I'll Take Tinnitus, Thank You.

[I who love music]

When I was a kid, my cousin got an eye shot out.
I have a little sound in my head. I'll take tinnitus, thank you.
My best friend had Muscular Dystrophy and died young.
I'll take tinnitus.
My brother just finished chemotherapy for lung cancer.
I'll take tinnitus.
My buddy at work, Dan, laid his Harley down in front of a semi.
His leg will never be the same.
I'll take tinnitus.
I suffered with skull cracking cluster headaches for over 20 years.
I'll take tinnitus. Any day.
My daughter took care of a nice paraplegic man.
I'll take tinnitus.
A music loving buddy of mine got a strange disease, suffered and died.
I'll take tinnitus.
If I take stroke preventing medicine and get to live,
I'll take tinnitus.
So if I had to choose between blindness, disease, cancer, pain, paralysis, or tinnitus
Yes, I would take tinnitus.

 

[dan]

I find your post offensive. Tinnitus drives thousands of people to suicide around the world every year.

 

[Valentin]

Not a very wise post indeed...

 

[Liesel]

I don't think it's offensive. I suffer from another, much more serious and impacting condition and it has helped put my tinnitus in perspective. This kind of perspective might not help everyone, but remember. Everyone has their own way of coping.

 

[I who love music]

Hopefully, suicidal tinnitus sufferers will seek psychiatric help. As for my post, it's a well intentioned look at relativity.

 

[yonkapin]

How is this post offensive? There are a countless number of other conditions that people need deal with every second of their lives that are infinitely more difficult to cope with than tinnitus.

That said, I understand that everyone is different, and you can never generalize something like tinnitus and it's affect on people - but sometimes it's important to put things into perspective. My ex-girlfriend has dealt with Crohns disease most of her life, and that is truly something that will change your life drastically. Without going into too much detail, the disease basically eats away at the intestines and requires: drastic changes in diet, multiple surgeries removing most of the affected organ, heavy-duty medication, and you're basically always either wanting to go to the toilet, in pain or vomiting and malnourished. In spite of all this, she has become quite successful. So, while my tinnitus and hyperacusis has been devastating to me in the past, I can only imagine what she has had to go through.

Anyway, I don't want to rant too much, but I don't think OP is offensive at all.

 

[EdnaLegume]

I suffer from health anxiety. Recently just had quite a breakdown and am currently being treated for such. This post actually made me feel better. Of all the things I've ever suspected I had, or would have, the tinnitus is the least of the worries. for now. Given my anxiety level, the tinnitus is pretty loud as well. I think sometimes you do just have to say "it could be worse". It doesn't take away someone else s suffering. It just makes it better for ME to say, "it could be worse". Obviously someone that is driven to suicide over their tinnitus.... this post wouldn't mean beans to them. But there are plenty of us not in that boat. I just try to find the bright side where I can. Life's hard enough.

 

[mick1987]

I find playing down tinnitus helps me a lot, saying to yourself this is torture and many commit suicide doesn't help your state of mind, dwelling on it can make anyone depressed. When I go to bed at night I don't lay in bed focusing on it, thinking to myself this is hell, no way I can live with this, I ignore it and go to sleep, if I focused on it all night I wouldn't get to sleep. If I constantly focused on tinnitus in the day I would send myself crazy. The reason I am no longer depressed or anxious is because I no longer tell myself this is hell or I can't live with this horrible noise in my head, to me it is about not making it a big deal.

 

[Tenna]

It harms me to see people finding this offensive. Ofc you can generalize when the general masses of tinnitus come out alright, that being said the statements do in no way undermine the extraordinary tinnitus cases, there's always unbearable situations coming with each and Every disorder. The intention was assumably to put a perspective on things, not for people to feel undermined by something that wasn't being said.
Besides tinnitus might drive thousands to suicide every year, statistically your odds are just worse off with cancer. Tinnitus might even be a product of a succesful cancer treatment.
I liked the post

 

[dan]

This is exactly the reason why they haven't found a cure yet, LOL.
What is a potential new researcher to think if he sees your posts -
"tinnitus? meh...why should I spend half my life looking for a cure when there are other more important things to cure..looks like most people are doing fine with this or will be fine..."
So if a cure does ever come, I want all of you people who find this post unoffensive including the op, to be the last in line for the cure if it comes, while those who really need it get it first (those who you sent for psychiatric help), deal?

