I've Had Tinnitus for Almost a Year Now and It Is Literally Driving Me Insane!

Late last winter the ringing began and it hasn't stopped! Insomnia, anxiety, depression, panic attacks irritability, head aches, despair, lack of concentration followed! My ENTs comment was "don't keep the house to quiet at night" !!!! That being said its 24/7! I never really appreciated the statement "Silence is Golden", I do now!! My business is starting to suffer, my son wants me to step back because of my recent demeanor with customers! I'm a 55 year old male by the way. I'm seeing a psychiatrist and I've been contemplating filing for disability because "I ain't what I used to be!" Its so difficult for me to focus and I'm afraid of running my biz into the ground, my son is more than capable of taking the reins! The fact that I'm contemplating disability is also causing me anxiety! I always prided myself a hard worker! I hope talking to others cursed with this may give me some relief! HELP!!!!!

 

Jim, I have had T for a year as well. it has gotten better and most of the day I handle it well. I certailny understand your pain and feel for you. You will recieve alot of good advice on this site from great, caring people. The main thing that almost seems to apply to everyone is SLEEP, figure out a way to get the sleep you need and you can start the healing process. I suffered from depression before T so I use AD"s, obiously something to discuss with your doctor. I also learned to not be so hard on yourself, it is okay to get down sometimes, that is normal. I have been trying with some success to see all the good things I have in life, besides T-good health, good friends, a great family. Hopefully you can look at the positives you have. There are so many techniques people use, masking, meditation, breathing exercises, working out, hearing aids with maskers- I am sure alot I missed. I hope you find the "things" that can help you.
God Bless,
Kevin

 

Jim,

First off, cut yourself a lot of slack. You still ARE a hard worker, and you can feel good about that. I agree with the idea of sleeping with white-noise. Try a fan, or set an AM radio on static rather than a station. Find a way to do this in the daytime as well. In my experience, it doesn't have to be a loud white-noise, and in fact, I find that if it is softer, that actually helps. I can "tune out" that noise, and it helped train me to tune out the lovely sounds in my head. Like you, I am in my 50s (coming up on 54) and have been blessed with T since my late 30s. Stay the course, my friend. You can master this and live a normal life.

 

hi Jim.i agree with kevin.ive been dealing with pulsatile tinnitus as well as reg.T for about 15 months.the first 6 months were horrible.but things began getting better for me once I started to get a full nights sleep.im doing a lot better now .have some bad days but also have a lot of good days.have you considered Tinnitus Retraining Therapy.alot of people have had success with it.well good luck with things and hopefully things will get better.thanks billy43

 

Thank you Kevin, I 've tried a few things white noise, helps some but its still noise no silence! Some supplements, nah I don't think so! I asked my ENT what he could do for me.....a script for Ativan! I'm thinking meditation may be helpful and will explore that. Why me??

 

Thanks everybody man, have white noise going now it does help!

 

I'm at 5 months and I'm just starting to get a handle on sleep. I have to agree with the others: sleep is the key. I'll share a couple of things that have worked for me; I use binaural beats with ear buds for 30 minutes before bed, I have a pillow speaker set at really low volume plus an iPod dock speaker in the room just loud enough to dampen the T. I spent literally hours finding the right sounds that help me drift off to sleep. My favorites include the cabin of a 747, rain on a tarp. I find white noise to be too sharp, pink noise is actually supposed to cause a state of alertness, brown noise does it for me.

 

GREAT!!! Experiment with different sounds. I find that some are more effective than others.

 

Man, don't let T defeat you. I have it for almost 20 years and that never stopped me of working hard, sometimes double shifts. It's time to accept that your life will never be the same and enjoy what you have.

 

Welcome to the board, Jim. I agree with others. Don't despair. Don't fear T that it will ruin you and your ability to be normal again. This suffering and setback is temporary. You will get better. I didn't believe that before. I had suffered 'hell' with my ultra high pitch T and severe hyperacusis. Well here is a little bit about my nightmare with T & H during the first year. If I can get better over time as a panic prone person, have faith you can too, Jim.

