Friend's Spontaneous Tinnitus Recovery After a Couple of Years

Hey all,

I'm new to tinnitus hell and these success stories are what's keeping me going to be honest. This is not my success story but it's one from my friend. I figured I'd share it here as it's also been keeping me going.

After I had tinnitus I reached out to friends and family for support. Turns out I know a lot of people in my life who have tinnitus! And they all seem to be living normally and happily. For some of them, it didn't start out that way though. One of my friends said she actually used to have tinnitus but doesn't anymore.

My friend got tinnitus the same age as me at 27 (she's 41 now) and she said it was gone by the time she was 30. She had to sleep every night with an Ativan and a white noise machine and the fan for about a year. She said over time it bothered her less and less and less and could only hear it in a quiet room. Even with her getting used to it, she said when she could hear it in a quiet room it still drove her nuts from time to time. I asked her when she noticed it was gone and if it had changed before disappearing. She doesn't know if it had ever changed or softened before it went away. She didn't do anything different or special.

She said one night she had to go to bed without all her noise machine stuff and laid down in the silence and heard exactly that, silence. She said it was just gone and has stayed gone. She is insane and does sound for her church. She's often standing in front or near loud ass speakers for hours at a time. Still no tinnitus.

 

I'm trying to be polite here so I'll just call her an ungrateful idiot. The lesson she learned from literally years of suffering with tinnitus-caused insomnia was... abusing ears is OK?!?

Ear damage is cumulative. One day, she'll hit a tipping point and wake up with tinnitus ten times worse with what she had before, except it won't be going away the second time around.

But hey, church choirs are absolutely worth the risk of decades of suffering!

 

So glad I took the time to post something positive.

 

Relax hans799. It's not your life.

 

That's amazing! I hope it continues to be gone for her. Thanks for sharing!

twa

 

I loved your friend’s story! Thank you for sharing. Tinnitus Talk does well to benefit from stories like this - it helps keep as going.

I don’t believe your friend is an idiot at all. I would believe that she is uneducated (like most of us are/were) about tinnitus and the dangers of loud noise now her ears have been compromised.

If you have the chance to warn her that she should 100% take care not to be around loud sounds now she’s recovered, then please do so.

All the best,
Steph

 

Me too! And I hope that's what ends up happening with me and for all of us here who are suffering. Or we get some proper treatments and cures in the near future.

 

Oh I have lol. I told her I'm buying her earplugs if she doesn't!

 

Thanks for sharing this story, I'm glad to hear she's doing better.

It's a pretty uplifting anecdote to hear for those who've been suffering from tinnitus for longer than 6 months without any real improvement. Hopefully time will heal our wounds as well.

As for her decision to regularly attend a loud venue, it's exactly that: her decision. I understand it might be frustrating to some readers, but let's just be glad that someone managed to recover after several years.

That being said, you should make sure she gets those earplugs, Shelbynn.

 

Fascinating to hear, and this serves as yet another addition to the wealth of hopeful stories going forward.

Do you know what might have caused her symptom in the first place, that is, was it from noise-induced damage, trauma, ototoxicity, etc.? I'm not really sure how much the cause has to do with the chance of recovery, but it'd be nice to hear all the same.

The fact that she was able to power through it despite the distress is truly admirable.

 

Hi Drachen, I adore your dapper dog icon. How are you doing?

She actually has no idea what caused her. She said she just figured she fucked up her ears with too many loud concerts and that was that. She didn't go to a doctor, she didn't try to "fix' it. She said she shrugged and tried to live her life. I wish I was as strong as her. My tinnitus and sound distortion has completely destroyed my life and I struggle with suicidal thoughts every single day.

She seems so confident that I'm going to be ok it makes me kind of believe it sometimes. She's so adamant I'm going to be ok.

 

This is how I felt throughout most of November and December 2020.

Which led me to taking SSRI and unfortunately Benzos to cope. Although it's been 8 months now tapering off the Benzo, I think that the SSRI may be the thing that finally calmed me down some. Although I don't recommend the route I took. I don't regret it either.

I love your friend's story and although I would be extremely hesitant to hang out in front of speakers unprotected these days, I agree it is 100% her choice. And to be fair I didn't feel this way standing 10ft away from tower speakers at a NF concert 1 1/2 years ago. But I guess you live and you learn.

I pray you can get to a manageable level quickly. Best Wishes.

 

Why, thank you! I typically like to use a wide variety of avatars, but I've taken quite a liking to this one.

That's unfortunate to hear that she doesn't know what caused it, but it's still a great positive that she managed to get through it all the same. I echo your sentiment in the sense that I wish I could just get over it and get along with things. I am not sure why some of us are wired to react so radically to things like this. I am seriously hoping there are revolutionary changes to the field of medical research when it comes to both mental health problems and those associated with the brain. The world needs solutions to the problem rather than bandages like antidepressants. Everyone should be entitled to the right to experience life and deal with its many challenges in a way that is at the very least manageable.

I'm sure her reassurance is a great big help, especially given that she is a survivor herself. I only wish it were easier to actually process the very high likelihood (if not certainty) that recovery will come with time. The waiting game is truly a pain to play.

 

Thank you. I'm currently on Xanax and a low dose of Nortriptyline... I've been on Lexapro in the past and it saved my life at one time. I'm seeing a psychiatrist at the end of March and will probably switch then. Never thought this would happen to me. I'm glad you did what you had to do to get through this.

 

I know you're struggling and new to this awful condition, but your presence here is always so positive and I find your posts very comforting. And you have an eye for avatars that's for certain!

I completely agree with you. I'm a social worker and am very passionate about mental health advocacy. Honestly most mental health issues are simply just normal reactions to abnormal and inhumane circumstances caused by oppression, violence, poverty, and inequity. That's a rant for another time.

