How Can Unmaskable Tinnitus Be Tuned Out from Your Consciousness?

How can you tune out tinnitus that is loud and can’t be masked?

There are plenty of people who say their tinnitus is really loud and can’t be masked so they hear theirs over everything but they can still go to movies and listen to music with no issues.

They say they are unaware of their tinnitus most of the day yet it’s loud and unmaskable.

How is that possible?

I have dysacusis and reactive tinnitus. I can hear my tinnitus over everything for that reason but I’m unable to tune it out. I’m aware of my dysacusis or reactive tinnitus pretty much every second of the day and it’s torture.

Is it not possible to tune out reactive tinnitus to where you can’t hear it? People with reactive tinnitus say they can’t listen to music because it doesn’t sound right but people with loud unmaskable tinnitus say they hear their tinnitus through music but that music sounds fine so I don’t understand.

Maybe it’s easier to tune out unmaskable tinnitus that never changes than it is reactive tinnitus or dysacusis because not all unmaskable tinnitus distorts sound the way dysacusis does, so it’s easier to not hear it?

I’m confused.

 

Yeah I know what you mean... I think it is something going on physically with the body based on hormones, brain chemistry, or the nervous system. When I took a supplement called Lithium Orotate for around 3 weeks, it started helping me "tune out the tinnitus more". The tinnitus started blending in, basically being masked with a movie or song and I remember one time being in a quiet room again and noticing the tinnitus, it was so easy to tune it out again because I didn't considered it a threat. My mind was very calm to it. My mind was more calm and not distressed. I guess part of what happened was, it turned off the "fight or flight" reaction to the tinnitus so my body stopped considering it a major threat and I could focus on other things.

Unfortunately, I have something called dysautonomia, and I started having side effects because of it with that so I stopped taking it. I don't think most people would have that problem at all. Perhaps, I may be able to figure out how to safely take it again. I'm not saying that supplement will work for everyone, because everyone is different, I'm just sharing my experience with it at that time. Also, I don't know the long term effects of it whether good or bad.

 

Really can you name one person on this forum with really loud tinnitus who can tune it out?

 

Well there was a member, I think his name was @brownbear and I remember him saying his tinnitus is loud and he could hear it over music but then after like 9 months of being aware of it, he said he started being unaware of it at work and not noticing it. It took him like 10 months to get to where he hasn’t noticed it for a few minutes, then those periods got longer.

I haven’t reached that yet. I’m still aware of it every second.

I think @brownbear is an ENT doctor. I read Tinnitus Talk a lot before joining.

 

ENTs are liars, everybody knows that. Have you noticed how much suffering they have brought to people? Tons of folks are here due to ENTs. I don't believe 1 word that comes out of an ENT's mouth.

 

@Ava Lugo

On your Avatar it reads cause of tinnitus virus? Are you sure because oversensitivity to sound is usually caused by exposure to loud noise, typically headphone use and other forms of loud noise exposure. Cast your mind back before the onset of your tinnitus. If you were a frequent user of headphones, earbuds, headset or frequently went to clubs concerts. Worked in a noisy environment or experienced tinnitus occasionally but would also go away until one day it didn't, then the tinnitus could be noise induced.

There should be no attempt to masked or cover up intrusive tinnitus with another sound as it's usually unsuccessful. The more a person tries they risk the tinnitus becoming worse due to anxiety and stress it puts upon them. The masking sound can cause irritation to the ear and auditory system that can make the tinnitus worse. If hyperacusis is present more so.

There is no such thing as Reactive Tinnitus. Those that choose to believe in it that's their choice. This belief often causes harm to a person's mental and emotional well-being, as some people think their tinnitus is far more complex than it actually is. Reactive Tinnitus is a term that was made-up in tinnitus forums many years ago and has become common place. Tinnitus can and often does react to sound but this is usually caused by oversensitivity to sound manifesting itself as hyperacusis. Hyperacusis can vary in intensity like tinnitus. The acute pain that some people talk about is not always felt but to a lesser degree, oversensitivity or discomfort to sounds is experienced.

