First Post 2 Months In

Hi From Australia,

This looks to be a good forum and not full of the gloom and politics I've seen In other forums. In fact when I first started on this T journey I banned myself from posting on some sites as they were so negative.

So, Im 42 with a young family and when this hit me badly in both ears, but mainly a rather intrusive high pitch ring in my right ear all day. Its also in my left ear but that really only comes to play at night time.

I seem to have got mine from ETD, colds and about 40 flights over a 2 month period. The one last traumatic flight with ringing ears finally put me down and boy did I fall hard. A healthy normal bloke, reduced to a insecure mess with no hope, no joy and no vision for the future. scared of the night because of the ring, no sleep, anxiety and depression

BUT, this is not one of those stories. I found a counsellor(who had tinnitus) who helped me and showed me there was a way to get through this. I admit have been taking small dose A/D's at night but oh my god how have these helped. I was against them all my life, but when the chips were down they have helped me. So much so I am able to SLEEP, work ( actually I prefer it as it allows me to put the ring to back of my mind), Im out seeing friends ( again keeping busy), laughing again and at the gym. I've stopped "not living".

Its good to see the positive stories here. And with me as long as Im busy I can put it to the back of my mind. If I listen to it, its quite loud, but if I am otherwise occupied its as if its not there. I feel lucky to be able to do this. I have a long way to go and my journey has just started. But the alternative is not viable. So getting better and habituating is the goal.

So just wanted to say Hi, T does suck, but this week was better that last week, and better than the week before and better than the week before that. Lets hope this is how it continues for all of us.

John

 

That was a good read for me, thanks for sharing. I like your positivity. What are the A/Ds, are they amitryptiline? These were a godsend for me (well, a GP-send).

Really pleased that things are looking up for you, keep at it.

 

Hi DezDog,

They most certainly are Amitryptiline. 10mgs. Could go higher but I have decided this is enough. And yes a good day most of today, bit tired now and since Im talking about this Tinker and has come out to play. Thanks for replying. Shall get some sleep and see what the next day has in store for me.

 

Hi John! Welcome.

Love your personality and attitude!

I looked up the medication and here is a bit on what I found....


J Otolaryngol. 2001 Oct;30(5):300-3.
Efficacy of amitriptyline in the treatment of subjective tinnitus.

Bayar N, Böke B, Turan E, Belgin E.
Source

Ear, Nose, and Throat Department, Faculty of Medicine, Kirikkale University, Turkey.
Abstract

We investigated the effect of amitriptyline, a tricyclic antidepressant, on patients with subjective tinnitus. The study group consisted of 37 adult patients admitted to the Ear, Nose, and Throat and Audiology Department of Hacettepe University. The amitriptyline group consisted of 20 patients and the placebo group consisted of 17 patients. All of the patients were evaluated using a questionnaire, audiologic evaluation, high-frequency audiometry, impedancemetric tests, auditory brainstem response, tinnitus frequency, and loudness matching assessed by audiometric methods at the beginning and end of the study. The patients in the amitriptyline group received 50 mg/day amitriptyline in the first week and 100 mg/day for the following 5 weeks. In the placebo group, the patients received tablets consisting of lactose starch for 6 weeks, with a dosage of 1 tablet/day. The subjective complaints of the patients in the amitriptyline group decreased, and the "present" symptoms resulted in fewer complaints. The severity of tinnitus decreased in the amitriptyline group by means of subjective and audiometric methods. In the placebo group, no significant change was observed. The success of treatment was 95% in the amitriptyline group and 12% in the placebo group. Amitriptyline therapy was concluded to be effective.
PMID:
11771024
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

Journey to habituation together we shall be...(my best Yoda impression)... Nice post John!

Peter

 

Welcome John, and good to hear you are doing better now in your life! I agree also there are some quite negative forums about but there is definitely a more positive vibe on Tinnitustalk so please stick around!

 

Hi Molan, Peter and Calin,

Thanks for the email. Calin, I had seen that report amongst all the scary stuff on the net. I have banned myself from most sites.

Molan, Nice Koala. Its summer soon here and they come down and start drinking from peoples pools when it gets hot. I'll post the first photo's when it happens.

Regards,

John

 

lol yes please post a photo of that I would love to see it!

 

hi, just wanted to say, thanks 4 ur story, as some days i feel like im shutin myself away, cuz i do find hard to mix wiv ppl,i ll just explain conversation i had,,,,,,,, tony"theres a woman here from Hawaii, i replied WOT? he said it again tony"theres a woman here from Hawaii i replied" y is there a woman from Hawaii here? tony said WOT?? we looked at each other he said ITS WARMER OVER HEAR THAN HAWAII, i can lol now but i hat to read his lips that wen i knew the T stopping me hearing conversations .i was at wrk at time tony got a deep voice 4 a man, so how many time have i heared wrong things, dont think ppl who dont have T do not understand. its nice to know that ur gettin out enjoyin life so there hope thank you

 

Just wanted to post quite some time after the above. Its good to come back and have this thing beat. Whilst I have T I no longer consider myself a sufferer. Actually there are weeks where I never think of it anymore. Its there, but it just seems normal like breathing. I just wanted to wish you all the best in your habituation or cure or both. I travel extensively with work, enjoy everything (maybe wine too much). Life is good guys. So if you are new to the forums and ll you read is scary stuff, its will get better. Cheerio.