Josh—15 Year Old from UK with Tinnitus

Hello everyone, my name is Josh.

I've had tinnitus for almost 2 months now (since the 19th December 2012), and it started because I kept listening to music too loud and I had no idea what it was doing to my ears. I was incredibly stupid and you can probably guess how much I regret it now.

My tinnitus is like a loud ringing sound, a constant 'eeeeeeeeee' is the best way to describe it. I found it really hard during the first few weeks and I kept getting quite upset about it. I also have type 1 diabetes so I had quite a lot to deal with before my tinnitus started. For the last month or so I've been coping with my tinnitus pretty well and I have tried my best to stop it from bothering me, and at school I usually do not notice it at all. I've figured that a lot of tinnitus is psychological and that the more positive you are about it the less you notice it.

However for the last couple of days I've been having quite a tough time with it again and with exams at school piling on it's harder to get away from it as the only sounds you can hear during a test is the sound of pens clicking and paper rustling, so it doesn't cover it very well. I don't think it has got any worse but I just think I am noticing it more for some reason. But I'm a bit concerned because when I get upset about it I have some very dark thoughts despite the fact that I'd consider myself to be quite a happy person generally. It has changed my life quite a lot and although I usually begin to feel better about it after a while it's not the ideal situation.

Another tough part is that nobody really understands quite how bad it is. I honestly have nobody else to talk to in real life about it that truly gets how I feel about it, so that's one of the main reasons why I've signed up to here. I'm quite interested in what works for people to give them relief from the T.

I hope you are all coping ok.

 

Hey Josh,

Being young is something will probably work very well for you. Being worried about it is going to make it worse, and you have the pressure of your exams adding to your general anxiety level. You've already made the connection between anxiety/thought-processes and your perception of T.

I think you seem well equipped to deal with the dark thoughts, and you need to let them come but just as easily let them go, like a train that pulls into the station that you choose not to get on. Don't be disturbed by them, but try and observe them and critique them; this puts you in a position of control over your thoughts, rather than being just subjected to them.

You'll find lots of people to talk to here, I hope this site helps you in some way. Take care of yourself.

DD

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying my best to deal with it, but tomorrow I am going skiing with my school and I'm a bit worried about it bothering me so again it's been on my mind a lot and making me more upset about it. However I'm sure I'll be fine when I can take my mind off of it again for a while.