People that say they have reactive tinnitus have usually been exposed to loud noise typically headphone use or other forms of noise exposure that originally caused the onset of the tinnitus.

The brain learns to tune-out tinnitus by habituating to it. This can happen over time or specialist treatment may be needed, requiring sound therapy and counselling with an Audiologist/Hearing Therapist. Many people habituate to tinnitus and are able to carry on with their life doing everything that they want to do within reason. However, some people do find habituation difficult and for this reason seeing the health professionals I've mentioned is advised, as additional measures that include medication can be helpful in managing tinnitus.

Please click on the links below and read my posts that you might find helpful.
All the best

Michael

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-what-to-do.12558/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/hyperacusis-as-i-see-it.19174/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-a-personal-view.18668/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/acquiring-a-positive-mindset.23969/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/tinnitus-and-the-negative-mindset.23705/
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/the-habituation-process.20767/

 

Dan, how loud is your tinnitus? When my tinnitus was at its loudest, it would hurt my head and my ears would have a burning sensation and I’d feel almost slightly dizzy.

 

I realize this is not the
“ENT’s Eat Their Young” thread.

I was asked to contribute my ENT Horror story on a similar thread a few months ago -
But I was not up to it at the time and then I forgot to do it.

This is the short version.
There are plenty of more details about the way a tinnitus patient gets treated at the illustrious Mass Eye and Ear.

But the bottom line is that -
There’s no money in wasting time with tinnitus patients.

These ENTs simply need to take a daily stroll through the Trauma Center and cherry pick from a never ending procession of people walking in with their ears and eyes missing.
And make more money in a day than most people make in a year.

I receive my medical treatment in the Mass General ecosystem.

This allows me to be referred to ENTs who operate at Mass Eye and Ear.

I thought this would be a good thing -
But it ended up being just the opposite.

I often wonder if I would have been better off seeing a salaried resident ENT at City Hospital -
Instead of thinking about Yachts and under-aged island girls -
Maybe he would have listened to what I was saying about something not being right with the way my tinnitus was getting worse everyday and then bothered to point out to me that all that medication I was taking could possibly be the reason.

When I made my initial appointment to be seen by an ENT I was not yet a member of this forum.

After the experience of that appointment -
I realized that the only one interested in helping me was myself.

Hindsight is 20/20 it and took me a long time before I was able to understand exactly what transpired during my 5 minute visit with God.

He sits down and asks how he can help me.

I tell him that my ears are ringing and that they are getting worse literally every day.

He tells me that his ears ring too and that there nothing he can do for me.

I put my face in my hands and weep -
Because I sincerely felt that my life was over.

I waited almost 5 months for that appointment -
During which time I became convinced that there was not even a remote possibility that I could live that way.

After I pull myself together - I remove my face from my hands and look over at him.

What I see makes my blood run cold.

This man is enjoying -
for whatever reason -
watching a grown man cry because I had just realized that the way my life will end will be by launching myself off the top deck of the Mystic River Bridge.

I ask -
Is there at least a way to slow the progression -
From what I have heard -
Such rapid progression should not be happening and something else must be going on.

He says - “Try pink or brown noise to mask it and it won’t bother you as much’.

At this point I start panicking and grasping for straws.

“Are there any research programs being done here that I could volunteer to be a test patient for - just so I can continue to be involved in some way - because the prospect of leaving here with no future appointments scheduled- and nothing more to be done - is not something I think I can live with.”

He gets up -
“I already told you that there is nothing I can do for you -
If you don’t believe me - then get a second opinion -
and maybe you will believe them when they tell you the same thing that I told you.
But there will be no further appointments with me.”.

He never mentioned the word Ototoxicity -
I believe because he had seen My chart and the Ototoxic soup of meds I was dependent on- and he didn’t want to be the one responsible for suggesting that I should stop taking them if I wanted to slow the progression of the tinnitus.

Either that or he just could not be bothered -
Especially since GODS next appointment was probably with a kid who likes to stick scissors in his ears and will make him a cool 50K for a day's work.

So I continued to pointlessly poison my ears for another several months until I found Tinnitus Talk and learned what Ototoxicity was by pouring over posts about rapidly worsening tinnitus.

