Life with Tinnitus and No Earplugs

Hi everyone,

First I wanna say if this post offends anyone, I'm sorry, it's not my attention, I'm just venting.

I've had tinnitus for 1 month and I posted a few times but I want to say my story and what I think of T and this forum and life with T in general.

I'm 32, I'm married, I got a son and I was living life just fine up until a month ago.

So I'll start off by saying my t was pretty low, a simple fan or tv would mask the noise, not so much anymore, only because I choose not to wear ear plugs, people on here say the minute they go outside they put ear plugs in there ears when they drive in a car when they go to a restaurant when they're just taking a walk, I don't understand what kinda life is that, my thought is that if you have to live in a bubble, cause that's pretty much what it is, then you shouldn't live at all.

My T gets loud, goes low, gets loud, goes low, there's no controlling it if you wear ear plugs or not, if you smoke, drink, eat salt, drink coffee, you really never know what is spiking it, it's all a guessing game so live the best you can if you can.

My ENT says my eustachian tubes are inflamed very bad, that's pretty much what is causing my T but I'm not very hopeful that it will go away, I was hopeful but because of this forum because everything on here is horror especially when I read about people with the same problem I have, yet they've had T for 20 years, but for some stupid reason I'm addicted to this forum like a drug just reading and reading and reading. I believe that this T is hell on earth and nothing less, it's so unpredictable it makes me feel so hopeless, I cry and cry and cry, I feel sorry for myself, for my family and then I get angry that even if I habituate to the noise, I gotta wear ear plugs wherever I go basically and I can't stay in the silence and I can't stay where it's to noisy, so pretty much stay in a bubble with a white noise machine, I tell you now it's not a life, it's hell on earth, and the thought of leaving this life is not far from my thoughts.

My work consist of me driving constantly and this forum pretty much says that the damn bumps in the road and pavement is no good for your ears it spikes t, it's just amazing how it takes away the simplest things in life like going to a movie is a problem, now driving is a problem, the ambulance truck that passes by is a problem.

Last week I went to a bar with friends with no ear plugs because I refuse to live in a bubble and all I can think about is how my friends are drinking and having fun and my thoughts are is my t gonna be louder and stay louder forever after this night, it's depressing.

I'm mad at life, now I could not sleep because yesterday I drove 100 miles and my t has not gone down and seems to get louder every day, so my options are wear ear plugs, and live in a bubble, and stop salt, and don't eat fast foods, and don't smoke, and don't drink, and don't drive too long, and don't go to movies, and don't go to bars and restaurants, and pretty much just stand still with a white noise machine or have t spike constantly and the best part is even if I do just stand still with a white noise machine it still spikes, lol life sucks, your thoughts....?

 

Isn't this evidence that your approach is not working? Living in a bubble is no way to live, but can't the same be said of living with screaming T? Which one is worse?

 

I honestly don't know bill

 

I guess it all depends on how loud it ends up being.

As for living in a bubble, I think this stage may last for a year or two. Once everything that could possibly heal, has finished healing, at that point it might make sense to stop worrying about the normal sounds. For me, noisy pubs are out for the rest of my life, though.

 

I wish you the best I really do but I just can't seem to understand this T, some days I can barely hear it the next it's so loud that nothing will mask it, how is one supposed to get used to this I'll never understand

 

Dear @Angelos'life, you don't necessarily have to do all the things that other forum members are doing...I'm not telling you one way or the other but not everyone has the same tinnitus situation and some take more precautions than others...some need to. I may overprotect myself, but the fear and possibility of making tinnitus worse is real, and sometimes you absolutely need to protect yourself. Maybe it's just protecting, not overly, who knows. My job is making deliveries and I don't wear earplugs specifically for road noise...the road noise I hear is not loud enough. I may have earplugs in a lot but that is due to noisy places I have to run into and it's easier to just keep them in rather than taking them out and putting them back in a lot, but I only really need them a small amount of that time. If I wore musician's earplugs they'd be easy to take in and out, but foam ones protect better so I usually use those. With having earplugs in you can do most things but just can't hear as well when you do them. Yes sometimes you feel disconnected with earplugs but what can you do...

Some folks may be on this forum after having T for decades not because they are distressed but because they want to help others and are just interested in T related things since they have it. I say some folks cause that may not always be the case.

 

You could be thankful for the quiet days. IMHO if you protect your ears, than gradually, over a period of 3-9 months, the number of quiet days will likely increase...

It seems to me that the fact that your T changes is a great sign.

 

@billbauer what does imho mean I'm sorry I don't know what it means

 

I never wear ear plugs unless using power tools. My t just stays constant all the time, no changes unless i get the odd fleeting t.

 

My tinnitus started before 6 months. Does that mean it still heals? I try to avoid loud music but in general I have to play music at my dance classes. Do I ruin my healing? But I read that nerves won't heal. If I quit and go live in a silent place will it heal?

