(Reserved for Future Success) Six Months In

Not quite six months (10 days left) but I felt like posting today on a so-so day (neither bad nor good).

I had 55+ db six months ago hit me over night, 15-16 k hz at first... The next 2.5 - 3 months were a miserable blur that I cannot even remember some of. The extreme loudness has subsided (mostly) but is now multiple frequencies in both ears. I have no real hearing loss to speak of.. a little bit in one ear but I think that might have been sinus issues I was having. I have drastically improved in my quality of life and a lot of the time can distract myself and occasionally not even be bothered at all for a good while during the day. But it's still a big struggle sometimes. When I first got it I almost could not work but now I look forward to it. I have done so many things that it is too early to even tell or speculate on what is successful and what is not but here are a few pieces of advice from just someone that's this long in and still dealing. If my T stays like it is it will take me years to habituate to it because of my personality... then again maybe not; anyhoo:

1) Make it to 3 months.. I know that sound stupid but... every one senior with this ailment says this is the worst time. It was for me. Lots of showers, water etc to give your brain a break. If you are close to someone lean on them. If you have no one find a church or something to be around people. Beware of distorted thinking... do not go down the dark path. Just don't. Willpower. Being around people will help you. Don't become a shut-in. You have to make yourself. Try thinking of others instead of yourself. SLEEP. Get a sleep mask with speakers on the side if you can't sleep without it (I could not at first); I used the otikon app to play white noise). Do whatever you have to do to sleep.

2) Seek an audiologist that does tinnitus therapy (preferably TRT- and please don't bash me on this forum for any reason... if you disagree with me just move on) . Sound Therapy can help A LOT. Spring for the in-ear sound-generator enabled hearing aids. They are expensive but well worth it. I do not even have much hearing loss and they are worth every penny (my audiogist did give me a little boost to match my profile.. i can tell it's there and it is interesting to see how it sounds and they behave) I have bluetooth in mine and can take calls or stream music if I want. If you have hearing loss this is a no brainer; get them asap. It doesn't take long to get used to wearing them (even though I hated them at first!! you'll come to enjoy them) Lately I have been using white noise more. I am still feeling out my pattern as to what works best. Nothing completely masks my T frequencies and never has but what you want is the distraction.. plus the white noise presents a more pleasing sound to the brain for it to prefer over the T (my theory). Sound therapy is different for each individual I think, but it has helped me. In the future I will post more specifics with ideas once I get a better handle on this and make more progress. One of my sounds is a plasma globe type sound... I got one years ago and turned it on in my office and was like OMG that's what I hear... so that's a thing you can use. Sound Therapy is something that affects things over time as with everything else... sometimes white noise provides me immense relief if I have not used it in a while, sometimes if I have used it too long my brain will unblend the T from it or something. It's fluid. I have seen some posts on here that say go ahead and go to whatever events you used to... no way. Do not sit in front of speakers, do not go to loud motorsport events. Look after your hearing like a treasure because it is perishable.. that said don't avoid normal things. I had a little H with the human voice... it seems to have gone away. If you have H try white noise in the hearing aids... mine went away immediately when I used them. H is a thing... I can def feel mine when it happens, it's like your ears are recoiling... anyway no more guns, no more fireworks if you can help it. Keep plugs in your car because you need to be out doing stuff and people might want to do something like that.

3) Stay busy. But don't go crazy... I went crazy staying busy early on and lost about 30 pounds in a few weeks. Should not have done that. It's hard not to panic though. Stay busy with whatever suits your fancy for that day even if it is just watching TV or something. I'm even doing sound for my church (sound therapy! in a safe manner; dr cleared ;-)) . So, I mean, you can still do stuff.

4) It can't hurt or kill you. Keep telling yourself that over and over and over. My wife says "It's just a noise..." it bothered me for a bit when she said that but it's true and you have to tell yourself that also a lot. You will start to believe it because it's true. There are people out there making it in excruciating pain (some even with T as well) and we are not promised tomorrow. There ARE positives to this. You get to reinvent yourself as you wish to be. Your life is changed drastically but you're still here... tell people you love them, solve problems... I am shocked at how much energy I have sometimes even in the midst of all this. You're still alive!!!! It's ok to have times where you aren't but... gotta drag yourself back up to distractions... I THINK it's getting easier over time.

4) There is no magic bullet for this; there's just a bunch of things you're going to learn to think/do/eat/listen etc to get over it or learn to live with it. Stay off the internet chasing T, even here for a while. People argue here and it's tempting when you are miserable with it especially, which is why the net can become quite miserable and it will affect you and feed off it. Do something constructive instead. Try to... When you get done with this post click the x up there and go live your life learning to manage this (or even cure it through time or whatever happens for you) or helping other people. When you become senior with this ailment you can come back and help people and possibly know what you're talking about and not let things people say affect you negatively or cause panic. We can be in eachothers' circle of suck with this but there's only so much you can do over the net anyway and you're still stuck with it when you X out. I had a spike back up when I got sick in late Dec after my first good 3 week stint, came to the net, paniced over someone's story and immediately it had an effect on my T. Blam, that fast. But the general spike could have been the sickness (so many unknowns!). I have one therapist with Meniere's who has low hearing an some crazy noises in her ear all the time, a hearing impaired audiologist her whole life, a guy who is all but deaf with T and a ton of other people saying... stay off the net. There's a ton of people out there dealing with it who have it kinda loud. I feel worse and pay more attention to the T (like now even as I write this it's bothering me more) when I get on here. I'm sure over time this will change and I hope so because I do want to provide more help in the future. I'm still not out of the woods with mine and I'm not trying to poke the dragon. My goal is to pay so little attention to the dragon that it flies away and even if he doesn't I won't care he's there.

I'll be back in six more months for another update... hopefully with lower T and/or with more habituation. STAY POSITIVE. I hope you guys feel better soon.

(PS- I threw my back out again because I got out of shape... back pain is worse than T. Trust me, T was a distant second to that... T sucks because it's almost always there. T AND back pain... next six months I'm getting back in shape... prolly will help the T out. I've been lazy.)

(PPS- See my T was bothering me but I talked myself into being excited about moving past it. It's an effort for certain, but it's habit forming. Form the habit that helps you, not the other way.)

(PPPS- Big shout out to Dr Nagler, William Shatner and Julian Cowan Hill who's words/videos have been a great help and inspiration to me; also for the members of this board early on ((you know who you are))... Ok I'm out this time for real!)

 

Hopefully you may even be cured, there is always hope.