How Long Until You Started to Feel Better?

I have T for 6 months now and still don't feel like I am handling it much better. I have a few days where it is a bit lower and think now I am turning a corner and starting to habituate, but then it will get really loud again and stay that way for 5 or 6 days until I have a lower day. Just when I feel like I am moving forward, the loud days are back and I feel like I am back to where I was 6 months ago. How long did it take for you to start feeling better - not totally habituate, but know that you were heading toward habituation?

 

About a year after I ceased taking all psychiatric drugs and stuck to a diligent schedule of regular meditation and exercise.

 

In the first 5-6 months or so I had numerous moments were I thought I can handle this and suddenly had a setback and everything seemed catastrophic again.

I've been what I would call my old self for going on 6 months now so I consider myself habituated. I think I realized a couple months into this that I was on the mend as I was having very few bad days during this time. Best advice? Just keep busy and throw yourself into life. Best way to keep tinnitus where it belongs, out of your mind.

 

Still waiting after 16 mths. Mine is getting worse

 

No anxiety like at onset and sleep fine now but other than that no improvement, still suffer all day.

 

I've had tinnitus for years (I can't even remember when it began) and I still have good days and bad, but they are mostly good. When I am stressed, then my T is really depressing.

 

2 months First relief because i had major improvement in loudness. Now at 4 month with minor improvement. Overall im not anxious anymore or depressed, just tired and annoyed. T is audible almost all the bloody Time, only shower covers it.

 

Over a year. I wouldn't say I've habituated. Learned to keep going despite it.

 

Yeah there isnt much choice really...

 

I've had it for approximately 5 months, I think I'm approaching complete habituation. During the day when I'm on a computer or outside I don't notice it, if I do it's only for a few seconds then I forget about it.

At night in bed when it's silent I'm constantly aware of it but I'm just not that bothered by it anymore, I'm slowly finding it easier and easier to have thoughts about things other than tinnitus in bed now.

 

9-10 months for me before my T began to fade into the background slowly

 

It was eight months before I had what I would call a "good day." Tinnitus isn't as horrid as it was at the beginning, when it sounded like pipes banging in a boiler room. I've had all sorts of noises, one of the worst being something that sounded like someone was jangling keys in my head. Today it's an oscillating metallic hissing sound, with a background noise of a tea kettle that often is louder than the hissing. This is how it's been for the past couple months. Before that, it was like having a swarm of cicadas in my head. Drove me freakin' batty.

I'm not feeling much better and I don't think I'll habituate, if you consider habituation to be either consistently not noticing it or noticing it and not being bothered. The reason for that is I've always cherished silence and been hypersensitive to noise, maybe because I spent most of my childhood in a beautiful valley where I loved to go walking in the woods, by the streams, just enjoying Mother Nature. My house right now is super quiet except for the gentle harmony of the wind chimes outside and the hum of my computer.

I'm an unusual case. Your mileage may vary.

 

I'd say after three months was my first real "breakthrough" where I still felt it hard but started to feel more "myself" again. (Something like a Christmas present because I was seriously dreading having a "tinnitus" Christmas feeling anxious and depressed about family get-togethers, etc.) Another breakthrough in another three months where I started slowly but surely doing the things I was used to. Since then it has been slow and steadily feeling better to the point now where I really do feel like "myself" again. I'll acknowledge that my tinnitus is more in the "mild" range now but it certainly wasn't in December when I contemplated plunging into TRT and my Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire score put me somewhere between the "Moderate" and "Severe" range. I cannot tell if it's because my "volume" or "reactivity" has decreased or if I've done a better job adapting to not doing things that increase or exacerbate tinnitus but for whatever reason I am doing much better now.

Felt a bit proud recently at another milestone of finishing reading my first full novel since acquiring tinnitus ("Broken Monsters" by Lauren Beukes--very very good if you enjoy horror/crime/dark comedy as much as I do!)--something I didn't think I'd be able to do again.

 

Same here Telis. Anxiety went down, but depression is high.
T sucks energy out if me.

 

So true @Martin69 most days it takes all I have to get through the day ...Never loved sleeping as much as I do now.
Prayers to all

 

Awful ups and downs the first 60 days. Intermittent sleep, and sleep and anxiety meds for the first 60 days. Started TRT at 60 days, and had steady improvement for 6 months, a 1 month relapse, and 2 months improvement after that. TRT has been very helpful for me to remove the anxiety response, and move to habituation. I'm not done yet ... but I'm running it now, its not running me.

 

I think the first year for me was the worst, when I got my low-pitched T in my right ear. I've either habituated, or it's reduced volume on its own over the years. Probably some of both? As I write this, sitting here with a small space heater going, I have no T symptoms at all. Sometimes I wonder if the brain eventually realizes you've lost some hearing frequencies and gives up on them? I can't speak for all people, but it does get much easier to live with T over time.

 

I hear you Barbara. I'm approaching 10 months and have almost the same situation as you.

I found that when there was hope it would disappear and I was trying all kinds of stuff, it didn't really bother me. -- Then when reality hit and I stopped trying things, I struggled more. -- Placebo effect I guess.

I'm still trying to stay positive and just ordered some new Ginseng. Also drinking a lot of tea.

Hang in there!!

 

For me, I was doing really well after only 2 months since I went on a very healthy diet and was working out/running like crazy to get my mind off of it.

That lasted for about 3 months at which point I realized I had T for life and temporarily gave up on eating good & working out.. :-( -- Since then though, I've had mostly good days.

I've had it now for just over a year and 1/2. -- I recently started eating healthy and working out again and, yesterday, only noticed my T a couple times!

Someone said that 3 years is the turning point when most people fully habituate. -- I just tell myself that I am going to forget my T until that day and just go on with my life in the meantime (not always easy, I know).

I recently watched the action movie called "Patriots Day" about the Boston bombing and didn't feel so bad after seeing what those injured runners and spectators went through..

There's also a documentary called "Gleason" about a New Orleans star football player who was stricken with the paralyzing ALS disease. -- I'm not trying to be a downer, just mentioning what recently helped me put my T drama into perspective..

Hang in there Barbara. -- It will get better soon!