Habituating to Tinnitus that Comes and Goes

My T is quiet in the morning, and reappears full force in the evenings. I feel like this makes the habituation process difficult since it is not a steady noise, but something that seems to reappear on a daily basis. Does anyone have any tips on habituating to T that seems to come and go?

 

IMO it shouldn't matter whether it comes and goes or it's 24/7/365. Those in the latter group would probably say they would love a break from the continuous noise. Habituation occurs naturally over a period of time and in the end it basically revolves around our emotional response to our tinnitus. Getting there is obviously a different experience for everybody and involves a different time period. The way to get there however should be the same for everybody regardless of what type of tinnitus they have. My tip anyway would be to enjoy the quiet times in the mornings and don't stress about the evenings. Use sound as a distraction or try to keep busy on stuff that interests you and hopefully you won't be focusing on your tinnitus. Eventually it just comes naturally.

 

Mine comes and goes and is driven by tiredness and how much noise exposure I have had. How ever I have a small hole in my eardrum that doctors missed. I am now just doing the waiting game that the eardrum heals and the tinnitus passes.

 

I think what worked for me was cultivating an attitude of thankfulness that I got low periods.

You see, when I first started getting lower periods after my first onset, I was like, "Holy crap, I think it's going away!" just to be massively disappointed an hour or two later when it came back in full force. It felt like constantly being teased, cheated. At first these low periods were completely unpredictable and would come at pretty much any time of the day. "Just stay put!" was the only thing I could muster up.

But eventually when my T unkinked itself from being totally random and wonky several weeks/months later, mine adopted a pretty consistent pattern like yours. Super low in the mornings, somewhere more annoying by evening. Slowly my attitude changed and I began to see it as more of a glass half full kind of thing. While having no T at all would certainly be most ideal (for all of us!), the ability to at least get something close to silence on most days was something I came to embrace and treasure. It is a rare and precious thing.

Once it got to that point, I didn't care how bad my T was in the evenings most days, because I almost always had a quiet morning guaranteed ahead of me. I slept like a rock.

My T exploded in intensity a month and a half ago and now these periods are much rarer for me. Maybe once or twice a week. I was very, very upset by it at first, and I'd be lying to say that I'm still not to some degree. But the fact that I still get them at all is still something I'm incredibly thankful for. I hope to never lose it.

 

Thanks for the replies! I know it's more of a natural process over time, I just feel like it's difficult to habituate when it comes back daily. Much like you said @Smoogle, it feels like I'm being teased. But I agree @Magpie, I think I need to work on my emotional response to it once it comes back in the evenings. That's probably the only way I'll be able to habituate to it. And sometimes I feel like my T is driven by tiredness too @peter1974. Hopefully yours gets better for you once your eardrum heals!