And then it took me another several months of weaning off all the meds -
By then I had permanent severe tinnitus.

Thanks a lot Doc.

Hope everyone is OK.

Take care.

 

I looked into lithium orotate as a mood stabilizer when I was tapering Pregabalin. It would calm me down but I was not taking it for long periods because of conflicting information. On one hand it seems to be neuro protective, on the other hand it could turn toxic in the long run. Problem is this form of lithium has not been studied extensively in trials, contrary to the carbonate version, so we don't really know much. The amount of actual lithium is much smaller than in the carbonated version but who knows...

Edit: this video has some information but not for tinnitus specifically:

How to Use Lithium Orotate for Depression and...

 

I once read an article about it but lost it. It has to do with a part of the brain perceiving sound that has two sides, an alert one (like, when you say “shhh” and try to hear something in silence?) and a passive/default one. Tinnitus causes hyperactivity of the alert part, rightfully so. The passive one gets down-regulated, the alert one is on all the time. This causes the alert one to become more sensitive too, maybe that’s why people get hyperacusis (?). Anyway, this obviously sets the sympathetic on because the sound is a threat too, hormone production goes out the window, adrenaline and cortisol flood everywhere, adrenals get tired, thyroid gets off, can’t sleep, Testosterone+LH+FSH go down, serotonin goes zero. I do know that a spike of serotonin can make you sleep like a baby (ie have a great night out or have sex) but it doesn’t last, as the body is out of balance. You have to do that every single day. So, medication comes to play.

So, for the question, it’s the hyperactivity of the “alert” part of a certain part of the brain regarding sound perception. It is not sympathetic-parasympathetic I’m speaking of. This is probably why all online treatments focus on manipulating that perception, because if one can successfully do so, he can sleep. If you can sleep, you’re healthy. If you’re healthy, tinnitus is no longer a threat, so this works synergistically and eventually it is pushed by the brain. I do believe that if one trains it enough, they may be able to eliminate it, that I do believe truly. Maybe that’s what this Cowell (?) guy claims, the tinnitus guru.

My stepdad has had loud tinnitus for decades, various tones and recently due to a surgery where anesthesia was used, he got a weird flu sensation that won’t go away and developed a whoosh sound in one ear that bothers him a bit (it’s like a washing machine) but he can sleep in an instant. I have tinnitus that’s like a fart compared to his and yet I can’t sleep. His brain can filter it, mine can’t.

 

My tinnitus is so loud it makes my ears burn, is not a measure of its loudness unfortunately... tinnitus can cause ear pain symptoms at any loudness level, that's more related to hyperacusis.

 

I lean on medication but that was only after years of trying everything under the sun, and I will say that purely consciousness oriented activities (meditation & yoga) done daily and "correctly" with teaching, had a radical impact on how I view this condition, and even though ultimately I did still go on meds, I think all that paved a groundwork for it to be more useful as well as providing significant periods of relief all on its own.

I think part of the answer to this involves becoming friends with your mind, including the unpleasant parts of it; easier said than done.

Two books that were fundamental in shaping how I treat this condition during waking and sleeping hours are "Making The Mind An Ally" and "The Tibetan Yogas of Sleep and Dream". The latter is available as a PDF for free if you search google.w

 

I’ve had tinnitus since April last year and managed to successfully manage it until three weeks ago when I developed this low rumbling noise. It is so loud I can’t mask it. I hear it over a tap over masking noises on my tinnitus app. It’s driving me so mad.

It sounds like a muffled sub woofer crossed between an idling truck and aero plane taking off.

Tinnitus which can’t be masked - I have it.

Help. It’s driving me nuts.

 

I got high and listened to music on a speaker for way too long a few days ago. I have moderate pain hyperacusis btw. Next night, loudest fucking tinnitus of my life. 9/10, felt like it was gonna punch through my skull. Insanely loud. Thankfully the spike has practically faded to baseline (5/10, knock on wood). Anyways, the point I'm getting at is that that would've been unhabituatable. It was suicidally loud.