Studies Confirm Tinnitus Improves Over Time

ALBERT... COSSACKS ARE IN RUSSIA!

 

studies confirm that studies are FULL OF CRAP

 

I just hope they’re gone because they got better and not because of S.

Glad I’m reading this now with Susan Shore around the corner.

 

FWIW: I read an interview with an expert on tinnitus that the rate of self-harm among the tinnitus population is no greater than the general population. There have definitely been studies showing that tinnitus intensity/volume does not correlate with tinnitus distress.

 

Thank you. This is very helpful information especially at present.

 

Tinnitus never gets better with time. It gets worse, but if you ask someone who has had it for 3 or 5 years, they will think that it has improved because they have gotten used to it.

Ask them in 10, 15 or 30 years and they will tell you that it has gotten worse.

I have had it for over 30 years. After a few years you get used to it and adapt but at the same time it gets worse, and it happens that this worsening exceeds the habituation capacity (not at first, but after many years when it gets much worse, yes).

 

It is nice to have something as delightful as worsening tinnitus to look forward to in the future.

 

It improves. I agree. It's not always habituation, it can fade a lot over time (years).

But loud sounds are everywhere, and one day you ruin your improvement going to a party, a concert or working in a loud environment, and finally it gets worse.

 

Here’s to hoping Susan Shore’s device can bring an end to enduring this for years.

I cannot see any of us having to endure tinnitus with no treatments after the next few years. I think bimodal stimulation will have great success that can and will be improved upon.

I wonder if it has gotten worse for older folks in the past because of age related hearing loss and being at risk for additional tinnitus? Hopefully that won’t be the case in the future.

 

This is exactly it. I've had tinnitus for 17 years now, and exactly like you said:

- first year: nightmare.

- second year: let's see how I can live my life with this.

- 3-10 years: it's ok but I'd be happy to live without it.

- 10 years: new tinnitus on top of the exiting ones, some new frequencies that have become harder to cope with. Sometimes I felt like I was hearing things from outside but people around me could not hear it. That's when pulsatile tinnitus arrived, like morse code or trucks on the reverse gear. Nights became way shorter with this. Then after a couple of years I could get used to it again, etc. but in the end my head is full of sounds and will only get more sounds as I get older.

 

This is exactly how I feel now.

It got worse (multiple tones and louder) but I cope with it better.

And by coping I strictly mean that I'm not in the panic mode all the time.

I'm almost always aware of it and it bugs me. But I'm not screaming in my head anymore "make it stop, make it stop now, if it doesn't stop I'll go insane."

This is my progress after one year. But I don't know if I can keep up with the new tones.

Also, it's not just about the tinnitus. My hyperacusis sure doesn't help.

 

"Exceeds the habituation capacity". Yep, that's a brilliantly erudite and sobering statement, and one I can identify with.

Tinnitus since '91 just like me. You and I are brothers in arms, man. How is life on a day-to-day basis for you now?

I enjoyed 'habituation' for about 25 years. All good really, no complaints. For the last 3-5 years, however, the increased volume and capriciousness of it, together with mild hyperacusis concocted a situation that makes me doubt I will ever be able to return to life as it was.

But still there are good days. And even on bad days there are good periods. So I get through it and I manage. I don't know how I do that, but I do. "Acceptance" perhaps, an inevitable result of time passed? "Fatalistic" - there ain't anyone or anything out there gonna help me... Dunno what it is, but I know what it isn't - it isn't habituation.

 

You are all warriors on here. I’m continually humbled and heartbroken by your stories but inspired by the tenacity of your will and determination. I know people are sick of me cheerleading Susan Shore but here’s to hoping bimodal stimulation can reverse these worsenings.

 

If people are sick of your cheerleading, then I wonder what others think about my interest in her research since 2013!

 

Yeah that's what I've heard. Pretty much no cases of the volume getting better past two years with chronic tinnitus. And people who have tinnitus are much more susceptible to acquire new tinnitus whether it's their brains or their new damaged and sensitive ears.

 

We are certainly the Shore Squad @DebInAustralia

 

I've had tinnitus for 3 and a half years. No improvement. It's almost certainly worse.

 

I'm almost at 1 year anniversary. My tinnitus is definitely worse, more volume, a lot more tones, bigger volume fluctuations. Still mild though (audible in quiet rooms).

Also, nothing happened to worsen it: no loud noise exposure, no headphones, 95% of time staying at home, no medication, no infection, no other notable event.

