Ignore It or Accept It?

I am quite new to tinnitus and would like to have advice from some of the longer term tinnitus listeners.

In your opinion do you think it is better to ignore tinnitus and pretend it's not there. Do everything in your power to pretend you can't hear it.
OR
Is it better to accept your tinnitus and listen to it but don't react to it. Accept that the sound will be there but don't let the anxiety and depression take over.

All opinions

 

@baz 22 . Hi that depends how loud your tinnitus is. I've always said that if tinnitus is extremely loud you will never habituate to it but low tinnitus you can see why people can habituate and forget it's there.

 

I would say my tinnitus is mild to moderate, it fluctuates throughout the day a good bit. Louder when I am stressed or anxious. But I find it difficult to ignore, unless I got some good tv or movie to watch.

 

Mild to moderate in time you will learn to ignore it but it does take time. Keeping yourself busy helps.

 

It's not really possible to willfully ignore something; I would say that acceptance is key to being able to tolerate something, and tolerating it without distress feedback loops is key to being able to "ignore" it.

 

As often happens, I agree with @linearb. Once you accept your tinnitus (however that might happen), you will be much more likely to be able to ignore it. Acceptance comes first. It is a key concept in coping with life, and the cornerstone of mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy, etc. The skills I gathered in coming to accept my tinnitus has helped me deal with other difficult things.

Also, and no offense meant to anyone here. Long disclaimer: I am sympathetic to anyone dealing with T. We all must walk our own path. This is just my opinion:

I often hear people talking about how loud their tinnitus. But I think its important to remember that tinnitus is not a radio playing in our heads, and that my volume knob happens to be set higher than yours. It's how loud we PERCEIVE our tinnitus -- which is a sound our own bodies are making. Changing your perception is what's important, as we can't reach a knob inside our brains and turn down the sound.

Clinicians will tell you that people who perceive their tinnitus as loud struggle more with it. I know I did, in the beginning. Continually telling yourself that your tinnitus is loud probably reinforces the perception that it is. Something to think about.

 

@LadyDi I agree with what your saying. Sometime I can hear my tinnitus and sometimes I can't. Usually it depends on my mood during the day. But I find it difficult to just accept it, in time I think I will learn what acceptance to Tinnitus it.

There are many things in life I have learnt to accept - my below average height, my not great hair, acne, as a kid my asthma was real bad. But I adapted and learned not to care about these aspects. I guess it will just take some time, like everything else life throws at me.

 

Awesome, @baz 22. Acceptance is a bitch, I know. But it's critical. Sounds like you are learning and growing.

 

What does this mean? That all tinnitus is the same and its just how we view/perceive it? If so, this is absolute nonsense. I started with mild tinnitus that I could only hear if I struggled to do so, I then damaged my ears/brain further and the volume (exactly like a volume knob was cranked up to LOUD) was indeed louder (not just my perception).

There are many different forms of tinnitus, the reason we perceive them at different volumes is becasue most of the time they actually are. My tinnitus is now louder becasue it IS actually louder than it was, and not becasue my mind has changed the way that it views it.

 

Long time listener here (3 1/2 years), very high pitch and volume , BUT I have accepted it. Acceptance is so important!! Habituation, in my opinion, doesn't happen without it. Especially with higher volume. It's not easy, not at all!!! But if you can reach acceptance, your life will improve vastly! Wishing you all the best and relief soon!!