Newbie

This is my first post. So happy to find this community however too bad the reason we are on this blog is because of a problem that has no cure. I was in church 4/5/15 and all of a sudden my left ear had a static noise in it. I have had this time to time (but not every single time) for many years after caffeine or a mixed drink or stress or congestion or aspirin so it did not bother me because it always went away after an hour or so. However it stayed constant all day and here it is 6 weeks later and no break. It's 24/7. It varies in loudness and sometimes I get 2 noises at the same time. I kept a journal which is turning out to be useless because I don't see any triggers that make it worse. It can get bad for no reason and more bearable for no reason no matter what is going on. Tried Ring Relief pills and drops. No help. ENT visit and MRI showed normal. Asked the ENT doc for a specialist he said there are none because there is no relief and no cure. He had a pamphlet for Arches Tinnitus and I tried that for 2 weeks but it immediately made the noise louder and it stayed that way all day. Plus it gave me heartburn and stomach distress. Maybe that was the garlic part of it. So like the rest of you since this seems like a life sentence I am trying to cope. Some days are just ok and others I feel anxious and depressed. I even broke out in hives for the first time from nerves. So I try very hard to stay out of the vicious cycle of feeling sorry for myself because its so easy to spiral down. So hard to believe there has been very little research when 50 million people have it. Good luck to all of you on this blog.

 

Welcome, Carroc. I have true empathy for what you are going through, as most of us here were where are you are. Your T is new and alien to your body so it tries to scare you. The brain is a bit traumatized by the new sensation, thinking it is a threat. As your limbic system senses this 'threat', it zooms in on it and you are now functioning in fight or flight mode, making every bad sensation worse than what it really is. Try to give it some time for the body to absorb in the new sensation, and hopefully you learn to relax and be more positive.

Many people call this the 'New Normal' for them. This is a very important approach of acceptance, accepting the reality of T and its sensation as a new normal. It is not easy of course and it takes time and patience to get there. When we begin to accept the new normal, we tend to have less stress from T and slowly T loses its power to scare you. As you get back to living and with the distractions of life or new hobbies, the brain will slowly get it, that T is not an end game and so it is not a threat. Perhaps an annoyance, but not a threat. With this recognization, it is only a matter of time that the brain will slowly fade out T from consciousness when you are busy with life and you are on the road to habituation. Good luck with your habituation. Take care & God bless.

Here is Dr. Hubbard's success story when he describes his acceptance of the new T sound as a 'new experience of sound', using CBT & mindfulness technique:

"I practiced listening to tinnitus sounds,and feeling tinnitus sensations with an open,accepting attitude, allowing them to exist as part of my new experience of sound."

Here is another doctor who describes the 'new normal' of living with tinnitus, using masking and other approaches to live with T:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/curing-tinnitus.4136/page-5#post-40854

When T doesn't change, we have to change. That means we need to make adjustment, learn how to cope, accept T reality and be willing to compromise with the 'new normal'. Life is not perfect. T is one of those imperfections in life. Hopefully, your T will fade as you are still new with this thing. But if it stays, it is still livable with an open attitude. Since your T is so new, try masking to help yourself, and get your doctor to give you treatment with prednisone or other corticosteroids. Many members here recommend getting this asap for new T. Take it easy and God bless.

 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your kind and positive words and taking the time to interact with me. Only people experiencing this can understand what a curse it is. I think if people do not see a physical problem and you seem to be acting normal (because distraction is so helpful) they think you are not as bad as you say. Not that you want sympathy you just want them to know that you can't always be yourself every time they see you. Just amazed nothing much has been done in research on T. Lucky are the people who find relief in herbal meds. I wish you well too and God Bless you for being the first positive thing that has come my way with this problem. I wish you well

 