I am one of those unlucky souls who a few years ago, besides bad tinnitus, also suffered severe hyperacusis. My T is an ultra high pitch dog whistle which can be heard above the jet noise in flights and above the horrendous roar of raging rapids while fishing. My H turned all normal sounds glassy and piercingly hurtful. I couldn't stand the sounds of TV, dishes, driving, conversations, even the soft voice of my wife hurt when spoken close to me. Gosh! H is actually more limiting than T in the sense that I had to withdraw from all social events and life became lonely. No eat outs, no parties, no movies, no concerts. I was in a 'prison' of sort. I had to wear earplugs but the plugs blocked all outside sounds making my ultra high pitch dog whistle T so unbearable & dominant.

H and T are two mutually exclusive tyrants. There is no lesser choice between them. They overwhelmed me and turned me into a wreck. I was in deep depression and had a hard time sleeping or concentrating. Worse, I also suffered from anxiety and panic disorders prior to T & H. So these two alien beasts literally opened the flood gate of hell of relentless anxiety and panic attacks on auto mode the minute I woke up. No amount of will power or things I learned from internet could stop these A & P attacks initially and their own sets of horrible symptoms are even harder to take. People have been known to be house-bound for life or refuse to fly or even go shopping due to the horror of panic attacks. And I was dealing with these unbearable sensations w/o any choice, daily and hourly. How does one live with such unbearable and unlivable condition? Often the tired and stressed out mind was floating the big 'S' word to me as it saw no way out of this 'hell' of a life. For how long? The thought of the future could send chills through my spine. The only way to cope was to take meds, benzos, ADs, sleeping pills, herbal supplements and what have you. I never thought I could recover from this nor ever see my good life back again. I was in a long dark tunnel with no end in sight.

But never say never. Today I live a normal, productive and absolutely enjoyable life. T still rings but my brain is hardened to this ringing and doesn't give a dime to it. The same sound used to overwhelm me. No longer. It has lost its tyranny over me over time. It is now just a paper tiger. What about H? Well, like many people, my H just faded within months. It is actually the easier one to shake. Just wear ear protection for loud sounds but don't over-protect for normal ambient sounds. Nowadays I could go movies without earplugs and I have been flying even long inter-continental flights with nothing but my fingers (during the takeoff) and an ipod for music. I can say I kick H's a s s like many people.

I am not alone in this. The success stories are filled with people who get better over time and after some help one way or another. They came back to write their success stories to help others. I posted mine too. So read over them to give yourself some hope and learn some valuable insights how to get better. In general, time, acceptance, positivity and patience plus some strategy will lead one to improve over time. So don't panic and try to calm down. It will get better. Just remember to give Time enough time. Hope you will improve. Relax and don't despair.

 

@JimPT
Yeah, the "I ain't what I use to be" comment. That thought has crossed my mind, but how can we not be what we use to be, we just got a little more, T. I agree with all the above comments. Every night I worry that I won't sleep and am thankful when I sleep all night. It helps the next day, I just feel better. Take care and welcome.

 

Hey, Thanks everybody it is a bumpy road and it is learning to cope, I know. It is good to hear success stories but I was exhausted last night and got 2-3 hours tops! And thank you billie48, I'll try and calm down. I think this site may be of some help to me I'm glad I found it. I hope I can learn to cope and not feel so tired and anxious all the time!

 

Jim You are 9 months in with tinnitus I am at 5 months it has been a rough 5 months I tried to keep working through the first 3 months with T it is hard I had to take a leave for the past 2.I am going to beat T and you can too.I still struggle and it is hard but I sleep better now and feel like I will get through this now ok .I try to stay busy and I have changed my life around abit .One day I just said Ok I'm gonna accept this and I ain't gonna let it controll me anymore .YOU ARE NOT ALONE We all have T.You can beat this .I know it seems you can't but something will happen and you will start to function better, it is a brain thing .It happens it happened to alot of people on here you will habituate.Take what meds you need to sleep .Take it easy on yourself for a while.Don't stress as much as possible.Get through a little stretch of time and you Will start to get better .The brain is a amazing thing it will figure it out and the doctors know it will ,but they don't really understand how it works.They know its in the limbic area and other parts too but it does heal .Jim you do what you need to get better then you can go back to work when you get over this.Your like me your stressing over life because you can't function right now .PUT YOUR LIFE on a vacation for now TAKE CARE of your health .Everything in your life will be waiting for you when you are ready.Take care of Jim right now.There are therapys TRT CBT ect to speed up recovery but you will recover.It will get better.