Success Stories?? Tell Me It Gets Better PLS!

Hi Guys,

So Went to the GP today after having this ringing in my ears for the last 8 days and he confirmed my suspicions .... tinnitus... I have had a panic attack all day and am completely exhausted, I am letting my beautiful daughters down and my partner.. I mean I'm here but im not... my stupid head is elsewhere, I can still hear perfectly but there is a faint high pitched ring there for the last 8 days and I am so freaking terrified that it will get louder to the point of (T) destroying my life as I know it and the noise will dominate everything I once treasured, as I have read crap on the net about ppl committing suicide because of their (T) so that has put me in a full blown panic thinking that this is only the start of the loudness as it will only continue to get louder over the years, please tell me it doesn't PLEASE , god I hate my obsessiveness about reading everything I can find on a topic!

PLEASE TELL ME SOME POSITIVE STORIES WITH YOUR OWN STRUGGLE WITH (T) I NEED TO HEAR IT, I NEED TO HEAR I WILL BE OK AND THAT THIS RINGING IM HEARING NOW WONT KEEP GETTING LOUDER AND LOUDER, PLS!!! BUT IF YOU CAN NOT TELL ME THE SUCCESS YOU HAVE HAD I CANT HEAR ANY NEGITIVE STUFF, IM NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO HEAR IT AT THE MOMENT,

Thanks in advance
Jade

 

Hi Jade. I felt exactly the same when I got it last year... You will start to feel better about it but you need to give yourself time and try to find the right people to help you emotionally with it. You must be kind to yourself and say that you will master this in little steps. Not easy I know. You need re-assurance from professionals and may give you some peace of mind.. I feel a lot better now than the initial months which were really difficult. Google 'Tinnitus Management' and see if you can find a person to help you in your area.
Nicky

 

@Nicky,
Thank you, I am glad (in a selfish way but also sorry for you at the same time) that you felt like I did when started, thank you & I look forward to being strong with myself but kind at the same time, here's to positive thinking and hopefully goodbye to hopelessness x

 

Jade your going to have good days and bad days, listen like you I lost my mumthrough tinnitus and it scares the hell out of you, but get some white noise on your mobile it will distract you I promise, as for the panic attacks I am still having them, but making it my priority to try and beat them, it can be done , others have done it, it does affect your family life, but you will come out of it, I was a driving instructor up till this started and now I cant even drive to the shops on my own, its all in the mind,get some tinnitus councelling, my god I wish you were over here, we have so much in common, lets do this together, you can do it and so can I, but not overnight, please stay strong.

 

Anxiety = louder T, but this is not permanent.

I take magnesium when mine flares up (louder days).

I have not limited anything in my life, only ear plugs at loud sets/bars. Oh and maybe a slight improvement in diet meaning no junk food, (pizza is acceptable haha!) Oh and no aspirin or pain killer drug that may contain side effects to make the T worse.

Right so here's what you can do to GET BETTER!

Exercise like running is good, may make it louder just after due to increased blood flow, but as soon as you warm down, you feel great.

I know people are not down to habituate, but to learn to habituate actually gets you a lot closer to the relief of a cure.

Learn to not care about T, think of it as a neighbor you ignore! Never plug your ears and try and listen for it. Keep yourself busy, get out in the world, protect your ears only when around loud sounds, you will be fine.

When you do hear it, do not worry, just hear it. When you hear a sound as a SOUND and not a THREAT your brain will completely start to prioritize what is IMPORTANT... T is NOT IMPORTANT.

When you learn to habituate you mentally turn the volume down, if you master this and then an accessible treatment comes your way in the future who knows how much more you can diminish it, probably get rid of it all together!

Any questions, let me know, this is someone who habituated in about 4 - 5 months. Takes some 1 month, takes others a year, everyone's different, but everyone's capable of applying these methods.

