Silence Is Boring!

Hi guys,

I’ve been listening to my good old mate T since the start of April 2017, in that time I’ve found a few things that help. First of all I have both types of tinnitus, pulsatile and the good old high pitch scream. I developed this after a heavy week of partying at a skiing music festival, high altitude in the mountains, with a terrible flu/chest infection, taking MDMA every night, waking up early to ski and drinking hundreds upon hundreds of pints, a tinnitus cocktail for disaster!

Pulsatile - I still have this unfortunately, however the bass noise “whump whump whump” appears to be caused mainly from dehydration and overawareness, I’ve found that drinking at least 2 liters of water a day has reduced the WHUMP to a whimper. Simply taking my mind off the noise and thinking about certain subjects/plans for the future distracts me even in quiet environments, as this is by far the worst of the two types of tinnitus.

Tinnitus - the scream “eeeeeeeeeeeeee” is still as loud as ever, however after around 8 months I can go a whole day at work without hearing it and only really hear it in quiet environments at home! Huge improvement as at point point I’d be lucky to get 2 hours sleep and would hear it 24/7 literally! It’s gone from a 8/10 to a constant 6/10. Only sleep and stress effects the pitch but I’ve faced my fears and been to 4 gigs since getting this horrible condition (with ear plugs of course). I’ve also since got a promotion and have my dream job, so it proves it really is mind over matter! If anything this condition has encouraged me to live life to the fullest, I could be completely deaf so I do count my blessings.

MDMA - this could have been the cause of, or be the solution to my condition. I took it HEAVILY for 7 days straight whilst at the festival, it heightens your senses and could have caused this issue in the first place. After reading conflicting reports, I decided to take it again 8 months later to see if it could help. I went to a gig and as previously I thought I’d take MDMA to heighten the experience but also experiment on myself with tinnitus. The results are interesting.... the night was amazing, loved the gig, didn’t hear my tinnitus once even though I had ear plugs in, went to a night club after and was in a loud environment for at least 6 hours. I did hear the T tone when I got home, but had no negative response towards the noise (actually had sex for another two hours so I didn’t care anyway). The next day was hell, genuinely thought I’d made it 100 times worse, felt depressed, ashamed that I’d took such a risk etc. But late last night my tinnitus was the quietest it has been in the whole time I’ve had it and again same again today! I can only assume it’s due to my mind set, more than anything that I’ve realised I can live the life I did before and not overthink every decision and be overly aware of any loud noise. The key is to think about other things, enjoy the things you used to and not take the condition seriously. I can laugh with friends about it now, silence is boring!

 

Well done!!!

How long have you had the t before you began to see a proper improval?

 

Does this mean you're leaving the forum? By the nature of this post, that's a relief.

 

That's a bit mean!?

 

Seriously?
I am sorry but i just wonder tinnitus screeching 8-6/10 but can't listen to it rather only in a quiet home and on top of it still going to loud gigs??? I can't do the math.
I am happy to read that the OP feel so much better, but if he had serious tinnitus he wouldn't "laugh with it" and believe me, he would take the condition seriously. Personally i find going to gigs a recipe for disaster, but then again... choices.

Don't take @threefirefour "seriously", you can "laugh about him with your friends". Maybe during a gig or something just to break the ice.

 

No it's not. OP was insensitive. I'm all for success stories but this part is simply uncalled for: I can laugh with friends about it now, silence is boring!

 

I have very severe tinnitus and I can laugh about it. I find it helps to lessen its impact one me. My best mate calls me Shatner. My T is a horrible unmaskable mess that almost destroyed my life, but now I don't notice it that much and am quite happy. I do more now in my life post T than I did before - enjoy work more, more hobbies, take more time to enjoy my family. It's not automatic that with severe T you can't enjoy life.

 

I'd chew my own arm off to hear silence again but everyone seems to react differently to this

 

you are able to sleep fine without meds? anything that help you to get to this point of being happy despite t? no concentration problems?

 

My sleep is fine. It's my holiday from the noise. I'm not on sleep meds but take an ssri for tinnitus related depression. I have come to this point by gradually brainwashing myself into thinking it's not such a big deal.

 

idc

 

Clearly

 

Silence is boring? Alright, better contact all those researchers to let them know research is not needed anymore since we wont be needing a treatment mrite? Might as well stop wearing earplugs alltogether so the fun never stops.

 

Hey all,

First of all my tinnitus is always there, I always hear it I just chose to preseve it in a less destructive way.

