Need Help

I've had T since December of last year. I'm not coping well with it and last night around 7pm when the hiss in my left ear gets louder I usually mask the sound with simplynoise on my iPhone with earbuds in.

Later in the evening both ears start hissing. My landlady goes to her room around 8pm so I have to keep the TV down.

By 8pm the hiss was loud and I thought I was doing okay masking softly and listening to a TV show.

Around 9pm I couldn't mask anymore while my show was on, so I had to tolerate the hissing if I wanted to watch the show.

Went to bed close to 11pm and the hissing was at its loudest ever. I have tried playing different nature sounds on my iPhone to help mask out the hiss when I'm in bed, but the speaker is small doesn't give off much of a sound and I need silence to fall asleep.

What I usually do, is try and relax and know that in time I will fall asleep. That usually takes between 1 to 3 hours.

Not last night, I was still awake at 4am, and was hoping for sleep. I woke up at 9am to hissing in both ears I don't know how much sleep I got, and lay there hoping to fall back asleep.

That lasted until 1pm and I got up depressed and no appetite. I'm struggling finding it hard to live like this, I don't want to face the day and hate living like this.

Jim

 

A few years back, masking was all I did for the first year. A CD player at bed side playing crashing waves for my sleep. If that was not enough for the real loud & high pitched days, I wore ear buds of my ipod playing heavy rain or shower sounds. You can order from amazon.com less than $1 per sound clip and you can preview each. You need itune to download music/sound into your ipod. In fact the ipod masking was used heavily during waking hours when T was the loudest. Without that, my anxiety/panic prone brain would just cave into panic attacks. The ipod also allowed me to have mobile masking the whole day through. At work, my PC was loaded with a free sound generator 'aire freshener' and I listen to rain, waves, running water all the time. Yes, masking saved me from swallowing lots of nerve calming pills back then.

You seem to develop louder T just recently. It may be a spike which usually go back to baseline. So don't worry about it too much yet.

 

Jim
Sorry to hear about the struggles (I struggled like crazy in the first months too, I know what you are experiencing). Masking is a great way to go; I used my mp3 w/ear buds (nature sounds) at the beginning too. However, I finally got some hearing aids with built in programmable white noise generators -- they have been life savers! Hearing aids make up for your hearing loss (causing your ears to strain, thus increasing T) and when the T got unbearable (and mine was uber loud in the first few months) I could crank up the white noise (maskers) and get some relief. It really helped take my anxiety down a few notches that's for sure. If you want more details, go to audibel.com and find an office near you.

Another thing that really helped the sleep situation was exercise (just get tired, a good kind of tired). You don't have to do a ton (don't hurt yourself) but just something to get the heart rate up for a little while (take a walk and watch the birds fly by -- just about anything will do). This helps everything all the way around; it's just good for you and you will feel a lot better (great way to relax, forget about the world, forget about everything, relax). It also helps you prove to yourself that T is not entirely in charge; it's a great anecdote to the depression (and anxiety) that T dumps on you; just go out and do it, T and all.

Prayers Always Bud!

Mark

 

Thanks for the kind words,

Jim

 

Thanks Mark,

I have no motivation at all, so going out is very hard and stressful. I'm at the job center right now with earbuds in my ears masking to white noise, and I hate living my life like this.

I don't know how long it's going to take for me to habituate, but I hope it's not years.

Jim

 

Thanks Karen,

I hope things will improve in time, I'm so stressed most of the time and depressed. I find it hard to live like this, masking and waiting hours to fall asleep, what a burden this tinnitus is.

Jim

 

I understand how you feel. When I had my darkest days, I had the same feeling that it was hard to live like this. had to take meds daily, wore masking ear buds all the time and struggling to sleep. Then severe hyperacusis joined T, turning all normal sounds piercingly hurtful to the ears. All sounds appeared glassy in quality, as if someone is scratching glass surface with a piece of metal. I couldn't watch TV with any volume, no eat out, no parties, no cinemas, not even outdoor life as driving noise hurt too. Even the soft voice of my wife spoken too close appeared piercing. I would put on ear plugs all days to prevent the hurt. But then the ear plugs block off all outside ambient sounds which used to help masking T in some ways, and the terrible high pitch loud T was just as unbearable. So I was left to choose between the lesser of the two evils, if there is a lesser choice at all. Sigh. Those were the long dark days of loneliness, confusion, fear, hopelessness, with relentless anxiety and panic attacks. Only meds managed to reduce the sufferings that I could cope and hang on. Thinking back, even the memory of it sends me chills and unease. So I understand your feeling. But hang in there, my friend. It will get better. I am fully recovered now. Never say never.

 

Thanks for the hope, how long was it for you before you began to feel as though your life was coming back?

Jim

 

Jim
I know what you mean (depressed); I can still recall the one day I finally got up and did something I wanted to do. But it didn't come easy; and it happened in my own time. You will get there too; in your own time. I'm sorry things seem so bleak right now; the way I figured it (when I was in the pit) was that it will bottom out and then things will start looking up. In time, they did; just not nearly fast enough.
One day, you will make a decision just like the rest of us did. I remember that day well; my T was screaming, my tears were streaming, but I just decided to put one foot in front of the other (T and all) and did what I wanted to do. But that took a while; be patient with yourself. We are all trying to encourage you (this is a very tough time for you indeed); don't let it discourage you, this will happen in your time. However, rest assured in the not too distant future you will start getting some victories.

Prayers!

Mark

 

Tha

Thanks Mark that was an awesome reply! I hope I can lean on you sometimes for support.

Best

Jim

 

Jim
I'm really glad to help and be here for you bud! It will get better (but likely not as fast as you would like)

Prayers!

Mark

 

Thanks so much Mark

Jim