Is it harder to habituate to very high pitched tinnitus?

Has anyone successfully habituated to very high pitched T? My T has been changing since I got it 5 months ago and is now a continuous high pitched buzz/whine and I am having a bad reaction to it, which I believe may be fueling it. How do I stop my reaction and habituate?

 

Katkin, this was my path: I tried to mask T less and less - the first weeks I could sleep only wearing earphones listening to white noise or natural sounds. Then, I forced myself to "put in the background" T, stopping to costantly checking the level of sound. I learned to watch tv movies wearing headphones at a quite low level; and to use ear plugs in loud places, in the meanwhile trying to reduce the level of stress and taking the drugs prescribed, including something to sleep and anti-anxiety (acupuncture is part of it).
That's all I could do. I can't say "I am totally getting used to it", but I pay much less attention to T, compared to the hell I was through. As I already wrote, I believe that habituation is a natural process, or at least I hope.

 

Definitely depends on what you compare it against. The definition of a high pitch is firm but also subjective from person to person. One person might have a tiny tone on one ear and find it to be the biggest problem in the world, while another is bombarded from both sides and is far less troubled = ) I am not to judge one thing as harder than another, a lot is on the person. Heck, continuity may even be a good thing. While there's a lot of great people, understanding and support in here, you must remember there's a counterpart to the rough patches you read about on the entire internet The completely habituated are definitely Out there, and many with great advice like Carlo are here for us!

 

No, it's not harder.

Realize that tinnitus is just an aberrant signal that usually isn't indicative of something serious, and it can't kill you and it can't hurt you.

3/4 of people with tinnitus habituate and there's no reason to believe you are not going to be one of them.

 

Neo where do you have the 3/4 from?

 

A TRT book I have.

Notably, more than three-quarters of people who experience tinnitus can naturally habituate to it (Davis & El Refaie, 2000; McFadden, 1982)

So I was wrong. It's more than 3/4

 

Hi Carlo,

It is a natural process. I'm convinced that T in combination with a healthy life no drugs, cigarettes and excessive alchohol can go a fair way in going in to habituation mode..
I'm going through somehow same thing as you and I pretend the sound is outside my body just accompanying me..

Cheers Robb

 

Hi Robb,
pretending the sound is outside the body is a good strategy! I agree with you, the frontline against T includes a healthy life as much as possible. I am glad you are doing well. @Tenna, thanks for the kind words: the statistics reported by @NeoM are a good reason to be optimistic.
Greetings from Italy

 

Plus the unnoted people with tinnitus, like my Brother, making 1 more habituated = )

 

Thank you all for your replies, I do wonder if my constantly heard but changing tinnitus, is due to obsession and fixation with it and anxiety over it. I have a friend who gets tinnitus sounding like a kettle whistle, but she says she does not let it bother her like I do and does not hear it all the time, but its worse if she is under stress. My aunty used to have tinnitus sounding like fireworks in her head and spitting in her ears, but now only hears an 'eeee' type ringing if she listens for it or if she is ill or worried (she said it has improved since taking Mirtazapine!) She tells me not to focus on it, or talk about or let it win. I went to a chiropractor/craniosacral therapist and she described herself as having mild tinnitus in the form of hissing, with the occasional owl-like screech, which she generally only hears if she listens for it or if she is stressed. Their T does not seem to bother them, they don't seem anxious and have perfectly happy lives. I also know of other people who have T, who have not reacted badly to it and it has not got worse and they appear to live normal, happy lives and don't hear it all the time. I wish I knew their secret.

 

Katkin, don't be so hard on yourself. Everyone is different. We all deal with it differently. We are here to support and share what works for us. Hopefully you can find something that helps you too. In the beginning, about 3 months ago now, I couldn't see how I was going to ignore this crazy azz noise in my ear. But, Life had a way of moving me forward. I needed to focus on other things like my husband, my pets, my family. I found that being busy, kept me out of my own head. I continued staying busy, and now I have long periods of time that I don't notice the sound all the time. Even when I'm sitting still in a room reading, crocheting, talking to a friend. You will get there. Try to find something to keep your focus off the noise, perhaps it's music playing constantly, or spending time with friends that diverts your attention, even if just for a moment. My noise is quite a high pitched sound. I used to cry when I listened to it, thinking I can't bare it. It doesn't effect me that way right now. I listen to it for a moment then I just get on with things. I don't give it energy or much thought. It took some time but I didn't want the T to rule my life. I think it is a conscious choice to not allow it to take over. Don't give up on yourself you can get there in your own time. Hang in there don't give up.

 

Are you saying it went UP in pitch? To me, that is a good thing. I seem to notice hiss / squealing less and the lower whistling sound more. So it may be changing for the better. Hang in there.

 

Thanks again all. I have a sound that is about 3.5 kHz that doesn't bother me and I can only hear at night or when it is very quiet. I also often get a very high pitched sound about 10 - 14 kHz that becomes continuous sometimes and I can hear it over music etc, and this scares me and causes anxiety, I got it yesterday on Christmas day! I also get the hissing sound accompanying it. At one time I was coping better, but recently my anxiety and weight loss have got worse. I know that TRT advises not reacting to the sounds and then hopefully they will disappear from the conscious mind, but I'm finding it easier said than done.

 

It sounds very nice that some people are able to completely tune out the tinnitus sound. I have a quite high ringing sound too, even though I'm not sure about the frequency. I'm not sure if a low humming sound would be easier to stand than a high sound. Of course a low sound might be more easily masked by other sounds. That said I feel people can feel bothered by any kind of sound they can't control. My mother felt very bothered by a low humming sound of a heating machine in our basement. The feeling of not being to control the volume and type of sound you hear creates some feelings of dispair and anxiety.

I guess people who are generally more relaxed or a type that doesn't take things too seriously care also less about tinnitus sound. For other people it might take a bit longer. If feel that habituation is something that happens gradually after or while you are wearing yourself out looking for a cure, distraction, relaxation. Than when you are too tired to care any more, you realized you have actually habituated somewhat.

Tinnitus has caused me some sleeping problems due to the anxiety. But some nights ago I woke up in the middle of the night, heard the ringing and thought "What an annoying sound" and then fell asleep again. I guess that's some sort of a success .

 

My t seems to be super high I checked it with the iPhone thing and I couldn't pick it hey weird