How Do You Keep Your Sanity?

Hi guys,
Not doing great at the minute, slammed a car bonnet/hood and my tinnitus has gone from mild, hear it faintly at night tinnitus, to loud hear it in the day tinnitus.

A silent room is now horrible, the ringing just takes over my head.

It has now been a month now since the increase and it is looking permanent, for the first time I have intrusive tinnitus.

I have been relying on alcohol to go to sleep at night since it increased, I spent 1 night in the past month sober, I was awake all night crying because it is so bad now.

I don't want to try medication because of the fear of ototoxity, making it even worse.

How long do you think it will take for me to get used to this? it is worlds apart from mild tinnitus.

When I first got mild tinnitus, I mourned the loss of silence and drank alcohol every night for 9 months straight, got over it and spent 7 months sober, happy.

Now I can't even sit in my bedroom, let alone sleep in it, without being drunk at nighttime.

I can't mask because I share a room with my brothers and don't have any money for pillow speakers.

How do you cope?

 

hi mick,
my ear specialist actually said to cut out the alcohol as well as caffeine because it can worsen the tinnitus,you should find something other than alcohol to help you fall asleep,i take an anti-depressant without alcohol,keep busy , but even when you do relax try to concentrate on other things, and be good to yourself,kevin

 

Thanks Kevin,
The reason I am relying on alcohol now is when I had mild tinnitus I had gone from drinking every night to going months without touching a drop, with no change in my tinnitus.
I now don't know if it is having an affect on my tinnitus spike, I am just to scared to go to bed sober, it is terrifying!

 

I have loud tinnitus I can hear during the day and I've just gotten used to falling asleep with it. In silence.

I really can't think of an alternative. Some nights I'll play nature sounds and it fully masks the tinnitus, but frankly, I'm more upset with hearing it during the day than I am at night...

 

Funny you mention that.

Daytime is my worst time as well.

 

Hi Mick.

Sorry to hear about your current predicament. but I would echo what Kevin has said. I'm sure that there is some temporary relief by drinking but from my experience, whenever I have drank too much on a night out, the next day is pretty grim. The dehydration mostly, but the associated headaches, lack of sleep the night before and the crap chemicals floating around in the system really spikes my T.

I used to binge drink a fair amount, but over the last 12 months I have seen a real improvement to my T and I think in part down to my reduced alcohol intake.

I share your views about taking drugs to combat this, but it will only be temporary, until such time as you get on top of the T situation. I reckon the drugs calming influence will improve matters quickly and for the long term over taking a beer.

Best of luck

 

At first I thought drinking helped my tinnitus but found that it only lessened my awareness to it. The other day I had only 1 mixed drink and a resulting increase in the volume.
I take REMERON an antidepressant which helps me sleep and has a very low ototoxic risk.
I understand your concern of taking drugs which might increase the T and also the addiction side of their use. When my T worsened I started taking Xanax then switched to Knopolin which is less addictive but still in the benzo class.
I had a hard time coming off these drugs after about 4 years of usage.
I still think the taking of a low dosage of benzo drugs is OK but they should be looked upon as short term usage rather than a long term.

 

thanks for the replys everyone,

i guess i should stop the drinking to see if it will lower my tinnitus.

i have seemed to have developed a phobia of bedtime, but if alcohol is making it worse it is worth a few sleepless nights.
i will grin and bare it and report back if there are any changes.

thanks again.
mick

 

I sure do empathise with you Mick. I get panicky about mine sometimes and I do like my red wine as it seems to relax me. I probably should cut down though.

 

Thanks sybs,

Alcohol helps me a lot, it calms me down, helps me get too sleep.

I also make sure i have a few pints of water after so I am pretty much hangover free the next day.

But I hate this spike I am having, so I will have to quit to see if it will go back down.

It's been over a month now and has yet to change.

 

I hit an age in my life where i'm taking pills, for this or that.
I'm glad I do, try it.
You'll live longer.

 

I now know why I like drinking alcohol, it keeps me going, I don't enjoy life at all, I sometimes wish I were dead, but I would never have to guts to kill myself, so the alcohol makes life a little more bearable.

Cheers!

 

Hi Mick,

I am in a similar problem, about a month ago I played guitar in my band with ear plugs in and I have now got increased T.

I have been taking anti depressions to help with my anxiety and depression.


Mark

 

I use a sonic care toothbrush which makes noise. I wonder if that could cause or aggravate tinnitus. I don't know that I'm ready to give up tooth health for tinnitus, not that I even know if it as anything to do with it. The sonic care is supposed to get your teeth cleaner than just regular brushing.

 

Sorry to hear about your increased T. I think mine has increased some too but so far I can still get to sleep. I don't notice it all the time but it's aggravating. Used to not notice it much at all during the day but I can hear it right now. I don't drink but am trying the Arches Tinnitus formula. Still on my first bottle and so far it hasn't done anything.

 

I did not really keep my sanity to be honest. I lost for a while and got it back with time. To avoid the suffering i dazes myself with stupid pirated movies. I was in a "distract at all costs" mode. Also i used nature noises and sometimes soft music.

Now i need absolutely nothing.

 

If you cant mask at night because you share a bedroom, try headphones. Just keep the volume really low, so low you can still hear your T. I know there are mixed opinions on headphone use here, but it works for me.

 

I'm not sure if I'm very good at keeping my sanity. I try to distract myself a lot. During the day when I'm busy, working, shopping or meeting people it works quite well. At home it's more challenging, but I'm less disturbed by my T when watching TV or surfing the internet. I though miss being able to just sit down in a quiet room and relax, do nothing. But I hope I will get there after some time.

