I'm Ready to Move on with Life

So I've had T since the end of January this year. I have what you might consider a minor nuisance. Different tones in each ear, I don't say I suffer but feel for all of you who do.

A little background on me.. I'm a homebody, stay at home mom who homeschools her son. I've always lived a calm life..we were military before so we moved around a lot. Back in November we moved from Virginia to Florida. The beach is 20 minutes away from me, it is beautiful here but the drawback is that I don't really know anyone here. It sucks.

My parents came to visit and I LOVED having them here to keep me busy. They went back home and the depression/loneliness is creeping back in. I do so much better when I'm busy with people around. That said I am thinking about putting my son back in public school and look for a job. We can move back home but my husband wants to finish school first and it's freezing in the Midwest (USA). So in a few years hopefully my parents can move down here when they retire.

We have a nice home but it seriously feels empty here. It's rough, as it is our first home and I should love it but I just feel sad. My anxiety isn't so bad but now it's depression. I only have a high school diploma. I am a makeup enthusiast, my husband suggest I should go to school for that to get my certification.

Is it silly for me to not want to do it because of the sound of hair blow dryers? I'd work with hair too. I love all that stuff. What do you guys think?

 

No. Doing that carries a risk of your T becoming severe.

 

I think you should do it or at least try. It's not that the hair dryer will be blown close to your ears.

 

hairdryers with even low grade musician earplugs are NOT dangerous.

The loud end of dryers is 87-90 db. You'll be fine. A room with the TV on is similar.

Even when my left ear aches I don't use earplugs when drying my hair and my wife uses it all the time while Im in the shower.

 

@hopeforme First off, you haven't had your T for very long time so my recommendation is to get in contact with a medical professional if you haven't already and do a checkup. I do recommend some type of Therapy, there many different forms out there but on of the most usual are CBT (Cognitive behavioral therapy) for your anxiety/depression that you feel.

And one more thing i think are very important, T is a symptom that can either make you a victim or a "fighter". What do i mean by that? Every case equal person, have their own experience with their T and their sounds depending on cause (if that person knows) that make every case so unique. Do never every, push your own experience to the side for any other for your feelings and thoughts around your problems are important as well.

And to wrap my "speech" up, never ever stop dreaming and living just because of your T or other people saying you can't. Just prepare before so you adjust your situation to the moment you are in.

For example, if you dream about getting a certification as a makeup artist then do it. But adjust and prepare for each situation.

I know you can do it. If wish you and your family the best!

/Fred

 

Do it, as long as you also don't have a dream to live T-free.

 

Good thing to also to know for sure , but their are T survivors that have been free from their T, depending on the cause. Every case is unique.

 

Every case is unique, but it is my understanding that once one experiences T, one's ears are compromised, and there is now a higher chance of experiencing it again. One is More Likely to get T, compared to other people, and what doesn't have any impact on other people (e.g., hair dryers) Might have a life-changing impact on one of us.

 

Do it. If you're afraid, get some earplugs and give it a shot. But do it anyway.

 

Well so I looked up the courses and I can take one specifically for makeup without the hair. I'm probably going to do that and if there are hair dryers going near me ill use earplugs.

I don't want to feel like I'm hiding from the world anymore. T has made me more aware to take care of my ears but I can't be afraid of everything anymore. It is so tiring wondering if this will do that ..etc.. Gonna try my best to set new goals and do more in life. I used to just want to watch Netflix all day but my life is craving for more than that. Travel, helping people feel beautiful inside and out, learning new things. So T has made an impact, and its making me want to do so much more with the time I have left.

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

 

Please read the post at the link below. It was written by someone who decided to finally face her fear of loud noises:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/help-me-please-tinnitus-is-breaking-me.20497/page-2#post-249664

It seems to me that it is ok to fear scary things that can (in a fraction of a second) permanently reduce the quality of your life...

 

I didn't mean I was going to be careless. I've gone to a few loud events before with earplugs, away from speakers, and no spikes. But I really need to lose grip of letting T control my daily decisions.