I cannot believe that it's 2021 and we still don't have a cure for this. I was in my doctor's office sobbing again this week and I was begging him to tell me why there isn't a cure or treatment for this and he replied "there isn't a cure for tinnitus because it isn't a problem." I almost lost it when he said that. He could look me in the eye and see how much I've decompensated, see that I can't eat, sleep, or work and tell me that what I'm going through isn't a problem. It's so unacceptable.

She said she has no doubt in her mind I'm going to be ok. She believes it's going to go away for me and she said she knows me enough to know even if it doesn't I'm still going to be ok. I have to have some faith in that I guess. The waiting game, however, is a really awful game to play.

 

You can do it. It's just one job you have, to wait until your brain loses focus and the tinnitus fades away and finds itself outside of your sphere of awareness. Trust me, it will happen!

 

I really, really, really hope so...

Are you able to sit in a quiet room and not listen to it? Does it feel like silence to you even though it's not?

 

Yes, it is my new sound of silence. In the early stages I avoided quiet rooms, which is a totally natural response. But I learned that the more you run from it, the longer it takes to get used. I was actually feeding my fear for tinnitus by running. So I started not to avoid situations or places. It took a while to get used but now I don’t even think about it when I am in a quiet room. And yes, I can enjoy silence. I enjoy laying in bed before going to sleep, it is the most peaceful part of the day. I don’t mask and my tinnitus just does not come to the front of my awareness, it stays in the back somewhere.

 

Wow that is incredible. I hope to get there someday. I've been trying to be brave and listen to my tinnitus in the silence and just sit with it. And at first I get upset but then I just let it go. It's hard. I'm going to take two steps forward and one step back. I went and got a massage last week and my tinnitus wasn't masked at all, it was really obnoxious. But I just let go and listened to it until I got bored and enjoyed the massage.

 

Great! So you are already experiencing how this works. Don't run, don't fight, just let it be. Great job!

And I say this again. Whether you hope or not hope, you try or no try, it does not matter. You will get there, it's just a matter of time.

 

Seeing as you're reaching the point where you're not afraid of facing your tinnitus anymore, you might find meditation helpful.

I wasn't really big into meditation myself but, after watching Headspace guide to meditation on Netflix, I definitely experienced some of the benefits. For me, a short meditation before bed helps me sleep much better.

 

I've been doing meditation for a while but stopped because of the tinnitus. The tinnitus is bothering me less and less, well at least in my right ear. I have a new sound in my left ear that's sent me spiraling. I now have noise distortion and music sounds broken which is leaving me suicidal daily. I don't know like how I'm going to get through this or live a good life.

 

That is exactly what I thought in the first months. But I am fine and living a good life without tinnitus bothering me one bit.

In the early stages I too was very focused on what type of sounds I heard, if they are loud or not, if they are reactive or not, and so on. But when my brain lost interest, it seemed like all sounds blended into one, or into one mix, or whatever it is nowadays, somewhere behind the background of my mind.

 

Did you have noise distortion too? If so, were you able to enjoy music? Did it fade?

 

I felt exactly the same way for the first 6 months (and still do, occasionally). After that, my mental health slowly started to improve again. The thing that helped the most was that I was slowly able to get distracted again.

From that point onwards, I started spending more time watching movies or playing games. Work is generally a bit boring, but when I sink my teeth into something it also served as a decent distraction. I still noticed the tinnitus and it still bothers me, bit helps take my mind of off negative thoughts.

During my 10 months or so I think I've experienced one moment where the volume of my tinnitus felt like it went from a 7 to a 2. Unfortunately, it only lasted for a few minutes and I haven't experienced it since.

At this point, the memory of total silence just gets me frustrated. Instead, those few minutes of relative quiet are what keeps me going. Hopefully, some day, I'll get to that point.

 

I did not, but from what I have read, it does fade away.

 

Thank you so much for all your responses. It's been really comforting, and even though I'm struggling to believe it, your encouragement and positivity make me think I'm going to be ok someday. I just keep telling myself "Shelby, it's just a noise, it's not going to hurt you" and "whether it goes or stays you're going to be ok. Stay curious."

 

You are going to be OK, I am sure about that.

Today I remembered something that happened sometime in the first months that was a moment of realization for me. Sometime before I got tinnitus I bought a 2nd hand car and it made some annoying noises. I wanted to have it checked out because it sounded like something was not fastened securely. But I never did.

So at a later stage, which was in the first months I remember hearing the annoying noise again and I realized that I had not heard it in weeks.

So I started paying attention to it again and realized that all that time the car was making the noises but it simply was not registering in my brain.

So that was one of the moments that I realized that habituation does work and I also felt what it was, that things just don't register anymore.

So apart from reading a lot about it, it was the first real life moment of realization for me. It was an extra reassurance for me that things were going to be just fine.

 

Hey Shelbynn. How are you doing today? Has your condition improved at all since onset? Did you get back into meditation at all? I meditate but must admit it is more challenging now with noise

 

Hi Guywithapug, it's good to hear from you. I'm having an ok day today which I will happily take. I woke up in complete silence but after an hour of being up and about my tinnitus came back like normal. Last night I had a spike that brought me to my knees so the shocking silence was welcome, even if it lasted an hour.

I went for a walk today and tried to enjoy it like I normally would... but the cicada sounds in the wind in the trees broke me into tears. I miss peace and feeling grounded.

I haven't done any yoga or meditation since December... I'm just too depressed and heartbroken. I hear totally you. It's so challenging to mediate with the noise happening. I am so incredibly amazed at your outlook and that you still show up to meditate despite the challenges.

How have you been holding up? I was reading through your story and I couldn't even imagine having to face what you've bravely gone through.