Does Tinnitus Get Better/Stay the Same for Most Cases?

Or does it usually get worse over time. I'm 22 so I'm worried it will continually get worse over time until I can't handle life any more.

IVe become such a nervous wreck. I know on a forum most will be bad stories as if people got positive results they would no longer post on a forum usually.

But in most cases, especially acoustic trauma, does T usually just stay the same or gradually improve?

Thanks.

 

Hi. Mine is from acoustic trauma. It's only become slightly worse since 1974. I've tried to avoid loud sounds through the years. And there were times, actually stretches of years when I'd do ridiculous things to my ears. Actually, I think my T should be worse, but it's not. There was one time I almost blew it ... and I recovered. (Post called Mega T) and I used to be scared but I discovered a new thing that really helped me (Post called Back To Silence).

 

I don't have the experience of IWLM and Karen...but I am in my 16th month and things have improved greatly. I live my life pretty normally now--so different from onset.

 

It's been getting better at least in my case

 

I developed intrusive almost 4 months ago now.
I think my negative reaction to it is slowly subsiding (the panic), though I am still far from being able to ignore it and not feel sad about it.

I have gotten two different opinions from two different ENTs about whether tinnitus usually improves or "goes away."
The first ENT that I saw, shortly after my onset, looked at my test results and told me it would likely "resolve itself" with time as many cases do.

The second ENT I saw, a few weeks later, told me bluntly to give up hope that it would ever go away. I saw him again today for a follow-up. He said most of his patients adjust to it in 6-12 months, but you basically just have to get used to it the way it is. This ENT says he has had tinnitus since childhood and for most of his life has not been concerned about it.

I'm not sure who to believe on whether it gets better or goes away once you've have it for more than a few weeks or months. I certainly hope it does get better.

If my tinnitus just would stop spiking so loudly, I could habituate to it very quickly. I told the ENT that, too, but he said get used to the spikes, cause they do not stop either.

I also spoke with this ENT about some of the new therapies and treatments that are in clinical trials. He seemed very skeptical about whether Vagus Nerve stimulation or the autifony drug would work, and even said at this point in his life, he would be reluctant to take any sort of treatment for his own tinnitus because the side effects could be worse than the T itself.

However, he said that if a successful treatment does happen, he would have to hire a security guard because he expects that the doors to his office would be stampeded by all the patients he has seen with T who would want the cure.
We both laughed about that.

 

So many people report t gets better with time but so few report it going for good, so it improves and improves with time and then just stops improving at some point and refuses to disappear completely, I wonder about the mechanics of it all and I cant help feeling that the experts, ENTS really have very little clue about whats going on at all, they just try to make it sound like they do, you have damaged something in there, could be hairs, could be nerves, or both, or neither, or something else related to the brain, erm

Maybe im just a cynic but im sure there are plenty of ents out there who give that line, oh ive had tinnitus for years, just get used to it like I have, blah blah, good bye and good luck oh and btw loads of people also have it and you don't see them complaining too much either

Yeah my uncle has it, a hissing noise that doesn't get any better or worse, that sounds like t heaven to me, but its still t