Living With Tinnitus

Hey Everyone,

I'm Axel from Belgium and I have been living with Tinnitus now for over 2 years. In my case it was all my own fault for getting Tinnitus, however I don't think anyone should have to live with it no matter what they did or experienced.

For me it all started because I liked to listen to my MP3 at night, as a young guy I found it normal to put it on maximum level. I listen to normal music, no heavy stuff or anything, in fact people call me an old guy since I like to listen to music from before I was born (1989) like songs from the 50th's, 60th's and so on. Anyway, at certain points after listening for a while (could be an hour sometimes) I got a rinning in my ears.

As you can expect you don't take it as a signal towards something bad, I didn't even know what Tinnitus was at that moment, never heard of it actually. When I got these moments of rinning, I always expected them to go away after a while, mostly when I would wake up they always were gone. I compared it to swimming where you get a rinning if you go to deep.

At one night I was not listening to my MP3 or didn't even listen to it the days before but still I got a rinning in my ears suddenly out of nowhere just when I was about to go to sleep. Since I had experienced them a few times I thought they would go away. This was the day it all changed, my life changed and how I looked at life changed since the rinning never went away.

The first days were hell. I could not sleep anymore, I lacked energy and wanted to know what the hell was wrong with me and with my ears. I asked my parents what to do and they told me it would go away after a few days. They were wrong sadly, a few days later it was still there. I decided to go to the local doctor and she told me nothing was wrong with me and gave me some pills to increase the bloodflow to my ears, they didn't make a difference at all.

I went looking for help on the internet and quickly learned about this condition called Tinnitus. It broke my hopes and my strenght since what I read was awfull. It would only get worse, there is no cure and some people even commited suicide since they could not live like this anymore. I honestly became scared, "would this happen to me?" I asked myself. I searched for answers but found nothing, people who replied to me told me it would not go away ever and there was no clue to know if it would get worse or not. They told me to just live with it and ignore it.

I went to a specialist sometime later, he tested my ears and asked for questions. He noticed that I had a hearing problem at a certain frequency but my hearing in general was perfectly fine. Again I got some pills but they also did not work. I figured it was a waste of time to search for a cure, I really had to live with it for the rest of my life.

Since then my Tinnitus has become a part of my life, I mostly don't notice it anymore unless I pay attention to it or I am at a place where it's total silence. I sleep with a clock at night to "mask" the noise, I can't sleep without anything making at least some noise. I haven't had a day like those first days when it all began, only very rarely I get an increase or a another noise alongside the ones I already got but they go away quickly. I have two noises, a low rinning and a heavy sound like the sound you hear that your tires make when you drive on the highway. I know that paying attention to it makes it worse so I have stopped with that for a long time now, but it's still there, lurking in your mind, never leaving you, as a reminder to what I have done in the past.

The only thing I can do now is live my life with it and all the other problems I got (yes I got more) while I can only hope that it will not get worse and ruin my chance of having a normal and happy life like we all should deserve.

Thanks for listening or in this case reading my story, sorry by the way for the long post but I am not the kind of guy that replies in short messages. Lastly I am curious to see how you are doing and coping with it.

Axel

 

hi i love that i found this site because i have tinitus for a month now but the doctor said i will go away but it's still there this is the only site with people who actually live with it. it gives me a lot more hope to go on because i have a real hard time sleeping because it all started mid exams for me so it's kinda hard to be tired and to push yourself every day to go on thanks for the story

 

If my story can story can be of any help well than I am glad really. I know that the first few days/weeks/months are the most difficulty part of Tinnitus. Since you want to get rid of it, find a cure, make it stop at least for a few seconds and find out why you of all people got it. I can't say for you that there isen't any option that could "cure" it or that it can't go away suddenly, all of that is possible, but don't picture a life of hell if it does stay, you really do get used to it at least in my case.

Just stop paying attention to it, mask it with sounds or music, stay of alcohol or coffee since that can increase the volume and most importantly don't get stressed. Now for some people these things will not cause an increase in their Tinnitus level but that's something you have to find out for yourself. Mind you, I still drink coffee everyday and the ocasional beer or two in the week but I don't use them to much. For me, stress was the biggest problem, but since you can't make it stop it's hard not to pay attention to it and therefore get stressed, it's a cycle really. So that's why "moving it to the background" of your mind is important and I always try to have something that makes noise nearby.

Goodluck Nick, if you have any question or would like some suggestions don't be afraid to ask. Sharing your problems can also help find relief since there are days that Tinnitus controls you completely, but make it so that you have the upperhand most of the time.

 

Stress is really one of the most important factors to increase your T....Drinking coffee , i believe never had any effect on me...beer relaxes you and in my case help me to "forget" a little this "problem".I am not a heavy drunker ,but with 2 or 3 biers i drink from time to time i feel more relaxed.
What i learned living with this disease for almost 20 years is:
1-Protect yourself as much as you can.Avoid loud music , such as concerts ,disco clubs , horns ,sirens,plains and all that stuff that could make more damage and increase the volume of your T.In my case i had a controlled T and with a stupid accident with a kid´s balloon, that blew near my ear, my volume increased a lot( 3 or 4 times) and i am in a process of adjusting to it for 2 years now.Beware of that "funny" guys who blow soccer horns next to people and fireworks exploding near you.Don´t forget that T it´s bad ,but could always get worse.
The only luck i have on all this stuff is that i have a heavy sleep and when my brain "disconnects" all the sound in my head goes away and only returns when i wake up.
Be careful ,you are very young and if they not discover a "miracle" to this disease you will have to leave with it for a long time ,as i am.I am almost 20 years waiting for a cure.Maybe in my lifetime i can close my eyes and enjoy total silence.Still have hope.

 

well i got a lot of problems in my family the last couple months so i am pretty stressted all the time if those stop that would prob help a lot. the biggest problem i have is sleeping because i can't sleep with any noise like a clock or music but that makes the sound a lot more obvious. i am going to the docotor agian tommorow to get my ears checked again