are some truly unfortunate souls who stay on TT for years. But they appear to be in the minority even in this godforsaken corner of the internet, so they are a small minority of all T sufferers (an overwhelming majority of whom never came to TT).

 

According to widely quoted statistics
* ~10% of the general population has tinnitus, meaning tens of millions of people in the Western world
* 80-98% (depending on source) of people who get tinnitus habituate by themselves.

If the high habituation rate were false, and 10% of the population would be actively suffering with tinnitus, we'd have a tinnitus epidemic on par with the diabetes epidemic we're experiencing (also around 10%). Our newspapers would be full of T coverage and it would be common knowledge like diabetes is.
Yet this isn't happening.
Why? Because the overwhelming majority of T sufferers is habituated and is not affected.

So the success stories are not imaginary or delusional, either.

 

you could ask the question, why do most people use this board less and less over time?

YES - it really does get better. I went from not sleeping for 4 months and truly losing my mind to beign a mostly functional human in less than a year. I know that sounds daunting and your life will never be the same. But it won't be nearly as hard as it is right now for you.

 

It does get better but that doesnt mean i am happy about having T. It still gets louder at nite. Just make sure you have some good masking sounds. There is a ACRN therapy you can look into that at a minimum should help you mask the T. Lookup general fuzz acrn on google. Check out my previous posts for more detail about what i do. Hang in there.

 

The worst part is when you think you can't live with it. I'm past that now. I don't like having it, but I don't feel like I'm going to going insane anymore. I know I'm the same, capable of everything I was before. I think of the people who have lived with this their whole lives. I try to think of it like the noise my computer makes. The only time it really bothers me is when I want to be as I was or when I think how I could have prevented. By learning to accept it, it won't bother you as much. People even eventually habituate I'm told.

 

This board attracts people that are not doing well with their tinnitus. Most people that get tinnitus habituate to it. The loudness and the ability to mask it seems to be the most important factor in how quickly people habituate. There are other factors that complicate this condition like hyperacusis.

I'm over a year in and there are days when I think I can't and days when I think I can live with it. I guess that's an improvement from thinking I can't live with it all the time...