Hello, I Am Also New Here

Hello, im 21 and i have tinnitus for about 1,5 month. Im not native english and i dont write in english very often, so excuse me missuse of words or so.

I ´ve already read some posts that encouraged me, so thank you all for doing all is.
And this is my short experience wih T.

My T appeard after 4 stressful months, in which i was also recording drums and loud electric guitars, loud in headphones, with band i (probably used to) play.

Firstly i noticed that i have T when i was trying to fall asleep on collage. My roommate is using charger that produces awful sounds so i asked him to plug it off the circuit. But some of the ringing stayed in my right ear. The other day i was reading something about that ringing and i became frightened by that. But fortunately i was able to live normal live, like nothing happens, for a month. Firstly i thought it would disappear so i was waiting about 3 week before going to doctor. After week it looked like its fading but it came back. Doctors gave me standard treatment, at least here in Slovakia - 5 days in hospital taking infusions that should enlarge my veins to get more blood to the ear. First 3 days were good, but then came 2 days where i got nothing to do and... Well bad thoughts came and i somehow let them overwhelm me. Treatment also somehow raised the pitch of my T. When i left hospital i was okay but felt like another person. I felt like not in my skin, now i know it was weak form of sinusitisis. I went to collage and there started another health problems. I got huge back pain, so i couldnt sleep that night. The other night i got home and also got reflux and from that pain behind my sterno. I thought that were some side effects from treatment. Then i had some anxiety attacks, what couls this be. So at night i went to hospital again, doctor told me it is from backpain and stress caused by T. So i went home. Another few days i slept bad, getting up on strong pain, headache and so... When back pain gone i thought it was okay, i also managed to sleep 5 without waking up. Another day i was preparing for exam, so i became stressed and that minor stomach problems i also had became more serious and another night (yesterday night) i had no sleep and reflux again. Yesterday was again bad day, but tried to do the most what could be done to finslly fall asleep and take at least 6 hours of continuous sleep. I was exercising - just running and some push ups, also some exercises for stretching back, i took all the vitamins, drink herbal tees against stresss against reflux, for good sleep. Also have bought special matress. But almost no sleep, i was little unconscius maybe 30mins. I realized that the only reason why i cant sleep is T. At 3 am i downloaded that album of masking sounds, you are sending on mail. Shower works for me the best. Then i had about 2 hours of good rest while masking T. This night i realized that I got T in the other ear also , at least it is quieter, also im starting to belive that T in right ear got worse after the treatment, but maybe its just that huge lack of sleep and stress i have and been through. Both Ts are little better now, not as pulsative and broad, wide... Dont know how to describe it. And now i 9:37 and im finishing this thread.

How long will i be unable to sleep? How long could i not damage myself becase of that insomnia? How long does this period of anxiety, no sleep because of T last? When do i get used to?

This week im gonna rest nbut i dont know how long could let study be and just dont do anything before i would have to interup my studyies In 1 month semester is finishing and i have to take lot of exams until end. School is in other city, where i live in dorm - lots of students, night noises and another stressful factors.

Is it safe to listen masking tracks all the night on headphones, volume just about to mask T but i hear it a little bit.

Thanks for reading my story.

 

Hey @Matúš Feriencik and Welcome to TT..

I am sorry you are going through such a rough patch...

The time it takes to be able to sleep well again varies for everyone I guess and it depends on so many factors like the intensity and frequency of your T, your attitude towards it, your anxiety and stress, your ability to mask it ect. ect...

To give you an example it took me about 9 months to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep as long as I needed and being able to fall asleep again after waking up early for the bathroom for instance...

I kind of "learnt" to "embrace" the sound during those sleepless hours, listening to it without attaching emotions to it, and eventually I was able to get the focus away from it as I was "making" it mine if you know what I mean... I was lucky because prior to T I was meditating quite a lot and I even went to a Vipassana meditation retreat, so I was a bit experienced on "watching" my senses without "attaching" emotions to it... That is how I did it...

I also used to mask with an external source and would set it for about an hour when going to sleep, so I am not sure about masking all night with headphones, probably someone else can give you a better advice on that...

I hope you get better soon and best of luck !

Take care of yourself and your ears.. Lorenzo

 

HI Matus,

Welcome to TT. Your tinnitus was probably caused by exposure to loud sounds as mentioned in your post. You need to keep away from loud noise and I advise you not to listen to music through headphones for a while. If I were you, I wouldn’t listen to any type of audio through them again but it’s your choice as everyone is different.

Regarding listening to masking tracks through headphones? I don't advise it at this time. Furthermore, completely masking or covering up tinnitus is a bad idea as your brain will not hear the tinnitus and won’t learn to habituate to it.

It would be a good to be under the care of an ENT clinic. That way tests can be carried out on your auditory system and you may be referred to a Hearing Therapist who can advise you on different coping strategies to manage the tinnitus. Try to avoid quiet rooms and surroundings particularly at night. A sound machine that plays nature sounds, can be placed by the bedside or connected to a pillow speaker. This will supply sound enrichment and help the habituation process. Please read my two posts that you might find helpful by clicking on the links below: An introduction to tinnitus & Tinnitus and sound machines.

I wish you well.

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/an-introduction-to-tinnitus.12100/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/sound-machines-and-tinnitus.12072/