New Member

[Gregcool2208]

Hi guys..

I've had tinnitus since early 1980 and I'm 50 years old now...

My tinnitus started after doing many drugs years ago, which I stopped doing not long after the tinnitus happened.

Over the years I got used to it and accepted tinnitus. My tinnitus is in both ears and is a high pitched sound with a low rumble mixed in. It often gets worse with stress etc.

I also suffered bad mental health for the last 15 years but my tinnitus never really bothered me and I haven't focused on it for many years.

So it just does its thing without bothering me...

But recently 2 weeks ago I noticed a very loud ringing high pitched in both my ears, so loud I could hear it over everything, the tv, outdoor sounds.

It was so loud it scared me to death...

I went to the doctor and he said I have a lot of wax in both ears and that would be causing the extra ringing.

So for 7 days I put oil in my ears.

Then 7 days later I had them cleaned...

The moment they were cleaned the ringing went back to norm...

I was so relieved and happy.

But I kept thinking it might return, so found myself listening out for it and unable to stop focusing on it... well because of this focusing on it, its now loud again, not as loud as it was while the wax was in my ears but louder than norm..

So now I'm worried it's going to stay at this new level.

I have to sleep with the tv on and I can still hear it... I've never had to put the tv on...

So now I can't take my mind off it and don't understand how focusing on it has made it louder.

I'm gutted because after I had them cleaned and it went I was happy and didn't give it any attention for that day.

But from the day after I started listening out for it...

What can I do to stop focusing on it through my day and forget about it as I have done for many years to a point i never noticed it...?

Can focusing on it make it feel worse...?

 

[glynis]

A warm welcome to Tinnitus Talk Greg.
I have just read your story and can see you have had a tough time with tinnitus and your emotions.

Glad to hear your ears settled down after having them cleaned out and that will get more quiet when you focus on something else.
Try stay calm as anxiety will feed the tinnitus and it's a vicious circle.
Try to Cary on with daily things and keep sound on around you and try not focus on the sound and you will build the time up again from going minutes to hours to days with out noticing your tinnitus sound.
I hope your keeping well and your mental health improved with support ...stay positive you will get through this and stronger for it....lots of love glynis

 

[Gregcool2208]

A warm welcome to Tinnitus Talk Greg.
I have just read your story and can see you have had a tough time with tinnitus and your emotions.

Glad to hear your ears settled down after having them cleaned out and that will get more quiet when you focus on something else.
Try stay calm as anxiety will feed the tinnitus and it's a vicious circle.
Try to Cary on with daily things and keep sound on around you and try not focus on the sound and you will build the time up again from going minutes to hours to days with out noticing your tinnitus sound.
I hope your keeping well and your mental health improved with support ...stay positive you will get through this and stronger for it....lots of love glynis

Thankyou for your reply..yes i guess my tinitus is prob as it was before i had them cleaned but the shock of 10 solid days and nights while my ears were full of wax scared the hell out of me as its never been that loud ever and thought to myself,i cant live like this...this impacted on my mental health.so after cleaning and it was quiet again to my norm levels,i was in disbelief that it has gone and have been listing in for it to get worse again and becauas im focusing in on it iv reminded myself if my norm tinnitus after years of ignoring it.so it feels new all over again..i am puting sound on around me and even when im out im putting my music on in headphones on low so i can still hear sounds around me and to make the tinnitus go back into the background and hopefully re train my brain to ignore it while confronting it woth external sounds.so hope in the next week or so my brain shuts it back out again..thanks