Deepx

 

@Deepx, I am new to Tinnitus talk as of yesterday. I was with another online support group and have technical difficulties. I am happy to have found this group. Everyone with bad T needs support. I have had mine for 2 1/2 years. The intensity is usually very loud. I suffered terribly yesterday and it has not let up any today. This is par for the course. I have terrible intensity (long lasting spikes) for several days in a row, then I may get a very good or fair break for a day or two. I so wish that I could habituate like you. I have tried so many things (professionally and not). Nothing has helped me and I am at the point of despair....no hope....can't take it anymore. I am hoping that I can find some tricks/solutions I have not tried, from this group. Happy for you that you have habituated.

 

Jade, there's an informal survey someone around here did of his friends and relatives about Tinnitus. He discovered that the MAJORITY of them have had T at some point in their lives (for at least a week), and that 90% of those got better (over weeks, or months, or a couple years). As above, the odds are in your favor.

The internet is filled with stories of doom because people who get T and then get better just forget about it and don't report it. I know, because my own T vanishes sometimes, and when it does I get this weird feeling that it wasn't ever a problem and that it was "all a dream". I'm not likely to talk about it. That's just the psychology of how it works.

 

Jade -
The fact that your hearing is good and that the sound is faint puts you on the low end of the tinnitus spectrum. You should be able to naturally habituate quickly, ....if you get a grip on your emotions.

You are in the freak-out stage. We all went through that stage at first. You are trying to "run away from your own body", in a sense. You will need to learn to calm down and stop listening to it. That may seem impossible to do, but it's something you will need to figure out in your own terms.

If you are having difficulty sleeping and coping, I recommend taking a mild anti-depressant called Remeron (Mirtazipan). This will give you sleep, which is the most critical thing. It has helped me.

Your brain should be able to eventually learn to ignore this faint sound, so that it's "just a little buzz".

But you need to protect your hearing, especially if you work at a noisy job.

 

If your tinnitus is mild that you need to stick fingers into ears to find it, then you will habituate quickly and you will easily forget about it in few weeks or months. I habituated my faint high pitched sound in about 2 months and I didn't care about it for next 9 years. My brain filtered it simply out and even absolute silence wasn't problem. I could hear it sometimes, but hadn't any emotional response to it.

If it is louder, the same will happen, but it needs more time. That's the fight I am fighting right now.

Just protect your ears from noise and be careful about medications you will take (lots of them are ototoxic).

 

Hi Jade,
As others have said, you will get through this and you will care less and less about it. It's hard to believe when you're anxious about it, but work on distracting yourself from thinking about it.

DD

 

Karl,

My hearing is ok as well, but my T sounds really loud to me, I'm about one month into it. I relate to what you say about freaking out, good to hear that the brain will ignore it by time but are there any scientific material on T with hearings loss vs T without? I'm trying to learn more about my own T, the aim is of course to learn the "tricks of the trade" and be the master of it's loudness.

 

Hi Jade,

My love goes out to you. We are both new with T. Be grateful that your noise level is low, from what I have read and been told it doesn't just increase and increase, that's just your anxiety playing mind games with you. Also, u can't get def by having T. Next time you freak out think of all the millions of people around the globe that has T and all the people that learned to cope with it and lead a normal life. That's what I do. When you are in your bed hearing the T ring just think of a large black dot that represents millions of people with T, we are all in charge. We decide. WE are masters of our brains and how the T affects us. Alltough I got my chronic T in mid June this year I'm forcing myself to think a day at the time and incorporate the image I just wrote about.

Love

 

Hi Jade - reading your post and all those offering support above - it shows we all go through the same processes - panic / freak out stage/ fear / sleepless nights / etc etc - but almost everyone does somehow learn and find a way to cope and it then starts to get better - and we learn to live again!

I can relate to so many of your fears and you sound like I did a few weeks ago - I have 2 daughters and I couldn't function to take care of them - I cried cos I thought I couldn't be the Mum I was a few weeks before !

