Found Out a Co-Worker Completely Recovered from Noise-Induced Tinnitus

Nothing besides chronic pain and locked-in syndrome comes to mind...

 

I think visual snow would be horrific as well as things like nasal polyps, chronic turbinate inflammation or empty nose syndrome. There are many ailments that make life a misery, tinnitus is just one of them.

 

There are a lot of things that would make life horrible. Most of us don't have a point of reference to compare what would be worse. I do know how Tinnitus can be torture, but I'm sure there are other things that would also be torture.

 

I agree.

While I don't ever try and use other peoples situations to help make me feel better about my own, you can draw perspective from other peoples situations and realize that yours may not be as bad, or that you can either improve upon or overcome it.

I get my ears cleaned a couple of times a year due to ear wax build up, and the ENT that I see does a great job at it. Her office is located in a hospital, and often as I walk to the audiology department, I see and talk with people who are dealing with extremely difficult medical conditions and situations. Often during my appointment, I've talked with my ENT and she has said honestly (which I appreciate) that there are MANY worse and more difficult genetic and health conditions that people deal with in comparison to T. While waiting to see her in the audiology department, I've seen kids and young adults with cochelor implants, and I couldn't imagine going through a situation like that - but at the end of the day, they have adapted and continued forward.

Again, I am not trying to down play having T or H, but I would strongly suggest people look outside their world and try and expand their perspective a bit - as it can help with your own recovery.

A good example. I recently saw a story about an architect who went blind due to dealing with a cancerous tumour in his brain. He relearned how to do his job using brail floor plants - it's an amazing and fascinating story about overcoming extreme adversity.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/archit...actually-gotten-better-at-his-job-60-minutes/

 

Are you kidding me? Are you saying that being deaf is worse than having T? Your T must be a bit of a whisper that you need to search for to hear.

 

But we can imagine how certain things would feel. I knew that T would be one of the worst things that could happen to a human (besides chronic pain and being paralyzed from the neck down) when I learned what T is years before I got T.

 

I'm not going to get into a comparison with what conditions specifically are worse, because everyones situation or idea of "worse" is different. But for me, there are many conditions out there that I wouldn't want to have instead of T. Yes, T and H can be difficult and life altering, but there are many people who live very productive and full lives.

Billie's story is a wonderful example of what I'm getting at here:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

If you want to read my story, feel free to read my success story. My T is not a whisper, and my H is mild, but I have come along way in my own personal journey.

 

I think T severity and ability to cope varies widely. Based on the subjective stories here, where people are leaning on heavy anti-depressants and having trouble beating back suicidal thoughts, I know some people must have it worse than me, but I also suspect others would have a hard time getting out of bed and keeping a job if they had to deal with what I'm dealing with, and for how long I've had to do it.

T is really a different flavor of chronic pain, IMHO. I feel that those who successfully cope with this without going off the rails have a lot of inner-strength. The only way I can put a positive spin on it is to feel like it's a personal test of willpower.

 

When my tinnitus was at its worse, I would have gladly taken total deafness if it would have stopped the insane torture that was happening in my ears/head.
Thankfully my tinnitus has faded to the point it is not noticeable most of the time.

 

The sad part is, many people who are deaf HAVE T as well. That is a condition I couldn’t imagine, and makes me thankful that I have good hearing overall.

Billie has mentioned in his success story about a young women who he spoke with who has adjusted to being deaf and has T. As she put it “T is just a part of me, but not my whole life” (I’m paraphrasing).

 

@jjflyman do you not notice your t even when reading or watching tv in a silent surroungings? or only when you are engaged in some activities? If i do laborious work, i do not notice my T much. But when I need to sit down and relax, it creeps right back.

 

Yeah, my tinnitus has faded to the point where it is like static in my head when I sit and watch TV. If I'm working on a project or in the kitchen cooking (my hobby) I don't hear it. I can hear it if I go into a silent room and listen for it, but I don't hear it when I'm outside or in a store or restaurant.

It gets louder in the evening and mild in the mornings. I hope it continues to fade, but it is quite manageable now, although sometimes it gets me down.

 

Mine is getting to that point too, although sometimes it spikes. How long have you had it? How long did it take to fade?

 

This is my second acoustic trauma tinnitus. The first time 13 years ago was super bad piercing loud! It faded to zero in about 2 years.
This one (from a outdoor concert, local band) was bad too, and has been about 27 months. It has faded at least 90% and continues to slowly improve. I think after someone has an acoustic trauma they are more easily injured again, even after many years, because my wife was closer to the band then I was, and for a longer time, but she had no issues.

 

I know of two people from the insurance company and their tinnitus faded completely to a zero years later. I also have two family members and their tinnitus faded to a zero. One of them took 6 months, the other took 2 years.

 

I've read on many guitar forums that people t go or levels out many many years after. Gives me hope because these peeps are old and never used earpro

 

Really?? That gives me great hope to.

 

I really don't understand how it can just naturally fade with some people.

 

Mine is fading slowwwly. it's Been 5 months. I got mine from 1 gunshot in an enclosed space. I take really good care of my ears normally and have never had an acoustic trauma or issue before.

 

Brain plasticity?

 

I think in some cases it's brain plastcity for sure and in others ,your ear heals.

 

have you ever seen that gif on the internet with the spinning woman where if you look one way she spins one way and look another way and she spins that way? Or the audio file where you think one word and you hear it and think another word and hear that? I think it's like that. the human brain is a total mystery. My husband has T and hearing damage and most recently a perforated ear drum due to infection and his rings. but he can tune it out so easily and says his brain forgets he has it.. sometimes he can hear it and sometimes he cant. he says I focus on mine too much. I think he's right. If im not thinking of it, like first thing in the morning or when I'm focusing on a task I dont hear it but as soon as I do, I can hear it.

 

Yes it’s very curious. It could be to do with the degree of hearing loss. It could also be to do with the amount of attention that the person pays it, I have an idea that because mine really annoys me and I find it distressing this may have acted to help perpetuate it. Also, the amount of stress a person already has in their life could be a factor, I had a lot of other very difficult health problems when this hit. At times mine seem to be starting to fade but then would come back again when I started struggling with other problems. It is a strange beast tinnitus.

 

Well, for me anyway, it is just slowly fading over time. My first really bad acoustic trauma 13 years ago, my doctor (an old country doctor) told me not to worry, because most people have it fade away in time. He was right, because after 2 years it faded to zero.

This time it's been 27 months and it has faded 90%+, not from habituation or tuning out or getting used to it, the volume has gone down 90%.

I think a vast majority of people recover from tinnitus in time.

 

Actually a lawyer who did hearing loss cases said the same to me; not worth litigating for tinnitus as it usually faded to nothing by 18 months. I’m 16 months with no fade...had a little improvement that reversed.

 

It’s posts like this that keep me off the edge sometimes. I’m at four months and miserable. This glimmer of hope helps so much.

 

WOW!!! Truly inspirational. Interesting .

 

I agree! I feel the same way.

 

Whoops, I already replied to this thread. Disregard.

 

Don’t you just love the stories of a person who knows a person who knows a person who’s tinnitus disappeared. Lol