Habituation and Tinnitus Treatments

Excellent post as always @fishbone

I did wonder how you have been keeping and sorry to know the tinnitus is still loud. Hope it calms down for you soon.
Take care
Michael

 

I accept your apologies so lets leave it at that. Thank you for the kind sentiments but I am neither king or God in knowing all there is to know about: Noise induced tinnitus, TRT, Hyperacusis or the habituation process as one can never know it all. However, I do have experience with these conditions and treatment.

Michael

 

Agreed take care as well

 

I am pushing forward as usual, it's not been easy at all. I still remain positive, and take my daily baby steps to help my situation in any way I can....

 

I do have a question for you folks. How long did it take for you to wear the generators for long periods until they stopped irritating you? I am doing this gradually but progress is slow.

Using nature sounds can also help on those days...

It's like you say Fish, finding the experienced audiologist.

The young lady I am working with is very nice but lacks experience.

However she is part of a franchise and can reach to others for advice.

As far as counseling there is alot of gold on these forums.

 

Even though my hyperacusis was severe I was able to wear them continuously for up 10hrs a day after slowly building up the wearing time over 3 weeks. This process will be different for each person. Someone telephoned me yesterday asking the same question as their hyperacusis is quite severe. I advised to start wearing the WNGs for 1 or 2hrs. Take them off to give the ears a rest. Put the generators back on for another 1 or 2hrs. Continue doing this and slowly build up the wearing time. I also advised them to keep away from forums and not to discuss tinnitus treatment in them, as this often makes a person focus more on the tinnitus/hyperacusis and can result in making the adjustment to WNG more difficult and delay habituation or making it impossible to achieve.

With respect I think you are wrong to say this. The person you are seeing probably sees lots of patients and is trying to help you. A tinnitus therapist can only do so much. The patient has to reinforce this with patience and doing the right thing, which is engaging in positive thinking and doing things they like to do away from the forum as this will take their focus away from tinnitus and hyperacusis.

Michael

 

Thanks As for the therapist she is very nice 31 year old young lady who plainly told me "I don't have experience with reactive tinnitus." Does not mean I am not willing to work with her, I was just pointing the fact out.

 

Micheal & Fishbone. I know your hearts are in the right place. Even in the midst of some disagreements.

For the record what you say in regards to re aggravation playing loud instruments, headphones & certain loud environments does make perfect logical and physical sense.

 

@Michael Leigh Hi Michael, I am having real struggles at the moment. I saw that you do counselling on the phone. I just wondered if you still offered this service? I of course would pay for your time I just need some coping strategies I am going into a very deep and dark hole and really really finding day to day difficult. Lucy

 

HI @monkey124

I am sorry to know that you are going through a difficult time at the moment with tinnitus. I do offer counselling by telephone for anyone that requests it. I do not charge for this as I was once helped in this way free of charge. Please send me a PM message. In case you are unable to, I will send you a private message too.

All the best
Michael

 

I have tinnitus and hyperacusis. I tried TRT with ear level generators emitting either pink or white noise. It was not for me. The broadband was annoying just too much for my ears. Wore them 8 plus hrs a day from day 1. Had to abandon them after 6 months. I wish my clinician had prescribed the gradual protocol you described. Maybe then I could have tolerated them. However, I encourage others to try it might work for you.

 

@Christopher805

Tinnitus can be complex to treat and when using white noise generators as part of TRT, they should be introduced to the auditory system gradually, as they can cause irritation for some people. In addition to this, regular counselling with a Hearing Therapist or Audiologist trained in Tinnitus and hyperacusis management is usually recommended and is something that shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant. Counselling with a tinnitus therapist helps to remove and demystify a lot of the negative thinking that is often associated with tinnitus and hyperacusis - if negativity is not managed (reduced) it can have a profound adverse effect on a person's mental and emotional welling being and thus, their ability to habituate.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/trt-as-i-see-it.19555/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/what-is-trt-and-when-should-it-be-started.19024/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/what-happens-in-trt-sessions.18195/

 

What is disconcerting is my clinician is the best in this field. I do not think I need to say their name. You would have thought the approach you describe would have been employed. It was not. One would think the best would have the best audiologist. So I thought I had the best support. In terms of finding a tinnitus therapist, I could not find one and I live a major metropolitan city. Not a one. They offer CBT but know nothing about tinnitus. I wanted it to work but the broadband was just too much. As soon as I put them in I knew it was not going to be good. But I endured the discomfort for 6 months. The last straw was when I took them off and the noise was so bad I started rocking in bed, my clinician and I looked at each other and said that’s it.

 

TRT is a commitment and it can take lots of hours and patience. My reason for doing it was because I hated the hyperacusis I had. My stigma towards tinnitus, was not all that positive in the beginning. I was not excited to wear a device in my ear for many hours per day and for months and months. All though I was not super excited about the process, it was exactly that, a PROCESS.

A process needs to happen in our journeys to reach our goals and accomplishments. TRT can be helpful to an individual if they find a professional, that can conduct it,also help answer questions and help with a possible mindset shift. I avoided lots of social activities while staying home and finishing out the whole process. Did I want to stay home? No, I wanted to go out. What drove me was my mission of better my ears and my situation. It was not going to happen over night, it would eventually take many months and LOTS OF PATIENCE.

TRT was one of my foundational roots and I am always thankful for it. I learned so much about tinnitus, MYSELF and how to think about my situation. When I had TRT I had the beginner's low hiss/tone and it was barely noticeable and I had the hyperacusis.

I still have some hyperacusis, but the ringing is now very severe.

Building our foundations and attitude about tinnitus, from the beginning can be quite helpful. My tinnitus has reached all levels and multiple baselines that do not reduce. Due to my foundations and my drive to just push in life, I manage to not let tinnitus get my emotions going.