 

[Samsara]

It's unfortunate that many people do not seem to be aware of the extreme differences in people's Tinnitus. The experience is quite different if what you have is so loud it easily drowns out a noisy stadium or loud club or bar etc.

I myself have more tolerable Tinnitus where I can actually forget most of the day I even have it. However I met one sufferer this year who played her Tinnitus tones for me and my goodness I don't know how she lives it's so incredibly loud and she has like 6 or 7 noises which cause an actual physical vibration in her head. Her life was destroyed and it certainly put my quiet Tinnitus into perspective. I really don't know how she copes as she became a chronic insomniac from having this condition whereas I can sleep just fine. Before I met her and understood the differences I thought my Tinnitus was actually quite loud but now I know it really isn't.

The point is that for someone with super loud Tinnitus I can certainly imagine the OP'post being very offensive and agree with Dan on this one.

For the record I would happily trade my Tinnitus for lung cancer. Hypothetically I could simply have the lung removed or even have it successfully cured with today's medicine then spend the rest of my life in blissfull happy silence! Let's be mindfull that the experience of tinnitus is not the same for everyone and those with incredibly loud Tinnitus are not the same as those like myself which can be easily masked and forgotten about. It's apples and oranges.

 

[Tenna]

Do you think a promising researcher in range of ever finding a cure, would base the rest of his life on a random post on a random forum? I expect a new researcher (such as Neenie, who knows) to know the different gravities of tinnitus, and so many researchers do.
What kind of bullshit is that Dan, nobody here is undermining the severety of tinnitus, and proper researchers who are working on tinnitus now, very well understands the severities of different degrees of tinnitus.
Nobody said it wasn't a big deal, but for the vast majority of tinnitus sufferers, compared to the above mentioned their's isn't

 

[Tenna]

So if a cure does ever come, I want all of you people who find this post unoffensive including the op, to be the last in line for the cure if it comes, while those who really need it get it first (those who you sent for psychiatric help), deal?

Yeah, be the big unoffensive proper guy.

Then what Samsara, deal with the side effects of having one lung, if you survive it without any complications in the surgery, and you'll potentially end up just as crippled as tinnitus may render you.
We're all desperate, but now as you got angry of what you see as a trivilization, trivilializing another disorder is just being meta-improper

 

[Samsara]

Then what Samsara, deal with the side effects of having one lung, if you survive it without any complications in the surgery, and you'll potentially end up just as crippled as tinnitus may render you.

I come from a family of medical professionals Tenna and I can tell you from experience that people can live quite decent lives with just one lung compared to those crippled by Tinnitus. Also lung cancer can be successfully treated without the organ being removed in more and more cases these days. The chances are better then ever in the 21st century that they can make a successful recovery.

 

[Tenna]

I do not come from a family of medical professionals, and I can tell you from experience, coming from a family prone to having cancer, that your odds as a tinnitus patient are much preferred. Talk about undermining severity..
Future prospects for me to get cancer one day are very present, *thankfully* I can focus on cancer, chemo and it's aftereffects as being a luxury problem compared to my tinnitus.
You can always compare yourselves to cases better off than yourself, facts are just the general is way better off with tinnitus than cancer. That you don't like what you thought to be a trivialization, you shouldn't react to by trivializing another.
The op and His experience of tinnitus, is preferred to all the calamities he mentioned, finding something he didn't even say to be offensive, is what's wrong with this thread imo. I could go on forever, bottomline is it always boils my piss to see disagreements being found on something never said, it's an unlimited source to feuds

 

[Samsara]

Cancer is something I have very direct experience of with friends and family in my life Tenna so let's not try to turn this into some kind of contest here. It was specifically lung cancer that was mentioned by the OP and I simply addressed that point as an example of how some people could feel. Knowing how it is treated and the prognosis for survival there are a number of people that would happily swap Tinnitus for lung cancer anyday. Especially those with super loud Tinnitus and chronic insomnia.

