Really Struggling :(

Well am 25 have t 3 years or that and gradually it's just been getting worse, really struggling with everyday life with it, my ears are so sensitive to noises now, i need earplugs or defenders for nearly everything I do and they spike it short term, but the last few months it been going so crazy it's really scaring me and think how could I go through my life with this ?? But am going to continue the fight the best I can, all I can do, I basically had to cut my social life, can't go do very much anymore, which gets me down a lot, I still would have the very odd nite out with earplugs, probably bad idea but I need some sort of enjoyment in life, can anyone suggest anything good which helps lower it ? I've been scared to try things to lower it incase it makes it worse and really don't think I could deal with much worse ATM

 

Hey @Ryan W I feel you man. I am not far from your age and have been dealing with tinnitus and hyperacusis for years now. It just got bad enough for me this year to join this board, seek professional help (i.e. ENT/audiologist /psychologist for cognitive behavioral therapy) and start doubting my future in my field of music(but i'm still in it!). I would say you need to find a balance between avoid all social settings and just going for life. As far as trying stuff to help my T go down I use many supplements (NAC, Magnesium, Lipoflavoind, zinc) and sometimes use Acoustic CR neuromoduation for residual inhibition. It makes the T disappear for a short period of time if you match the frequency of your ringing with a sound from a frequency generator ( something you can download to your phone or PC/tablet). But in all honesty, the only thing that helps for long periods of time is trying to ignore it and realize that the sounds you're hearing aren't dangerous. If you are careful with your ears and abide by OSHA's Sound limit exposure times, your T should get any worse from being out and active. I think you might not want to wear earplugs all the time because I've heard it can make your Hyperacusis/sensitivity to sounds worse. That's your judgement call. God speed and carry on my friend. Thinking positive thoughts for you.

 

Hi Ryan, first off have you asked your Dr. for a drug like Xanax to relax you and lower your anxiety, I have taken that sort of drug and it has helped quite a bit. A masker has helped me on bad T days also, and two fans going at night along with a radio help me sleep. Try going reading "The Positivity Thread" under support, a lot of helpful tips there.

I'll admit I too have had days where I was like I can't take this anymore, but I always found a way to settle myself down, sometimes I would call someone who understands or come here and post for help like you did.

Remember there are people that care about you, and you are not alone in this, maybe read other posts and you will see others who have it as bad or worse than you.

Keep posting and update us!

 

Hey, like you I used ear protectors for everything, even turning on the tap! But I learnt after a long year that it was only making things worse. I still use protection in clubs and places where necessary.

Mine started after an ear cleaning and I freaked out, developing a fear of sounds. I started to protect my ears afraid they would make things worse. My phobia made things much worse. It wired my brain to actually thinking everyday sounds were harmful and my tinnitus would freak out and spike, feeding my phobia. After I stopped freaking out things got a lot better! I'm no longer chained to my T anymore. It is still there of course, but it's not taking over my life. Our stories may be completely different but I wanted to share in case it could be of some help.

http://www.ata.org/for-patients/how-loud-too-loud

 

Hey thanks for getting back to me, yea even some1 laughing beside me spikes it, and I hear it over everthing I do, which makes it really hard to forget about, so with earplugs u can't really win either way ? Well loud clubs or lawn mowers etc yea. had Xanax but was scared it was making it worse, like I said I couldn't cope with it any worse, I notice at nite when am stressing about it and can't sleep it really does make it 10 times worse which is a nitemare when your trying to sleep, I have white noise in below my pillow and a radio going, even white noise when I watch tv now, thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Ryan: sorry to hear that - I'm on year four or so myself. Wrt sleeping, taking melatonin really helped (studies support this too btw) me, but regularity is key; it needs (for me, at least) to be taken every night. Depending upon your type of Tinnitus you may be a candidate for notch therapy or some of the others that are out there. Taking action is a huge thing in my opinion, even just for the mental edge of knowing you're giving it a good fight. But if you do take action, be sure it's something with a scientific basis - way too many false claims of a cure, too much snake oil out there.

Hang in there, I'm sorry to hear about your struggles.

