Hey! Hi! How Are Ya!

My name is Lillian. I've had tinnitus for over a year now. My T is quite mild, my anxiety is not. Maybe I should've joined an anxiety support group instead? All I know is that I feel quite at home here.
Learning to cope with the anxiety is my biggest battle. It's stupid, I know. Like a lot of people with T I'm afraid of the future. Will it get worse with age? These aren't things I can answer and I'm slowly learning to accept that.

The biggest blow was giving up music. I admire all the musicians go forth in their careers despite T, but for myself I have to make what I think are the best decisions. I haven't decided on a career yet, but I think with all the support I've found here I'll make the right decision soon.

 

Not stupid at all. It was my biggest problem for a while. It seems like you are on the right path. There will be lots of up and downs, at least there was for me but I think you will be fine.

 

Oddly enough LL97, the anxiety is the easiest thing I have learned to cope with, it only takes a pill. I can tell you that I have had my T for 8 years and it was not caused by age and has not got worse with age. What you may aim to learn is what may affect your T and therefore how you can protect yourself more in the future, but I don't think age will be a factor. Good luck with whatever career you choose.

 

I really appreciate the kind messages. TT is kinda a God send because where I live there aren't any support groups. I really think forming a Stitch 'n Bitch for T sufferers would be awesome.

 

Lillian, I guess I've lived with T for awhile, and I don't recall feeling anxious about it, irritated, yes. My anxiety has been brought on more by the hearing loss I suffered than by the T. What I can tell you is that you do survive.

 

Welcome Lillian. If your T is mild, count that as a blessing. Positivity will help reduce anxiety level. Anxiety and panic disorders have been my friends for a few decades before T & H came to town. So I know quite a bit about anxiety and its symptoms, and how to deal with them.

CBT and mindfulness are known to help people with anxiety. I learn from CBT the concept of cognitive distortions and how they, if not challenged and countered, can wreck havoc on the mental stability of its victims. The most obvious cognitive distortion which applies to many T sufferers is 'Catastrophic Thinking', like saying 'my future is bleak' or 'I am doomed for life', or 'I have no future with T'. The other notable distortion is 'All or Nothing Thinking', like saying 'with T, my life is not worth living' (ignoring all the other positives of life). We need to learn about cognitive distortions and challenge them, replacing them with more positive or realistic ones. If you read Dr. Hubbard's success story, you will see how he applies CBT techniques to help heal himself.

The other major approach against anxiety is Mindfulness. If you search youtube on that, you will find many videos talking and illustrating how mindfulness meditation can help diffuse anxious feelings by bringing the anxious sensations into 'present awareness', by facing them instead of running away from them.

For me, I do many other things to diffuse anxiety, like abdominal breathing, like taking leisure or brisk walk, like pursuing hobbies, like spending time with families etc. These can distract from paying attention to T and anxiety as well has helping the physical and mental health. You can also try drinking some chamomile tea to calm your nerve. Try these natural drinks to help with anxiety before you have to resort to meds as a last resort.

For dealing with anxiety on the spot, I also do mental maths when I feel anxious, like mentally calculating the result of say, adding odd numbers from 1, like 1+3=4+5=9+7=16+9=25+11=36+13=49 etc. etc. If you want it difficult so the mind has to work hard, try deducting odd numbers from 1000, like 1000-1=999-3=996-5=991-7=984-9=975-13=962 etc. etc. The objective is to take the mind off the anxious thinking and focus on a non-anxious thing like a math calculation. Whatever calculation you can handle and can distract the mind will work to get the mind off from wandering anxiously. If math is boring, then try sing the lyric of some songs you like. Remember to sing the words either vocally or silently. I also find this approach easy to get the mind off anxious things. Try them.

 

@LillianLexicon97

Hey Lillian

Like you I too have found the anxiety of it all to be the hardest part. As you said, the future of how things are going to go can be terrifying. It's only recently that I've started living for the present, anything can happen in the future so I'm doing my best not to think about it.

I've never been one to think of music as a career so this might be irrelevant for me to say. I've always had a love for music however & for almost a year I stopped listening to music all together, I don't know whether it was my fear of making my ears worse or due to it possibly giving me T in the first place. Regardless, I've began listening to music again (safely) & I feel like I've got some part of me back. What I mean to say is, don't give up the things you enjoy or the bad will soon fill the spaces you leave in between.

Take care

 

I actually stopped listening to music for a while. Just recently I picked up guitar again but I've notice my ears don't respond to music the same. Like, I don't listen to as much Black Sabbath or heavy metal because sometimes it makes my T temporarily spike.