If Your Tinnitus Vanished, How Would Your Life Change?

It seems like most of what is being said here is more fodder for another thread(s) - one(s) that might be interesting if we could all be a bit more respectful of one another.

We all have T here. If anyone found this board at any point, they were suffering profoundly enough to need it. Those who are doing well are just trying to help, those who are not are looking for support. Sometimes the way those things are expressed are not perfect, or can feel offensive, but I think it's good to remember that everyone here, at the core, is looking for help or looking to give it. The intentions are good. Let's try to be kind and compassionate to one another. Asking respectful questions with an open mind, and responding kindly, enlightens us all - it lets people who are suffering vent and be vulnerable rather than feel like they have to defend themselves and it lets people who have gotten to a place where they are not suffering perhaps actually have the opportunity to help through nurturing, listening and supporting, slowly. Living with T take baby steps and patience, so does communicating in a community of people who are living with a trauma - whether they are doing well, or doing poorly, at present.

If someone says they'd feel less suicidal if they didn't have T, awesome! If they say nothing would change, and they're doing well, great! No need to attack either party - if either of these responses make you so upset or strongly that you feel the need to respond in an attacking or forceful manner, it might be time to look inward at what is making you react that way. I know I have to do this quite frequently, and sometimes I fail, but I think it's a good exercise. I don't think any of us should stop sharing our opinions, that's quite literally what makes up this community, but we can share them kindly and get a lot more from one another.

To get back to the original question her, if my T vanished - I like the idea of whoever said they'd go in the sensory deprivation chamber. Yes, I know we'd all hear T to some degree in there, but it would be a lot less, and I think I'd just dig it - ahhhhh

 

It is all opinion. Plain and simple.

 

@Telis,

As I've said, I'm not talking about people who have H on top of T or other auditory problems. You've got a lot more going on than just T. There's no way to know for sure, but I'd bet you'd be doing a lot better if you didn't have H.

 

@MattK , thanks for elaborately knitting a straw man in two paragraphs paraphrasing what I have written in one single sentence, 'You do compare T with gray hair.'

With that vast empathy of yours you should be very proud of yourself.

Sorry, but I can't take you seriously anymore. Too many contradictory statements here.

That doesn't even make sense.

 

That's nice, but it's easily explained. As I've stated many times in the past, my tinnitus constantly changes. It's not a constant tone. It wavers (that's about the best way I can describe it) just about every second, and the volume sometimes changes constantly (not every second, thankfully). At the time when I had written that, the volume had gotten low, but now it's back to baseline. Sorry if I don't update you every time something changes just to clear up so-called contradictions.

And I don't care if you take me seriously or not. Like I said, at the end of the day, we make our choices on how we handle things. Unfortunately for you, your way of thinking will just continue to lead to failure... fortunately for me, what you choose has no affect on me.

 

Yes I'm in pain @Dr. Nagler. My ears are straining all the time, noise or not. There are elements to my T that are not painful (just annoying), and others that feel the same as if I were to drop a plate. I don't know know how to seperate the two, they feel exactly the same to me.

 

Telis, your situation definitely does sound like a nightmare. I actually thought of you after a workout I had where I must have had a moment of ETD or something, because I could hear my own voice and breathing really well... and I think I remember you saying you had something similar where your voice hurt your ears. That would absolutely drive me insane. I really wish there was a good treatment for you (and there might be, but I just don't know about it). Keep in mind that even though I'm in the habituation camp, that doesn't mean I think every situation can be habituated to. Yours sounds really bad. I'm sorry about that, and I'm sorry if you thought my posts were directed towards you.

 

Contrary to what some others have suggested here, tinnitus is an internally-generated sound, and (as opposed to an externally-generated sound) there is absolutely no way that tinnitus can be physically painful. I am not in any way disputing your pain complaint, Telis. It must be just awful. All I am saying is that it is not tinnitus.

So let's talk about your pain. The term currently used to describe what you have is DST (Decreased Sound Tolerance), and after taking a thorough history and examining your ears, the very next step in a DST workup is LDL testing. I assume you have undergone an audiogram and careful LDL testing twice, with the second set of LDLs recorded. Perhaps if you will upload your results to the board, I can provide some insight and direction.

If you would prefer not to share your test results on a public board, I can certainly understand and respect that decision. I do not wish you to feel pressured in any way.

stephen nagler

 

Go to a concert without any anxiety....of course with plugs still!

 

I understand this is internal but it feels to me like a real sound. I will post as soon as I have these tests done. Thanks. Sorry about blowing up, I'm not a emotional person but somehow this situation gets the best of me at times.

 

Telis, we all vent at one point or another, we have all blown up, don't sweat it. We all know what T can pressure us to do & say. Be it here or to our family & friends....

 

No not at all Matt. Just frustrated with myself. I know you are good guy, I appreciate the support man. Hope you are doing well.