 

Ryan... I can't imagine how hard it is for you. The only think I can think of is to be close to GOD and pray.. I will pray for you. Nothing is impossible for GOD. .....

 

Maybe I can help with the sleep thing....I just let it take me over, I don't try and ignore it, even if it consumes me completely, I just let it do it's thing. I almost just give in to it. I used to fight it and toss and turn, mess with white noise, take pills etc. Now, I still use a bit of background noise but doesn't help me a lot. The biggest thing is letting go! All you have to do is lay there, it can't mess with you trying to think or concentrate on a job at hand (like in the day) also there are not going to be everyday loud sounds to worry about, you don't have to do anything but lay in bed and let your mind drift. If it drifts towards T, just let it, let your mind and T do what it wants. Don't fight it! Just lay there.

I think of bed time as a spot where T really can't interfere with me, after all I'm just laying in bed. It can't interfere with you if you have nothing in front of you for it to interfere with.

Hope this helps...I knows sounds a bit simplistic or maybe strange but works for me. I never take a med and sleep like a baby. Also, in case you are wondering, I have severe T,unmask able in almost any situation.

As for Daytime...I have no damn clue how to get around this shit..sorry man!

 

Very good post, I totally agree with your sleeping strategy.

 

@Ryan W I read your post and I felt like I wanted to reply with some ideas to possibly try to lesson your T spiking. I have been a T sufferer since March 2014, so I am about 6 months into my battle. I call it a battle bc to me it is a battle and I treat it like one. I am curious if you have been to a professional to seek any diagnostic testing? I am assuming after 3 years you have been to see a physician and ruled out any other possible issues. If not I would strongly advice that you try to get a clear cut diagnosis and assessment of your T. I personally was in the middle of a bout of chronic bronchitis and working with my family doctor and then sought out the best ENT who would actually listen to me and not sweep me out the door with a text book case of " T". The reason I am asking is to make sure that you get the proper diagnosis making and that you have nothing else brewing. I would highly recommend that you seek out a good audiologist that could possibly work with you with all your symptoms. There are some audiologist who do TRT therapy and/or extensive work with hard case "T" patients. I consider myself one of those because I myself have several issues and not just "T". I have high frequency hearing loss, hypercosis and some panic and anxiety associated with my T. I was very fortunate to find an audiologist who did exstensive hearing test to find out all these variables and also how to address them in a way that would possibly alleviate my anxiety and my pain and suffering. I am now looking at hearing devices to reduce my reaction to my T. My devices will have built in white noise that will NOT mask my T but be set to a level just below my T in hopes to retrain my brain to in time basically not hear the T as much. There are no promises that it will go away but there is hope and statistics to support this type treatment reduces my reaction to my T. These devices are expensive and my insurance is not helping me with the cost of the devices but they are paying for a portion of my therapy, which has actually helped me a great deal to accept my condition and like you are doing "fight the fight as best as I can" I am much older and in fact have a daughter your age. The good thing for you is that you are young and there will most likely be a cure in your lifetime! I choose to believe there will be a cure sooner that later. I wanted to mention that I have found some amazing apps that I on my I phone. I actually turn on a white noise and stick my phone under my pillow and I find sleeping on my side where my T seems to be the most bothersome. My left ear is much louder that my right ear, in fact my right ear seems mostly silent but occasionally I will hear ringing in my right ear as well. If you are not using any type of background noise I would suggest you try using a distraction noise of some sort. I find this is the best way to keep me focused when I am alone or trying to focus in quiet environment I use background noise.

The next approach I would take Ryan would be to look at your eating habits, sleep habits, fluid intake, I have found staying hydrated helps me and just your general lifestyle. I have discovered that alcohol causes my T to spike for 3 to 4 days after consuming. I know some people say drinking alcohol does not effect them at all with their T but it has changed my "social drinking" to pretty much zero. I think taking away certain things in my diet can reduce my T and I am still figuring out just what seems to effect me most. I would also take a look at the healthy eating topics on this forum and possibly try some of their suggestions. I myself do feel that the Lipo Flavinoids Plus, by DSE Healthcare Solutions, LLC ( www.dshealth.com) helps me reduce my T noise. My ENT did recommend these so possibly you could give them a try also.

