Our Mind Binds Us

Imagine 2 scenarioes. One, youre on a train and have to be there for the rest of your life. The train is noisy and you will have to live with the sound of engines, honking etc. for the rest of your life.

Two, you have tinnitus with the exact same sounds and sound level.

The consequenses for these 2 scenarioes are almost equal. Only difference i can thing of is that in scenario 1, you can cover your ears for a while and block some of the sounds out, and the fear of thinking about wheter the sounds will get worse. However, I believe the reaction to most of us would be quite different in the 2 scenarioes. Our reaction in the 2nd scenario would be more dramatic, maybe most of us wouldnt even think much about the noise issue in scenario 1. I believe pretty much everyone would be able to habituate to the noise after a while in scenario 1 and certainly think about the noise way less compared to scenario 2. Most of us would think of the sounds in the beginning as annoying, but none of us would obsess about them and fear them as some would in scenario 2. And this is exactly why some of us cant habituate, (disregarding H and pain related T). Our mind binds us and fills us with fear and makes out brains focus on the sound. The fact that we know that the sound is in our heads keeps us from natural habituation. If we all could forget about the source of the sound and imagine being on that train, I think we would be one step closer to habituation.

 

You should become a TRT advocate.

You fit the mindset - and profile - quite well.

 

Yes this is very true...I have a sound in my right ear that sounds like honking horns in the distance, it actually sounds like a exterior noise (which is strange) so I feel like I am habituating to it just fine. However the other high pitched noises don't feel like I'm listening to anything, they feel and sound very unnatural, plus they are lodged right into my brain...huge difference to actually having the ear function and hear something in natural way. The sensation is totally different....for me anyway.

 

I like your analogy very much, pray that I can learn to habituate. Could it be some just what you said the fact that it is in our head and not external? so so close.

 

What a useful contribution to this thread.

 

Jesse, you're onto something. You're absolutely right that the fear of the T contributes greatly to suffering. Where the area becomes gray is when you start comparing X noise to Y noise. I have habituated to my T and no longer suffer, but it's hard for me to feel like I'm giving other people good advice when I have no idea what their T sounds like. I can say that getting rid of my fear was the number one most important thing in my journey.

 

If there was an actual cure such scenarios wouldn't even cross our minds. You can train your brain all day long and convince it that it doesn't hurt, but in the end it still does.
But I do applaud your optimism, it's the next best thing to a cure.

 

When you say hurt, do you mean mentally or physically? Or both? And when I say physically, I mean if your tinnitus is causing physical harm directly. Not physical pain as a consequense of mental pain, wich would be an indirectly physical harm.

 

I simply hurt, I know what would stop it but it's just out of my reach.

Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me?...

I can't sleep tonight
Everybody saying everything's alright
Still I can't close my eyes
I'm seeing a tunnel at the end of all these lights
Sunny days
Where have you gone?

 

LeQuack, my T truly doesn't hurt me anymore. Yet it's still there. I am saying this not only because it's true, but because sufferers like you deserve to be given that hope.

 

I do appreciate it. Honestly I've only been suffering for the last few years, the first 6 or 7 years of my T I was as optimistic as you if not more so. I told myself if there's a cure great, if not I can live with it. But that was before. I'm sure a man can get used to much but it is a difference being poked or being stabbed, meaning the volume and the annoyance of the sounds.

 

When the depression sets in its hard to rise above it. If we could raise our mood consistently things would seem so much better, regardless of how bothersome our T. I say this because for the first few years for me it was no problem. Then after the onset of anxiety/depression for none T related reasons the T became a big problem for the first time.

 

Was it because it got louder or changed tones? Or was it because your abillity to handle it decreased?

 

It's hard to say really. It's certainly not much worse than it was so it's probably decreased ability to handle it. In fact for the first few months of the anxiety disorder I didn't know what I was anxious about which might sound a bit strange. It was only after "remembering" about the T that I latched onto that as enemy #1. Would I still have similar problems if I didn't have the T? Probably. Mental health and T seem to go hand in hand and fuel each other.

 

"Not knowing what you're anxious about" is not uncommon at all. I went through the same thing. I kept telling my doctor I had nothing to be anxious about - great education, great job, healthy, friends, family, financial security - I couldn't figure it out. But sometimes anxiety doesn't care about what the reality of your circumstances are. That's why it's so tough.

 

Anxiety is really just chemical released by our brains. Its usually triggered by some by some external facor, but sometimes the brain just releases those chemicals for no appearent reason. I guess there could be internal medical factors that pushes it to do it that youre not aware of.

 

@Jesse Pinkman posted:

"Our mind binds us"

..........

I agree, Jesse. In many ways it does. And in many ways our mind can set us free.

stephen nagler

 

Wtf? No wonder people don't take severe T seriously. There are too many cases of minor T where it isn't even the real issue.

 

I think you misunderstand and it's definitely not minor T. I have loud very high pitched T, reactive T, hyperacusis and have done for a lot longer than you. The point is I managed to deal with it and get on with my life for so many years that I didn't realise it had become such a problem again.