I Hate to Say It, the Unthinkable Has Happened... I Have Habituated

It took at least 6 months to get here, but I guess I have finally arrived. The Adderall has helped tremendously in suppressing any depressive symptoms I have been experiencing. I can't say how the intensity of my tones have changed, other than I am now less reactive to them then I was before. I'm sad in a ways because I feel like I'm going to move on and not strive for the cure I want.

Habituation, for those still new to this, is basically where the tinnitus fades into the background easier. It is still there all the time, but you don't freak out over it anymore. The mind gets tired, and as per cognitive load, you just move on. Untreated depression ends on its own as well, as your brain forces you to go forward. It still drives me crazy sometimes and I still can't sleep without drug assistance, but I would say my life isn't in shambles like it was this time a year ago.

Still, it has left a lasting impression on me. I now am constantly aware of my conductive hearing loss in my left ear, and the depression I had over it re-kindled my brain so it is easier for me to become depressed in the future (as in, your brain remembers the electrical pattern in a depressed brain). Nonetheless, I am a qausi-success story in that I am no longer severely impaired by this condition. This may change in the future, but I sure hope not. I'd really like to not regress into crying in bed because I'm so miserable.

For those that know me, I am a hypochondriac who does a lot of research into tinnitus, depression, etc. I am also a realist, I try to present a realistic clinical picture so as to not give people false hope. What I say often isn't what people want to see, and I understand. In the case of habituation for example, it is reasonable to say you will probably habituate, but obviously not everyone does. So, despite what I have said in the past, I would't give up just yet. Maybe the Susan Shore device won't help you, maybe nothing has really helped you. I still think time is the most effective treatment, as my tinnitus is much better than it was in July and August of last year.

I will continue to post things on here to share what I have found in my research. I do not know everything. Sometimes I will take something in a person's comment and act like it is fact without looking it up. Sometimes, I don't fully read or interpret studies I reference correctly. So do question my claims, as I welcome the opportunity to improve myself and my argument construction.

Lastly, as my last thread saw, some of you think I'd be a good neuroscientist who could help research tinnitus. It is certainly a possibility, but I am not sure if I would want to spend my whole career researching something that is practically the bane of my existence. Still, it will be of interest to me. I like studying drugs and their use on the brain, and if I can increase GABA activity in the Cochlear Nucleus of the brain stem and inhibit hyperactive glutamate release, then maybe we can silence the noise for good.

 

lovely to hear....love glynis

 

If that's the case then I have habituated 4 months ago. But good to hear you are doing better.

 

Why do you think you aren't habituated?

 

Is your tinnitus mild or severe?

 

Because I still hear the noise . But I got off medication, stop crying, don’t need medication to sleep only melatonin 3mg. But I get depressed when I keep thinking when will this end. I figure if I stll hearing the noise, get depressed, never myself. I didn’t fully as yet but getting there slowly.

 

Can you share your finding to help other here. Thanks

 

Probably more mild compared to some, though mine is difficult to mask and invasive sometimes.

 

@Gl0w0ut

HI Glowout,

I had to look at the title of your thread more than once and could hardly believe what I was reading. You have habituated. I remember the days when mentioning the word to you, filled me with immense fear and trepidation, as the retort from you would be fast and furious. Seriously though, I am pleased for you for I know you have had a difficult time. Your tinnitus will improve further over the coming months on that I feel quite confident. If I remember correctly, you use or want to return wearing headphones. As you know I am strongly against this especially for someone with "noise induced" tinnitus. However, I know you want to get your life back and enjoy your music. Please keep the volume through the headphones as low as possible and try not to use them too often, or wearing them for long durations.

I wish you the best of luck for the future.
Take care
Michael

 

“WOW!” Buddy - you just knocked me off my chair.
Having read quite a few of your posts from a while back, I have to say you seem to be doing really well.
Well done Glow - very Best Wishes,
Dave

 

I still use my headphones, that never really stopped. I feel naked in public without them. We shall see if it continues or not. The current trend seems to project that but in 3.5 weeks I will be discontinuing my Adderall for my summer break, and will be off it for 6-7 weeks. We shall see if it holds with that gone or not. I can only hope. Still not out of the doghouse but we shall see. I still resent my hearing loss and my tinnitus in general, but even a cynic like myself gets tired from being negative all the time.

 

I suppose I will have to pull up some studies. In the fall, I want to do a large meta-analysis research paper for my auditory perception lab in the fall. In my initial literature gather, I found that Susan Shore did such a paper already and summarized many of the points I wanted to make. The paper described that GABA agonist drugs like benzodiazapines are effective at raising GABA to inhibit gluatmate.