You talk about avoiding social situations, that is a tough one for a young man of your age. I personally think I would look at starting a support group in your area. I am considering a FB page for T sufferers in my area in hopes to support each other. I think you need to consider looking for a support group with people who can relate to your situation. There are so many famous people out there that have T and have spoke out about their diagnosis in a bold way and I feel this gives us all strength to talk more about it. I must admit I am still in the denial stage of my diagnosis and hoping that I will wake up on day and it will be gone. The truth is it could be, but the statistics do not seem to be in my favor the more I read and research about T. I realize I might be stuck with this situation. I do think being around other people in a social setting that are battling similar situations could be helpful to you.

Lastly the reason I resounded to you is that I have 4 children that are close to your age and as a mother my heart goes out to young people who would be suffering from T at your age. Like I mentioned before the good news is that everyday seems to bring us all one step closer to a treatments that could benefit us all. Stay strong Ryan you can do this, you have been doing it for 3 years already and that speaks volumes about your fighting spirit. I do hope that since you are experiencing more challenges with your T that you seek out more support and possibly more answers to your particular T diagnosis. Feel free to message me anytime if I can possibly help you in any way. I know there are many people on this forum who are much more educated on this subject but I am learning along the way also.
Take care.

 

I just noticed there's some masking apps available on Google Play and there's a really popular app that helps with sleeping called Sleep as Android Unlock which may assist people that are suffering from anxiety and sleep problems due to their T.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.sleep.full.key

I hope everyone is doing well and that this helps.

 

There's also an app called White Noise that has hundreds of different sounds such as smorgasbord of rain and thunder sounds to choose from.

... And a host of meditation apps.

Enjoy.

 

Telis, just curious, but if you can listen to it and not let it bother you while you're trying to sleep and it's a time when you're hearing it the most, then why does it bother you during the day? It seems you're sort of the opposite in that most people have the most problems at night when there is no longer very much environmental noise.

 

@Ryan W, it would be worthwhile to try some supplements like Alpha Lipoic Acid & Pycnogenol. Pycnogenol isn't cheap, but I've heard good things about them. I'd try them for a couple of weeks. I can say that Pycnogenol does seem to make mine more silent, but I haven't ever tried ALA.

 

Well...I have severe T and H, days are punishing and long. Sleep is the only time I get relief, so laying there, waiting for a release is not that bad.

 

@MattK

I've never heard of Pycnogenol but would like to give it a go.
Can it be taken with NAC?

 

I don't see why it wouldn't be able to be used with NAC. Pycnogenol is just an antioxidant, it's the brand name of pine bark extract. It's kind of like the difference between Tylenol and generic acetominophen... with one caveat though: most studies use "Pycnogenol" rather than generic pine bark extract. So, I would try Pycnogenol first, and if it works for you, then I would switch to pine bark extract (to save money) to see if it still works for you.

As I see it, if Pycnogenol doesn't work for you, then chances are that generic pine bark extract won't either. But if pine bark extract doesn't work for you, then there is still a chance that Pycnogenol may. Just so you know, I was taking 100 mg of it, but I have read a study that says that 150 mg per day shows even more benefit. The reason I stopped taking it, is frankly, I simply can't afford to keep buying it. Like I said, it's not cheap.

But here's a link to some affordably priced Pycnogenol (well, affordable for Pycnogenol that is): https://www.swansonvitamins.com/q?kw=pycnogenol

I see you live in Australia, so I have no idea if that affects the price or not.

 

@MattK

Thank you!
As I said I've never heard of it but I'm more than willing to give it a go.
I order all my stuff from iherb so I don't think it will be a problem.
Is there a particular brand that you would recommend?

 

Same for me. High-pitched T which I hear 24/7. Sleep is my best relief and I can sleep 8-9 hours without interruption. But during the day, this noise makes me most trouble (anxiety, depression).
There are people who can mask there T during the day with environmental noise and hear it only at night. Those are the troubled during the night. Others find their only relief when sleeping. And others struggle during the day and night.

 

Pycnogenol is the same regardless of the brand because Pycnogenol is a trademarked product. So just look for the best deal.

But read this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/24988090/