One of My Brother's Best Friends Recovered from Bothersome Tinnitus and Hyperacusis

One of my brother's best friends suffered from bothersome tinnitus and hyperacusis for about a year before he got better. I have known him for many years, but I didn’t know that he ever suffered from something like this.

He believes that the cause of his tinnitus was a little mix of everything, but mostly it was dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress. He had a hard time at school, and felt like he was all failing. He stayed home more and more, and isolated himself. At that time he also remember that he often listened to some loud music in his parents basement. He did make a hearing test, and the hearing came out normal, like for many of us. Maybe he does have a ”hidden hearing loss”.

Anyhow, his tinnitus began in the fall. He felt depressed, couldn’t sleep because of the sound and he constantly checked if there were any new sounds added. He also suffered from hyperacusis and couldn’t stand any noise. Going to the movies was a complete torture. He couldn’t be in school because of all the noise.

Time forward. In the spring he contacted the school and told them why he had stayed at home for almost a year. He was really scared at that point, but felt such a relief when he could open up and be honest with his teachers.

That following summer passed and he started to focus less on the tinnitus, and more on life and his future. When summer ended he could no longer hear the ringing. It was gone.

I asked him in all honesty if he swear that he can’t hear anything in his ears today. He replied that sometimes he does hear it, when he is stressed, but he says that it mostly stays quite nowadays. Whenever he hears it again he just ignores it, because it’s barely there anymore.

Haha, I also asked him, that if there were a cure for tinnitus, if he would take it. He said no, because he can’t really hear it anymore. He recovered!

I hope that this story can encourage you, and make you believe that time can heal you, or at least make things better.

Hang in there. Don’t give up!

 

That’s a great story. Do you know if his tinnitus was somatic? Could he modulate the sound with head and neck movement?

 

@MarkX It might have been somatic, but really I think it was caused by alot of things. I sure can ask him!

 

Yeah if you can. I believe mine was stress as well. Hopefully I can have a similar experience. Also how long ago was this for him?

 

He didn’t really check if he could change the sound by moving his head or neck. He just heard this sound all the time, day and night. This was a long time ago, back in 2001. But after a year it was gone approximately, even if it did appear again from time to time, he didn’t care anymore. He accepted it. Then he just forgot about it because the volume was almost down to a zero.

He feels fine today, and only have some ”fleeting tinnitus” sometimes, during stress.

 

That was a really nice and well written story. Gave me a little smile inside.

Thank you