YOU will I promise be back on-track being the Mum you always have been ! I like you spent ages reading everything I could about T and being a bit of a worrier - decided all the worst case scenarios - those would be me and worried about it getting worse to the point I was making it worse and it took over my days and weeks !

OK to get on track you need help to sort the anxiety - for me this was Anti Depressant tablets and sleeping pills to get some precious sleep - after a few good nights sleep I started to feel a bit better and had a 'good day' !!!! Then I had some bad days and nights - but then the next week - guess what.... a few more good days - better sleep and I started to 'forget' or ignore the noises....... Hmmmmm confidence started to grow - probably Anti D tablets taking a hold - 4 weeks on - more good days than bad ! Im not saying Anti d tablets everyone needs but they helped me take control as my brain was going crazy and my tummy was in knots with fear and worry!

You need to take some time out to deal with this - are you still at work ? Can you get some time off - I was signed off by the Doc for 3 weeks - it gave me space to deal with this - to try and sleep and to start to put things back together - slowly - one day at a time.

My advice - Get some time off work to totally chill - find something to relax you - I found some great 'guided relaxation' online and I totally zone out and into listening to this man with an awesome voice tell me to 'relax' !!
Two months ago I would have laughed if anyone told me I would be doing this ! I also discovered the 'garden' and found pottering around out there with music on was my escape.

This T thing takes a hold and when you can't escape it - it overtakes everything - BUT - I was 100% where you are right now 6 weeks ago ! If I can do this - you can too........ PLEASE take some time out - find something to relax you to breath and chill - listen to some lovely music try to have some 'calm' time. If your not happy with the Doc support you have ask to see someone else talk to them about how you are feeling not just the T once you feel stronger in yourself you will start to cope and T will fade as you learn to ignore it !

PLEASE be strong - take a deep breath - maybe stop researching the web' if that is making you worry about all the stuff you read - take support from people on here who know what it is like BUT don't read medical stuff until your ready to take that information on without the panic attacks. I still don't research anything any-more on the web I just read posts on here that are from real people!

If I can get to this stage now and I was so where you are not that long ago anyone can ! You can and you will get through this stage ........ keep strong Jade xx

 

@Piper,
Hello ... god I wish you were closer as well, We will get through this together and beat it!, we will be "normal" and enjoy the things we once took for granted like playing the bag pipes, listening to music, scream singing to my favourite songs with my girls in the car, looking even more crazier then I'm feeling now lol, hope your having a "good" day xox
As I am consumed with this new "pain in the a s s (T) I was watching youtube before and cam across this regarding William Shatners (T) experience and the comments down the page gave me hope and to hear someone having it for so long make me think...this is not it, this is not all of me, I have so much more to do and give <3 x

William Shatner speaks about his tinnitus

 

@Markku, @Tamalak, @Karl, @Map, @DezDog & @Per

Thank you for all your AMAZBALLS responses, for all of you "gods" who still come on here even though you have over come your full blown panic attacks or have come to peace with your (T) and give the newbies like myself or even the (T) veterans words of wisdom and encouragement that it does get better make SO MUCH DIFFERENCE! thank you, I mean that from the bottom of my heart, just the words like "it will get batter, I've been where you are, your brain will start to ignore it & its will start to fade out" hearing those words from someone suffering like I am can make my day go from... I'm totally nuts, I cant do this anymore to there's hope, I'm going to be ok"
Thank you all of you
xx

 

Last but not least the beautiful @Cher69

Thank you, I think by now I have read at least half of your posts on this forum as you and I seem to have a similar panic and thoughts/feelings regarding this new found pain in the bum (T) well you did at least at the beginning of your journey, your words give me hope and make me know I am not alone in this struggle as with @Piper, I so look forward in the future when they find a cure for this thing to read all the amazing accomplishments we have done since getting our lives back and all the fun things we are upto, thank you for all your kind words of support and encouragement

 

Jade,

When i got my loud tinnitus, i was like you, terrified. In fact i was even unable to write coherent letters or concentrate on books. Yes, i considered suicide so seriously i asked my poor mother her authorisation to off myself. I was desperate and i thought my life was over. I banged my head on the walls for real, not metaphorically.

