The Positivity Thread

Last week I had small T (what I've had since age 3 at least) when I went to bed for the first time since August. Yesterday and today I had hardly had any T most of the day. Kinda bummed it came back but.. put the aids in and chilling with ambient noise and reading. Manageable.

I broke my no Internet T rule to be positive.

(You have to keep busy folks! Not frantic.. just you ain't got time for it!)

 

There is this lie from the T bully that if you get loud T (or H too), your life is toasted and you won't be able to enjoy life again. I bought into that lie initially and suffered big time. But today I live a normal, productive and absolutely enjoyable life, with T high or low. Two weeks ago Mr. T held a loud concert in my head with a major spike that nothing covered it, resonating its ultra high pitch dog whistle in my whole head. But the heck with T these days, high or low. I live and enjoy my life regardless what it tries to do. Can't do that initially but now T is just a paper tiger as it can't trigger any negative emotions from me. My body is hardened to this loud ringing.

I will be heading out with my sweet wife for our 40th anniversary cruise in Europe for about 2 weeks. There is much in life to enjoy besides T. T can go to hell while I enjoy my earthly heaven. I am getting ready my 'Titanic post' on the 160,000 ton ship, lol. Until then, take good care everybody. God bless you all.

 

Generally seem to be getting used to the constant hissing. I find when i wake up it takes a good 20-30 seconds for the sound to "kick into normal mode" weird lol. Does anyone find they will have short bursts of a very high pitched sound that lasts a few seconds and then the normal sound resumes. I notice this happens occasionally.

 

Just as a word of encouragement for you all. I've recently began the 5/2 diet and have found that it has greatly reduced the volume of my T. I'm actually thinking of extending the fasting days as I can honestly say my entire body feels better. I realize that my positive experience could be short lived, but you can bet your boots I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts. I gotta admit that my fasting has included a great deal of prayer for us all.

 

Hello everyone!!! Went to the first baseball game of the year! T will not destroy me! Yes, I was the cool kid wearing ear plugs! It was semi loud but my T didn'tspike bc I wasn't thinking it would. I don't drink that much but I did have a couple sips of out my fiancée drink ( yummy) !! I have my bad days of course but I can't let this thing control me and I'm still doing all the things I used to do! I just take precautions!

I really don't think I needed the ear plugs but better safe then sorry!!

Have a good week everyone!!

 

Great!!!
Rock those ear plugs

 

@StubbyJ what caused your Tinnitus?

 

@Eric robert . Well said . Happy for you.

 

Zora

It was noise exposure. A life of motorcycles, lawn mowers and recently a band.

Regards.

 

Hey @billie48 -- I know what you mean--sometimes I hear how loud the noise is and just think, 'ignore it'. I learned this from you and many others here on TT. Life is good. I just bought a new car--I would call that optimistic since my truck is 12 years old.

The best to you and your spouse on your 40th! That is a major accomplishment in these times. I truly hope that you two have the best time!

 

Thanks very much @Kathi. We are having a blast on the Independence Of the Seas, eating, dancing, watching shows and touring. T tried to steal the show and i can hear it screaming above the noise and music at times, but I don't care about it and am enjoying my life regardless. Findind joy amid the pain is my motto now. The heck with Mr. T.

 

Demi I agree we need more positive postings. I have T 24-7 but am tired of worrying about all the scarey stuff I read from some of the folks and am working on returning to my fun loving ways and putting my life back to normal. I can still hear, see, walk and I just have to live with a high pitch in my ear. When im involved in a project or out socially most of the time I dont even hear it because im not dwelling on it. I think im starting to habituate some what..

 

I focus on what I have ( I can still hear with one ear and function well for the most part) but not focus on what I lost. I will never give up finding a solution for coping with my T!

 

Last few week ive been having poor sleep and some anxiety and my t was alot more annoying than usual. This week i am back to normal sleep and no anxiety and it seems to be a lot quieter. Sometimes i even find the gentle buzz soothing.

Strange condition this tinnitus is.

 

My fourth day of Prednisolone treatment. It's getting better each day. I am hoping it will get away soon.