So far the only thing that has made my T louder was a cold/sinus issue. That has subsided and it went really low afterwards.

I've got to know a handful of people with T. Most do not worry and know when to plug.

 

Yes my dad has T. He hears jet engines. I told him about new research about T and he does not care for it at all. He says he doesn't even notice it until someone asks him. He's able to tune it out and focus on other things. This talk really helped me get through some rough patches.

 

What happened with Maura was (I believe) a case of her not protecting her ears in a loud situation. There's a bit of a difference between these scenarios. They both oppose the same risks, of course, but protection goes a long way.

It is OK to be afraid of situations that have the potential to worsen your tinnitus, but it means that you'll be afraid of everything; because tinnitus can worsen for every reason and no reason at all. I'm not saying go out there and expose yourself to dangerous noises though. I'm just saying that everything we do comes with risks.

As somebody who boxes (getting hit across the ear a lot), works around loud children, and also has severe tinnitus (it's always been that way, It didn't progress), I don't believe you should give up on doing the things you want to do in life because there's a noise in your head. As long as you're willing to accept that there's a risk to doing these things, then go ahead.

As much as we want too, we can't avoid these situations all of the time. No matter how careful we are, there's always going to be something that puts us at risk. A balloon popping was enough to give me a spike.
Now I'm not saying go ahead and risk making your tinnitus worse. No. But protecting your ears reduces that risk drastically.

A good pair of earplugs goes a long way in protecting your ears from something like a hair-dryer, which a lot of people with tinnitus still use (mostly with earplugs) even after their onset.
A hair-dryer is around 80-90db. So depending on the earplugs, you can reduce that to a much safer level that would be considered moderate noise. Wearing 33db earplugs would reduce it to just a few points below the noise level of a normal conversation.

You shouldn't be afraid to live. Just don't live recklessly.

 

everyone is different and has to make these decisions for themselves, but I have done concerts, firearms, motorcycles, fireworks, child screaming in my ear, etc since my tinnitus became what it is today, and none of these things have changed my T, short term or longer term. Obviously I'll have to get back to you in 20-40 years on the really long term.

I know a ton of musicians, gun salesmen, etc with tinnitus. My guitar teacher has had tinnitus for decades, still plays live amped music.

Doing these things might have an adverse impact on your life. Living in fear or feeling like you're missing out on life definitely will. Damned if you don't, maybe damned if you do.

 

True, but she had the same attitude - she refused to accept that her life will have to change. "You can ignore reality, but you can't ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."

If you look, you will find a mind-numbing number of posts on this site describing horror stories of people who protected their ears and still ended up with permanent spikes (I just saw a bunch as I was searching for Maura's post). Here is one: "I blame my docs for it getting worse a year later as they gave me earplugs and told me if I was going anywhere loud that I would be fine if I wore them,I was not."
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...er-challenging-thing.16734/page-2#post-196789
There are countless more, where that came from (i.e., this site).

Protection helps, but don't overestimate the protection you are actually getting. Earplugs offer 29 dB protection. The actual protection one will get will be a lot less, see
http://www.protectear.com/nrr-rating/
"Earmuffs – Subtract 25% from the manufacturer’s labeled NRR
Formable earplugs – Subtract 50% from the manufacturer’s labeled NRR
All other earplugs – Subtract 70% from the manufacturers labeled NRR"
So it is actually 29/2 = 14.5 dB.

The above is something an optimist would say. But keep in mind that "a pessimist is an experienced optimist..."

You are not taking into account what is at stake. In this case, we have "some bad mood caused by a lost opportunity" vs. "severe permanent tinnitus." Enough said.

 

Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) for Tinnitus...

I watched this entire thing this morning. In CBT part of it is "exposure". Little by little and not to dangerous sounds, but back into life.

Dr. Hubbard's story is on this forum too.