However, there are limits. Due to down-regulation, benzos have a high dependency factor in which the dose must be gradually increased over time to maintain effect, and withdrawal and tapering off them is the worst (worse than opioids by some accounts). They seem helpful but are limited. Additionally, the chronic neuroplastic changes in the brain may lessen them as well. When I was in the acute/sub-chronic phase, Alprazolam (Xanax) was effective at nearly silencing the noise. These days, clonazepam, a longer lasting version of Xanax, doesn't really seem to touch the noise that much.

 

It's not perfect, and it does still impact my life most days, it just seems more tolerable now.

 

Habituation with regards to tinnitus means different things to different people, but the gist is, you are habituated when you have tinnitus without the associated anxiety (or with it significantly diminished). The noise may fade easily to the background while your mind is otherwise occupied, but you will still be able to hear the noise after you habituate. If you don't hear the noise anymore, you aren't habituated; you are cured.

@Gl0w0ut --- Big congrats.

 

I assure you @Gl0w0ut if you can manage not to use the headphones for two preferably three months you will see the benefits or rather hear them. Your tinnitus will continue to reduce. It takes up to two years to reach full habituation.

Best of luck to you and hope that things continue to go well.
Michael

 

you hate to say you feel better?

 

As I have stated in the past, I think habituation tends to hurt our cause of searching for a cure or better treatment. if ENTs and audiologists simply expect a person to habituate, which many do, then why bother searching for a cure to a condition most people adapt to? This isn't entirely my end game, but even I am less galvanized to find a cure compared to eight months ago.

 

What do you hear when you wake up?
In one ear, or both?
All the time, or does it get worse as the day goes by?
What do you hear when you want to sleep?

In my opinion, not to panic any more is not habituation.
Habituation would be not to notice the tinnitus for hours... or days.

 

It tends to be it's loudest after I wake up. It's in both ears. It's easier for it to fade, but I still hear it most of the day. It still disrupts my sleep, but that may simply be due to being medicated for sleep for so long.

 

Good stuff Glowout... You have made quite a miraculous recovery, hope everything works for you man.

 

you're not making sense man. you feeling better and a search for a cure are not mutually exclusive. you should be happy that you're not consumed anymore.

 

I mean, to those who don't suffer they are. If there is no urgency, which there isn't in habituation, then why research it when cancer, diabetes, and heart disease kill millions of people a year.

 

I think get what you mean Gl0w0ut. I consider myself habituated as well since for some time now I don't fear the noise anymore, but that's it, I think that's where the habituation really ends. It doesn't mean tinnitus the condition doesn't bother or depress you anymore. It still affects my thinking and sleep because hearing noise simply is not same as hearing silence. It's just that the noise itself doesn't give you a reaction anymore.

I'd say habituating to tinnitus is like getting used to bad back after an accident, you don't freak out anymore every time it hurts, but you are now aware that you now indeed have a bad back that affects your quality of life. It still sucks, but it's not a new scary thing anymore.

But habutation is not a cure or even a happy wonderful thing either, it just happens naturally because there simply ain't no other way for your brain to carry on otherwise. It cannot be in a state of shock and despair forever. And I think it speaks of the limitations of habutation that I am yet to meet a person who wouldn't want his or hers silence back.

 

People we need a cure for this not habituation. If you have mild tinnitus then sure habituate all you want. I habituated with my Mild T by Dec. The game has changed and now that I have Severe T/H I barely sleep at night 1-4 hours per night. I cant concentrate or focus. I am hoping that It will fade to that mild level as it did before otherwise if not I am waiting for the treatments.

 

I guess we can all expect different things from habituation.

For me, I think habituation can be more than just "getting used to it". There are times when I really don't hear it at all even if I am thinking about it. It tends to fade in once I give it some attention, but I think habituation can fade it out entirely. I'd say for maybe 40% of the day this is the case with me.

I still always hear it in silence. But I don't consider this masking. When I'm masking my T, I can still hear it. I don't consider the very quiet sound of my computer, or the fridge in the other room sound masking. When my T behaves itself, sounds this quiet are enough to keep me from hearing it at all.

 

Glad to know this , wonders if everyone habituation is like this .

 

I 100% agree with that. The noise does tune out from time to time, but it's still there.

 

HABITUATION

 

You're not wrong. There is something to be said for it not wrecking your day to day life I must admit. Still, we must press on to finding a cure