 

I wear ear plugs with a string attaching them when I work in a loud environment with kids. The kids usually ask about them and I give a quick simple answer about protecting hearing, etc. But the cool thing, is, yes, they feel cool! Even when I walk into a store or something and decide to use them, I just function with them in, chat with people, and ... hey, I'm cool. So here's a few more bananas ...

 

I hope this is positive. I laughed a little bit. I was going to the beach with my daughters yesterday and my oldest kept asking me if I could hear that low jingling noise. I could only hear my T when I tried to hear what she was describing. Come to find out, it was really a noise having to do with the AC in my car. It was very similar to some of my T noises. I'm just so damned used to my T that I didn't consider that this other new noise was "real". It sounded too much like just another T noise. Finally realized it was a real noise when I turned the AC off and it went away. I had a good laugh with my daughter telling her I wish I could shut off my other T noises off as easily. Have a good day and God bless, Trebor

 

I'm on holiday in Southern Spain. The first day I arrived just over a week ago I developed a rash on my lower back, turns out it's shingles/zoster virus. I've been to see a doc and got some meds but it still itches and stings like crazy. On the plus side it's made me completely forget about my T

 

Had a great weekend with visiting family, saw some monuments, great food!

 

Is habituation where you don't actively monitor the t all the time?

 

Happy Saturday everyone! Just wanted to tell everyone life can go on after T! I had my first fun drink and then fireworks ( plugs in) enjoyed my time with friends and family !

 

I just went for my first run in almost 4 months!
Yes my T was screaming but my balance was better since having SSHL !
It was a slow 4 miles but I did it! I also have an hearing aid with bilateral maskers ( I felt like being in a wind tunnel )
Dominic

 

I think habituation is when your T does not bother you anymore, and, in some cases, when you does not perceive its presence ( in my case, for example, somethimes it goes off my consciousness despite its fzzzzzz )

 

Yeah i think i am getting there, feel in much better moods lately

 

Hi T peeps!

(For summary scroll to end of message)

I've been wanting to share my positive thoughts about T, as well as my entire story (for cleansing reasons) yet putting off writing on here for a long time, always waiting for the absolute end of my ear infection induced T before starting. I am hoping that some people who have just started hearing a T-like noise will see my story and calm down a bit!

I am pretty fastidious when it comes to hearing, audio and music. I am a guitarist, suffer from barotrauma, played in a loud band and always wore plugs half in (except for the odd occasion / gig). I have also been working as a Music Supervisor for the past 3 years which means that I have had on-ear headphones (closed back) on not too loud for about 4 hours intermittently throughout the day. I have also got a history with ENT having had waxy ears since a kid as well as a thyroid cyst removal. Despite the above, I was absolutely fine until after a bad cold (which caused my ears to block) cleared away and left this pretty loud ringing mostly in my right ear, although a bit in the middle (head).

First thing I did is look online and alas, was greeted with all the worst horror stories about T! That really shook me up on first read. It's totally natural to want to get to the bottom of it and rationalise the issue and fix it. But hang on - most people who leave comments on threads and forums will be on there because maybe the problem has persisted right? That was the advice I was given after a few days and it really calmed me down. I guess you just don't always hear the story of Tom, Dick or Harry who had it for a couple of months and then it went away on it's own. There must be SO many people who it's happened to! I have since met a few people who have said this, so I prayed for the universe to fix me.

There was a period where I had this incessant ringing on two levels: one at about 3Khz and really badly at about 14Khz (really very high, higher than most ear test machines go and some peoples' hearing). I even had horrific Hyperacusis to the point that walking around London was the most aggravating thing ever. I cannot explain how disheartened I had become with my job, my music and pretty much my absolute livelihood. I really felt like I had put my eggs in one basket and someone stepped on the basket. I would be lying if I didn't say that I even considered not being around for much longer, so yeah pretty low for the first two months.

I kept being persistent and going back to my GP over and over until I bored them in to giving me a referral to see a specialist. In the UK, the NHS lists really were too long for me to wait ( I would have gone mad), so I went private and spend a small fortune to see an ENT specialist. Luckily, my doctor was a leading academic in tinnitus. It was absolutely amazing to speak to them and it was possibly the single most important step to emotional recovery. He advised a few things:
- Obviously do not over expose... So I bought open back headphones which allow some of the SPL (sound pressure level) to escape. I personally would recommend NO earphones, no iPhone earphones and only speakers as its natural.
- Thoroughly recommended Nasal Spray Euphorbium (holistic therapy) for blocked noses or if you are just about to get a cold. If you suffer from Barotrauma, then take a few sprays before flight as well as chewing gum to equalise pressure.