You are most welcome and thanks for the kind words. Glad that the reply has helped you in some way. For new T, if the ringing makes you very anxious or depressed, and you don't want to depend on meds, then do try vigorous masking. I used to have full masking for the whole day. At bed time I had a sound machine and CD player with nature sounds. On the go, I use an ipod and ear buds for mobile masking. At my work place and at home, I used a free sound generator 'aire freshener' on my PC. It has many sounds to choose from. Masking give T sufferer a way of escape from the oppressing T shrill and so it can help reduce the cycle of stress T can give us. Try to mask by setting the masking sounds slightly below the T sound, as they do in TRT, as this allows you to slowly get more used to the ringing too. Eventually, you can cut back on the masking as you get better. As a TT member, you should have access to some masking sounds on TT. I provide this link just in case. It contains many masking sounds plus good tips/advice for newer sufferer. If you need more sounds, try search youtube with tinnitus masking sounds and you will find many. Take good care.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/panic/

 

Hi Carroc,snap,your condition mirrors mine.I'm 2 month in with the new soundings in my ears.Mine changed gradually to a higher volume.At one time I thought I had it licked,but t upped its game,so I know better than to be so arrogant.I read somewhere here that the best way foreward is not to look for cures,but just get on with your life,well after many false starts,this is what I try to do,and also to imagine how difficult it would be if I had something much more serious to overcome.Also I read here that a guy woke each morning and put his hands over his eyes to find what it would be like to be blind.This put his t into perspective.
After my E.N.T. consultation,the doctor said"you have tinnitus"which by then was obvious to me,but his words of"you know there is no cure"seemed like a dead end.But it took this site to give me the positive picture.Also I now have a counsellor on the N.H.S.to give me guidance.I hope we both reach a position soon so it bothers us less.good luck,and hope to chat to you soon,regards Malcolm .

 

Hi Craggy. Did the ENT Doctor say if there's was anything he could give you for T?
I have an appointment on the 2nd June

 

I remember I did that too as the first thing in the morning when I woke up with the loud T. I would just close my eyes, groping around in the 'blind' state for a while, trying to find the toilet, the tooth brush, reaching aimlessly for a towel etc. etc. It was super frustrating to do the simplest of chorus even in my familiar home. I would bump into wall, almost tripped over things, and mostly disoriented. After suffering from 'blindness' for a while, I would open my eyes and effortlessly completed those chorus. I would go to the window and really appreciated the beauty of the visible world. I then would try to put T in its perspective, loud or not. I would put my masking ipod in my pocket and went about doing what I liked to do. That truly helped me back then to accept my T a lot easier, knowing how other people have to handle 'mountains' in their life. But make sure it is safe trying to play 'blind' and that is why I only did this in my familiar home.

 

Hi Patwalsh,no medications,but I was referred for therapy.But my notes did mention suicidal.

 

I'd be depressed if I was living in London. Anyway, hope you get better mate! I've been there and it's horrible.

 

It's not so horrible in London

 

Lol, it's not for me. I prefer the country.

 

Hi Craggy 65. It's hard to believe there hasn't been much research when 50 million people have it. Must not be a money maker for drug companies to help us. They are too busy getting rich from Viagra! Many people are lucky they can mask the noise as mine is at the level of my TV and since its internal I hear it right along with the external.

 

There's a few companies working on treating tinnitus....Autifony comes to mind...anyway, trobalt can treat tinnitus so something officially will come along.

 

Hopefully soon. Thanks for this info. I am looking forward to reading up on these.

 

No problem.

 

Carroc, You will find it gets better with time . You will find a lot of support and supplements and other things to help you get through the time it takes you to habituate . It might seem like it will never happen but it does in the majority of cases within 6 to 18 months. I believe T is some sort of damage to the nerves like a short in an electrical wire either audio or somatic nerves or both . Hang in there and you will see you can live with T . I am at month 8 and it is getting better still so just hang in there . UncleVikin

 

Uncle vikin thanks for the encouragement. I did not get lucky with the supplements. It's such a lonely fustrating journey.