Then after a few months i picked a book and my mother told me "you see that you can read now" and i realised i was ameliorating. Then, slowly, i noticed improvements.

Now, in spite of the loud noise i can sleep easily. I used to mask my tinnitus with music and nature noises. I don't do that anymore. I go to quiet places. I enjoy the calm. I go reading in silent places. I still hate my loud tinnitus but it doesn't prevent me to enjoy what i was doing before the t.

So, the point of my post is: You can be overwhelmed by the tinnitus at first. It is a normal stage and it does not preclude a good remission.

You will most probably get better with time. You don't need to be anxious about the future and a worsening (provided you don't abuse your hearing). you don't even need to worry about your present distress as it is normal and will improve.

There is not a standard timeline for improvements so don't monitor them anxiously. If you don't improve at the same speed than the neighbour there is no need to worry.

I hope this little post with a gloomy start helps more than it frightens.

BTW, nice avatar.

 

@daedalus,

Lol thank you, and thank you for your encouragement, I certainly wont be abusing my ears EVER again.... glad to hear your struggle has gotten easier and to hear you actually embrace being in a quiet place make me think of hope, so thank you.

Oh and nice standard Q mark avatar lol

 

Per -
I have read that for most of us, say 95%, we get "subjective tinnitus", which is due to hearing loss. We can get hearing loss from age, medicines (ototoxic), loud noises, punchering the ear drum....I got tinnitus from a medicine.

If you don't have hearing loss, then your physician needs to rule out other causes. There are ear disorders, such as acoustic neuroma, eustachian tube dysfunction, pulsatile tinnitus that can be treated with medicines and/or surgeries. Some people have Menierre's disease, causing them to have tinnitus.

There are another bunch of people who have "somatic tinnitus", which seems to be hard to explain. Reading all the blogs on this website, we seem to fall into two camps: "Subjective" or "Somatic". It seems that people with the somatic variety get tinnitus from things like TMJ, neck injuries, facial nerves, the vagus nerve....All nerves in the body work the same way - they carry synaptic electrical currents to the brain for processing. It seems that for people with somatic tinnitus, nerve synaptic currents from these non-auditory nerves get introduced into the auditory system. The somatic people seem to have variable tinnitus, too: Somedays it's loud, somedays it's gone.

If you're only one month into it, you need to read about Jastreboff's neurophysiological theory of tinnitus. Jastreboff developed Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. He determined that the brain can learn to habituate to tinnitus so that it's no longer a problem.

 

Hi everybody,

Jade hang in there it will get better. I am new to this too. I have a family too and I can see how tough it can be on everybody. But like Karl says, I do beleive the brain can habituate to it and life will continue as normal.

Karl would you mind telling me what kind of medication you think caused your tinnitus? I think I have got it from Doxycycline, which I was prescribed as a prevetion for Lyme diesease. I was taking 200mg a day and at day 4 I've woke up with loud ringing in ears. I took some headache painkillers but that was of no use. Then the googling started.

Regards,
Jay

 

Jade,

Nearly everyone gets better! I'm sure you'll be one of the 99% that do. Your tinnitus may go away or the sound may be reduced or you may learn to ignore it. With a positive attitude, you will get better and be back to normal!

It all starts with an attitude--a belief that you will get better. Then you need to be proactive. Find some strategies that will help you heal, both physically and psychologically. Physically, if your tinnitus is new, you might be able to persuade your GP or ENT to give you a round of steroids, like prednisone. This will reduce the inflammation and help to prevent further damage. If you tinnitus is more than a few months old, you probably won't get steroid treatment--though I believe it could help up to six months, but physicians' have their own minds! You can also take supplements. There are many listed on TT. I use several, including magnesium. See the magnesium discussion for more information.

