For Those Who Succeed with Habituation

I don't get it, 80db is enough to mentally torture a prisoner (even short term) according to the CIA. White noise at 79db is used to disorient and break the will of detainees.

How loud is your T if you can hear it over your motorcycle? How is it that you can beat something that is meant to be unbeatable and "mentally break" a person?

Please tell me your secret. I'm sure the CIA would like to know as well, obviously their scientists have some work to do in discovering new torture methods.

Thanks.

 

Sincere questions: What type of tinnitus sound do you have, tonal or a cacaphony? Is it always the same sound, or does the sound change? Also, does the volume cycle or is it the same every day?

 

@Naddesh , in all honesty, my life is not 100% like it was before tinnitus. But, remember, I only speak for myself. Let me say though, that my life is much better than it was at onset--which was 22 months ago. I think I will always
'hear' my tinnitus. I've just learned to ignore it much of the time and get on with life. It's like any chronic condition, there will always be things we have to do, i.e., wear earplugs in noisy situations and protect our hearing at all times. I have focused on not being afraid to live...to continue with activities that I've always enjoyed. Also, being grateful that I can move forward has helped me enormously. I didn't do this alone. I posted here, I went for CBT, took meds, and then I just said, what the heck--if I'm going to hear it anyway, I might as well do what I can to be happier. It's tough at times--especially at work where it is quiet. I once thought that habituation meant that I wouldn't hear my tinnitus--that is would be a cure--but for me, it's not. It's just learning to live again.

We support you on this journey. It does get better

 

Thank you! I think Im on my way (u can read my success story) in the forum. Hugs.

 

Honestly, my life isn't like it was before tinnitus. Of course we all want to do normal stuff and go out and have a blast in parties, clubs etc. They say every bad thing brings something good. I am still to find that good thing in tinnitus after nearing 17 months. Because there isn't any in my opinion. Maybe in the long run we may have more preserved hearing than people who don't have tinnitus and who go out and blast their ears daily because we now protect our ears always! But that's just the way I see it. I had a nasty concussion and with that came several weird neurological symptoms that I couldn't even explain. Trust me, after being there, tinnitus should be the least of worries I should have. I had literally been through hell! My head injury literally made me kill myself! I cried prayed and cried again but nothing happened. Eventually I came out of it slowly and it took 17 months. I had to learn to walk again. My memory, processing speed, visual, hearing, autonomous system and hormonal system were all messed up. My physical activity and mobility drastically affected and I couldn't walk or run or jump. I became a vegetable. I healed slowly and today I am glad it's over. I don't want to look back and consider this as a new birth. I still have tinnitus crisp and loud but my reaction is nil. Be happy that you are fine and still can do many things. Tinnitus isn't easy I know, its probably one of the worst things that can happen to anybody. But there are far worse conditions than this stupid sound in ears. No matter how bad your tinnitus is, you will eventually get used to it gradually.

 

So -- a couple comments here. I can hear my tinnitus over my (95 db) motorcycle. This does not mean the tinnitus is nearly as loud as the bike -- the tinnitus is an internal noise, so it's sort of at the "base" of my perceptual awareness, it's available to me to perceive regardless of background noise, excluding noise which sounds "similar enough" to the tinnitus to confuse my brain (crickets, running water, etc). There is a tangent there, that we are all prisoners in our bodies, confined in them, stuck with the way they function... but that's not CIA torture techniques, it's fundamental existential angst. Some people deal with that more easily than others.

The torture analogy never holds water with me. Tinnitus is an annoying artifact of the way my body works. This to me is simply not in any way comparable to the psychological stress of being confined against my will and subjected to loud noise by rational actors who have their own consciousness. To me, these things are simply not the same in any way, shape or form.

Tinnitus volume, and conscious filtering/distress, arise from related but different parts of the brain. The noise is hyperactivity in the auditory cortex and cranial nerves. The ability of the mind to filter it (or not) arises deeper, the thalamus and insula are strongly implicated in imaging studies.

Therefore, people's ability to filter out the noise from conscious perception, is at least partially independent of the sound itself. This is why some people have relatively "loud" tinnitus (extreme hyperactivity in the auditory pathways) but report relatively little distress (higher functioning thalamic gates / insula -- the signal must pass through the insula before it can hit the limbic system and cause an emotional response, because the GABA-mediated inhibitory circuits which end in the limbic system, ascend from the thalamus through the insula. Likewise, some people with relatively "quiet" tinnitus (lesser hyperactivity in the auditory pathways) have extreme distress (less functional thalamic gates / insula).

To some limited degree, the function (and even structure) of these brain areas work in a feedback loop with conscious thought. I believe that all habituation therapies are more or less aimed at working that feedback loop in a positive direction. don't believe this is all wishful thinking and smoke and mirrors, because there's a growing body of imaging studies showing functional and structural changes in these same brain areas after diligent practice of various conscious strategies.

That said, I don't believe that such strategies work for everyone, nor do I believe that people for whom they don't work are doing anything "wrong", or "not trying hard enough": everyone's brain and body is different. I can lift weights and eat tons of protein for weeks and barely put on muscle mass. I have friends who can build mass easily with much less effort. Likewise, I think some people are blessed with brains which are more prone to positive neuroplastic changes, and other people have more difficult obstacles to overcome.

Just my two cents, as someone who has thought about these concepts far too much.

 

Impressive post man....your knowledge runs deep. I may have to read this a couple of times to process. Thx for taking the time here.

 

That's quite interesting , but where do u know that information from?

 

Which, specifically? The tinnitus physiology stuff has been referenced in a number of papers:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18616081
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/np/2014/817852/
https://books.google.com/books?id=l...page&q=tinnitus right anterior insula&f=false

Research on how cognitive practices affect brain structure:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1361002/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4267182/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3485650/

Note that I'm not a neurologist and am therefore strictly unqualified to interpret this research

 

I didn't open the links yet but I will when I'm willing to read ,lol , but I only undrstood some of what you said ️half of the stuff I didn't understand cause English is not my first language , but it was indeed intresting

 

Seems like there are only positive outcomes with tinnitus. With your affirmative observations, one has to wonder why a forum such as this exists in the first place, then.

Do you also believe in Santa Claus?

 

You didn't know extreme tinnitus was a gift that only very special people get ?