 

I was totally committed financially ($4000), mentally, physically and spiritually. I understood the the process and its timeline. However, the pain they caused was so excruciating that I’d rather swallowed a bag of nails. I stayed home everyday only venturing out for exercise our doctors appointments. I missed social gathers and the funeral of longtime neighbor. So I know sacrifice and commitment. Trust me I wore them no less than 8 hrs a day and some days more. My attitude and foundation about tinnitus was sound. From day 1 my ring was high pitched to the point of pain at times. The hyper can only be described as loud,, sharp, and now sometimes painful. When I start something I normally finish it. But the pain while wearing them and the obnoxious sound one hears after taking them off was unbearable. My clinician was the best, WORD RENOWNED. As Dr. Nagler said at Doctors' Corner TRT and sound generators are not for everyone. I agree 100%. I am happy if they worked for you and you learned something from the process. I learned something as well. As I have said in an earlier post, I encourage folks to try TRT as a possible treatment option.

 

How do you know your clinician is the best in the field of TRT? Does he or she have tinnitus? If they do not then they might not be good as you think. I believe a tinnitus therapist has to have tinnitus in order to fully understand the condition and to be able to give good quality tinnitus counselling. My Hearing Therapist was born with tinnitus and I consider her to be excellent, in understanding how tinnitus can affect a person's mental and emotional wellbeing. Were you able to adjust the volume level of your white noise generators from zero upwards? Or was the volume set at preset levels? Some WNGs have preset volumes: 1, 2, 3, I do not like this as the volume cannot be finely tuned. My white noise generators are user adjustable from zero and can be increased gradually.

I am sorry to hear TRT did not work for you.

Michael

 

Again, I encourage folks to try TRT and ear level sound generators. They just did not work for me. I just could not tolerate the noise. In terms of my clinician he has tinnitus and he is the best. I am not one for dropping names but I’ll say this your TRT doctor/clinician used my doctor’s theory to treat you. I could adjust levels from zero upward. Yes, I wish I could have found a therapist who had tinnitus and used CBT. However, I could not find such a person. Yes, I am sorry too that TRT did not work for me. I was hoping that it would be the answer to my prayers. Be well!

 

habituation means that most of the time you are not aware of your tinnitus. If you hear it all the time , you have not habituated.

 

No it does not. You are entitled to your opinion and if you want to believe that then it's fine. However, if you want to know what true Habituation means, it is to be able to live with tinnitus and doesn't matter whether it can be heard or not. To get a better understanding of what it means to habituate to tinnitus, please click on the link below and read my post: The habituation process.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/

 

Where do you get your information from? Do share.

It's impossible for some to not hear their tinnitus.

 

Exactly fishbone and well said. If people are going to comment on something to do with tinnitus I wish they would talk sense.

Hope you are feeling a little better?
Michael

 

It's been aggressively loud, I cannot say otherwise.

All In all, I'm doing what I do daily to move forward, nothing changes.

I'm still upbeat

 

I also have loud tinnitus and I'm not aware of it all the time.

My tinnitus is intrusive, I can even hear it when I'm outside, when I walk in a busy street.

Dr Nagler and Dr Hubbard have loud tinnitus too and they are not aware of it all the time. Billie48 and I Who Love Music have really loud tinnitus and they have habituated.

I'm not saying that my tinnitus is worse than yours because it's most likely wrong. There are many people who can't habituate, i'm not going to disagree.
I'm just saying that when you have habituated, you don't pay attention to your tinnitus at least 80 % of the time.

 

That isn't what you said in your first post. You said habituation is when you don't hear it most of the time. True habituation is what I have said in my post in the link I have given you. If you read it then you will see it is very similar to what you have now said: One doesn't pay attention to the tinnitus 80% of the time. The tinnitus is present but the brain is capable of filtering it out so it doesn't become an annoyance. This is different from hearing the tinnitus 80% of the time and a person finds it intrusive and therefore habituation is not achieved in this instance. If a person find themselves unable to habituate and they have noise induced tinnitus. They should seek the help of an Audiologist, who specialises in tinnitus and hyperacusis management. Treatments include: TRT, CBT, counselling, sound therapy, relaxation therapy and medication.

I have variable tinnitus. Meaning it can be: completely silent, mild, moderate, severe and very severe. It only becomes a problem when it is severe or very severe, then I may have to take clonazepam medication, to calm it down to a more manageable level over 12hrs. Sometimes it will reduce without taking medication.

Michael

 

The point of habituation is not if we can hear the tinnitus or not. It's about having the tinnitus affect us less emotionally or not at all.

Tinnitus can affect us in so many ways, the less and less we are affected, it's possible to gain some habituation. Now, can we say that we are 100% not affected, probably not. Any amount of habituation is helpful to the individual trying to move forward.

 

Hmm, your tinnitus must be a very high pitch but very soft, therefore not intrusive enough so you dont pay attention to it. It is not aggressive tinnitus. Its like a kitty cat tinnitus.

 

Exactly!

 

Exactly what? Clearly you are another one that doesn't understand what habituation means. Habituation is about acceptance even when it is problematic. You haven't accepted it I have!!

 

Of course habituation is everything that you have said @fishbone I wish silly people like the member above would understand that, instead of being angry when confronted with the truth.

Michael

 

Habituation is not acceptance lol.

Acceptance helps achieve habituation.
Habituation is not caring and obviously you are not habituated because tinnitus is still a major issue in your life and is a huge problem for you (when it's severe).
When you have it severe you pray to God the days of silence arrive to relieve you... and thus is your existence-a never ending cycle.