When I go to gigs I wear ear plugs and don’t stand anywhere near the front. Dave Grohl a T veteran among many other musicians play live with no ear protection on year long tours, which is crazy so going to the odd gig throughout a year with ear protection isn’t such a bad thing. My audiologist has T and says he goes to gigs with no ear protection and he says it’s louder for three days and then goes back to the usual tone.

I’ve been through the dark days, I was hearing police sirens for the first 3/4 months, now it’s still loud but I can control my response much better. I wouldn’t say there’s a moment where it fully improved forever, just that each month I feel like I can handle it better. I’m at about 9 months at the moment, still have down days but my overall attitude is to carry on with life, be careful to an extent but in now way make this the focus of my life! My life is great, I just happen to have a life changing condition that is now the annoying backing track I have to live with.

You’ll get to a point where you’re so tired of feeling down that you’ll just accept it and realise this noise won’t hurt you, only your thoughts about it.

Genuinely wish everyone the best with their journey, it’s made me a stronger person x

 

>Proceeds to completely ignore comment chain dumpsterfire.

 

With your attitude you’re never going to accept your T, stop hating. It’s called being positive, you should try it sometime...

 

Positivity is boring!

 

Most people wish for silence, so i'd love for it to bore me..even if it's for 10 seconds. That's would be a dream, but I am not holding my breathe. I see some positivity in OP's post, but the title of the thread, defeats the purpose of it for many people.

 

How is that insensitive? Laughing at my condition and my situation makes me realise that it’s not the be all and end all. It’s a condition I have to deal with probably forever, accept it, laugh it off and get on with your life. I Concentrate on the good things in life and it helps me deal with it much better, but that’s just me

 

I understand how much this noise can destroy people’s lives, mine included, but in my opinion acceptance and the perception which we deal with it means everything. It’s the only way we can move on, so by saying “silence is boring” to me is a liberating way to view the condition. Right or wrong, no offence is intended

 

I share that view myself and I am 95% habituated. I am talking about other people, that take his post as an offense. I don't, I been at this for almost 30 years and live my life to the fullest

Silence would be awesome, but It doesn't stop me from living a good life

Read my posts , I share this mentality...

 

Sad that we live in a world where most people take offence and very few offer advice which has helped them

 

It would be more sad if we lived in a world if your advice actually qualified as helpful.

 

Thank you, I’m glad you didn’t take this the wrong way like some. I hope to be at 95% one day! Perseption is everything, the noise remains the same, it’s my reaction changes more than anything. Would love silence one day too, but I have accepted I probably won’t... hence the headline....

 

It’s more helpful than being negative and shooting down things that have personally helped me. I have supported many and will continue to support many people by encouraging them to view T as a friend and not an enemy, the more you accept the less bothersome it becomes that’s the bottom line of what I’m trying to say.

 

Read my posts. I am sure it has helped a few here and even myself

It all boils down to experience, that's the key with tinnitus and with life in general.

Even I pick up some golden nuggets here and there, while reading.

This forum has some veteran posters and their stuff is really good and helpful.

 

I’ll be sure to give it a read, most of the time this forum has been a god send. So many people suffer from this condition you’d have thought there would be more warnings and awareness. Quite shocking when you realise the lack of information about it. Both of the audiologists I have seen both said that they got the condition by working in a soundproof room, no excessive noise exposure, just became aware of the noise due to long periods of silence and it stuck with them! It’s such an unpredictable thing

 

I got tinnitus in 87-88 and back then all would laugh and mock people that suffer from this horrible ordeal. 30 years later it's still a taboo experience and no answers. Sure they might be researching it, but in my 30 years, I seen nothing that will end this madness.

That's why I come here to educate , people on keeping their tinnitus at the low baseline or a low tone/hiss and not having it become the demon and hell raiser it has become today for me. I can stand on the side of the freeway and my tinnitus is louder than the freeway sound.

My goal is to not let folks, screw up like I did and avoid it and not have their tinnitus become like mine

 

If I let it mine can be that loud too, I’m
Only 9 months in bit I feel like if my reaction has improved this much there’s hope that it can become much more of a minor issue.

Do you mind me asking how yours started? Funnily enough my Dad has it and My mums mum had it, so I suppose my DNA was destined for T! I only found out when I talked about it, my Dad said he just “gets on with it” and that he can always hear it but he just gives it no power by focusing on other things and as he says “keeping busy”. Very hard to do, but his to the point advice calmed me right down and in turn I have accepted it

 

you can sleep well with it?