My Story — A Partial Success Story

Hi,

I thought of sharing my story to help some people (especially those who's condition might be similar to mine). I'm sure most people already know this stuff, but a partial success story doesn't hurt.

Suddenly, one morning, I woke up and had an out-of-nowhere terrible tinnitus in my left ear. The sound was completely crippling and my anxiety was through the roof. I really couldn't trace the T to any particular event of noise exposure (although being a musician I have had plenty of that also), and at that point I thought it was the only cause for tinnitus. For a while I could not cope with uni. or my social life. After a while of obsessing about tinnitus and educating myself with it, I observed that some people get tinnitus from stress, which seemed incredibly weird. When I gave my T more thought, it became clear that it was stress-induced, since I was going through a really stressful period in my life. At some point of the figuring-this-out process, I realized that actually I have had the tinnitus for as long as I can remember, but never did I think about it as T, but rather as the sound of silence (a nice relaxing jingling sound, if you will). The anxiety from stress just made me really hypersensitive and got me fixated on the sound, which had seemed to increase its volume. I seeked treatment for the anxiety, and the T sound lowered to some extent. However, I don't care about the sound not disappearing completely. Most importantly, I was no longer afraid of it. A sound once causing remarkable distress, was again just a sound, and I could go on with my life without thinking about it too much anymore, although sometimes I still do. The improvement is really drastic, since I was once so distracted that I was unable to watch TV-shows or listen to a conversation. I just hope things stay this way!

I hope this post will help some people to trace their tinnitus to be caused anxiety or depression, and seek treatment for them instead of obsessing about the T (I know it can be hard).

p.s. when the volume of tinnitus gets worse, I have found neck and jaw muscle relaxation exercises to be helpful to keep it in control (it can lower significantly, in my experience).

 

I agree with jaw and shoulders massage.

Why wait for T to get louder, do it daily.

Do you have any clicking inside your ears? It is one of the muscle spasm symptoms.


Muscle spasms can affect ear nerves and cause or aggregate T.

After a year most people go normal with their lives.

People need to understand that T is a symptom for a problem.

Plus I am not a fan of drugs. Meditation, massage, prayer, diet, yoga can replace drugs without the side effects.

I had severe T 9 month ago and now it is 3-2/10. Hopefully it will settle to 2-1/10 by the end of the year.

2016 is the revenge year.

 

You're right, I should do the exercises daily. Yes, I have clicking sounds in both ears, but only when I open or close my mouth. The jaw clenching during stress does not help with the T. This is also a problem I think many people should address. My dentist said its really common for people with significant stress in their lives to have temporomandibular joint problems.

All the best Joseph, I'm sure you'll get there!

 

Sounds like you're making great progress! I, like you suffer from a ton of anxiety and stress and feel like that makes my T so much worse. I am also seeking treatment for the anxiety in the form of guided meditation with a therapist, group meditation, acupuncture, massage excersise etc. I notice it does make a difference. Even if my T is loud, a session of meditation or with a good massage I notice the volume go down to pretty quiet which reaffirms that my T is made worse my stress. Control the stress and overall you feel better. As far as your jaw goes, I have TMJ disorder and seek treatment regularly from a TMJ specalist. I would recommend you looking into getting a night gaurd or splint made for your jaw to wear during the day or just at night for clenching/grinding. It will help your jaw realign and if you are having any popping,clicking or pain when you chew/open your mouth it will help so much and who knows, may even help with your T also. Good luck and thanks for your inspirational story.