 

If my T vanished… I would totally go back to some disco and dance my night away as if no-one was looking
I just can't dance with earplugs !!!!!! and boy did I love dancing..

 

I would climb the highest mountain and would stay there a whole month, enjoying the sound of the silence... after that, I will think about how to change my life.

 

Actually, the sensory cells inside the cochlea are connected to nerves. Nerves that we have throughout our body everywhere. Those nerves are connected to neurons in the brain. If the sensory cells get damaged, for whatever reason, T immediately follows in 90% of patients.

In every single limb of our body we have nerves that are connected to neurons in the brain. As soon as we lose a limb or perceive damage to an organ phantom pain immediately kicks-in in 90% of patients.

For phantom pain the neurological pathways are primarily the somatosensory, limbic, and thalamocortial systems. Now guess what neurological pathways are involved with T.


Treatment for phantom pain,

Deep brain stimulation is a surgical technique used to alleviate patients from phantom limb pain.

Prior to surgery, patients undergo functional brain imaging techniques to determine an appropriate trajectory of where pain is originating. Surgery is then carried out under local anesthetic, because patient feedback during the operation is needed.

In the study conducted by Bittar et al., a radiofrequency electrode with four contact points was placed on the brain. Once the electrode was in place, the contact locations were altered slightly according to where the patient felt the greatest relief from pain. Once the location of maximal relief was determined, the electrode was implanted and secured to the skull.

It was found that all three patients studied had gained satisfactory pain relief from the deep brain stimulation. Pain had not been completely eliminated, but the intensity had been reduced by over 50%.

So that might be one reason why we do NOT have a real treatment for T yet. Of course, now we could go about and treat physical ailments with psychology but then again why do we go to the dentist if we have toothache?
We can also bicker about nerves are not being nerves and some neurons are round instead of square-shaped. But is this going to change our suffering? I highly doubt it.

 

Until science figures out a way to change our tinnitus, the only thing that will change our suffering is us.

 

@Dr. Nagler thats exactly what my mindset is like! tinnitus is just an opponent we have to fight and its noone else but ourselfes who can defeat him! it might be harder to fight him than suicide, but suicide is like admiting that your weak and surrendering to something thats just a annoying sound in your head and thats nothing im ever going to consider!

 

Having tinnitus hasn't changed my life that much - I have been determined to carry on my life as always and I have. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it to go away and at times I do get a bit sad that I have this damn affliction. But I do all the things I used to and I genuinely think it's helping me habituate.

That said I would throw a massive 'no tinnitus party' and buy tickets to a heavy metal gig (but I would still wear my ear protection!!!). \m/

 

Haha, yeah, I guess if the ringing just totally vanished I might go off the reservation and spend a weekend taking a bunch of acid like I was 16 again. But, I don't think that would really contribute much to my happiness, so, whatever.

 

I've already imagined that so many times..that it's gone and I just burst out with tears of joy and hapinnes, jumping and running all over my place , kissing my boyfriend's face repeating ''it,s gone!'' Then I would live my life normally, but HAPPY and SMILING, like before T invaded my life. Then I would always be a bit worried that it comes back, but I would definitely be so much relieved I cannot even describe it.

 

Really? And how is that supposed to work out given that you cannot affect your T -- at all.

Fair, suicide. Yeah, that would change it for sure.^^

Of couse, we could also pop plenty of pills, intoxicating our brain and stay away from all sounds there are that make our T explode, but this I would not call life then. Bottom line, we can't do sh*t consciously with debilitating T, let alone H.

 

See, for instance, the attached file.

stephen nagler

 

@Dr. Nagler

I agree that T can be helped by changing the way one reacts to it. However, I have not found a way to distract myself from it when trying to sleep. Most times I do okay but on the loud T days, it is really difficult without taking a sleep aid.

 

Actually I do not think that tinnitus can be helped by changing the way we react to it. I think we can be helped by changing the way we react to it. But tinnitus? It's going to do what it's going to do ... and in 2015 there is very little we have to say about it.

stephen nagler

 

Easier said than done.

 

Guess yours is quite mild tinnitus then. 10/10 is unliveable.

 

I agree with you. But nobody said it was easy.

stephen nagler

 

Well, mine was louder than trains and very reactive...So h+t with a loudness that was so crazy, I could hear it over trains so clearly and loudly is practically impossible to live with...Thankfully I cured hyperacusis with keppra and reduced my tinnitus by 80% and can't hear it outside at all...so yeah, funny how I managed to do all this within 8 months and the BTA and ATA couldn't achieve that in many years.

 

I am truly happy for you. Most tinnitus sufferers I know are nowhere near as fortunate.

stephen nagler

 

Thanks...I am on here trying to get more people with h to try keppra but seems like they don't want to, even though, this is a massive find.