New to Tinnitus — I'm Not Going to Change at All

Well, after having a blocked eustachian tube and doing the valsalva technique (which I read to do off web md to clear), I have been left with tinnitus in my right ear - cheers lads, you Cowboys -It has been 7 days now. Yeah, I've given up on hope in being in that 1% of sufferers that make a full recovery after a few months etc, but probably in that 99% that have it permanently. Now that's what you call habituation. I'm done surfing the net trying to find miracle stories, even then, that man who claims to be free of tinnitus after "1 year of hell" has strictly not undergone any sort of peer review or external validation. It could just be a made up piece of codswallop.

I have read so many posts on this forum (probably over a hundred) about how one needs to be careful not to worsen their T. Oh well, I am not going to do that. I'm 26, single and I refuse to change. I am still going to go to bars with my mates, possibly wearing plugs, but the occlusion effect and social perception renders them counterproductive anyway. I'm still going to go to the cinema, I'm still going to listen to my iPod at the gym, I'm still going to go to restaurants, I am still going to shower, flush the toilet, use metal cutlery and convert amino acids into complex protein structures. So what if this ringing gets louder, do your worst. However loud it gets, I'll just shout over it. I cannot imagine myself getting distressed over this ringing in my ear, no matter it's severity. I canny not believe it has driven people into depression or worse. However, my career is ruined, I work as an efficiency advisor in the manufacturing sector, think loud machines easily exceeding 85 decibels everywhere. Oh well, if I can sneak past any Pre occupational health screening without my T being picked up then yeah I'm still going to work in the field, of course, with ear plugs albeit. If not I'll find something else to do for work. Think transferable skills. My T seems quite minor now compared to others, in a sense that I Only focus on it in silence and its masked by my iPod on quarter volume, but if it became a thousand times louder, or if the pitch became a much higher frequency, although it's high now for me, then I would not be bothered by it, again, I'll just shout really loudly over it. Also, I have been known to jumble my words at times but I have noticed that my speech has become more fluent ever since I have had this high pitched ringing in my right ear?

In essence, some say here that T is a life changing condition, It won't be for me I tell you. You think the Oasis Gallagher boys or Ozzy Osbourne have changed their social tendencies due to their T? I doubt it. In fact, I'm sure I saw Noel Gallagher in Ibiza last year . . . The noise capital of the world.

PS: I have been taking vitamin C, A, E, B12, cod fish oil, zinc and 5 htp (neurozan) supplements since day 1. Can't get hold of prednisone, but I'm assuming corticosteroids are for swelling anyway and not for damaged hair cells caused by barotrauma? Yeah, I could go to an ENT but I'm pretty sure that they will just confirm my own thoughts THAT I'M ABSOLUTELY FINE.

 

ummm....so let me just rewrite some things you said here.
1. you have T you can only hear in silence/you focus on it in silence?
2. you have your T since 7 days
3. you cannot believe why it has driven people into depression

sory to say that but your post comes over as a little ignorant. you write here like you are a hero to not be bothered by it. which is great, dont get me wrong but please be reminded that you have mild (not moderat not severe) Tinnitus. that is truly a life changing condition.

and after only 7 days you are super early in, so the chance that it decreases a lot or it might even leave is high. But apparently you dont care about that. well 7 days are very fast to habituate, but congrats.

 

Hi Zora,

Thanks for the reply. Perhaps you have missed the point here;

Mild sufferers, from what I gather from reading posts of new joiners, is that they live in fear of their T getting worse. I do not have the fear, whatever comes my way I will just deal with it. I know you think, perhaps rightly or wrongly, that I am in no place to judge, but I would rather have T that is much louder than change my social tendencies. I think the source of depression (for new joiners) is not the T itself, but the restrictions people assume they now have on their life due to their "condition". My point is that T is nothing to fear, only the emotional response it brings.

Remember, only 10% of the population suffer from T and only 1% describe there T as debilertating. Strictly speaking, that doesn't mean that the latter have the most debilitating form of T necessarily, it's just that they cannot habituate nonetheless.

Please, let us both strictly appreciate that T is very subjective and is defined by the sufferer's own interpretation, it is not possible to determine the severity of one's T on a scale consisting of "moderate" etc as has been written above. Just because I choose not to focus on T when there are other sources of sound, doesn't mean it may not be interpreted as "severe" by another sufferer. In fact, I have read several posts of sufferers which have an absence of any high pitched noises, for me that seems like a much "milder" version, so who knows how my T compares with others? My T at the moment is consistent of that of a pneumatic drill behind my right ear, but again I do not fear it getting worse. Finally, on what scale are you judging 7 days fast to habituate? I'm sure that there are plenty of T sufferers that are not bothered by it from the offset, possibly much more that you think. Remember, the Internet is not a true reflection of the population as it is biased on the sample who post, only a qualified GP who deals with the whole spectrum of patients may comment on that matter.

By choosing the words "ignorant" and "hero" in your reply, you yourself come across as those adjectives, in my interpretation.

 

BY THE WAY, I HABITUATED ALMOST IMMEDIATELY AFTER LISTENING TO THIS INTERVIEW FROM A FAMOUS TINNITUS SUFFERER. I HOPE IT HELPS YOU LIKE IT HELPED ME.

Noel Gallagher on his tinnitus and Balotelli...

 

PS I didn't mean to call you ignorant - ahhh i can no longer edit the post to remove. I guess I haven't fully habituated as I thought, as I'm still venting out. No more venting! Be at peace I tell myself! Massive apologies, some douche on TT is probably the last thing you need right now.

 

Haha, exactly.
T has no end in terms of severity. So passion is imho the best attitude.