Of course, many people take antidepressants, which offer significant relief from either the noise and/or the anxiety and depression that accompany it.

Psychologically, there are many ways to help your brain habituate to the noise. Tinnitus Retraining Therapy, which Karl recommends, is the gold standard. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is also effective. (See a discussion of this on TT.) Some people use white noise generators in their homes and bedrooms to help them sleep. You need to give your brain something to focus on besides the noise. This is where noise generators help.

I'll use the famous candle analogy. Your tinnitus is a candle. If that candle is the only light in the room, it will be bright. But if it (your tinnitus) is one of many candles, you won't notice the light nearly as much. And, if your tinnitus can be masked, you won't notice the light (sound) at all!

I would recommend The Tinnitus Treatment Toolbox. It's an overview of various strategies to help you adapt to the tinnitus. It's written by an audiologist who also has tinnitus. She, like most of us on this board, had severe, intrusive tinnitus. Yet she overcame it, got an audiology degree, got married, had children, and has a great life! You too will be a success story! Be positive and give it time. Also know that recovery is a gradual process. You'll have good days and bad. I'm about eleven months into this, and I still have bad days. But my bad days are lessening and my good days are increasing. I'm probably 80% back to normal and most of the time I feel great!

Here's a link to the tinnitus book:

http://www.amazon.com/Tinnitus-Treatment-Toolbox-Guide-People/dp/1426912153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373992455&sr=8-1&keywords=tinnitus toolbox​

The link is for the US, but it's Amazon so the book should be available in Australia. It also comes in a Kindle edition.

 

Jay -
I got tinnitus from either Metoprolol or a blood thinner. I went to the hospital for atrial fibrilation. 5 hours after entering the hospital, my heart was back in rythmn, but I got tinnitus.

 

Jazz I love this from your comments above !! I'll use the famous candle analogy. Your tinnitus is a candle. If that candle is the only light in the room, it will be bright. But if it (your tinnitus) is one of many candles, you won't notice the light nearly as much. And, if your tinnitus can be masked, you won't notice the light (sound) at all!

I will think about this when having a tough day ! TY

 

@Piper if you ever pop up North to Yorkshire - drop me a line would love to meet up and review this thing we both have and help out York is a fab weekend trip if you ever fancy a UK city break !
@Jade One-day I will visit down-under I have 2 really close friends who live at the other-side of the world now and it is my aim that one-day meet up with them ! Who knows - if I win the Lottery

 

Jade, try to reserve your anxiety attacks for bad news. The doctor only told you what you already knew. That's actually good news. Nothing is amiss. And regarding your father, do you know of any connection between his tinnitus and suicide, besides speculation?

 

It will get better.

 

Karl, I don't know for sure what caused my T. It could be a plethora of reasons and/or a mix of reasons. I tick a lot of boxes but at least my hearing test went ok. My T volume was constant the first 2 weeks (loud) and then I suddenly experienced some variations. The presence fluctuates from what seems to be the right ear to both ears. The sound is very high pitched.

I had my first improvement feeling yesterday and I think this is sub concious cause I had a positive chat with an experienced T therapy instructor. After that telephone conversation my volume seemed to go down a little, I hope my T is mostly caused by severe mental trauma and stress cause that would (in my mind) perhaps mean that I can take the bull by its horns so to speak. I really need to stress down anyhow. Feels like my body is in a very high flight or fight position. Very jumpy and scared. Expecting a bomb under the car or a threat around each corner.

I don't feel dizziness so I hope I can rule out Vertigo, when it comes to finding the real cause for my T no doctor has said it's possible. I don't know if it's necessary either. Right now I'm trying to find out when I can start Tinnitus Retraining Therapy. It seems like the right road for me to walk.

 

@Per

TRT has a great track record! You will get better. Be sure to keep us posted!