Playing in Rock Bands for Many Years Resulted in Tinnitus

Hey there! My name is Tommy. I was dx'd with tinnitus back in 2001 as the result of playing in loud rock bands for many years.

I've been able to habituate to my tinnitus from then up to about 3 months ago, after a minor spill on mountain bike.

Since then, my T now lives in both ears, whereas prior it lived primarily in my right ear only. As such, instead of going the Donny Darko road, I've chosen to practice gratitude that my tinnitus is now "balance out," so to speak.

Anyways, I've been wanting to become a member of Tinnitus Talk since my fall, so I'm glad I finally made it. I hope to gain support here as well as offer hope to my fellow Tinnitus Talk members.

 

Welcome!

Curious what happened on the mountain bike?

 

Exit: I took a hard-pack turn too low and my bike slid out from under me. I wasn't going anymore than 5mph. My right knee took most of the impact. I didn't notice the scratches on the right side of my helmet until the next day, which told me my head met the ground at some point during the spill. Thanks for asking.

 

Hello and welcome!

Can you describe your tinnitus?
Do you have other symptoms as well?
How is your sleep?

 

Welcome.

What is the Donny Darko road, exactly? I've seen the movie 50 times, I just don't get the reference.

 

Welcome! I too played in bands of varying descriptions before my ears said no more. I still manage to play acoustic or stripped-down gigs from time to time.

 

Hey Tommy, I would just like to say: Accept it and embrace it. That's really all you need to do. It's your body's natural response to noise exposure for decades, and you just have to respect that. It's reaction to action. You expose your hearing to excessive noise over a long period of time and this is the result. Period. You'll never get rid of it. Don't believe all the "cure" crap. So just accept and embrace it. That's all. Believe me. I perceive mine as a variation of silence, a form of white noise. And I'm good with it. I really am. Silence or white noise, it's all the same to me. It's here to stay forever and I accept it as a fundamental part of who I am. And only then, after accepting and embracing it, you can let go and move on.

 

Wow, that is literally the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life.

 

We should be hopeful for a cure in our lifetime, I sure am, but until then we have to accept and embrace it. If we continuously fight, resist and deny it, we'll make life unnecessarily miserable.

 

Yep I’m a veteran now and it pisses me off with all the habituation nonsense. You either have nice tinnitus and ears that can handle everyday life. Or you don’t!

Simple as that...

 

That's exactly what I mean. If you fight and resist you just create negative energy and that's very destructive. If you accept and embrace you create hope, positivity and peace of mind. It's a form of mindfulness and it really works. It's not what you perceive, but how you perceive it. You just have to get out of that negative mindset.

 

If you have a better solution, please tell us. And thanx for your respectful reaction.

 

I have two, actually. One is called HOPE. The other is called "Try everything and never give up". What you are suggesting is basically to just give up and live a half-life. You are also telling outright lies. "It is here to stay forever"? Would you tell that to someone who is 2 weeks in? That makes you as bad as any of those ENT's who quit on your after first visit. We both know that it goes away for a lot of people, so why would you even say this. So yeah, your response does not get much respect from me at all. Nonsensical BS, really.