Stop Telling Me to Live with It or Habituate

Of course it isn't. We like to pretend it is. The art of self delusion ain't easy.

 

I disagree. I'll ask you the same questions that I asked glowout - what exactly do you want as a cure? Why is retraining your brain to filter out noise, the way that it used to, before tinnitus, not a cure?

 

Like it was? You weren't born with this noise. You are NOT putting your brain back to "how it was" because before tinnitus the brain was never that way. All the ENTs and doctors I've seen on the matter are worthless, as worthless as a person suggesting I should just learn to ignore it. Until the brain is disable from maintaining the noise, thus eliminating it, I cannot live a happy life.

 

Sorry, but you can not train your brain to filter out the noise completely like it used too, used to meaning: you would never hear it, even in silence or listening out for it. By being habituated the noise can be put way back in your perception, but even habituated people can hear their tinnitus if they actively think about it or listens out for it.

 

Virtually anybody can "hear" sounds and noises if they listen for it. Do you want a solution that completely eliminates the possibility of ever hearing any and all noise, even if you concentrate on it? What's the point of that? We all must accept the fact that something in our auditory nervous system is not functioning properly, and attend to returning it to as close to normal as possible, by whatever means works best.

 

Or we could do something to disrupt the brain and deprive of its misguided homeostasis response.

 

How exactly would that be accomplished?

 

@Luman is quite correct @Gl0w0ut about habituation. You are in the very early stages of tinnitus and up to one year one is still new to it although they are starting to become conditioned. It takes time. I assure you when a person reaches habituation they don't even have to try to ignore the tinnitus because even when the brain hears it will not be a problem. Unless a person habituates they cannot understand it or the habituation process because it's something that just happens but when it does then they will understand.

People habituate at different rates and is often determined by a person's emotional makeup. There are limitations to habituation if the tinnitus becomes too loud and I mean severely loud and is sustained for a period of time. Under these circumstances medication usually helps.

Michael

 

Sorry, but that's not entirely true. Before I had T I sought out silence, I loved silence and often (on a daily basis) I lay in a completely silent room,"listening" to the silence and relaxing and I heard nothing, and I mean zero, besides my breathing, but absolutely no noise from my ears or head....how I miss those days

Others I have spoken too about this say the same thing, that even when listening out for noise, they can hear nothing but silence.

 

Well... results of The Heller and Bergman experiment and also result of my super small experiment show that majority (>90%) people can hear "something" in complete silence. But you could have been one of the minority or you did not have ability to hear the T.

 

I said "virtually anybody". I should have said "the majority".

 

Personally I don't believe in those results.

 

That is why I wanted to replicate it by myself.. Very similar results.

 

And like I said, I know of several people who can't hear any noise, when put in a silent room.

 

Because silent room is probably not silent enough. This is really hard to explain, but I have this luxury of super nice laboratory. Let just put them there and see...

 

Somebody on this forum recently conducted an experiment, with a soundproof chamber and volunteers, at the university where he works, and got similar results.

 

But their is no point in doing that, because none of us are living our daily lives in such a silent unnatural environment.

 

Yep. But we have learned how to find the T now and it will be very difficult to forget it. And we can hear sounds that other people would totally ignore (do not hear).

 

Are you avoiding everything in life that may be "very difficult", even things which are capable of benefits, such as changing your behavior to obtain relief from tinnitus?

 

Ignoring and not hearing are two very different things.
It seems to me your sentence should really read "we can hear sounds that other people do not hear". It's not like they hear it and ignore it. They just don't hear it.

 

If I were you (and I am going to do the same next ENT visit) is have a written up report of my tinnitus. It will have my story, what my habits are they could impact it, what risk factors I might have... he will know I am serious if I am dedicated enough to write a very detailed report. Plus, I will not have forgotten any details that are crucial if they are already written down

 

You're right, I should just get on with it.

 

I don't agree, if you hear a sound that mimics tinnitus but don't have it you will forget about the sound as soon as it is gone.
I can remember when i was a teen that i was in a sound proof room once and was told to listen to see if i could hear anything, and yes after a few minutes i started to hear a T like sound, but as soon as i left the room it was gone and never thought about it again.

 

Yeah but once the T was gone i bet you wouldn't realy want the cancer anymore after all

 

No id definitely trade. Tinnitus is one of the worst things one could have. I've had multiple health issues and tinnitus is definitely the worst I've had.

 

You've got terminal cancer and received many sessions of chemotherapy and radiation have you? Very sorry to hear that. Maybe you should take your unique perspective on life to some of the many cancer forums and tell them about your tinnitus impairment.

 

Because of chemo they probably have it too.

 

Certain cancer treatments can cause hearing loss and tinnitus. It’s not uncommon, hospitals often do high frequency hearing tests on cancer patients. I’ve actually discussed this with audiologists.

Early on I wondered why more cancer patients with tinnitus did not frequent TT. Then I read an article by someone who had survived cancer but now had tinnitus. He was grateful to be alive, even with tinnitus. He didn’t worry whether his tinnitus would get worse, he worried whether his cancer would come back.

Tinnitus might be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you — but do not make generalizations that it’s worse than cancer. It might be for you, but it does not mean everyone would feel that way. Unfortunately we cannot pick our sufferings in life.

 

And @Equalizer, I do not normally call people out because I understand the frustration of tinnitus, but . . .

I think your continual marking of posts about cancer as funny is disrespectful to those who have lost loved ones and those who are currently fighting. I have lost dear friends, close relatives, and within the next few months will lose another loved one. Have you ever watched someone die of cancer? Stood by their bedside? It’s not just losing your hair to chemo. It’s losing your memories, your autonomy, your personality, your strength, etc. There is nothing funny about it.

If you disagree with comments about the severity of cancer, use your words. Editing to add: or message the forum staff if you feel we should have a “disagree” option. There is a big difference between disagreement and humor.

 

The fallacy of that study was already addressed by myself and others in the original thread. No need to once again address that here.

Do you mean literally destroyed? Or mortally destroyed? Morally destroyed? Not everyone has their morals destroyed by tinnitus.

Your examples could also be said for cancer. One moment you’re okay, the next your body is essentially turning on you. Your DNA malfunctions, organs you’ve trusted fail, your blood cells do not do their job. Tinnitus is a similar failing of body organs. We that suffer with tinnitus should have empathy for our fellow sufferers, regardless of how they suffer.