Poll: Did You Know What Tinnitus Was Before You Acquired It?

Sometimes it feels like tinnitus is a well-kept secret. Before getting tinnitus, many weren't aware of there being such a chronic condition.

The poll is anonymous, but feel free to elaborate your answer in comments below.

(Credit goes to our member Emma for this poll, thanks!)

 

I heard a passing news story many years before I got tinnitus and only remembered it after getting tinnitus and thinking about what it could be, the news story did not attribute causes as I recall, (loud noise or medications), just reported that some people have incessant noise and no known treatment.

 

I never knew tinnitus existed before I got it. I might have seen some ad on tv for "ringing ears" (like some "snake oil" commercials) but I didnt even know what ringing ears meant. And I did not know what tinnitus was.

 

To me it happened in a fraction of a second. Actually it turned my life upside down. What can I do now? Save, grin and bear it...

 

I knew what it was from about my 20's when I read an article on it. The thoughts that went through my head then were "Oh my God, if I ever got that I'd kill myself". I literally thought that. And here I am with it.

It's something I feared when I read about it and if the word ever cropped up throughout the years I'd shudder a bit and think how ghastly it must be. It takes a lot to overturn a fear like that but it's what I'm trying to do!

 

Yes, I knew about tinnitus before it became chronic. I had short bouts with it whenever I had a wax build up in my ears. This last time I thought that when I had my ears syringed at the doctors office it would go away like before. Nope, no such luck. Fifteen months now. What a life changer! Did not think it could be forever!

 

I knew about it. I was always a big rock music fan, and a truck driver warned me once when I was about 18, to "Always wear plugs, or you're ears will never leave the gig". It took me 3 years to finally take his advice and get get plugs. I then forgot them for one gig which had some bad harmonics and bang, here I am. I beleive it was made worse by years on loud tractors with whining gearboxes too. I used plugs on them, after I noticed it made my ears ring. I did my best, it was too little too late.

 

My husband has tinnitus without hearing lost. He has had it since his childhood. So I thought your born with it. I thought harming your hearing with loud noises will just cause deafness. I thought you would just not hear anything like silence. I did not think ringing result. We need to educate people about the condition especially the young people who use those earbuds. They say one out five students will have hearing damage from playing their music loud with earbuds.

 

I didn't know what tinnitus was before I got it...if I had I'd think I'd taken better care of my hearing. :/

 

In a previous thread I stated my belief that the most important thing for any nascent tinnitus movement is, above all else, the development of some sort of media campaign to inform or educate people about the dangers of tinnitus. That opinion hinges on the assumption that people are basically entirely uninformed about the nature of tinnitus in the first place.

Now, I created this thread to gauge whether or not this assumption is correct or not. If you would, please fill out the poll above, and if you feel like it, post any personal stories you think would illustrate the prevalence or lack of tinnitus education you have experienced in your own life.

For me personally the story is somewhat ironic. As a child I always instinctively covered my ears when loud noises were around. Unfortunately due to peer pressure and what not, I eventually began to purposefully expose my ears to loud music just to "prove I could handle it." One notable incident I recall was during a fireworks display a group of adults were mocking another adult for wearing earplugs, and implying he was a coward using not quite as polite terminology. After that I resolved to no longer cover my ears if I expected to hear loud noises assuming wrongly that no actual damage could be done to the ear from noise exposure.

Anyway I think warning people about tinnitus before they get it is the best "cure" for tinnitus out there, so if my guess is accurate, and most people aren't warned beforehand then I think prior notification on the dangers of tinnitus is one of the biggest problems in terms of prevention that needs correction.

 

You make a great point and I agree... There is almost no public education about tinnitus or hearing loss. For example: I did not know you risked severe ear trauma and hearing loss if you flew on an airplane with a sinus infection. Hence, I thought nothing about taking a long plane flight ... and got T.

 

I knew about it as my father also suffers.

What I didn't know was that you can get T other ways besides noise exposure. I just assumed that because I always took care of my hearing it wouldn't happen to me

 

The first I heard of it I think was in the 1980's when a woman here in Sweden who called herself Tinnitussan wrote about her tinnitus and there was quite a bit about it in the papers. She used to hang big balls of wrapped up paper on her ears to try and mask it. Guess there weren't so many other options then. Like Amelia I also thought you only got it from noise exposure. Surprise, surprise!