For the record I wasn't trivializing anything I'm aplogise if that's how it came across. There are people though who would prefer one to another and that is simply a point that I felt should be raised.

Also it's statistically proven that it's substantially easier to cure lung cancer then Tinnitus. The ability to sleep would be preferred by some Tinnitus sufferers whose lives have been destroyed by it. I don't see why recognizing things like this can bother people so much.

 

[dan]

Thank you Samsara,
How did you end up meeting this person?
If she wants to speak to me, as I have gone thru same, she is welcome to
contact me via Skype, my nick is dragon.z78 or thru PM on this forum (I think we are not allowed to post email addresses on here)
I may offer her some hope.

 

[I who love music]

I'm sitting here with one ear buzzing like a bee and another whistling like a bird. They have been for over 40 years. I have something to say. There's no cure. I take comfort knowing I'm healthy, strong, positive, and maybe I have something to share that would make someone's life better. The people and diseases I mentioned in my initial post are all true stories. I hurt for those people. When I look at the big picture, my tinnitus isn't s**t compared to what they went through. That helps me. And to those researchers reading my posts, please continue with your research because tinnitus sucks.

 

[Misery]

I agree with the OP! Thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Samsara]

Thank you Samsara,
How did you end up meeting this person?
If she wants to speak to me, as I have gone thru same, she is welcome to
contact me via Skype, my nick is dragon.z78 or thru PM on this forum (I think we are not allowed to post email addresses on here)
I may offer her some hope.

Hi Dan, I met her through a friend of a friend who has also Tinnitus. I wanted to ask her some questions and just speak to someone who knew what I was going through. I really thought I had it bad before but after meeting her it definitely put mines in perspective. I can definitely synmpathise with people who have much louder Tinnitus then mine

Thanks I will pass on the message and let her know she can speak to you. I'ii let you know what she says.

 

[Tenna]

Let's not battle on diseases As I said, knowing you'd get an 'nicer' diagnosis of any sorts compared to your degree of tinnitus, would be preferable. But you can say that about everything, and the "I'd much rather have..." is just incomparable. And if you do compare the two, in statistics of your average cancer to your average tinnitus, you'd want the latter.
Ah I see, pardon!. Through your agreement with Dan, seeing as he felt the post was offensive and trivializing for tinnitus, I thought you agreed to that through the emote thingie, hence found the cancer thing to be a paradox

I know, but statistically you're more prone to dying of cancer than tinnitus, where odds favor habituation = )

 

[Misery]

My 38 year old sister-in-law (with 4 children at home) was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She was treated by doctors within her HMO without success. They told her they've done all they could. She sought out the best in the field then. They told her they would try an experimental chemo pill on her. It worked! She now returns to the doctors every three months to ensure the cancer hasn't returned.

Her husband, in his mid 40's, has a strange, yet undiagnosed illness. He's been wasting away for a while now. This bizarre disease will likely take his life while he's still in his 40's.

I'll take MY tinnitus, thank you.

 

[mick1987]

I am guilty myself of wishing I could trade my tinnitus for another illness when i first got tinnitus and when it increased, of course now I am habituating to this spike I am sure glad I'm healthy, many people with cancer would happily trade their illness for tinnitus. Sure they might be treated successfully, but to live in fear of it returning doesn't sound so great.

 

[Markku]

While I wholeheartedly agree with the OP, I also understand that some people's tinnitus can be so devastating that the first post can sound offensive to them.

