First Time Poster Would Appreciate Support

Hey guys.. this is my first time posting and yes it is very clear that I have tinnitus.

I got tinnitus 2 and half months ago from a shooting range and every since I feel like I have been downing. Before I was the happiest guy in the world with the biggest smile on my face and now... I feel so caved in isolated, and alone.

One of the major questions I would greatly appreciate the support with is the anxiety and depression. The tinnitus itself does not bother me but how can one possible get over the anxiety and depression when it is UNCONTROLLABLE and basically all the time...... I don't want to take drugs.

Whenever I am in a social setting, not to mention every day to day living, I always feel so zoned out and isolated. When I begin to speak, most of the time, I am faced with anxiety because I don't feel like its the same man speaking with the same vibrant and positive attitude that I once had which is very depressing. I feel like the life has been sucked out of me.

Im young 26, just moved into a new city with so much energy and the whole world ahead of me and now it seems like all that is about to be not as certain and clear as I once so clearly envisioned it. My energy and attitude towards life is not as vibrant and abundant as it once was. I don't feel at all like the assassin I once was. I can get so pathetic and disheartened due to the uncontrollability of the fact that these feelings of anxiety and depression regularly don't go away, for no reason it seems permanent and it can be its extremely frustrating. I feel shivers in my core due to the anxiety which makes me feel like I am drowning, not to mention my head is constantly in a haze!

The fact that I can't be around loud clubs at night is also an extreme bummer because it can only irritate the symptom so how can a young once go getter get back to where he once was? How can the shivers of anxiety, depression be departed with? how can my concentration and train of thought get back to where it once was? i feel like I am at least 1/2 of the man I once was...

I mean did anyone else experience the 24/7 feeling of as if its constantly breaking you down and ripping you apart inside and you can't do anything about it....? How can life be like it once was?

THANK YOU SINCERELY FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ AND SUPPORT MY CALL FOR HELP! I hope one day I will be in a position to do the same

 

Welcome to the forum, Alek. Most of the members here have been where you are now and have empathy for your struggle. You are in the 1st phase of tinnitus (T) suffering which is often the hardest. You are having trouble controlling your emotion/reaction at this stage which is very common for most new suffers. This is because the T trauma has shifted your normal nerve into the limbic nervous system. This is the system which tends to protect us from danger and so it functions in fight or flight mode. In this mode, we tend to have much stronger reaction and things look much worse than they are. There also tend to have many distorted thoughts, such as catastrophic thinking about the future. These are called cognitive distortions in Cognitie Behavioral Therapy (CBT). You can google that to read up how cognitive distortions can screw up our emotional health. That is why CBT teaches us to counter our distorted thoughts with more positive and realistic ones.

So don't need to grieve the loss of your former self. It can be back, sooner than you think. It is just that the limbic system is taken over right now because it thinks you are in danger. You can google how to get the limbic system back to the normal parasympathetic nervous system. But in general, it takes some time for the body to get over the shock and awe stage of the T sensation. Given some time to absorb in the new T experience/sensation, most people can get better control of their emotion when the normal nerves return. When your anxiety level subsides, these symptoms you describe will slowly dissipate. These are symptoms from acute anxiety under the limbic system. How do I know they are anxiety symptoms? Because I have been a victim of anxiety/panic disorder for decades prior to tinnitus and hyperacusis. These are quite familiar symptoms to me. In fact when I suffer my first major anxetiy/panic attacks, it floored me so bad that I lost all my confidence as a person and was even home bound for a while. Ya, no more active social life for sure. I was a nervous wreck during those days. Don't worry about the symptoms. They will pass and you will be normal again.

How to speed up the return of the normal nerves? Anything you can do to help relax the body, such as abdominal breathing, mindfulness meditation, regular non-competitive exercises such as outdoor activities, jogging, hiking, camping, swimming, or just enjoying the jacuzzi, etc. Also make sure you have enough sleep. You can also talk out your feelings here or with a love one or friend you can trust, or a counsellor/psychologist. Talking out your feelings can relieve a load of burden to help you release the stress level and therefore your anxiety. Hopefully they help your depression too.

One positive I get from your post is that you say you are not too bothered by the T ringing. That is a great sign that you can improve and speed up the recovery. Consider yourself lucky in that respect. If you read the forums enough, you will know that most newer sufferers are very much scared and bothered by the T ringing. So you may have one less hurdle to jump than most newer sufferers.

I encourage you read over lots of the success stories (under Knowledge Base). There you will find out that many members, even those with worse conditions, like unmaskably loud ultra high pitch T, severe hyperacusis, pulsatile T, multi-toned T, with ear pains etc., yet they do recover and many write their success stories to share their insight, including mine. You can read over them and learn their collective wisdom how to get better. Here is a good thread which can help newer T sufferers to get going onto recovery. Besides my post, you can scroll up to post #1 to read the OP's excellent points too.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-and-stressed-with-tinnitus-read-this-first.3978/#post-40275

A few years back I was attacked by ultra high pitch dog whistle T plus severe hyperacusis. These resulted in relentless anxiety and panic attacks on auto mode. I was in a mess and had to depend on meds to survive. Yes, meds have their role to play in my habituation. They allowed me to cope better by cutting off the sharp edges of extreme emotions/reactions. I had to take anti-anxiety and anti-depressant drugs, even sleeping pills to help me to sleep during the darkest days, and then I just phase the meds out slowly. If you read my success stories, you will realize that at some point I thought I wouldn't survive the unbearable sufferings. But never say never. I am back to living an absolutely enjoyable and productive life like before and no longer needing meds for my T. The good life can be back. Keep up the hope. There are lots of things you can do to help yourself to get better. Hopefully we can collectively help you towards that end. Remember there are doctors at the Doctor's Corner who can help you too. So relax and take good care. God bless your recovery.

 

No drugs required.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

Yes, I agree. Drug is the last resort. Definitely try the successful method of IWLM first. It is so easy to apply and cost nothing and if it works for you it will be great. Also if panic attack is a problem, you may also try RaZaH's method, another easy DIY solution for preventing panic attacks.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-panic-attack-miracle-cure.7057/

 

Hi Alek, I'm also 26 and I suffer t , have done for over 6 weeks now and at first I was exactly where you are now, and I can tell you you will get better, it takes time and I'm still not 100% but you will be ok.

It's hard to deal with and in the first few weeks of it , your in and out of mind frames around t , some days I couldn't cope at all I mean I was very down and just couldn't see out, but then I looked at my life and thought what is it actaully stopping me doing ? And the answer was nothing, I can still listen to music within reason never on loud, but I can still go out and socialise and do everything I coukd before t . But yes it's anoying , I hear it at night, but I've learnt to not be scared of it and ive learnt to literally ignore it.
It takes time but maybe see a councillor or cbt treatment , it will really help.


Your not alone with the t. We are all here because of t. So just look at how many are here and you will be ok , we all here together with t .

 

A few months ago I was humbled when I spoke to a teenage girl who had T that didn't seem bothered by it. She may have had it very mild or maybe she had habituated it, I don't know. People of all ages get this, so don't focus too much on your age. And for what it's worth, you won't have to give up clubs and concerts. I have had T for 7 years and in that time I've been to many dozens of shows with earplugs...I doubt my T got worse or louder, I feel like it is the same old T.