 

I used to email with her back and forth, so I understand why she did what she did.
Life does have to change but it doesn't have to stop. Maura put her life on hold before she exposed herself to that noise and it seems she just took the whole "face your fear" the wrong way and put herself in a situation that would damage her ears. Again, protection goes a long way. It doesn't get rid of the risks completely, but it does reduce them.

I'm fully aware. I am a natural pessimist but I am capable of seeing the optimistic side when I need to see it, because I learned that optimism is not a bad thing after I developed tinnitus. Many of us don't want to be pessimists. It seems that she doesn't either, which is why I'm looking at this situation from the optimism glass, because she's being optimistic about her future.

I'm definitely not overestimating the protection earplugs can give you. It's why I said that they can reduce moderate-loud sounds, not vanquish them all together. They dim the risk but they don't expose of it. I was referring to the noise reduction that earplugs can give when used with a hair-dryer. Even at the loudest setting of 90db (roughly), 33db earplugs can reduce that to 57db. A regular conversation is around 60db. As she said, she has went to concerts with earplugs and has come out fine, with no spikes. She knows there is risks to these things and she does them anyway.
I am surrounded by people who have tinnitus but continue to do these things. It's just a choice that some people make. We can sit in fear of every noise if we want, but these people choose not too. So it's not our job to tell them to be afraid of it because we are afraid. Just warn them and then leave them to make the decision to be afraid or not.

I understand where you're coming from and I don't necessarily disagree with you either. Again, I'm just supporting somebody who wants to do something. She's opting for a safer route as well, so I'm encouraging that more (avoiding the use of hair-dryers).

 

Thank you Kiba <3

 

First of all, the highest NRR earplugs can provide is something like 30 dB. According to that website, this has to be divided by 2. (Store bought plugs that can't be formed => multiply the NRR rating by 0.3.)
90 - 15 = 75 dB. That doesn't seem like much, but according to
http://www.industrialnoisecontrol.com/comparative-noise-examples.htm
80dB can lead to hearing damage after an 8-hour exposure. That's the case for Healthy individuals. If one works at a place where hair dryers are being used, within the first 5 years one will accumulate hundreds of hours of exposure. Keep in mind that this kind of damage is cumulative. In any case, let's hope I am completely wrong on this, as it doesn't look like the author of this thread is impressed with my reasoning.

I feel the same way about your posts in this thread.

 

Eh? I've seen 33db plugs so many times before. Perhaps I have been seeing things!

Like I said, these things aren't without risk. She understands that so it's best to let her be. She knows our opinions and in the end it's her choice what she decides to do. She's likely not going to use much hair-dryers if she chooses the safer route anyhow.

I just hope she does what she thinks will make her happy whilst keeping her hearing safe.

Anyway, I assume we're done with this so I'll say I respect your point of view and I'm glad you are warning people about the risks. Have a good day/night!

 

Hair blow dryers really aren't that loud when compared to a lot of other occupational noise exposures people face.

 

People, you all had Tinnitus for a couple of months and you are here discouraging other people from living a normal life. Don't get me wrong, but please give it time to feel better about your own condition and learn more.

@hopeforme, you'll be Ok. Since I developed Tinnitus I've been to music events, transcontinental flights, hell, even been on stage with a microphone once or twice. Just don't overexpose yourself to noise. If it's so loud you need to raise your voice for other people to understand you, get some molded earplugs, they-re pretty comfortable. Go ahead, live your life.

 

Is a possible spike that may or may not even hang around still a better consequence than that which comes from doing nothing and wondering all your life about what could have been? Buy a hairdryer and practice gradual exposure if you have to. I'll bet it isn't that bad.

 

Years of abusing one's ears by exposing them to loud noises (and not experiencing any symptoms), could lead to tinnitus just turning on and refusing to turn off.

 

Check out the first post in the thread below
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...habituated-and-moving-on-with-the-life.10427/

 

Yeah, but...makeup and some hairdryers, Its not like she's joining KISS (though I'd probably risk worse tinnitus for that). Some discreet musicians plugs would help her here too.

 

This is very much my situation as well. We have to adapt and carry on with our lives to the fullest.