However, I fully agree with Tenna that the OP's intention was not to cause drama or unnecessary bickering / heated debate on the subject, instead his intention was to look positively (by a subjective point of view, of course, which many tend to share) at tinnitus as a condition.

Anyway, let's remain courteous to each other

Peace & love
Markku

 

[gary]

It's unfortunate that many people do not seem to be aware of the extreme differences in people's Tinnitus. The experience is quite different if what you have is so loud it easily drowns out a noisy stadium or loud club or bar etc.

I myself have more tolerable Tinnitus where I can actually forget most of the day I even have it. However I met one sufferer this year who played her Tinnitus tones for me and my goodness I don't know how she lives it's so incredibly loud and she has like 6 or 7 noises which cause an actual physical vibration in her head. Her life was destroyed and it certainly put my quiet Tinnitus into perspective. I really don't know how she copes as she became a chronic insomniac from having this condition whereas I can sleep just fine. Before I met her and understood the differences I thought my Tinnitus was actually quite loud but now I know it really isn't.

The point is that for someone with super loud Tinnitus I can certainly imagine the OP'post being very offensive and agree with Dan on this one.

For the record I would happily trade my Tinnitus for lung cancer. Hypothetically I could simply have the lung removed or even have it successfully cured with today's medicine then spend the rest of my life in blissfull happy silence! Let's be mindfull that the experience of tinnitus is not the same for everyone and those with incredibly loud Tinnitus are not the same as those like myself which can be easily masked and forgotten about. It's apples and oranges.

Well Said Samsara, your friend pretty much sums up my T...

 

[Misery]

My best friend lost both her biological parents and her step-father to inoperable lung cancers. Once diagnosed, they each only lived a matter of months. There's no comparison in my opinion.

I feel for everyone's situation. I truly do. I'm so sorry anyone has to suffer any ailment or condition.

 

[mick1987]

Maybe I have underestimated the severity of some people's tinnitus. I am just going by my experiences with tinnitus, got mild tinnitus, lost silence, was devastated, recovered, fine with tinnitus for 9 months, then it increased to moderate level after loud noise exposure in October, depressed, dark thoughts, life was over, now after 2 months I am back to normal again, reasonably happy, wouldn't consider myself suffering anymore.

Maybe god forbid I get severe tinnitus I can't recover from it, it's to loud to habituate too, then I am truly suffering from tinnitus. But all I say is I was suicidal when I got tinnitus August 2012 but I recovered, then in October it increased so I can hear it in the day with the TV on, again I was suicidal, thought my life was over, but I am now habituating to tinnitus, back to normal.

Maybe if I do get severe tinnitus I won't recover, but right now I have been through hell and back, I am grateful I am not suffering.

 

[Misery]

I can usually hear my T over everything. I hear it when walking along 4 lanes of traffic, the TV, etc. The only things I don't hear it over so far are the vacuum and shower. I'm grateful that I don't have to fight cancer at this time in my life. My mom was recently diagnosed with cancer and she's in for the battle of her life. My father and MIL both lost their lives to cancer. Cancer killed them. They didn't commit suicide.

No disrespect to anyone. I'm just passionate about my opinion on this matter.

 

[Tenna]

I understand too why people could find it offensive. the problem appears when acting on assumption and not whats actually being said, most arguements are found on misunderstanding. I understand the desperation behind, but hurling back 'may you be the last to get cured' to a intentionally nonoffensive post, is not just offensive, its evil.

I hear it too misery, above everything and it makes me very passionate as well. One's t is incomparable to cancer, yet cancer is not to be prefered

 

[Samsara]

Well Said Samsara, your friend pretty much sums up my T...

I'm so sorry to hear that Gary I truly am. It was for people like you why I wrote what I did in support of Dan. Sadly people with more tolerable Tinnitus do not understand those with severe forms of it. I have to be honest if I had not met this person earlier this year and heard her Tinnitus perhaps I would have of the same opinion as others on this thread. Obviously the OP's post was not intended to be offensive but it can certainly come across that way to some sufferers.