Imagine Actually Beating Tinnitus

It's more likely than you think.

Wow I haven't been on here in ages nor have I thought about tinnitus much at all for quite a while, so this post needs to be prefaced with a few things.

First off - I should explain, I haven't been thinking of tinnitus lately because it has largely been a non-issue for me for the last 7 months or thereabouts. Particularly in the last 4 months or so, and I don't mean that in the sense of I had habituated and no longer noticed it, I mean there was a very real, very significant decrease in volume, to a point where I would say that I effectively no longer had tinnitus. I would have entire weeks where I completely forgot about tinnitus because it was just not present anymore.

NOW - I should also explain that the reason I am making this post to begin with, and why I am reminded of tinnitus in these days is because I had a low-IQ moment in epic me fashion.

You see since the onset of my tinnitus I stopped wearing headphones on my left ear (as my tinnitus is unilateral) and turned down the volume to everything I listened to substantially. All too painful for someone who loves metal.

Well I maintained those rules for over a year and never once broke them... until last week where I decided while training something to the effect of "I am over all that crap, why am I still limiting my exposure to music" and decided to blast some at max volume to both ears like back in the glory days.

Glorious.

Then the next night I go to bed and I'm greeted by the old familiar eeeeeeeeeeeee like I hadn't heard in months. Probably not worth, I can tell you.

BUT THAT SAID - I'm totally serene about it this time. This spike is already passing and I have full confidence it will again fade to effective nothingness like it did before, providing I don't have another sudden massive drop in IQ again. But then with me you never know.

I am however taking this episode as a valuable reminder that my ears are compromised. It's important to remember that even if the tinnitus itself can calm down you mustn't get overconfident and think you can carry on 100% as you did before without consequence.

Another positive side to this is that it reminded me I should really make a success story post on here. I remember at the onset of my own tinnitus some of the success stories on here proved totally invaluable to me, so hopefully I can give that same sense of hope to at least one other person on here.

So if you're new and panicking - it definitely does get better. In my experience it will most likely fade gradually over time, you just have to be patient (and sensible), ears take a stupidly long time to heal. I should also say that habituation comes naturally to a lot of people. Even before my tinnitus properly started fading away, I was becoming used to it to the point where it was basically manageable. In fact, it's one of the reasons why my current relapse is having next to no impact on my mood.

Another word of advice - don't let tinnitus rule you or change your personality fundamentally. I know how hard that is due to how intrusive and pervasive this condition can be and I know that it is especially hard to those who haven't experienced it before, but in hindsight it's one of my biggest regrets.

I made tinnitus the central point of my life and let everything else go. My physical fitness, mental health, productivity and relationships all heavily suffered as a result. It wasn't helpful at all and only set me back further.

All in all, things are much, much better for me now than when my tinnitus first appeared. I'm back to myself for the most part, I'm training like I used to, I'm still listening to all the same music I did before (though that volume is staying turned down a touch this time), I'm feeling much happier and looking forwards again.

So there you go - there's definitely light at the end of the tunnel, it can absolutely get better, don't lose yourself in the grief and most importantly of all don't get better only to blast Månegarm at max volume through your headphones.

If there are any new members that have any questions or might be struggling feel free to send a PM, I know from experience that it helps!

 

How long did it take before you felt better?

 

@Matty1996 thanks for your story. I want to ask you about your left ear.

So the fullness went away? I mean, while you were hearing tinnitus, did you have fullness?

What do you think helped the most?

 

Hi Matty.

Thank you for coming back and sharing your story so that others here can benefit - there's lots of great advice in your post, and I'm very happy to hear that you are in a much better place now.

Please consider not using headphones/earplugs for either ear if you can, or at least keep the volume turned way down. I used to love listening to music loudly through headphones, so I feel your pain in not wanting to give it up! But tinnitus and earplugs don't like each other very much unfortunately.

Congratulations on your success at overcoming this condition.

 

I'm so sorry for getting back to this so late! I actually recovered from the spike I had when making this thread exceptionally quickly, I don't even remember how long it lasted, so it went out of my mind rather fast. I simply carried on as I had before and have had no trouble since then (and yes I have carried on using a headphone in my right ear and listen to music more or less every day).

Still that's no excuse for leaving this site without any updates. I'm not sure if it's still of any use to anyone that responded but maybe it will help anyone new to tinnitus that might stumble across my thread.

The first time it was severe for some months after, it's hard to remember now but it basically dominated my life from August 2019 to somewhere around the start of 2020, then it gradually fell into the background with few issues till I made this thread. The second time around much faster!

When my tinnitus first appeared I absolutely had a sensation of fullness in my ear, it's hard to remember now but I'd say that persisted for maybe the first 3-4 weeks or thereabouts, with a few random reoccurrences here and there afterwards. I remember it being extremely unpleasant at the beginning though, sound was dimmed like being underwater sometimes and it was horribly uncomfortable. Thankfully it did go away and has not resurfaced for me since, even when I had the spike last year.

As for what I think helped the mos t- avoiding loud noise wherever possible is the obvious answer here, the ear with tinnitus is compromised after all, so it needed protection and time to heal.

Sorry once again for responding so late, Merry Christmas to anyone reading this too! And to anyone new to tinnitus who may come across this post, try not to worry too much, your situation can definitely improve, it did for me even after I made it worse again!