Standing at the gates of tinnitus

I am so glad to hear that, Darren. A consult with a doctor like that can make all the difference. I went to a lot of specialists for consultations during my first two months of tinnitus -- one who was considered one of the best inner ear surgeons in Florida, practicing about 200 miles away from my house. While he couldn't offer me any easy solutions, his kindness and advice had both myself and my husband in tears by the time the office visit was over. It turned out this surgeon had tinnitus himself. It was an amazing experience and I think of his words whenever I feel low.

If the medical practice only realized how far a little understanding, patience and open-mindedness can go... Glad you got one of the good ones. They ARE out there. Don't settle for anything less.

 

Hi Guys,

well It's been a busy week. As I posted a few days ago, on Wednesday I went to see Dr David Baguley who's a clinical scientist and head of Audiology at Addenbrookes hospital in Cambridge. I was hoping to get a lot out of this guy, as I'd heard good things and boy did he deliver.

As you all may or may not know, there is now known cure for Tinnitus, BUT there are tried and tested treatments for it. I was with him for an hour and he told me so much on how to treat this condition and not let IT control you. I'm not going to repeat word for word what he said, but I'll try and paraphrase a few words of wisdom over the next few posts. unfortunately I have to do this at my home PC and not my I-phone (as per my normal posts).

Firstly we touched on Anxiety. A major problem with most of us newbies. I know I'm not going to do him justice, but please bear with me and read between the lines a little. He used an analogy of a rabbit and a fox. so hear goes.

A young baby rabbit is in the forest, eating away and quite oblivious to all of its surroundings. Unbeknown to the rabbit a fox was creeping in. The rabbit only heard the fox when it stepped on a twig and the twig snapped.

Questions.

What was his senses like?...........................................................Alert.
What 1st emotion did the rabbit have?........................................ Fear
What was the rabbits breathing like?...........................................fast.
What was his heart rate doing?...................................................Pounding.
etc..............................

Was the rabbit right to have these feelings?......................................YES. He was gonna be eaten by a fox, for F##k sake! But luckily the rabbit lived. Yaayy!!

The next day he is back in the forest, but now he is anxious and scared. Why? he hasn't heard a twig snap. It doesn't matter, he is still anxious, just waiting for the snap that may or not even come. Then an innocent twig falls from a tree, but what happens to the rabbit? you guessed it. He is freaking the F##k out!!! Why? Because he's been waiting for that sound for hours or days. There was no danger, no fox, just a simple noise. But that doesn't stop Mr Bunny from panicking and bolting off scared.

He then asked me if I felt anxious on a good day? I said yes. He said, why, are you scared of foxes'

So to some up, control the fear is the 1st step to treating T.

Think about it guys and have a great weekend.


Darren

 

Thank you so much Darren for sharing all this with us!

 

Set off at 7.30am this morning to go to the NEC at Birmingham to look at Motorhomes. Half way there, I realised the show wasn't until next Saturday!! I going to blame that on my T and not me being a dumb ass. Did a slight detour and had a great day out in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace.

Have a great weekend guys,

Darren

 

Hello Darren, I'm a relatively new sufferer(1 week) and I am currently experiencing slightly blocked ears and a hugely increased sensitivity which increases the T itself. I see you touched on that and was wondering if you have any words of advice, thank you

 

Yes mate, the blocked ears is a funny one. When I 1st got T I was trying to eliminate all sorts of stuff. Like certain foods, drinks, tabbaco, dairy etc... I work in construction and so I use ear plugs, when I removed the plugs it seemed like my ears were blocked. Sometimes I was just searching for an answer / cure. But over the last fortnight things have settled down a little, but don't ask why as I have no idea. Sometimes things just settle on there own with no apparent reason. My Dr just gave me a noise generator (which is and looks like an alarm clock) along with a pillow that has built in speakers. You don't really need the generator because the pillow can be plugged into a phone or tablet. This is really cool as you can bury your head into the pillow and have a great nights sleep. Certainly in the early stages, stay busy during the day and rest at night. Get off the caffeine and reduce your salt intake. I am also reading a book called Living with Tinnitus, there is a passage about blocked ears, but I haven't got to that chapter yet. When I do I will let you know, or you can download it from I-tunes or order from Amazon. Stay calm mate and keep in touch.

Darren

 

I think my main fear at the moment is the buzzing getting louder if I continue to have noise around me all day and night, or is this a method I have to take to progress?

 

In the book I'm reading, someone carried out an experiment with non T sufferers. The were put in a sound proof isolation booth and something like 94% of them heard T. We as humans are meant to hear noise. As long as your volume is set to just slightly below your T, you will be fine. Last week at work I used a pair of head phones, but had them around my neck, so the volume was low and constantly with me. It took the thought of T away and stopped me from focusing on it, hence, my anxiety dropped. Is this the reason my T dropped? I have no idea! But T and anxiety are not a good combo.

Don't forget I'm a newbie as well, so I'm just feeling my way around, but if I can help just let me know.

Take care mate

 

Thanks for the info mate, I never realised you were also a newbie, just out of interest, what type of sounds do you hear?