I suppose if it happens to start off very mild, it can only get worse...

 

Can confirm.

 

FWIW, I do not agree that tinnitus always gets better. I also do not agree that tinnitus never gets better. Apparently, there are people with screaming tinnitus who do not consider it a major factor in their life. I think that high strung, obsessive types might struggle more with it.

 

High strung, obsessive type over here!

I've had screaming, insanely loud tinnitus for just over seven years now. There is no way it has improved over time. It has demonstrably gotten worse.

In saying that, for want of a better analogy, you just have to learn to cope with it. My ears are ALWAYS ringing. I can ALWAYS hear my tinnitus. There has not been a single situation for the past seven years where I have not been able to hear it.

But it's just... there. And your body seems to view it less and less as a threat over time.

It's still infuriating. It still occupies my thoughts multiple times a day. I recently turned 40, and my hearing is so poor that hearing aids - and soon - are the only viable option.

It sucks, and I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy. But in those seven years I've gotten (re)married, started an art collection, enjoyed a few memorable holidays, commenced new jobs and done a bunch of other cool things. Tinnitus doesn't define you - or it shouldn't - it's just something that's always there.

That said, and on the topic at hand, because it can't be objectively measured, I suspect most medical doctors find the thought of intrusively loud tinnitus that exists over the hearing threshold inconceivable. You can tell them how loud the ringing is, but because there's no way for them to measure it, they simply can't comprehend it.

 

This is refreshing for the Type As like me experiencing severe anxiety and PTSD from tinnitus.

 

Great post and absolutely on-point. Christopher Cederroth also discussed issues like this in the latest podcast.

He went on to state that there needs to be a distinction made between early onset tinnitus patients and those who are chronic/severe sufferers like you and me, highlighting nuances that make subtyping difficult, particularly where research towards either a cure or effective management is concerned.

Actually, one of the biggest travesties of all is that research seems to favour those with early onset tinnitus. I've never been able to understand why so much money is spent on patients that stand the biggest chance of all to "make peace" naturally with their tinnitus within the first 2-3 years. Show me a slice of curative research for which the entry criteria is, tinnitus onset >5 years, and I'll be (forgive the pun) all ears!

 

A very insightful point, but it only underscores the sort of indefensible, self-serving alibis from ENT Doctors regarding their inexcusable dismissal of the severity of this condition.

What sort of pain is objectively measurable? Every sort of pain that I have ever had (Migraines, Arthritis, a torn Rotator Cuff, a Urinary Tract infection,etc.) is only absolutely subjective and must be accepted at face value according to what the sufferer reports.

Granted, an MRI, for example, can provide a picture of the torn tissue of a Rotator Cuff, but the degree and character of the internally subjective pain varies and is only amenable to each patient's specific description.

In fact, the numerous YouTube sound examples by tinnitus sufferers presenting a nearly identical facsimile of what they hear is far more accurately conveyed than, for example, any available external demonstration of what my Migraine pain feels like.

For a definitive demonstration of this, check out "Tinnitus Nightmare" on YouTube; if this would not persuade a Physician about the "inconceivable", hellish nature of this, then I have no idea what would.

 

Well, just to give you a somewhat vague impression of the other side of the "transaction" -- back in the days when I had insurance, after much pressure from my ENT, the insurance company allowed me one week in a... umm... the Germans call it a Kur-ort. Now I ain't no German (I'm just anther Mick) but it gave me a feeling of pride (?) sense of belonging (?) or just plain satisfaction that the Germans had actually set up a centre for the treatment of tinnitus.

Well we got loads of advice and lectures and tips and such. The main message was "Get up off your ass and go out and get on with life". And it all kind of centered around sound therapy. But once or twice a week we were given a lecture. I recall the head of the place telling us all assembled tinnitus-people that his Pappy was or had been an ENT as well. When he announced to his Pa in younger years that he had decided to go down this route the answer he got was: "OK! your decision. You can make a good living out of this, but stay away from tinnitus patients. We just don't know the answer. We just don't know." Long story short, he hadn't followed his Pappy's advice. Mind you it did help the particular case of "me" quite a lot.

But I'm back here thumping a keyboard now, ain't I.

 

Please share the data on this.

 

It’s personal experience. He doesn’t have any data.

 

That’s what I figured. A dim outlook. I know of many people who got better and did not get worse with age.

 

This.

I'd trade my hyperacusis for a few extra tinnitus tones any day.

 

Bring it home Shore!