My Success Story: Habituation *Is* Real

I am pretty sure mine is fairly stable as well! I will have to see how this noise incident goes however which is the worst, loudest, most direct one I’ve encountered so I am nervous. But yeah I guess mine was stable but I didn’t know that it could be stable or I thought it was “rare” because of all the online turmoil I see. I thought my family was outliers. What happened after your incident?

 

Which incident? My original trauma years ago that led to stable tinnitus? I lived my life for many years not bothered by it at all until the unstable tinnitus came in.

 

Your opinion doesn't change the fact that I'm right.

 

I guess I'm referring to how did it go from (stable-> ? -> unstable)? If you're willing to share.

 

COVID-19 vaccine/more noise/Viagra lol. One of those. It came on after the vaccine but I was also taking low dose Viagra and using headphones low volume.

 

Ahh, that sucks. I hate when it's difficult and potentially multifactorial/hard to discern.

The only medication that made mine temporarily worse when I would take it was Tramadol, which I was taking when I got it. I still wonder if taking Tramadol for pain when I went to this really front row concert helped cause it. I had never sat front row in an arena type concert, only one GA show can I remember getting next to the barricades, but I got pushed away eventually by people anyways.

So yeah I think medication may have played a role but at the same time I think it was noise for me.

Bet in both our cases it's multifactorial. Guess we will never know.

 

Noise induced tinnitus will usually remain stable after habituation has been reached. This means the brain is able to comfortably ignore it but doesn't necessarily mean the tinnitus won't be heard some of the time. Even when the tinnitus is heard, the person has reached a stage in their tinnitus journey where it doesn't bother them in the slightest. Occasionally there might be slight variations in the tinnitus but the brain still won't be troubled by it and therefore our mental and emotional state aren't affected.

This is different from a person that has habituated to noise induced tinnitus, then suffered a second noise trauma or is under a lot of stress, and then noticed an increase in the tinnitus. If stress is responsible, this is usually easier to address. Relaxation exercises, lifestyle changes, counselling, herbal or prescription medication, can all help to bring stress under control.

A second noise trauma can be more challenging and is covered in my threads: Will My Tinnitus Get Worse? Can I Habituate to Variable Tinnitus?

Michael

 

I want that.