 

I had never heard of T, I thought with loud concerts/music I had a possibility of losing my hearing, and as bad as it sounds, I never cared because I always thought "but there's hearing aids!". If I would of known T was a thing, I would of protected my ears, before it was too late.

 

Im excactly the same. Ironically I read about it a month earlier. Also ironically, I had stopped listening to loud music a month before I got it. I had never experienced any ringing before either.

 

I had experienced T after concerts but had no idea what it was called or that it could become permanent. 4 doctors misdiagnosed me as having Eustachian tube disfunction when really I was going through rapid temporary threshold shift. (4 different occasions during a two week span of ear fullness and ringing that eventually would subside.) one doctor even made me do an Audiogram that showed a 30 decibel dip in my normal hearing and told me to wait it out. The following week I woke up to constant tinnitus. Had any of them just put me on Predisone it would have likely saved my hearing.

 

I knew about it. I've had fleeting tinnitus all my life. Not often, just a 10 - 15 second ring and then it was gone. Maybe once every six months or so. Never had any hearing problems.

I was aware that tinnitus could be permanent, but never read up on it, as it did not affect me, and the people that I do know that have it never mentioned it (they are "habituated").

Odd. Two years ago if you had put a 11 kHz tone in my left ear and a 7 kHz square wave in my right ear I would have been shaking my head and swatting at invisible flies. Now, it just "is." The mind is an amazing thing.

 

As a musician (and 55 years old) I've seen LOUD music become the norm. Little old ladies sitting at a wedding reception and can't visit ... insane.
No, I didn't know what tinnitus was in the 70's when I was a kid. I was only warned about "Losing your hearing" listening to loud music. I didn't know any better.

 

Never hard about T I have had short ringing for like a few seconds people say when you get ringing someone is talking about you lol... if that's the case someone has a lot of shit to say about me hahaha...

 

Yes, I did. But I didn't know the first thing about it other then loud noise exposure's relationship. I just thought "it couldn't happen to me I'm special" bullshit logic.

The sad thing is most people on this forum are even more in the dark about tinnitus wondering through the alleys of their local drug store hoping for a miracle cure, searching the internet for scams about miracle cures.

The best thing you can do is fund research to reverse hearing loss which should cure tinnitus.

Please support bio medical research to help individuals that already have tinnitus. Raising awareness is good but helping the suffering is better.

 

True that. Basically despite all the talk there is nothing to effectively alleviate the suffering of these new people except learning to cope with it on their own. (with exceptions)

 

The sad truth is most of the older generation doesn't understand the scientific method, hypothesis testing and skepticalism and is more intrigued by fancy miracle claims that are just to good to be true. That's how the scammers at Tonaki Tinnitus Protocol got away with so much.

The young generation is still guilty of falling for this crap too, especially NATURE CURES bs.

 

Re."older generation verses younger generation"

Maybe more like: "naive vs. skeptical" regardless of age

 

Yes, which makes me very stupid to have gotten it.

 

Agree.

Not many people are interested in donating.

Who cares about hyperacusis? Who cares about tinnitus?

Sufferers...?



We all can see how it is.

 

The Tonaki Tinnitus Protocol scammers (huge scambase in New Zealand are intentionally trying to scam older people in most of their products. They do have some scams for everyone but in general they are targeting more the older generation.

They play along with things that are viewed as culturally significant in baby boomers. Within the scam ads there are Christianity references, patriotism and support of the military,law enforcement and in general just cultural lingo that is associated with America's older conservatives.

That's there target audience and it's understandable why, old people have health problems that modern science can't address. They are not informed about how peer reviewed science works, clinical trials, bio companies researching there condition and instead turn to shady areas of the internet littered with scams and alternative medicines.

 

This is heartbreaking...holy shit!

 

I will donate now.

 

Just made a small donation. The money they are collecting will go directly to https://hyperacusisresearch.org

I think that a small contribution by a lot of people can help.

Imagine a world where tinnitus and hyperacusis can be cured.