 

Hello @Angelos'life
That's how I feel right now. I think tinnitus is the worst handicap that someone can get because even disabled people can still enjoy things like going out, cinema, SLEEP etc. and of course music which is a life element. I don't see much hope after hanging around in the forum. It gets worse and nobody can be pure happy with this. It's true that for most people out there, out of TT it's mild and stable. I know people with tinnitus that goes to clubs etc and nothing happens to them. Here we are different cases. I am thinking everyday about suicide. I'm losing hope unfortunately... sorry

 

I have extreme severe t and h. Nobody knows why my t is so loud in both esrs and head. It's a true nightmare.
Do you have h too?
If you are feeling so bad @vermillion try to get some professional help. I hope you will feel better soon. But I really know how you feel, is the worst thing on earth

 

they say that it took 18 Months before u have a T that stays mostly forever. Also the Habituation Process for the most people is that long.

IMHO means "in my honest opinion"

 

It's funny how often we use these words. How often are they actually true?

 

In my humble opinion = IMHO

 

It is my understanding that many people recover within 6 months, a small fraction recover between 6 and 12 months, and an even smaller fraction recover between 12 and 24 month (some lucky people recover after 24 months). So some healing is probably still taking place after the 6 months mark... It would probably be safer to stop teaching these dance classes. You don't know exactly what it is that is causing your T - it could be nerves, or it could be something else (neurons not functioning properly). Since some people recover, or at least end up with lower volume, something must be able to heal itself. If you stop doing things like being around loud music (at dance classes), the Chance of becoming better is probably going to be higher.

Full disclosure - I don't have a medical background. I don't even have any background in biology. I read a lot about T on the net, and I am using my common sense. I could be completely wrong.

 

Yes, people with other predicaments can get an hour or two where they can forget about their disease. Not the case with T...

 

T is very bad indeed, but I wouldn't claim that it's the worse condition on earth.

First, because there is no metric by which we can compare such disabling conditions.
Second, because there are many other conditions that you don't know about that are also extremely difficult to deal with (just like you probably didn't know how bad T could be before you got it).

 

Yes you're right. Therefore it's one of the worst. It's also very frustrating reading posts from members here with other cormobidities. Almost all of them claim that T wins the gold metal. Sign...

 

Which isn't too surprising on a tinnitus forum. Go to a health forum for another condition and there will be people with T as well although their other health problem will likely be more bothersome for him/her.

 

I don't believe that loud T can be habituated. There's a limit that when crossed... unfortunately nothing can be done.

 

Sorry but with this mentality, you will indeed never habituate.

 

Surely there has to exist T loud enough that it is impossible to habituate...

 

I don't think I have H. I went to professionals, still going to therapy. I went also to psychiatrists but I refused ADs for the known risks. Btw @MJv how long do you experience this and how do you cope?

 

@Angelos'life -

I don't wear ear plugs at all. I don't like putting anything in my ears and I don't like the warning label about removing them incorrectly may cause damage.

I have had T since Dec 2010 at that time with considerable dizziness. The dizziness lasted until Feb and I had so much to do I was just relieved when that happened. The T settled down (didn't go away) but mostly just heard it at night.

I found this forum doing searches for info after an increase of T and dizziness last fall along with hearing difficulties. I also don't do any dietary things but I am naturally avoidant of loud noises and crowds.

Advice is free on forums so don't think you are harming yourself if you don't do what others are doing. I learned that from autism and CFS boards. People spending tons of money and time and not really seeing any great cures. If doing these changes causes more stress than is it really helping. The only thing that seems prudent is avoiding loud noise. But that can be unexpected- like a hearing test caused a week long spike of the spike.

Lynn

 

I really wish I could change it. To tell you the truth @Rubenslash it's frustrating not to see any improvement after six months. My brain fucks with me. I wish I could snap out of it now and stop caring.

 

May I ask you to please elaborate? What part of the test do you think had that impact on you?

On day 11 after my acoustic trauma, I visited an audiologist and had a hearing test done. My T began in the evening of that day. I always thought that it had to be a coincidence. Was any component of your hearing test loud? I can't think of anything during my hearing test that could have been bad for my ears. The audiologist did a bone conduction test, but it wasn't noisy...

 

I understand about the ADs. I took one for a few years (for ocd) and had a terrible time trying to taper off. That was long before the T though. I had sensory overloads too and a very short use of xanax to calm the sensory system down was prescribed. I only did it for a few days rather than 1 to 2 weeks because I don't like drugs like that but it helped. Maybe it would calm things down so you could regroup.

 

For me it's one of the worst. For the mayority it isn't but that doesnt mean extreme t/h do not exist

 

Check! I have bad luck