Seven Months Update. A Huge Relief. Don't Lose Hope.

Sorry, but I can not carry on this conversation as I can feel it affects me very much and makes me sad I am having a rough day because T has been somewhat louder then usual today, I woke up and it was louder from that moment and I struggle only because of the volume being raised, I have experienced this before: T being louder for a day and me struggling more on that day because of this......on my rare "good" T days where it lowers to mild-mild/moderate level, I can forget it and I hardly struggle at all......Ever. So obviously volume directly affects how I deal with it, and it hurts me when someone states that volume does not matter, because it makes it seems like my suffering is not warranted.

 

I dont care what the researchers say! I know from my own experience what tinnitus is and how loud it can get. Please dont lecture me on tinnitus levels, you want to group mild, moderate, severe, catastrophic tinnitus together . There are different intensities of tinnitus as you can see, hek some people have mild tinnitus but more tones than I do. Listen to me very slowly, two of my friends have tinnitus and their T is nothing like mine is, absolutely nothing, they are shocked and even scared when I tell them what my T is like. Their T is mild and sounds like white noise and is very easily maskable, it dosent bother them unless they sit down and search for the sound. They were able to accomplish a lot in life and it dosent impact them as much, they can sleep without masking, read, watch tv, focus/concentrate. Mine is blasting all the time above peoples voices and the faucet running on maximum. Ask some users here what severe tinnitus is and what it can do. It is not perceived volume it is actual volume of the damn thing. T can INCREASE in actual volume, in perceived volume it can increase when stressed out, but here is where things get more interesting. I also was anxious and scared and had realllyyy bad stress when my T was mild, did I perceive the T as louder as a result? Nope. It didnt increase when I was stressed either, nor if I looked for it in my head, searched for it..it didnt go up, but that was in my case dont know about others.


If you still dont believe me when I had Mild T my tinnitus would spike to Moderate, it would cause distress I didnt perceive it to be louder, it was just louder when I would do stupid stuff like go to a mall or café or restaurant. As soon as three days passed it would subside down to a mild tinnitus which was again tolerable. I didnt perceive my T as being louder, it simply increased in volume, in actual volume that is.

 

I get it. Mine has been around 85 dB since January and above 60 easily for three decades. Are you saying I have no idea what it's like? I just want to make sure that's what your saying. Because from what I read, it's that I somehow don't know what your going through... because if it's all about volume... I'd give anything to be partially masked by something in the 60dBs.

 

and this is why we need a treatment my dear friend. You also have to realize that not everyone has the mental strength to deal with T for 3 decades. I would have 100% failed college with this tinnitus no doubt about it.
I am sorry for asking this but how does your audiogram look like?

 

30 years are very long !
You are really a T hero.
Please hang in there and God bless !

 

I just want you to feel better and to not give up @dpdx. Its not strength. I had the good fortune of being very young and not knowing any different. I have decent hearing. A little notch from 4-6khz down to 15 in one ear and 20 in the other. Which isn't surprising and isn't the reason for my T. I had a botched eustacian tube surgery when I was younger and then when I was 18 I had my ex best friend fire a pistol a foot from head so I'd have tinnitus worse. But we always shot guns without protection. He also has it. One of those people that thinks louder T is just a sign of being a hard rocker. Screw him. My recent spike is because of fluid build up and dislocated TMJ.

 

Such great news!

 

Can T get worse without

So tinnitus can increase without causing further damage?

 

Can T get worse without causing more damage?

 

What exactly do you mean?

 

It is because for that... we have the technology!

 

can t get worse without causing further cochlea damage

 

Sure... much of T occurs for other reasons. But it can also lower regardless if the cochlea heals or not.

 

I hope my T lowers to mild and I am moving on. I live for the day when I will write a sucess story on here. I still will be fighting for a cure though.

 

Never quit fighting!

 

There is only so much fighting before you give up.

 

How many hours of sleep do you get? Do you take any med for sleep?

 

4-5 hours max, sometimes I sleep 0 hours.

 

Hi, did you have hearing loss due to the noise induce? Are you taking any medications? Do you have any tips on how to feel mentally better? Thank you. Btw, I am glad you are doing better, it gives us some hope..

 

The answer is yes because Tinnitus is now thought to be a dysfunction of our brain adapting to the change in input due to the damage (in many cases). The cochlear damage initiates the problem, but the tinnitus is in our brain and no longer generating from the ear. (http://discovermagazine.com/2010/oct/26-ringing-in-the-ears-goes-much-deeper) This also brings new hope that addressing the issue in the brain, rather than the impossible to reach cochlea, will bring about a cure or, at least, a much better treatment.

 

Oh, really?

 

Unfortunately I analyzed the raw data for TT and while they all matter, they are not correlated.

So yes, o really.

I'm out TT.

Peace.

 

People can be heavily distressed by mild and loud tinnitus, people commit suicide because of mild and severe tinnitus, but what most people (at least on TT) seem to have in common when they continue to struggle for years is loud, intrusive and/or unstable tinnitus. At least on here, it's rare to see someone with mild tinnitus continue to struggle for years and not to habituate. Most distraught members are either new to tinnitus or are going through a spike.
And many people with severe tinnitus are limited by their tinnitus. They can't attend certain events anymore, had to give up their jobs or switch careers, can't do certain things anymore, struggle to meet up with friends because every place is too loud, can't concentrate as well anymore and so on.

You usually don't see stories like "I have had mild tinnitus for years and it's ruining my life" but you can see stories such as "My tinnitus continues to get worse / I developed a new tone / It's getting louder / It's spiking constantly".

 

Do you exclude all hope in the future related to the regeneration of hair cells, the apparatus of Professor Susan or the University of Minnesota, the medicine of Professor Tsunopolus?
I also did not have time to taste the grams of this life.

 

If volume does not matter, I say every T researcher should just pack up now! Go home, leave the research, forget all about it!.......Cause why should we get a treatment or cure if louness does not matter and tinnitus distress is caused by personality traits alone. Better we just get TRT or CBT and "learn to live with it". And those who commit suicide because of T? well......too bad......they just couldnt learn how to not be distressed by their T

(FYI: If any reseachers are reading this. We are many people who know loudness/amount of tones is ALL that matters so we very much want you to continue the awesome work you do, to find us something that can give actual relief)

 

I dont know if I can wait that long, my T Is really bad.

 

Update... my tinnitus has been very low. I can only hear it, in complete silence, in closed car, at night while sleep.

but if I have stress then I can hear it in normal room sound.

I have also been to a loud party which gives me a spike of one week, now i am not going to do any crazy mistakes for the rest my life, I still hope it fades to zero like jjflyman's case...

 

I am sitting in my office and now I cannot hear my tinnitus at all, but the tone has changed a bit, I have to habituate to that... I can only hear that the tone at night sleep time.

 

when my hyperacusis increases my tinnitus goes down, and vice versa

 

New update...

I am living my normal life... it's been very low, and in the ears only, not in head...
Don't lose hope, people don't usually post success stories, and I feel the same now.