Monitoring Tinnitus and Anxiety

Does anyone have any tips on how to turn off the monitoring and listening to the tinnitus?

Finding it so hard to not listen out for it and constantly monitor it.

Also any tips on how to calm down. I wake up feeling sick as soon as I hear it and then panic over and over again.

Any advice welcome. This has come from a spike, due to noise exposure.

Kind regards and any help welcome!

 

Just stop doing it.... I did it so much in the past but it only make your brain more focused on it. It is and OCD thing...you are obsessed about your T.
What you feel is pure anxiety ...what helps for my is running ..... so much that I am so bloody tired and than I care less for my T. But you need to stay busy. I used to pause walking in my home to hear how loud it was. I did not have to "LOOK" for it because it was always there. But you mind need to let go ..... I just had enough and just stopped doing it and every time I wanted to do it I did 50 push-ups ...every time I want to stick my fingers in my ear...50 push-ups ....just to get my mind of this obsessed ritual.
I now do not do it anymore..... still got T though but at least I do not monitor it that much anymore..... but when you hear it you just hear it.... cannot do a thing about that. But monitoring it is hard to let go off, but it can always be done.....you just have to do it when you are ready for it.

 

As long as one just actively tries not to think about it, the brain will be focused on the thing it's supposed to avoid. This is because there is an active thought fixated on T (=trying not to notice it). So at least for me, it really doesn't work. So tell your brain what to do instead: distract it in positive ways and eventually, allow T to exist. For some using masking sounds that completely erase the T noise doesn't work, but for me it was a lifesaver when I was really anxious. Just not allowing myself to hear it and managing my anxiety instead. Then when I didn't feel hopeless anymore (I had my routine of putting pleasant masking noise whenever T sound would bother me), I started to decrease the volume of masking.

Then the next step was to allow and accept the noise - I can't decide not to notice it, so I can listen to it and little by little accept it. T doesn't cause pain, it doesn't mean something is fatally wrong etc. This is hard and it's something I still need to work on. When the sound becomes neutral (we allow it, we don't fight it), then the brain stops obsessing about it and eventually it will fade into background more and more. One very good piece of advice that helped me in starting this, was that whenever you find yourself listening and analyzing your T, change the perspective a bit. Instead of obsessing about the loudness and whether it is better/worse, just tell yourself how you feel about it. So "my T is really loud today, is that a new sound?!" changes into "I am anxious about my T today, I need to find a way to calm myself down a bit". This kind of helps to take control & action... We can't directly change T volume, but we can alter our reaction to it.

And when it comes to calming down, the best methods vary a lot from one individual to another. What are the things you enjoy @Elfin ? Which activities make you feel good? For me it is escapism by playing video games, listening to music, eating healthy & delicious food or doing some light yoga exercises. These things make me feel better and when I comfort myself with them, it feels like I am not allowing T to stop me from enjoying all things. Acute anxiety/panic is another thing and it is really tricky to control. Whenever you feel like anxiety is swallowing you, stop and think this: what is the tiniest, smallest thing you can do to make yourself feel better? Is it a warm cup of tea to root you back or just lying on floor listening to certain music? Big steps can seem impossible when one's really anxious/depressed, so I find it easier to start with something small, when in the middle of it.

Hope this helps, even a little bit.

 

Thank you both for your kind and considered replies!

Rico, I too am now constantly pausing to listen out for it. I stop mid conversation sometimes or when I am in the middle of a separate task. It is all consuming and horrible and I seem powerless to stop it! I will put into action hte press ups challenge and see whether this works in altering my reaction to it.

Nim, thank you. Will try to get back into running or dog walking. Hate going outside at the moment as I can hear it in places where I previously could not. The resultant panic is awful and makes me just want to shelter away until it washes over me, even though I know that it will not. I will try to shift the thoughts in the mind. I, too, constantly try to monitor whether I hear a new sound or whether it has got worse. This obsessing really does seem to the root of the suffering with it!

Thanks for both your help!

 

It's very hard for me due to prior depression issues about focusing on negative thoughts unless its lower OR I have the right kind of balance from medicines or supplements. Right now I'm using Neurontin and Lamictal which for the moment seems to be helping. Years ago I used flaxseed oil for depression and then klonopin ocassionally for loud flare ups. After that I had a lot of stress and some depression due to me lowering flaxseed oil probably (really stupid on my part) and my tinnitus increased. I got on knonopin full time which helped for maybe a couple of years and then stopped. I have a mild bipolar issue I think so these are the things that have helped me in the past.

-One other thing that has definately helped-Hearing aids have helped lower some of the tinnitus noticability for me.