Love from Germany

Hey Guys,

my name is Stefan, i'm 24 years old and i'm coming from Solingen in Germany. Sorry for my bad english, but i think you gonna understand the most of it.

I think, i start like everyone with the story when my tinnitus began. It was a day in july 2017. At the beginning of the year 2017 i stopped playing football, which i played nearly 20 years, i stopped go to the gym, which i went almost 4 times a week over 1-2 years, because i haven't enjoyed playing football like the years before. The main reasons why i stopped doing these wonderful things were that i travelled for 3 weeks through iceland, i had to learn for my college (studying safety-engineering), working a lot in an engineer-office and working sometimes at the restaurant from my parents. After my exams in college and the iceland-trip i noticed, that i always was really tired, often i dealed with low blood pressure, i felt kind of dizzy sometimes, but the amount of work, stress and loud environments still existed. The problem was, that my balance wasn't there anymore without my sport activities.

Also i was always a very scared (or anxious) child. I wasn't really that anxious but i never liked some situations like being at places with many crowds, or drinking alcohol on mass in other citys, because i'm a person which prefers some sort of control over your own body. If something was not comfortable in my opinion, my mind went crazy and so my body and my mood and mind did.

On a friday night in july i went after having dinner to a club with a friend. Also at that day i felt again a little bit dizzy and sick. It was FU***** loud. We were the only two people in this club. It was actually just for fun, we only wanted to have a look, not to get drunk. After 5 minutes we went to another bar, normal noise, nothing special. On the saturday at work i noticed the ringing. After researching in the internet (which is quite stupid) i went to the ENT, with all tests, getting cortison and thats it.

I had to stop working and doing anything in the next 2 months. I was not myself in this months. I stopped meeting people like i did before. Everything was crazy. I couldn't sleep, i could barely eat, i couldn't laugh, i felt sometimes i would be in another galaxy.

I also have hearing loss in both ears. I can post an example of my results from an app. I really don't know if it was due to the loud noise exposure for this 5 minutes, or maybe a genetic phenomen, or my bad health situation at some days. But i think it was the mix of everything. Loudness, sickness, stress, no sport, genetic phenomen.

My tinnitus is quite loud, i can hear it most of the time. At the beginning it was crazy, i mask it always and everywhere. But at this day, i don't do this anymore. I would write a little success story, but i think i need still a littlebit of time, to write one. Because my biggest problem isn't the tinnitus. For sure, it's not cool or a lot of fun to have it, but with time it doesn't effect you so much. My bigger problem is still a little anxiety, that i'm scared that my hearing gets worse. I'm working on that, that my thoughts about this doesn't make sense and i have to live normal as before without any anxiety. So mediating and chi gong helps a lot, also reading books, relax a lot and don't take life to serious.

In my opinion it's very important to make sure, that you are the most important person for yourself in this world. Also getting some good costum made ear plugs are very important. Oh yeah, i also had hyperacusis (H) for the first month, because of that i used the earplugs always. But after 2 months i stopped it and it went away. If it's really tooo loud, like at a bar with loud music, or concerts, or in a metro i plug them in, but only when its really neccesary. I know it can really hurt your ears when you deal with H, but it's not good and doesn't help you at all wearing these things 24/7. So, put them out and live your normal life, also when it hurts you in the first days.

Also, i don't mask my tinnitus at all! No music when im working, no music when i'm reading a book, nothing. I also consciously go to quiet places (living room or my bedroom, where everything is off). Only when i really want to hear a good playlist, when im writing or reading something, than i put music on. Also here, i think you can better learn to live with tinnitus, when you actually LIVE with tinnitus. Masking made it always worse for me. I was always scared after i paused the music and the tinnitus "was still there". I know it's loud and irritating but after a while you get used to it. Sometimes i don't even noticing it.

Sometimes there is a little spike or a bumb there, but hey, it does go away. Just relax, take a deep breath and don't think about it. It doesn't mean, that i'm not scared if my tinnitus gets louder sometimes, but it doesn't affect me as much as in the past.

I also have days, where i think "fu**, why me" and "oh, my friends can still party and don't have to look after their ears". But that's normal, so is life, the next day will get better.

My both ears also have sometimes some sort of pressure and clicking, which is really annoying, but also this is getting some days better and some days worser, but that's not a fact, to get depressed or sad about this condition. Everything will get better. Our body is a real masterpiece. So we have to treat it also like a masterpiece.

I hope, you got some informations about me and my vision of our good and lovely friend. Really, don't take the life too serious, be relaxed, if you have some real problems, get you a good friend, have a nice chat, and a drink, maybe also a good therapeut or a good massage and work on it.

Oh, and yeah. My tinnitus is much louder, when i eat some things, like candys or drinking coffee, but that's not a fact for me, that i don't drink coffee or eat candys anymore. I still enjoy it, but not so much though. ;D

I forget so many things. READ SUCCESS STORIES AND BE POSITIVE! Like Billie in this forum, his success story is very very helpful!

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

I wish you everyone all the best, some lovely christmas days with your family and friends (especially with your little friend) and an hilarious new years eve, without loud fire crackers maybe!

In love, your Stefan!

 

Welcome to the forum. Thank you Stefan for your positive post and the kind words. We all try to help others in our own way. I am sure when you are ready to write a success story, it will help lots of other people. Indeed this post already contain may good advice and valuable points. I look forward to your success story. Thanks again,

Billie