I Don't Believe 20% of People Have Tinnitus

Quite interesting to me that you observe my open-hearted total honesty, as being stubbornness.
The truth of the matter may lie in your own religious conviction which was possibly born of indoctrination, if my guess is right.
‘But I like you.....!’ x

 

No, please don't take it that way. Stubbornness can be a useful and good quality as I see in you! (You have to be stubborn to not let T win and I see you as a winner.)

Re."indoctrination" like Bob Dillan said: "you gotta serve somebody...". I self-indoctrinate to a spiritual foundation because I believe we all have a spirit/soul and we are surrounded by a world of spirits. You're into music, you know it is spiritual, Jimi Hendricks knew this.

No one with solid faith starts out without first doubting. To me not having faith is 'nothing', having faith is 'something'. I prefer to see you as having 'something' because you have an "open heart and total honesty" which requires believing in these "Good" qualities.

 

Nice discussion guys - with everybody behaving like gentlemen - even me for once.

But at the end of it all - I have to tell you
- I’ve still got Tinnitus.

I thought you guys carried more influence than that.......? x

 

And that friends is why T is not taken seriously by the general public at large. Because thousands of people go on living ‘regardless of how much suffering.’ And severity and importance of finding cures for diseases is not based on suffering. It’s based on dying. If only T had the decency to obliterate the brain once it reached a certain level of severity I don’t think this forum would even exist. A cure would have been prioritised years ago.

 

So it was okay for Jimi to throw his perfectly healthy successful miracle in the garbage I presume?

 

You know what annoys me on here, when people say mild/moderate tinnitus “is not an obstacle” or “hobby craft tinnitus” isn’t anything to worry about (granted it may be easier to get used to it in time and not affect you emotionally as much as intrusive tinnitus but it’s still a f@@@@@g struggle)

I have moderate tinnitus, I can hear it over most things but I might get an hour or so where it does not affect me emotionally. I have 4tones, high pitch buzzing, a rattle snake type sound, a low hum what sounds like a car engine and a morse code beep.

My “moderate” tinnitus has made me give up my degree, I’m close to losing my job (which I adore) all because my “moderate” tinnitus has completely destroyed my concentration, my brain seems like it’s lost in a fog of confusion all the time and has giveth me the gift of anxiety. That totally doesn’t class as an obstacle. Also eye floaters are extremely intrusive well the ones I have are and from what I’ve read a good few other people.

Please don’t down play any type of tinnitus whether it be mild to severe. We all cope differently some better than others, saying moderate tinnitus isn’t an issue is insulting to people who are in pain, it’s invalidating their feelings, their struggles.

This is meant to be a support forum after all, I don’t normally get annoyed on here but when I see comments like that it’s p****s me off! We all suffer in this battle but please don’t assume that somebody isn’t struggling with this beast because theirs is mild/moderate it’s disheartening and ignorant.

 

check your age range / cohort.

As a musician, I know a lot of people with tinnitus. Same goes for military people, construction workers. Add advancing age and it gets more common.

1 - 1.5 out of 10 people in the US have it, not 1 - 1.5 out of 10 people you personally know.

It's estimated that 1/10 people have tinnitus, but maybe 1/100 has intrusive tinnitus. I used to be the 1/100, now I am the 1/10, as my volume and how often it spikes has decreased substantially.

 

So basically we need to stop living? Each day let tinnitus win? Compared to 30+ years ago, there is much much more awareness for tinnitus. Lots of work still needs to be done. I see your point of view about a cure being found and us finding silence again. BUT I also know that we NEED to live our lives.... no matter how mild, moderate or severe our suffering is.

I am on the last stage and the tinnitus is beyond HELL level. If I followed your advice, what good would it do me? How far would I get in my life? You are frustrated and I see that. At your stage of your tinnitus journey, I was probably frustrated too. I did eventually realize that the inner conflict that we can create will not do any good. Listen to what I say, I been in your shoes and have faced this demon for 30 years.

Plenty is being done for research and more is being done. Things hopefully shall get better and hopefully a cure will be found. Live your life, make your days count. It's never easy, life is never easy. It's all about getting back up WHEN we get knocked down.

Anger rants and vents simply in the end make us more frustrated and where does that really get us? Does it make a cure come faster? I am someone that has intrusive crap tinnitus and close to profound hearing loss. So TRUST ME.....I get it and I face it. ALSO, I am positive about it......I have no time for negativity in my life.

My 2 cents....

 

@Jcb Firstly any form of T is a f***ing abhorrent evil in my book. And even if it’s mild can be utterly devastating. Its a total invasion of peace, happiness and optimism.

Also in the sense that severity really is based on how much it’s shafted your limbic system and ballsed up your life, you my friend have severe T.

.......Also let me tell you something else I saw a top eye doctor in Harley street following my T induced floater bullshit and he assured me that he sees numerous suicidal people who started on AD’s because of floater induced clinical depression.

T and floaters is a sensory nightmare that never lets up, day and night. It takes a very stoic borderline masochistic person to still see life as some miraculous gift enduring this shit.

You’re not weak. You’re normal. You want f***ing silence instead of ringing and the sky to be f***ing clear and not full of f***ing cobwebs and dots!......That’s hardly an unreasonable ask.

