New Here, Old Enemy of Tinnitus

[BlazerDBA]

Hi All. I started losing my hearing around 2002 (30 yrs old), 60% hearing in my left & 85% hearing in my right. I started out with a single hearing aid in my left ear and then both ears around 2008. The tinnitus started somewhere around 2003-2004, it's been so long that I don't remember now. I do recall that it would come and go initially, kind of like after being at a rock concert, but one day just didn't go away. Not sure what my hearing percentage is these days, but it's not great. I'm not up on all the different kinds of T, as I've come across (mainly acronyms so far) in this forum.

My tinnitus fluctuates all the time, different volume levels, sometimes different pitches. There are times when it is roaring so loudly that I can barely hear anything at all. Up until I stumbled upon this website, I would check Google news from time to time, to see if there were any new treatments or breakthroughs in tinnitus. I've tried a few different herbal "remedies", with no luck what-so-ever.

To be completely honest, I feel that tinnitus has stolen my life. I feel so lonely and isolated because I have such a hard time hearing people and being part of discussions. I can't hear conversations in groups of people because I miss most of what is being said, so I usually just walk away in frustration. Thankfully, I have a great wife who tries hard to speak clearly and loudly for me. My boss is good, in that he takes care of 98% of the meetings for me, and just reports back to me what needs to be done.

I hope this introduction isn't coming out as too whiny, but I'm sure most of you will understand where I'm coming from. I keep asking myself - why me? What did I do to deserve this crippling hearing impairment?

I sure hope there is a cure somewhere - some day (soon).

 

[James]

Welcome @BlazerDBA
I know what you mean. This one guy at work tends to mumble. Most of the time I can't hear him. Ok, I just agree to the conversation, what ever he's talking about. I just can't hear him. Good picture, fishing? I don't really need to catch fish but I like it. Don't feel like it's taken your life, that sounds so over the top. Stay well.

 

[Sailboardman]

Welcome BlazerDBA,

Sorry about you hearing issues! My right ear has damage at 70DB from 2-8K. pretty much all high frequency loss. Luckily, my left ear is still pretty good and makes up for the bad one. My T is high pitched and pretty intrusive on my life. I was fortunate to retire early, so don't have to endure working but have to deal with obnoxious T nonetheless. I'm 10 months into it and hope I gradually habituate and get some of my life back eventually. (Read the success stories here on the forum.)

I do wear a hearing aid/masker, which helps me hear quite a bit better. It has 4 programs and volume controls to help me dial in the right amount of ambiant sound, in different situations.

One of the members of our local support group here, is totally deaf in one ear and wears a device called "Baha". It transfers sound from his deaf ear, to his better ear through the skull bone. Pretty amazing!

You may be lucky enough, to have your hearing restored eventually, through breakthroughs, that seem to be popping up more and more these days. Have hope in that.

May God bless you and again welcome! Your amongst friends here.

Sailboardman