One advice for you is that at some time you just have to confront the T. At the beginning with my increased T I made the mistake to have too much distraction and noises covering it during the day, so when I went to bed the loudness of the T hit me. I have gradually realized that I need to spent time in fairly quiet places and learn to deal with my T during the day, so it won't feel as bad at night. That doesn't mean the environment has to be totally silent, but the noise level needs to be such that you can still hear your T and gradually get used to it. That way your reaction towards the T will get less and you will realize you can deal with the T also without alcohol.

 

tinnitus is a very cruel disorder, and makes living very miserable, and sometimes I wish I was a dog and my owner would put me out of its misery. unfortunately I am human being, and I have a family to support etc. so my existence is very unpleasant, but I try to get by on a day to day basis. being busy and have a routine helps. every night it is the same: am I going to get to sleep, and how much med is it going to take. instead of alcohol I use prescription meds which can also spiral out of control, but at least it does not cause alcohol poisoning of the liver etc. alcohol is one of the worst things - even cannabis is far better, but it is difficult to get a good reliable supply of it. so I would suggest see if you can get a prescription for mirtazapine, or lyrica, even use Benadryl (diphenhydramine) - all of those are better choices than alcohol. you can only go to sleep is you have constant low levels of sound in your bedroom - even just a simple fan can make enough sound to help distract your brain, and gradually you will find it easier to get to sleep.

 

my masker keeps me from going crazy i'm in love with my masker .....

 

To be fair the majority of you have been dealing with intrusive tinnitus a lot longer than me.
I had 14 months of mild tinnitus, no trouble at all.

Intrusive tinnitus is completely different, I feel like I have lost my self.

It would be a dream if I woke up tomorrow with mild tinnitus, it has been a month of hell.

To not lose it completely I have got to believe this is only temporary, because people have had spikes from a lot louder noises than I have been exposed too and they have been temporary.

No way can this be permanent from closing a bonnet/hood?

 

I know how you feel. I went from no tinnitus to an intrusive one that I can even hear over the TV. The only other tinnitus I've had is the so called "disco tinnitus." I also developed a case of hyperacusis too.

I'm just hoping that hoping over the next couple weeks it fades to a mild tinnitus.

You might want to look into taking an anti-depressant.

 

I doubt you'll have a permanent spike from just a car bonnet, I'm sure things will eventually settle down - some people take longer than others and stuff like anxiety and stress play a big part.

You need to definitely curb the daily alcohol though, alcohol definitely messes with tinnitus - for some it'll relax it and for others it'll cause temporary spikes. For me a couple drinks will relax me, but when I'm wasted my tinnitus spikes like crazy (too drunk to care though, hehe) but the problem with daily drinking will be that you're essentially messing with the GABA receptors in your brain (or at least to my limited understanding) and that'll cause your tinnitus to wax and wane. Anyways, drinking daily has a whole host of other nasty long term side effects.

Try to break up your drinking, get busy and be active, get some heavy cardio work in at least 3-4 times a week, hit the gym, get out and about with friends and stay social, try some melatonin for sleep, chuck in some chelated magnesium and B vitamins. If you continue to really struggle, then get on Remeron, I haven't tried it myself but it seems to be the most suitable sleep aid for those with tinnitus. A gang of people on this forum and a couple other forums I visit seem to back it, and it's best to avoid stuff like benzos and z-drug hypnotics because of the way dependence can form (I speak from experience).

Anyway, good luck buddy! Hope you begin to feel better!

 

You really don't need to get expensive pillow speakers, I got these and they work just fine. I would suggest to get two of them... at $1.35 or 1 € I am pretty sure you can easily afford them.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mini-3-5-mm-Kopfkissen-Lautsprecher-fur-MP3-MP4-Player-iPod-Pillow-Speaker-AR-/350896869106?pt=DE_TV_Video_Audio_Sonstige&hash=item51b3154ef2

 

I can really relate to the fear of trying medication due to the ototoxicity risks, however .. Exposing yourself to such amounts of alcohol comes with even higher risks than the medication would.
The idea of becoming proactive, breaking up with your drinking and get som excersize like yonkapin said has as far as I know, only done people good.
Remember moving your focus isn't the only possible success, the Attempt of moving focus is a success in itself.
Also the thought of knowing that you're doing something good for your body will affect your mind greatly

 

thanks for your help,

i definitely need to stop drinking, it is probably making me more depressed anyway.

long before i had tinnitus i was a fairly heavy drinker anyway, now with all the added stress and panic i have automatically increased that amount to everyday.

i got to face my fears and go to bed sober.

the plan was to drink alcohol evernight for a few weeks until this spike went away, but it has been over a month and it looks like it is here to stay!

 

Sorry to hear about the increase in your T, but your question makes the assumption that I was sane to begin with! Hang in there!

 

Ugh....this thread reminds me of that awful dark time over a year ago now, the worst thing I did was drink every night, just makes everything 10 times worse, irrational all or nothing thinking, most of my posts back then was when I was either drunk or hung over! ... Lol!.... havent touched a drop in over a year now, I actually think the heavy alcohol consumption over that 2 year period overtime played a part in my T worsening, use exercise and supplements as an alternative now.....much less destructive!

I've recently had a setback again because of further T worsening, might have been the dentist, previous noise exposures or just random worsening but just got to go with the flow until it becomes the new normal, hoping to adapt again over time.