Found Out One of My Best Bud's Also Has Tinnitus. Key to Habituation?

So I recently mentioned to a close friend of mine about tinnitus and to my surprise he has it and has it much worse than I do. It doesn't bother him AT ALL. He doesn't understand why it bothers me... pretty strange. I question why it bothers me now, so I'm making this post. Little backstory. He's had it since he was 16, I've had mine since I was 19. We are both 22.
When we were hanging out last, while outside I told him to pause and asked if he could hear it, he responded with yes, he can always hear it. He says he hears it no matter what so I assume he has it pretty bad. Although he told me he got used to it within weeks of first getting it. Lucky ass. As for me, I only really hear it while indoors.

Now here's what I don't get...
How can some people not let this bother them and others like me I'm like obsessed with it?
Is it because I'm constantly googling about it? Going on forums reading other's stories? Could we all benefit taking a break looking up anything tinnitus related?
Sounds like that may be a way to habituate?

 

Hello. In regards to your question, yes is the answer. When I first got it, during the first month I was so bothered by it. And I kept googling and coming to this site to read up about the different forums and threads. Now, I only visit this site to see if there is any reply to whatever I posted. Now, I don't think of it as much as I used to. There are still days that I still feel bothered. Trust me, try not to think about it as much, don't look up anything T related for about a week, and you'll probably feel better. How you react to the sound also matters. Don't think too much, prayer also helps, no matter what you believe in.

 

We are all so different on how we cope with emotions and sounds in our ears.
Our brain is a clever bugger and in time at our own pace we start to cope better with tinnitus as our brain learns to filter out the sound .
Time is a great healer.
Eating and sleeping well helps and being positive through life.
If people find ther mood low and heading for depression,talking therapy is great and meds if needed...lots of love glynis

 

I found out that at least three of my friends have tinnitus and it doesn't bother two of them at all and the other is only bothered occasionally when she is trying to sleep. The first two only hear it if you mention it--so I try not to bring it up. I have since found that there are nine people with tinnitus in my building. It really is very common.

 

I would bet that your friend's T is not a loud as yours. It really chaps me when somebody else hears that I have Tinnitus and they say something like, "I've had it too for a long time, no big deal."

I'm absolutely positive theirs is not as LOUD as mine. I know a large percentage of the population has this, but likely not as loud. And as LOUD as mine is, I manage to get by.

This makes about nine years now that I've had it. I have a big box fan by my bed. I take Diazepam to go to sleep at night. I drive with a window cracked. I suffer with this crap every moment I'm awake, but I adapt. I'm at my best when I'm outside and distracted with anything, anything at all.

 

It's almost like tinnitus is a subjective condition that can vary in severity from one person to another.

 

@Alue partly correct, T falls into 2 broad categories, subjective( only the sufferer actually hears it, it cannot be picked up by external devices) and objective,( in this second category a component of the T can be picked up via, for example a stethoscope)

 

I was being sarcastic. The vast majority of cases of tinnitus are subjective. People often come in here making comments about others not being bothered by tinnitus at all, or you get people that habituat after only a few months of tinnitus then they start offering advice to long term sufferers thinking their condition is the same. There are also a number of people whose problem is anxiety more than the noise. That's great that their condition isn't that bad and they are not bothered by it for long, but the platitudes get frustrating.

 

@Alue oops I guess I misinterpreted the context.

 

T and I have been BFF’s over 20 years...unmaskable but I can’t remember life before T...I can’t imagine it going away or wanting it to...

 

Turns out one of my best buds has it, too. He got it the classical way - on his GFs insistence he danced right next to the speaker at a concert; boom, permanent loud tonal T. He didn't even mention it for years. Says he was somewhat bothered for 6 months and can always hear it ever since but doesn't care. Btw he sings in a choir, goes to concerts, tries out drugs etc, he really doesn't give a F about T.

I think it has a lot to do with personality type. He's not a control freak. If the same thing happened to me I would have gone insane seeking for a cure, blaming the GF, blaming myself etc.