It's Been a Month for Me!

Hello everyone, I think my life has just turned around, it's not as much fun anymore. I think this is stress related, I've had a life and death struggle several months ago. Plus I ran over my dog accidently within the year. My business sucks, loosing money, broke up with girl friend. Having lots of anxiety, feeling depressed.

Went to a therapist couple days ago, she said I have PTSD and is going to treat me with a technology called EMDR. Spelling might be off here. This might have something to do with Tinnitus. One big problem I have is trying to sleep, I can't go back to sleep after the first 2 hours, even with meds. The rest of the night I just lay there with ear plugs on and hope to fall into a sleep.

I lay their for hours with a fan and white noise machine, ear plugs with Deep Sleep sounds. I'm scared to sleep because it's so loud when I wake up. Any ideas!

Has anyone had help with Acupuncture? Have you read about the Levo System? Noise Generators?

 

Here is one member's view on acupuncture which I agree.

"My therapist told me that acupuncture helps mostly to people who have stress induced tinnitus (mostly businessmen and such). With other kinds of T, the process of healing is very slow and long. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn't. But it always helps with getting rid of stress induced by T which is, I would say, better than taking anxiety pills."

 

Please do not panic or worry.
Giving sometime ... you will get used to T.

 

Hello Ty P. I am only a little ahead of you in the t. world, just coming up to 2 months. I have found a couple of things have helped me, and so I thought I would share. I hope these give you some thoughts. How do you get off the vicious cycle of t = anxiety which ='s more t which ='s more anxiety, and so on, and the endless loop continues. I have been meditating for years which has helped me a lot. Talk to your therapist about it, or perhaps join a meditation group to help you start. Others on this site have shared that it helped them. I know it sounds strange trying to be quiet with this noise in my ears, but it can work, just a thought. Having hope, and reading the Success Stories section and realizing it can be you in those stories to. Having hope, I have found, is a very important factor to helping us humans go forward. You can do well, things can change for the better, but seeing it and starting to believe in it are an amazing first step. I have been in some dark places myself in the past, and I look back on how I have changed, and as I changed so did my life for the better. If I can, so can you.

I remember waking up and in a half awake moment thought to myself, maybe this is a bad dream, then I realized it wasn't a dream, I was living it. That was about a month or so ago. I started to realize, with the patient help of people on this site, that it can get better, and as my t. fluctuates, I am given periods of reprieve and hope for improvement. From what I have heard, for a number of people it may take a month or two for it to start fluctuating, or begin to fade. For you, maybe that is you.

Have hope, read the success stories section, and take each good moment and make it big. Watch comedy on the tv., or something that makes you laugh. When the mind is distracted, it tends to forget about the t., an important step in dealing with it.

Best of luck, I hope some of this helps.
JohnCC

 

John, Thanks for the impute. I've been having good success on hearing aids that mask the sound, and also working with my therapist on eliminating some of the trauma I've gone through via EMDR .

But my biggest issue at the present is not sleeping. I'm not sure if you go through this or not but when the T started I would wake up with my ears blaring so it would scare me to wake up now or go to sleep. At present it's 2:30 am, can't sleep, even with prescribed sleeping meds. Any experience with this?

Ty

 

Your sleeping pattern will improve, it takes time. For me I was able to go back with my 7 hrs sleep after six months, it takes time be patient ...

 

Hi Ty P. I too did wake up to my tinnitus, though I do not feel it is as prominent as your situation. I was using a tinnitus sound therapy web site (the ones that go for 8 to 10 hours) when I was sleeping. My doctor gave me some Nortripyline to help with sleep/anxiety, and I found I was able to go to sleep. However, I was using wifi for my computer to play the sound therapy during the night. What happens when you combine wifi, Bell Cananda and technology? What happens is that the wifi would cut out and the web site would stop. As soon as that happened, I would wake up from my t., realize that wifi was down, restart my computer, and start all over again. Fortunately, I was still able to go back to sleep. I have overcome the problem by going out and getting 100' internet cable and connecting my computer into the internet that way. Since then there has been no intermittent sound therapy at night.
I know that this is not a severe as your situation, but at least you know you are not alone in dealing with sleep anxiety. For the first 2 to 3 weeks, I did not want to go to bed, because it would be there at night, and in the morning. I am a nighthawk and so what has also helped me is that I have been going to bed between 2 and 4 in the morning. I wake up around 9 to 10 or so. The day is not so long, and when I go to bed I am tired, which I feel also helps me sleep.

I have also found that realizing that it can get better, and does for so many people, why not me, and why not you? Stress and stressing over your t. is a great way to keep beating yourself up. You know how you can show compassion and understanding for someone you care about? Well, how about you start showing that patience and understanding and support for yourself. It starts with hope, that tomorrow one thing will be better. What you have to do is notice it. When you expect it to be bad, usually that is all you see and recognize and acknowledge in your head, even WHEN SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENS, YOU WON'T SEE IT. So, start tomorrow by noticing 1 good thing, even something not that big, a good parking spot, a good seat, that last copy of a dvd you wanted is there, and you got it, someone said something funny and made you laugh or smile. Acknowledge it, and realize more can come along. Sure the t. is still there, but you know what, something good happened, feel good about it, and then the t. starts to lose its grip on you. You notice 5 good things when you go to bed, the t. may start to lose its grip on you and your anxiety starts to lessen, don't focus on the t. don't give it that power over you, you have the power over it to look somewhere else. Something good happened in that you found this website. A lot of people don't and are left in the dark with not answers and support and understanding.