 

Bills dropping through the letter box mainly. But apart from that, a high pitch tone combined with buzzing in my left and just a high pitch in the right.

 

I have the exact same with high pitched and buzzing in my left and just high pitched in my right, how long exactly have you had this for?

 

My ears felt blocked around 9 weeks ago, but the T only arrived around 7 weeks ago. The 1st fortnight was the worst. Then its got slightly easier as time has gone on. Don't get me wrong I still have some crappy days, but on the whole its a lot better and so is my understanding and dealing with it.

 

I hope I can begin to come to terms but this recent turn has left my ears so vulnerable to wind and other outside noises. I just went out for a 3 minute walk and my right ear began to get sore and the noise levels increased rapidly in my left ear, it was as if my ears couldn't deal with the vibrations

 

Same with me, but only in the early days. Use some cotton wool or ear plugs. I know exactly what you are going through as our conditions are identical. It will get better mate. Just take one day at a time and try not to compare it day by day or hour by hour. I do feel for you because I've been there, but I'm getting better and so will you. Try not to read to many scary stories on this subject, focus only on the positive ones. There ARE treatments, good ones as well. Get some white noise going now and perhaps a few herbal sleeping tablets if you wish. Download the book I mentioned and start the treatment tonight.

I going to be off line for a while as I'm going into the gym. But I'll check back in, in a few hours.

Take care

 

Cheers mate, good to have someone to talk to. What's the name of the book you are reading?

 

No probs mate, the book is called "Living with Tinnitus" by DR Lawrence McKenna & Dr David Baguley. It's about £6 on Amazon and around £7 on I-tunes. Also I read Karens reply and she was dead right about being outside. Get yourself a warm hat that covers the ears (like one of them Russian hats) and get walking. Great for the blood flow, makes you ready for bed and distracts you from the T. T is like a naughty child. The more attention you pay it the more it acts up. The more you ignore it the quieter it becomes.

Right Gym done, Camomile tea drunk, reply to a few tweets then bed. Looking forward to my wonder pillow.

Take care

 

Thank you the only worry I have about going outside is what I experienced tonight, my ears just couldn't handle the vibrations, left ear would increase in noise to seriously uncomfortable levels and the right would become slightly sore

 

Hi Guys, a few weeks ago, a couple of people asked if I could share some Astro pictures. Well, I've been working on this one for a few weeks. It's the Veil Nebula In Cygnus. It's the remnants of a super Nova (a star that exploded thousands of years ago) and is now just a large ionised dust cloud. Over 100 separate pictures, at 10 minute long exposures, went in to the making of this one image, witch equates to around 17 hours of data.

Hope you enjoy it.

 

Beautiful !

 

Amazing!
Thanks Darren

 

cool..

 

Fab picture, one to show my son, he's really into the stars.

 

Thank you for all your kind comments. It make the long sleepless nights worth it now.

Have a great day guys.

 

wow I just saw this. Stunning. How did u get interested in astronomy? Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks Di,

I've always been an outside person and always appreciated the stars, but that's as far as it went. This time last year I purchased a telescope and after a few months learnt how to attach a DSLR camera to it and took my first picture. It was at that moment I realised what was up in the sky. You can see so much more with a photo than you can with the naked eye and from that moment I was hooked. I've only been doing this for around 10 months and so I have a long way to go, but I'm having a blast. The only problem with this hobby, is that it is a money pit ££££££!!!!!!!! :-( still the kids don't need to eat...........do they?

Thanks for your kind comment.

Darren

 

I had a real rough day yesterday. My T was quite loud in the morning and then going on to very loud in the afternoon and evening. Today it started off fairly low and is now very low. Just sitting in the van enjoying this moment whilst it lasts. I wish someone could give me the option of having this volume forever, I would take it In a heart beat. Alas, that is not the case. Still a very happy bunny at the moment. Plus we have clear skies tonight so the scope is coming out. Who needs sleep!!!!

 

Hello Darren, I noticed you are in construction. Do you find your t is louder after wearing ear plugs & ear defenders? I am asking because mine does. Nice picture by the way I am into astronomy myself just finished watching The Cosmos by Carl Sagan & visiting a observatory in Clanfield, Hampshire this coming January

Simon

 

Hi, good to know another Astro nut. Yeah, I've been battling with the ear defender scenario myself. It's not necessarily that my T feels louder (although it does a bit) but my ears feel full after removing them. It's early days for me (8 weeks in) and so I'm just monitoring it on a daily basis. My ears feel less blocked now than they did 4 weeks ago and my spikes are getting further apart (1 spike in the last 12 days) and so things could be settling down a bit. T still there 24-7, but on my scale it's a constant 4, as apposed to a 10 when it spikes. I know this hasn't helped, but I can't really figure it out myself. Sorry.

Take care,

Darren

 

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. I have to go to the dentist for an extraction, but I have a terrible gag reflex. I would need to take a relaxant such as diazepam. Does diazepam the the numbing injection have any side effects to Tinnitus?

Regards,

Darren