Living with Tinnitus

Hi Everyone

I've never joined a tinnitus forum before and I guess I'm joining now because I've had a few glasses of wine and some time to write this.

I've had tinnitus for as long as I can remember. I'm 42 and can remember as far back as primary school hearing this noise in my head. It's always there but it fluctuates in volume depending on stress and if I've been in a noisy environment. If I'm in a quiet environment and I concentrate on the tinnitus it seems to double in volume. When I feel a wave of stress either because of something at work or home, it acts like a trigger for the amplification of the tinnitus. The normal volume of my noise is louder than a spoken conversation but maybe not as noisy as a passing car.

My noise is a constant, high pitched, sort of pure, noise. It's almost like it's generated by something electronic. The closest I've come to hearing sounds that emulate it, and which seem to cancel it out, is with noise that emanates from electronic equipment. Old TV's and strip lighting used to have a similar pitched noise that I could hear which temporarily replaced my own internal noise.

I've been deaf in my right ear since birth, so having this noise in the only useful ear is really something I could do without! I've got good at positioning myself in social and work situations so that I have most of the people in a group to my left. But it's not always possible to do that so I try to bluff and make agreeing noises when spoken to.

I try not to focus on it too much. I always have music on at home so there is always something louder than the tinnitus. Just now with music on in the background (Wilco, if you're asking) I can still hear my noise.

I'll turn the volume up.

M

 

Sounds like you've had a rough time of it.

Do you have tinnitus in your deaf ear as well?

 

I can't hear anything in my deaf ear so not aware of any tinnitus noise there

 

Lucky! I've heard of quite a few deaf people with T.