Today, I had a good day, got lots done and felt I had accomplished a lot. A lot that is, except for the t. ringing in my right ear loud and constantly throughout the day. It was angry for whatever reason today. At times I didn't notice it, but that was rarely today. The rest of the time I have decided to ignore it, more on, and not let it take away the good stuff of today. It is ringing now, and rather loudly. Was it easy to get here. NO. I got here because I started to have hope that it will improve, and I started to appreciate 1 good thing, and remembered it, then 2 , then 3, and then I realized I could look past this and not let it run me. Sure, I still have hard times, I won't lie where it does bother me, and I still describe my improved attitude as fragile, but each day it seems to be alittle less fragile. Do I want this to go away, and wish I never picked up my phone which gave this to me. HELL Yeah!! But I have it, and blaming that moment won't change anything, only make me angry, and feed the t.

Well, for whatever it is worth, I hope this gives you some ideas or thoughts. If you want to chat more, and I found this out only after a while, the best way to let someone know you responded to their post is to highlight a portion of it, and no will notice that at the bottom of the highlighted section a pop-up will appear and it will say "Quote'. Click on the Quote, and in the area at the bottom of the page where you type in your reply, the quote will appear. When you hit post reply, a notice will appear in the top of the page that alerts people to your message. Otherwise people might not always followup and you are wondering why.
Anyway, hope this helps, and best of luck.
JohnCC

 

Just read this post from the Success Section, maybe you should read it to, but if not here it is. It is from Allyssa Lee

Hi all!

I remember when I first got tinnitus, there was a lot of worry and anxiety about it all. There were nights when I couldn't sleep because of the stress! I was constantly checking for the sound to see if it was still there. And ther were lots and lots of tears (I'm a cancer, I can't help it!).

Within the first few week of my tinnitus, I remember I shared that I had gotten tinnitus with a coworker of mine, who then told me that her boyfriend had gotten it from shooting off a gun without any ear protection. I asked her if he struggles with it, and she told me, "it was annoying to him for the first couple months, but then he got used it".

I was taken back a bit by that. What he thought was annoying, I thought was the end of my life. That was the first thing that really made me feel better in those first couple months. It was nice to see a real person with tinnitus, living their life and out in the world. Maybe that sounds silly, but everyone else I had known with tinnitus has been online (mostly this forum). And as we all know, a lot of the stuff we read on here is all doom and gloom.

I feel like I've finally reached that point where tinnitus at most, annoying, and that's just when I sit and listen to it. The stress doesn't keep me up anymore (and hasn't in months!). I'm not healed, but I'm okay! I totally believe that I can live a full and happy life with the buzzing.

I think the most important thing you can do for yourself when you get tinnitus, don't stress. Easier said than done, I know, but the only power that the tinnitus really has is giving you that stress. That's the horror of it.

Life goes on after tinnitus, I promise!

 

John, thanks for the forwarding, like anything it's going to take awhile to get use to. Yesterday morning I was pulling weeds early in the morning, went back into the house and the T was barely noticeable. I thought wow, it's over and then it came back. My biggest problem is accepting it, I'm trying! I'm so tired too, every time I does off it back twice a strong.

 

John, when you refer to sound thereby web site, are you referring to the masking sounds tapes you can play on You tube>

 

Hi Ty P. Yes =, they are the same, just called different things. Explore different sites. I did and for some they worked better with me than others. I play different ones on different nights, it depends on the volume and pitch of my t. at the time.
Glad to hear that the weeds worked, do you have neighbours?? I have found that on some days my t. is worse than others, it really does seem to have a mind of its own. I appreciate the days when it is quieter, and live through the ones that are not as I wait for the quiet moments (such as with you and the weeds) later on. Each time I get a quiet moment it reminds me that it may not be permanent, it can fade, if not, dare I say hope it may disappear. There are many people who live with it with minimal adjustments to their lives. Why not me, and you? Every time I have a quiet moment I try not to think about it, or focus on it, and just think, yeah, this is good, and it will get better. Just remember to stay as protected and aware of your environment to stay safe from loud noises as best you can.
Best of luck,
JohnCC

 

John, thanks for tip on the sound thereby, I started using them right away, especially tonight when my T comes on strong after I wake up. Question, on some of these their is a chipping sound, does it matter what ear it goes to? My left ear is the culprit.

I also wanted to share some other technologies I've learn about. Go to Otoharmanics.com and look at the LEVO system, they were recently just FDA approved for tinnitus.

Also I've read about certain people getting help with herbs, their is a Dr.Williams, have you heard of him? And then their is people who have corrected there low insulin levels that kill the nervous system disruptive brain signals. (near diabetic) they say 72% of tinnitus people have it because of it.

 

When I go to sleep and then wake up the T is louder than normal, does anyone have any ideas how to work with this. In some ways I don't want to sleep but I have to, very aggravating!

 

That's very interesting @Ty P. Martello , I will try to check that out, as I am pre-diabetic and maybe it contributed in part.

As to the Allyssa Lee quoted above bu @John CC , my ENT told me this about T: some people are really bothered by it, and some are not. Ie meaning people's attitude, approach to life, ability to ignore differs quite a bit. I'm not sure she said it, but it seems to me, the more one focuses on it, the less your brain can get used to it.

As to sleep, I find I look forward to it because, for me, it is one of the few times I don't experience T (ie the hours when asleep). It's like I'm gratful to shut down. I find each day is almost it's own story, so I want to end the current one. Then in the morning, whatever T is there is likely to set the pattern for the day 80% of the time. But I haven't gotten huge spikes when waking up, just high, med or low within a base range.

I hope you find a way and get the rest you need.

 

I feel like I'm getting use to the T during the day, but when I wake up it's still twice as loud and it seems to take hours before it calms down, anybody have any ideas what I can do?