 

I am the guilty party here Jcb.
I will just say that those people who have nothing to offer but useless platitudes ‘piss me off so much,’ because they relegate our suffering to whatever level they experience.

 

To clarify Fish it’s certainly not advice I’m offering. It’s clarification of why nobody really gives a shit about our ringing ears. They’re not deadly enough.

The tragic irony of looking after my health so meticulously in the hope of a healthy happy life, and now longing for something to kill me, is not lost on me.

 

JCB, in my opinion we should be helping anyone who is suffering, regardless of how they classify their tinnitus. Surely that is the only meaningful way of approaching this.

The only way we can measure the impact that tinnitus is having on a person’s life is via a questionnaire.

 

Tinnitus is Tinnitus whether you have it severe or mild, and people willing to segregate others and labeling those lot as being more or less deserving are hypocrites and don't deserve any sympathy from me. But then again I guess people will just be mad that others are overcoming their T and living happy lives managing it...and these miserable folks cannot and it is driving them crazy. I'm just happy these sad people are not barraging newcomers looking for support with their negativity.

Haters are gonna hate I guess...but at the end of the day, you still mad

 

Well your first point “Tinnitus is Tinnitus whether you have it severe or mild” is nonsense so obvious that I shouldn’t even have to point it out to you.

However, in an attitude of charitable good will, I will let all the other comments pass me by.
Suffice it to say that I regard myself as neither negative, nor a hater, nor driven mad.
Perhaps just a tad argumentative, with a smidgin of sarcasm added for flavouring.
All good fun though, at the end of the day. x

 

@Bam

Just curious about your floaters. You see them everywhere or just on bright things? If I look directly in the sky there will be loads of them but I had that before tinnitus, I thought that was relatively normal.

 

I'm not sure where you get the idea that your tinnitus is moderate?
This thing has pretty much destroyed your life, so as far as your suffering is concerned you already are in the big leagues.

Remember it is the tinnitus intrusiveness that matters the most.
For most people loud=intrusive, but there are also some whom are not as much bothered by the volume, but rather the pitch...in the end it all comes down to the level of INTRUSIVENESS.

What counts the most is how it's affecting you.
There is nothing "moderate" about what you have described in your post.

 

Just a thought but maybe if God or the spirits or whatever were feeling magnanimous they could grant Donald Trump some T? He spends a lot of time around loud aircraft and he strikes me as someone who likes to be in control and fix things and consequently would really really hate it. Like really really f***ing hate it......Maybe he could make silence great again!?

 

I see them all the time. Even inside. Didn’t ever see a single one, not one, until a month in to T. Now I have big blobs, tangled lines and cobwebs in both eyes.

 

Interesting. I feel it was near a month after my hyperacusis worsening that my visual snow got worse too. I suppose it really is true that tinnitus rewrites our brain even after we get it.

 

I never considered my tinnitus severe due to the fact as I said I can have an hour or so where I don’t hear it. When I go for a walk with my doggo even though I still here the symphony of noises they are somewhat masked while I’m out. That’s probably why I always think mine is moderate.

I suppose it can be considered “severe” when you look at how it’s rolled through my life like a tornado and has well and truly f#@##d it up!

I know it sounds strange but because I still feel somewhat optimistic is turning my life round that also another reason why I think it’s moderate.

The eye floaters are the worst, never had them before tinnitus and they alone are a vision nightmare.

The thing is, as much as I try and stay positive it’s damn hard man!!!!

 

I know buddy, I know exactly what your saying. I could never take offence with you my man, I know your heart is always in the right place.

 

@Jcb - you are one of my brothers - closer than my familial one if I am honest.
I wish you all the comfort in the world buddy, I just wish I knew how to make it come true. x

 

I know wolf, as in my reply to bam I always thought of it as being moderate compared to people who explain their intrusive T if that makes sense. I hear mine the majority of the time but I do have an hour or so where I don’t hear it.
The tones themselves are pretty much obnoxious as f@#k, I always try and stay on the postive side but if I’m honest it’s not been getting me anywhere of late as my life feels like it’s slowly falling apart bit by bit.
But the optimistic in me is still going so who knows what tomorrow will bring.

 

I appreciate that. You are a gent, who knows what’s round the corner eh?

 

Yes unfortunatelly this is what the severe end of this condition tends to do to people...
It slowly takes their career, their income, their social life, their ability to relax, sleep, read and focus away.
Lot of times it also destroys their relationships as well...this is the reality of severe Tinnitus and this is what the worst nightmares are made of..
I feel your pain bro...you're not alone out there.

 

I am no Trump fan but I would never wish severe tinnitus on even him. I do applaud 'Make Silence Great Again' ... now that is a mantra for the new leader of the (tinnitus) free world!

 

Crooked Tinnitus?

 

Another thought: I noticed that the total member number here is around 26K and Tinnitus Talk is the most known tinnitus forum I have ever found, yet the American Tinnitus Association claims there’s over 50M of tinnitus sufferers just in the US alone.

If that was really true then Tinnitus Talk would rival Facebook in member base! lol yeah right.

 

The books have been definitely been cooked by someone.