Finally Meeting This Head On

[Mike621]

Hey everyone.
I'm Mike and I'm 25. I live in California and I've had tinnitus for about 5 years.

Growing up I always had chronic ear infections. It feels like most of my childhood memories include antibiotics. If there's ever a zombie apocalypse it's because they prescribed me too many antibiotics and I incubated the zombie virus. Sorry about that -- in advance.

Anyways, I got tubes when I was a kid and things got better for quite a few years. Then as an adult the ear infections came back and in college I got tubes again. This is also probably when I should admit that I used to be a dedicated raver and was attending frequent electronic music festivals with close to no education about ear health and tinnitus prevention. It was during this time - a period of about 6 months of plugged, full-feeling ears - that I noticed the high pitch whistle/whine in my left year 24/7. I assumed it would go away after my tube surgery.

It didn't.

I remember my older brother telling me when I was a little kid about tinnitus. He told me there was no cure for it and that the only thing they could do was prescribe sleeping pills and most people lose their minds eventually. Aren't older brothers awesome? So of course, I spent the first few years of my tinnitus quietly and privately freaking the fuck out. Can you swear on here?

I've only recently even been able to start researching and reading other people's stories. For a long time I thought if I just ignored it, it would go away. It seems to come and go in periods of weeks at a time. When it's bad, I know that there will be huge stretches of time where I won't even think about it and that's often comforting.

I guess my biggest fear is that someday it will get worse and I won't be able to cope with it the way I can now. If it's this bad when I'm 25, what's it going to be like at 50? At 90? Part of me is still that little kid terrified of going insane....

 

[Danny Boy]

Hey everyone.
I'm Mike and I'm 25. I live in California and I've had tinnitus for about 5 years.

Growing up I always had chronic ear infections. It feels like most of my childhood memories include antibiotics. If there's ever a zombie apocalypse it's because they prescribed me too many antibiotics and I incubated the zombie virus. Sorry about that -- in advance.

Anyways, I got tubes when I was a kid and things got better for quite a few years. Then as an adult the ear infections came back and in college I got tubes again. This is also probably when I should admit that I used to be a dedicated raver and was attending frequent electronic music festivals with close to no education about ear health and tinnitus prevention. It was during this time - a period of about 6 months of plugged, full-feeling ears - that I noticed the high pitch whistle/whine in my left year 24/7. I assumed it would go away after my tube surgery.

It didn't.

I remember my older brother telling me when I was a little kid about tinnitus. He told me there was no cure for it and that the only thing they could do was prescribe sleeping pills and most people lose their minds eventually. Aren't older brothers awesome? So of course, I spent the first few years of my tinnitus quietly and privately freaking the fuck out. Can you swear on here?

I've only recently even been able to start researching and reading other people's stories. For a long time I thought if I just ignored it, it would go away. It seems to come and go in periods of weeks at a time. When it's bad, I know that there will be huge stretches of time where I won't even think about it and that's often comforting.

I guess my biggest fear is that someday it will get worse and I won't be able to cope with it the way I can now. If it's this bad when I'm 25, what's it going to be like at 50? At 90? Part of me is still that little kid terrified of going insane....

Hey, there! You don''t need to worry about how bad it will be at 50 or 90, as it will be cured by then. Trobalt is proof in the pudding there will be a treatment out very soon. Within 10 years this will be cured or treated, so don't worry about those additional years.

 

[erik]

Welcome Mike. We share your struggles. I agree with Danny Boy to some extent. Live for today. Don't live in the fear of the future of what or what might not happen. I don't know about a cure since there are very few cures for anything; however, I do believe there will be a viable treatment in the next 5-10 years.