I Used to Love Quiet Times...

.....now I cannot stand to sit without the tv or radio on, I have extreme difficulty falling asleep and sometimes the noise in my ear or my head just becomes intolerable!

My tinnitus began during tapering from a 12 year usage of Xanax...which I started in July 2016. After 7 months I noticed this high pitched squealing and/or tone in my left ear. This occurred a month before I actually got done with my taper and subsequent stopping. Now I am a month and a half off Xanax and the tinnitus is still going strong! As I said I used to enjoy quiet times... I couldn't sleep unless the room was dark and quiet! Now I have to fall asleep with my tv or music on and only after I drift off am I able to shut off outside noise. However I'm not sleeping for very long due to so many problems that I'm not sure how much I can attribute to the tinnitus?!?

I try very hard to ignore this awful high pitched noise that is my constant companion now but it's difficult!

I still have hope it may go away I pray that it can at least get a little better.

 

Hi TheProprietress.

My heart goes out to you at this difficult time in your life.

Of course, we all have our unique stories as to how we started with tinnitus, but we're all pretty much suffering the same kind of thing.

At this stage in your journey there is the possibility that it might not be permanent ... and so that's what I will be praying for.

In my case, I've had this high-pitched noise for nigh on 2 years now. At first I thought it would drive me insane and it was impossible for me to just sit down and read or have a 'quiet time'.

I thought back to the time when my wife and I used to live next door to very noisy neighbours. The more I concentrated on the noise they were making, the louder the noise seemed ... and the more it disturbed me and got me down. The more I got on with the things that my wife and I were doing, the less I paid attention to what the noisy neighbours were up to.

It has really worked for me, and I very, very rarely feel disturbed, even in the slightest by my tinnitus. The very rare occasion when I do become aware of my condition is when I've allowed myself to become exhausted through not building enough rest into my day.

I hope you don't mind me saying that I felt empowered in my journey by the scripture from Paul's Letter to the Philippians 4:13 'I can do all things through him who strengthens me.'

Do take care. ... you will be in my prayers ... and do stay tuned-in to TinnitusTalk because there are so many kind people who will offer you excellent help throughout your most difficult times ... but you will come out on the other side and help so many other people in need.

Paul

 

Welcome to the forum. You are not alone here as most of us have been where you are. I for one have the same awful high pitched ringing as you do. I often said it is like a dentist drill with 10 times the pitch. I could hear it even above the jet noise in the last few flights, and above the roaring rapids of the wild salmon rivers where I fished. I had a hard time to deal with it initially. So you are not alone. Besides my ultra high pitch T, I also suffered from severe hyperacusis on top of T. What an awful experience to have both of these torturous monsters at the same time. I posted the difficulty of living with these two conditions at the same time in a different thread and here is the c&p for that:

"T alone was traumatic enough, but H made it almost impossible to survive. Why? Because T & H don't like each other. Hyperacusis turned all normal sounds soooo loud and piercingly hurtful as if every sound drilled through the senses. It can literally cause pain. So I tried to protect against H with earplugs (I bought $200 worth of them from Sonic Shop in Germany), but the earplugs made T so unbearably harsh to hear when there is no other outside sounds to help mask it. So if you try to let more sounds in as silence is deadly for T, then H said I would drill you with every sound you let in. Even the soft voice of my wife was hurtful, not to say those from TV, driving, parties, social conversations,restaurants, etc. Gosh !!! Talking about getting TRAPPED by these two monsters.

Worst, I also had suffered from PTSD and anxiety plus panic disorders prior to T & H. So my already weakened nerves had no chance against T & H. They literally opened the flood gate of hell of relentless anxiety and panic attacks on auto mode every day the moment I woke up with the loud T (if I could sleep at all), and these attacks would come on and off all day. I had no choice but to use drugs to survive, taking Ativan, Prozac and sleeping pills. Either I did that or I could harm myself due to immense suffering. My tired and stressed out mind was suggesting the big 'S' word daily, as it saw no way out of the suffering. My good life was gone, and I was worrying how I could even survive this each day, not to say my entire life. I never thought I could survive and have good life again.

But never say never. Today, I do just that, living a normal, productive, happy and absolutely enjoyable life. I wrote my success story and share some helpful strategies. If you want to check out these strategies, for brevity, here is the link to my success story. While there, you should read as many positive success stories as you can to give you hope.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

Your T may go away or fade as many people reported that this happens to them after some time or after using some supplements or change their diet. T may also lower to a level easier to handle as your hyperactive nerves of the limbic system (which causes your fight or flight mode of reaction) may go back to normal with the return of the more normal Parasympathetic nerve system. If anything, many people have habituated to their T, meaning they are used to T to the point that it doesn't bother them and most of the time the brain fades out T, even loud T, from consciousness when you are busy. That is my case. And T is no longer any problem in my life. I am going on a vacation to the Orient in a day. The hell with T and both me and my brain don't give a dime to what it does any given day now. Couldn't do that before when T was new. But time has changed, and my perception of T has changed. It is good life back. It is doable. Believe it. God bless.

 

You and me both. I would often sleep with hearing plugs in even though it was relatively quiet. I sought out quiet places because sometimes that's the only way I could relax. Not anymore...

Getting good rest should be your first priority. Lack of sleep can make tinnitus much harder to deal with.