The Fear of Getting Worse

Hi guys,
I am almost 3 months in with mild tinnitus (2/10 I'd say).

but I am just as anxious, tense and scared as in the beginning altough my T has gone down significantly (From a 5/10 to a 2/10).

I havent accepted my T I guess, I am still hoping for it to go away, although realistically it wont.
I am thinking of my Tinnitus 24/7. Even unconsciously. the anxiety is driving me crazy.
espescially the fear of getting worse. thats my biggest issue. not the ringing itself but being scared that it might get worse.

and I think that a lot of people are struggling with this.
Is loosing that fear part of habituation?
I read a lot of threads
about habituation and what they all have in common is that they are saying:

"1. I dont care about the noise anymore, although I hear it fom time to time
2. I decided not to give my T power over my life
3. noises are unpredictable, so there is not much I can do anyway
4. I am in a much better place then I was X months ago"

But what about the Fear?

I am constantly worrying. and with mild T I thought that after 3 months I should be a little less worried and anxious. But I am not?
I had an anxiety disorder even before T.

and please dont just tell me "stop worrying" its not that easy, espescially for someone with anxiety disorder.
The fear is disabling me

 

stop worrying about worrying

You have been burned once with sound so its normal to feel some fear - fear is good it will help you a lot to not make it worse.

Keep good earplugs with you at all times, avoid loud places even with earplugs, and you will be fine
If you don't like plugs just wear earmuff

with such good improvements and given your age it may go away completely in a year
but again, you must protect your hearing a lot more than "regular" people do

 

Hi zora.. I have been where you are.. The answer to your question: loosing the fear is part of your habituation... Believe me.
I know myself i freaked out About my t daily.. And now.. I am relaxed, even when i hear iT loud!!
IT Will all get better iT just takes time. Hang in[emoji256][emoji1306]

 

I just read About Tour anxiety disorder. I guess iT Will be al bit harder for you since you are worrying About a lot of things. Tinnitus is something that can make you worry a lot, even without an anxiety disorder.
I really believe iT Will get better for you, but iT takes time. Try to understand your disorder better. Question yourself why you are scared or what you really worry About. Does iT really makes sence? What would you say to someone who is worrying the same things you are?

Take cAre zora, remember you are not alone in this!!

 

Fear and Tinnitus goes hand in hand unfortunately. But believe me it will get better, their will be times your won't feel any fear and their will be times you do. Last time my fear was back was a month ago with 1 year experience with Tinnitus.

You will get trough it and at some days your T will be louder then other, it is totally normal. Try to relax and most important take your rest. A good night sleep always make my T less loud.

 

I am with you, scared and worried! But there are so many of us and we are all surviving. I always read the positive posts they give me hope.

 

@steffievdboom thank you very much for your reply
As I can see you have T since 6 months. So I take your words important coming from someone like you.
you are a genius, thank you for pointing out that I have to ask myself what exactly it is that I am scared of. I think I need to talk about this with my therapist. she couldnt help me at all with my T.
Did you read my derealization thread? yes...I have a anxiety disorder. Its so strong that only sunlight makes me having a panic attaxk. and I am 20...

 

i have Tinnitus since 13/ Jan 2016 .
In the first 2 month I was like you afraid about the future . and I thought that it will be dark .
but it is wrong thinking as everything will be fine if God will .
My Tinnitus was 5/10 .. 6/10 in the first month . ... Now it is 3/10 and sometime - if I go to the Gym ( with loud music) it is 5/10 .
But i don't care about it . Live your life normally .

 

Whether or not your tinnitus gets worse, your body is going to fall apart and fail you. That's just how it works. You can fight that, and suffer, or accept it. That is the choice.

 

I guess iT is difficult for your therapist because t is something that you Can not 'heal' or understand when you never heats of it. but you can try to look at iT in another way.
Like this : what feeling is this sound giving me?
What is really going to happen if i Will hear this sound the rest of my life?
Is there something i can do About my feelings? (Always ;-)try to Find out what helps you!
Try to examine your thoughts About your t and you Will Find out the t is not so bad at all. Focus on your thoughts and focus on changing you thoughts, iT is really possible!

I have only read this post not the other one.
I am 33 and have chronic t for 3 years now and episodes since my 8th i guess...
You can live with t, read all the positive reactions on your post!!

 

@linearb I dont understand? can you explain what you mean?

 

@trocobob that exactly my point mate! I have T longer than you! and even milder than you, but I am just as anxious as in the beginning and not one step closer to habituation :/

 

My T has become worse since onset, I don't know why and there are probably no answer for that either. It sucks but what can I do about it? Not much. I take one day at the time, some days are better and some days are worse. Life I suppose. You should be happy that yours have gone down instead of mine, that went up.

 

Just exactly what I said. A necessary consequence of being alive is that you will age, and your body will break down and fail. Parts of it will stop working, you will experience pain, and eventually die.

You don't have a choice in any of that; your only choice is in how you react to it.

 

That's right. People who worry can not be told not to worry.
But guess what?
There's a way around tinnitus...
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

I've had T for probably about 30 years but it's been nearly constant for over a decade. The last moment of pure silence I had was probably about 5 years ago. I learned long ago to not worry about it, but it was something I had to force myself to do. Worrying is something I do too much of, so it took a lot of effort to stop worrying about my T. Is it possible I'll have this for the rest of my life? Sure, but I doubt it. Could it get worse in the years to come? Sure, but lot of other horrible stuff could happen. As Alfred E. Neuman says, "What, me worry?"

Life is short. Enjoy it. Take advantage of it. If you find yourself worrying about the T, find something to get your mind off of it. You deserve happiness! I know, getting your mind off of T is much easier said than done, but it CAN be done. Silence is my enemy so I don't let it near me. Always making sure I have *something* to listen to keeps me sane and relatively happy. If you don't already keep some kind of phone or media player on you most of the time, I suggest trying that. It can be a mental lifesaver.

 

@Zora

I just saw a psychiatrist that works with some CBT too.
I do believe that you should try to see one too. I feel a lot better when I know that there is one person out there that listens, understands, doesn't make me feel like I am stupid or crazy, that has good answers and can help me.
If you want to have more detail, send me a PM.

 

@Fangen I sent you a PM. i am doing CBT since 5 months because I have an anxiety disorder (Derealization)

 

Had my T for 2 years and its improved over that time. Maybe my brain has adjusted or maybe its gone down in volume, because I don't stress or notice it that much anymore.

 

Just accept it's there. I have mild tinnitus in the grand scheme of things.
You know, the future is never guaranteed. Even right now, what if I just died from my house falling down? I don't know it's not going to happen.
Back in August, I was riding my bike with my sister and suddenly a car hit me out of nowhere because the woman didn't look and came around the corner without slowing down and I went flying about 6 feet, had a concussion and messed up my left thumb (maybe for life). I am so thankful that my sister wasn't hit.
Same thing, I was working for my brother in construction; I was planning on going to the club one weekend, that same day I texted everyone about the club and suddenly the wheel got loose somehow and a truck (weighing about a ton or 2) ran over my leg and I was on crutches for months. I still get phantom pains/ itching.
And then about a month later I went to San Fran with my husband and there was a slide, harmless right? I thought it was going to be fun and I don't know how it happened but I ended up twisting my ankle and I couldn't even walk for another 2 months!

I'm not here to take away from your pain, I'm just saying that the future is never guaranteed that it will go one way or another. I NEVER even imagined a thing like Tinnitus; I guess what I'm trying to say is that you should just focus on living your life and being happy and helping others and making other people happy
Who knows? Yours might even go away completely one day. We can't guarantee

Be strong friend!
Ricardo