Hi

[Mickal]

Hi everyone, i found this forum after some heavy research about tinnitus on internet, and i decided to register after i finally discovered that i made my bed, and now i have to lie in it.
i've been suffering from this madness for about a month now, and the first heavy ringing appeared while i was bad tripping from a weed brownie. the effect stayed during the high but started to fade the day after.. but i still went on smoking a joint now and there...a week later i "accidentally" took a hit from a bond and it came back like a mad train! at that point i still didnt new there was a name for this evil...it's not after i went out for a cupple of drinks at night that the madness started...it's been 1 month since first symptoms, but now it's permanent.
All day and all night long, starts when i woke up, ends when i manage to fall asleep at 3 a.m.
I'm worried it's not my ears who are damage but my brain..or both ! who knows? how to know? i'm so unhappy and so sad, because it will probably last all my life since it dosnt show any sign of slowing down, and that makes me even more anxious!
Where i live, smoking weed is not a pretty thing to do, and i dont want to worry my family by telling my doctor what caused this.. I'm hopping people here will be more understanding and maybe give me a few tips of how to soften the ringing.
If i had researched at the first appearance of the T, i would have listened to my body's warnings and quit right away, its been 4 days since i quit smoking and started to eat and live healthy, i hope this lifestyle will improve my conditon for the better... my best regards to everyone and i wish you all luck in this titanic battle.

 

[Mickal]

there might not many people who understand my situation, but hope is the last thing i will loose.

 

[Lorenzo74]

Hi Mickal and welcome to TT..

I don't know if just smoking could have caused your T… There are some other threads on T and marjuiana, maybe have a look through them and you might get some suggestions…

I stopped smoking when my T appears, but after a couple of months I went back onto it as it helped me to relax and ease the anxiety when I went to sleep, and to be honest I haven't felt any change on my ringing.

Surely leading a healthier life style helps not just for T but in general.. I am learning it the hard way as well...

In theory doctors should keep a patient's secrets, so maybe it could be best to speak about what was happening when your T started, but you have to make that choice yourself..

All I can tell you is that you will eventually habituate to the ringing and your brain will focus less and less on it. It took me about 4 months to start habituating and now I can fall asleep and stay asleep as long as I need to.

I would suggest you to try some masking sounds to help you to go to sleep, as it is so important to feel rested, especially the first period with T…

Magnesium and zync seem to help many people ease their T, but since it is such a subjective condition, I guess you just have to try around what feels best for you..

I really wish for your T to be just temporary and that it will go away as soon as possible.. Try not to focus on it and try to keep calm and busy with your mind and body..

Best of luck !

 

[Mickal]

Thank you very much for taking some time to answer my cry for help, i appreciate very much ! i noticed that not having much sleep only makes it worse, thanks for the advices, i'm gonna do everything at my reach to make this T go away... My only concern is ti have a brain damage or something alike, it makes me very anxious and frightened, could it be linked with T ?
Again, Thank you very much, best of luck for you too !

 

[Lorenzo74]

Hi Mickal…

Unfortunately I am no doctor, but just a fellow sufferer..

I think most of your fears come from your mind and your reaction to this condition you have… It is normal for new T sufferers to start thinking all crazy ideas about it, when at the end it might be enough to just try and relax and keep your ears safe and see if it gets better on its own, while seeing an ENT doctor which can clarify some of your doubts..

You could always have an MRI to check your brain, but most likely it will be fine and just your mind going wild about it… The key is to stay calm and keep busy and always remember that it is just a sound on your ears which cannot harm you as long as your mind doesn't let it..

I hope your ENT specialist will be able to calm you and give you a better understanding of your T, and if I were you I would definitely stay off smoking for a while, as it can definitely make you more anxious about it..

I am sorry I cannot help you anymore, and really wish for you to get better soon.. None of us deserve such challenge in life.. Take care of yourself and your ears..

 

[Mickal]

Thank you, don't worry because i will ! i am definitely going for an MRI, and again, thank you for your support, it helps a lot ! hope you'll get better soon, everyone deserves a rest !

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the board, Mickal. You are at the right place as many of us have gone through where you are now and we do understand your suffering with your tinnitus. Sorry to hear you are struggling. That is to be expected when your loud tinnitus ringing is so new. The 1st phase of T suffering is often traumatic. Many of us have gone through the same tough struggle you are going through now. So we truly understand how you feel and have deep empathy for your sufferings. I encourage you to lighten up and relax a bit. I don't know if smoking weed can cause T but T can be triggered by many things.

You are at the early stage of T suffering and so you tend to have distorted thought about the future. In CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), these are called cognitive distortions which tend to cause you to think in unrealistic or catastrophic way about the future. You can google it to read up how cognitive distortions can really increase our anxiety & affect our mood or judgement.

Right now, your brain is under the control of the limbic system due to the tinnitus trauma, and it functions in 'fight or flight' mode which tends to make you think that things are much worse than they are. Most of us have gone through the sufferings you are going through, fearful, worried, depressed, sleepless, not knowing how to face an uncertain future, etc.... But many of us do recover or are recovering. Many posted their success stories. I posted mine here & a longer version on Yuku support board. So you should read up these success stories to help you calm down and have a brighter hope for the future.

If you want to chat with doctors who understand T, I highly recommend you to read up on Dr. Stephen Nagler's "Letter to a Tinnitus Sufferer". He also suffered with tinnitus like us before and has recovered. So he knows what you are going through. You can read it and try to follow his advice to improve your condition. By the way Dr. Nagler is kind enough to answer questions about tinnitus in the "Doctor's Corner' section on this site. He is an expert on TRT (Tinnitus Retraining Therapy). You may want to ask him for guidance there. Dr. Hubbard is another doctor there who can answer your questions. He is specialized on CBT. He even wrote a success story about his struggle with T and how he used CBT to help himself.

In the meantime you may want to consider masking your T so you won't be so anxious about facing the T ringing. I used a PC download with a free sound generator called 'aire freshener'. This way I can work while listening to masking sounds. You can download it here: http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

If you have smart phone, there are free APPs out there too. I used an ipod download with nature sounds (bought from Amazon.com) by using the itune software. This gave me mobile masking when I needed it most during the start. You can also buy a sound machine or sound pillow for masking at bed time.

Also, if you are too depressed and anxious, please talk to your doctor to get some medicines to help you to cut off the sharp edges of the extreme emotions. I used Ativan (for anxiety), Prozac (anti-depressant) and sleeping pills just to survive my darkest days. So if you ever need them, go talk to your doctor.

There is also an earlier thread on what to do if you are new to T. I have listed 8 steps there to help a newer sufferer to cope with their new T experience. Check out this link to see if the info can help you. Take care & God bless your recovery.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-and-stressed-with-tinnitus-read-this-first.3978/#post-40275

 

[Mickal]

Thank you very much for your post billy i'm trying to figure out what caused it, and what keeps causing it, for now its been 2 weeks without weed, i'm hoping i'll get me sleep back when its out of my system