Nearly a Month On

Being very grateful to every one who has taken the time to post their success stories I promised I'd write on here when I had something positive to feedback. Its happened a lot sooner then I thought it would.

Just less then a month ago I woke up in the middle of the night with tinnitus in my right ear. I freaked out, had a panic attack, followed by an acute spell of anxiety which paralysed me for about a week. Since then I've been to the GP got back on my SSRIs, been prescribed cinnarizine and I've calmed down a lot. As a result my tinnituses intrusiveness has reduced substantially. At first I could hear it at work and over my car and indeed if I homed in on it I would have probably heard it over anything. I read a lot of info about tinnitus, sought advice from fellow sufferers and relatives, the BTA and health care professionals and rapidly came to accept that I'd always have this and that for most people would dwindle into a mere annoyance.

I think this acceptance of it, coupled with my reduced anxiety ( I think my SSRIs really helped, though I know theres speculation that they might make tinnitus worse for some) and the hope that I had a good chance at habituating were key. I just stopped "fighting" the tone and surrendered. Once I did that it was easier to think about other things and just "stash" the sound in a far corner of my brain somewhere. Over the last month Ive gone from constantly thinking about it and hearing it to barely noticing it during the day. I hear it at night when its quiet and I've bought a white noise machine for that. Normally I put the radio on now to read now, but about an hour ago I realised I was sitting in silence. The radio wasn't on and I couldn't hear the tinnitus. Somehow I couldn't find the tone and I spent a good couple of minutes "searching", until quite randomly (just as i was about to post on here actually) it resurfaced. Its not bugging me and again as I type I've lost the tone again, all i can hear is this empty faint, so faint static(?? sound? is it just "silence"?).

Im under no illusions, it may or may not come back in force. Simply put I just feel a lot more confident about managing my tinnitus and (and maybe as a consequence in part) I think my tinnitus is dwindling.

I hope this story gives other people, especially if their onset is recent, a bit more hope. Things can and do get better for a lot of people. Thats a simple fact.

I wish all and everyone of you guys the very best.

 

I hope you will protect your ears and be able to hold on to the silence.

 

A great success story because it highlights that for those of us with normal hearing and no disease, even if we had something (eg. ETD, a medication, muscle tension) previously exacerbate the underlying tinnitus that is present in all of us, the key is to stop searching for a cure and just focus on accepting that tinnitus for humans is a normal part of existence. Letting it slip from your conscious back to your subconscious.

I'm only part way through this process, fully resolved when it's quiet but having issues with noise. I think that's because how how extremely anxious I was about it all when it started - so like you I'm just taking the few steps needed to help the process along and otherwise letting my brain do the rest by trying not to attach any emotion to the ringing. Gotta give permission to those filters to turn back on and put this tinnitus where it always used to be - out of sight and out of mind!

 

Hello just thought I'd update as I was thinking about the past year over Christmas and remember how awful my onset was, but fortunately how (conparitively) brief the really bad patch was. The long and the short of it is my tinnitus is still here, but honestly it doesnt bug me. When I first happened I couldnt have imagined that, but its like anything you kind of get used to it. I honestly dont notice 99% of the time, even before bed when it quiet, i dont even bother to use my sound machine anymore.

The success stories really gave me hope on this forum when i was in a bad patch. So its my turn to repay the favour. You can habituate, just give it and your self time. Stay strong everyone, and I wish you all a great new year. X

 

Vincent, what set yours off?

Ciran generally good advice but I'm not sure if tinnitus is normal for humans. My ears were silent as the grave before I got this!

 

It just came on one night, its fine though. I know at the beginning it seems like a dreadful torture but honestly even now I can't hear it unless I try. Nothing sets it off per sae, its just that I become more aware of it when I'm tired or I'm having a hard time sleeping. The best thing is to try and not get anxious about it, thats the worst. You will, in all likely hood be like the vast majority of people and habituate over time.