Habituation Question

I've had T approximately 1 year .....This is a question to those who feel like they have habituated. I have allot more good days then bad ones but I periodically still get those days where I feel like T just gets the best of me and I feel like life is slowly kicking my ass. Does this happen to those who feel they have habituated or is this part of the process of getting there? Does habituation mean you don't have anymore bad T days or do we all still have bad T days?

 

I think of it a bit like post traumatic stress, not that you have been in deadly combat or anything that you could compare to that. But you have seen the darkest places of the human mind and know how fast you can reach rock bottom. This was a thing that i was not awared of before T., to never feel absolutely home free is the thing that still bothers me, not the noise itself but the knowledge of your fragility.

I see myself as part time habituated and maybe need some more CBT sessions to sort this out.

 

The T itself will not change, which means there are still bad days, bad situations like super quite room. Habituation means that you don't get bad reaction to the sound when you heard it.

My father got T for 19 years, but still avoid super quite situations, he always enrich sound. I observed his life, and think that he is habituated very well.

My boss got T 40 years ago, and always sit in his quite office, but no reaction to his T. I asked how loud it is, he said it is very high pitch and loud, but I am so used to it. That is habituation.

 

Excellent answer and reassuring examples, Aaron. Nothing helps better than observing examples of people in your family or social circle habituated to T. They are the living witnesses that there is still good life after T. One year is still relatively young in T life. Setbacks are common. I had many, many setbacks too in my younger T life. Don't worry about them. They are inevitable. What I did to help myself from sinking into mental black hole is to imagine or substitute myself into a virtual imagery of those drillers and miners in the 3rd world, working long day shifts without ear protection day in & day out all through their life. Many are happy to have that noisy job just to feed the family. Some have to risk mine collapse & poisonous gas to scrape out a living. So if they don't suffer mental collapse for facing up a life time job with horrific noises like these below, why can't I just accept those setbacks, the hugely spiking days? That kind of CBT related thinking has helped me tremendously. It is not a perfect analogy of course. But a pneumatic drill or jack hammer is also much louder in real volume and intensity than most people's T. And I can ill afford a perfect analogy. I either accept the setbacks or face a life time of misery with T. It is that simple. The amazing thing is by consciously willing to accept setbacks, the mental pressure is off and life becomes a lot easier, even enjoyable again.

Watch carefully, these people don't seem to have ear protection even with such horrific noisy jobs:

Sri Lanka,ශ්‍රී...

Mine Development Crew - Underground Drilling

 

Guess I'm just having one of those days that T is getting the best of me. I also tell myself all the time that there are many people in this world that are in real despair and suffering and I should be thankful the only thing I complain about is my T. Thank you kindly for the feedback sometimes we just need a kick in the ass...

 

Life is good, I thought I was done at least 1000 times these 2 years, I lost my fiancee because of my T and related depression, T is life changing for me. But 2 years later now, it is okay. I traveled back to Europe this June to my University in Germany, everything is the same except my right ear, but I am still alive. Think about MH370 and MH17, I have a very good colleague on MH370 with his 4 families. He is only 35 years old.....We are lucky only because we are still alive, we can see we can hear, we can jump we can talk, whatever we can't?

Good luck to you!

 

Thanks Aaron and good luck to you also

 

Dear @Aaron,

I found your last post on here very touching and thought I should let you know. It made me sad at the beginning, reading that you lost someone you loved, but in the end, you are right that we are still here and alive....

hugs
xx

 

It varies. You might have a good week and then the next couple days might be like..."ugh" but whatever you have to keep going.

 

Excellent question Carlos. I often wonder the same. I have had T for 18-months, I'm 55, and try not to dwell on it. I know we are all faced with challenges in life and this is a big one for me. I also appreciate the different responses to the question.

Greg

 

Yeah Greg im 52 and it's one of the hardest things I've ever had to deal with. I think it's getting your mind wrapped around that we probably will have to deal with this T thing for a very long time and there's nothing I can do about it

It's a helpless feeling ....hang in there man

 

Thanks Carlos. You do the same. On the subject of habituation, does road noise and traveling in a car get easier over time? We just drove from DC to Orlando and back....and the time in the car was okay but not great.

 

NeoM, love that avitar, thinking about stealing it, but of course I would not use it here

 

That is exactly what it is. We need to accept it. Unless there is a permanent cure, we're going to live with it (most likely the rest of our lives) and we can't avoid that truth. You are neither helpless nor hopeless. Just give yourself the time and self love you would give others.

I feel mostly habituated but yeah, like many, I have spikes, often due to physical and/or mental stressors. Have to get through the spikes and I do that by not focusing on the T, but on what else I am doing, even accepting it being there in the quiet. If you feel like yours is particularly bad, I would suggest going to the treatment section and read what others do to aid them.

I wish you the best.

 

The only thing that helps is distraction .....if your mind is distracted then it don't matter what we're doing the T seems to fade into the back ground ....easy said then done tho

 

Thank you Clare wish you the best too
God bless

 

I have a lot more of good days it's a good starting point, don't you think? From my point of view, part of the habituation process is that when you have bad days you don't care, as your brain slowly learned to don't target T as a dangerous sound. @Karen is right: for some, it just may take more time to get to where it no longer bothers us. But --- we can all get there!!!
Wish you the best

 

That "it's don't a dangerous thing" fact that's brought up here is not the issue. We all understand that very quickly. It's a difficult thing to live with.

 

Yes, it's difficult, very difficult for most of us. From a rational point of view, it's logical that we all understand T it's not dangerous. But some unconscious mechanisms work by themselves, and we can't immediately control them. They control us. For some months after the onset I felt really scared, I knew - even though I saw ENT, made tests and got therapy - T could' nt kill me. But I was sure it was destroying my life - as in fact happened. Now, a year after, it's different. T bothers me from time to time. I take supplements, use earplugs when needed, but I am back to a normal life. I am sure habituation played its role. I remember the first days when I woke up listening that strange sound: automatically I felt a punch in the stomach. Now I can go on. Probably the sound of my T is not so loud, or I am lucky - sure this forum, the people here around (special thanks to @Markku ) helped me a lot.
As you wrote, it's a difficult thing to live with. But we can do it. And I am sure we don't have to wait too long for a cure.

 

T sucks.. it makes life hell sometimes and ya, it's up and down.
After 40 years of T, I learned something on this forum...
I do NOT measure my T anymore. I measure my responses.
As time went by I noticed my responses were changing, as if I were finally getting used to the T. Then something wonderful happened, the T finally went into the background. And I continue to measure my response, although now it's only once or twice a week. This is miraculous. I'm 55. I've had T since I was 14 !!
Don't measure it - don't listen to it.
Measure your response. Simply tell yourself how you feel about your T when it bugs you... and watch what happens.

 

Thank you for tht Mr. Music! I've heard you and I know how I try to implement what you have said about "not measuring your response," but telling myself how I feel about it helps me to understand "measure you response" better.