Is Learning to Ignore Tinnitus Considered a Cure to You?

I have been to other boards where the title of a post will say "I have been cured of tinnitus". When I read the body of the post,it says "I have learned to ignore the tinnitus/ I no longer suffer from it. I have been cured". If you could learn to ignore your T, would it be as good as an actual cure to you? I think it would be more accurate to say "I no longer suffer BECAUSE of it" than to say I no longer suffer FROM it".

 

Hi Emma,
What you have described is what we call " habituation". When you achieve it its just the same as not hearing tinnitus. In effect a "cure" even though you still hear it.
Best wishes,
Clive

 

Hi Emma, I think you are technically correct in your wording But the people who habituate really dont 'hear' it for hours and days sometimes, they are just not aware of it. Then if they do hear it again they are not bothered and it passes quickly and they are then not aware of it again. Lord knows how that happens but it is possible.

 

To me a cure would be the elimination of the tinnitus signal. Habituation, hearing it but not reacting to it would also be just "peachy". I have been at it for almost 15 months. Doing Neuromonics and getting counseling. Not there yet. Am better but not at the point where I can say, "I hear it but I don't care. It is not an issue in my life. I am back to my old self." It is a horrid condition.

 

It is horrid Stan. What type of a noise do you have?

 

I have those too Markku. Very frightening as you think 'oh no, please God dont let it stay like this'. I read somewhere that its the brain 'calibrating'. I dont know how true that is but it's what I cling on to when they happen.

There's another phenomenon I've had quite a bit too where you get that really, really loud tone but you go deaf as well. Only for a few seconds. I've been told that's a temporary lack of something (not sure what) getting to the inner ear and it was termed a 'cochlear storm'. I cant find any reference to that on the net though.

I wish mine hadnt got worse since it started, as looking back, it was much more easily manageable than what I have now. Mine's now started up in the other ear so now its in both and its giving me a full head of noise, electrical and fast flowing. I didnt have that a few weeks ago. I really cant see that what Jastreboff would say is true, that it's my anxiety that put it into a previously ok ear.

As you say a mind of its own. No controlling it and it can do what it wants. Thats the scariest part

 

doesn't anyone believe that it gets better in time - not worse! Click quoted so many people whose T totally went away after maybe two years time. also, what I read is that most people started out with a noise situation but mine started with a TMJ issue with a physical exertion one day. I've worn an orthotic for a year which ended in November. I still have T but I'm wondering if the T is permanent now the jaw is better

 

I can only report what mine has done, it has got worse and I'm not going to say it hasn't. Its frightening and I need to tell it as it is and get support.
There are many other reports on here of people improving; Erik, Fish, many more. And some very inspirational write ups of where people have come through horrors and overcome it to get better in time. I think there are more reports of it getting better than worse it would seem to me.

 

Louise,

I seem to get very frightened and sad when I read posts of us whose T gets worse. I just wish something could be done, but as I read this forum so many people have T from different incidences, different sounds. It gets very confusing and alarming on how they can come up with a solution for something with so many variables. I only hope that we can all write someday that we all are improving.

 

Chicken,

I think the very fact that there seem to be so many different causes is why there are so many different outcomes.

Perhaps some people with T have damage that cannot recover and others have damage that the brain can 'fix'.

None of us have the answer.

I do know that many people recover completely - no T at all - and that many more 'habituate' to the point where their T doesn't bother them at all. Yes, some have T that gets worse as well but that doesn't mean it will happen to you.

I wish that we could reassure you more but we're all in the same boat - trying to find answers to something that the medical profession haven't managed to answer yet.

Just try to stay positive - because fear and anxiety definitely make the situation worse.

Click

ps. and yes, I still firmly believe that mine will go away eventually.

 

Louise - my T is a high frequency tone which may morph in to a swishing which and change to crickets. Loudest in the AM and PM. In to this affliction at 15 months.

 

That's how I look at it. You don't need a cure for something you don't suffer from. Like, I don't need a cure for flatulence. My family may disagree.

 

Thanks Stan.. sounds similar in some ways to mine. I have swishing, like a coiled spring coiling up and down and in and out and the dentists drill in it does that too. Im interested in peoples sounds because Im trying to find someone who, like me, has a lot of movement in their sound and yet have still managed to habituate it. I think its very hard to habituate something thats moving in your ear.

 

I'm wondering if there really are that many variables. Neuronal hyperactivity seems to me to be the main cause of the noise. Once they can target the auditory neurons only and calm them then I think there'll be a big percentage of us that will be ok. For instance Clonazepam turns down the volume in a lot of people. Cant use it long term as its a Benzo and it also calms the rest of the brain not just the auditory cortex. I really dont understand why they havent got further with this. There are already drugs that DO lessen the noise, by a lot. I cant be a massive jump from there to get a drug which specifically targets T hyperactive neurons. I know of someone that is getting nearly all her days T free or 2/10 due to taking two anti-convulsant drugs. These drug companies just need to release them for use in T.

 

Louise - why is it taking so long for "them", the egghead scientists, to find a solution(s)? T has disrupted my life big time like I know it has others. Played havoc with my psyche.

 

I know Stan, its destroyed my life so far.

I think it must be a matter of focus and money why they havent got further. But you would think they have a good starter in the fact that Clonazepam reduces the volume in a lot of people. Cant they take that and run with it?

Until then its just maskers Im afraid People will look back on that one day and laugh at what we had to do. Its so prehistoric as a treatment.