Anyway, turns out I had a post-viral infection in both ears which was to clear out over a few months time and get gradually better! I was so relieved I nearly cried. He determined this by doing a ear drum pressure test. He also did a 12 point hearing test (testing many frequencies, not like those free hearing tests which are only 3-4 points and show nothing). All this took 45 mins and cost £300!

Anyway, so I thought I would leave it for a month, totally cut coffee and smoking and be generally more healthy and see it out. I was so eager to get ahead of the NHS list that I ended up going back to my GP twice and complaining that I had to see the specialist again but this time - for free. So I huffed and puffed and really pushed to get a referral. Got another one for 45 days later and this time, the ENT doctor told me that it's really clearing up and should possibly fully go away! At this point the really loud ring had faded gradually but I was still sensing a high pitched sensation which was difficult to explain as it was NOT tonal T but more a high pitched sensation... The doctor said that it would be standard procedure for me to go and get an MRI to determine that I do/dont have an auditory nerve benign tumour (this is a standard scan for people with unilateral T in the UK) so waiting to get my results this Friday.

I still have a high pitched ringing in my ears 80% less than original T sound a few months back but I have nearly completely come to terms/acceptance with it (maybe because I think it will go soon ish, but I also think that my brain is really cancelling it out)

...To summarise my findings:
- Finding out you have ringing is s**t. It's ok to be worried.
- Don't search the internet too much, if you do, remember that positive stories will hardly ever be written down! So what you are getting is a lop-sided view on the issues.
- See your GP and DEMAND you see a specialist. Don't just listen to their advice. Go back and get yourself seen by the best possible.
- Remember that although you feel like crap now, you are reading stories about how other people get over it. YOU ALSO can become like those people and totally OWN IT .
- Cut coffee and smoking one by one.
- If you are a music lover, then make sure you cut down dramatically your bad sound exposure (headphones, plugs at gigs etc)
- Try and buy some custom molded ear plugs - ACS do flat attenuation ones for max pleasure. (i am not their ambassador!)
- Remember to tell your friends and loved ones to wear ear plugs at gigs - be that annoying person ALWAYS.

T treatment: (in the lightest tone) the leading academic doctor I saw said that apparently there is a way (a machine) of somehow finding out exactly which hair cells in your ear are the ones which need stimulating and can lower the noise level. He also did say that there is stem cell research currently under way which hopefully in years to come could help pave the way for proper treatment. Some animal testing in pigs has happened already and they saw improvements. This was said in chat of course so I cannot back it up with links at the moment.

My heart goes out to everyone who has it, has had it for a long time and who has maybe only just got it. Don't ever give up! Many people have other ailments, maybe there will be a cure one day!

Get back at me if you want a chat ever. Let me know if I can re-post anywhere or somewhere where new sufferers will see this message. I was wishing to stumble over a similar one when I was looking frantically months back...

Godspeed friends

xx

 

bump!

 

I wanna let everyone who has T know that it only gets better. You habituate, it can take a long time, it can take a short time, it all depends on you. Life goes on, can't change the past, but you can change how you deal with it from now on, and so forth create a much happier future. It could be worse, you could lose your hearing all together, there are deaf people out there! Feel grateful to still be able to hear, for not everyone can// - just keep living life!

 

I have been dealing with this T spike for a week and a half now after ear cleaning. Will it calm down to original level where I could function on most days?

 

Hello everyone,

The key to being happy, with tinnitus is know that it will not increase and or get worse....it will remain constant....it is normal for people to hear sounds, be thankful you dont have halucinations or even serious things like that....this can be overcome...at any moment...that is the greatness of a human brain that it can be tuned to do anything....like listening to sound thats not there.....not listening to a sound thats there....the key is to train it slowly just like the tinnitus....even the training will be slow.... but surely will be effective....
Immediate diversions like doing something youve always wanted to do....will help as a good distraction.....


1) ENTs will prescribe some medicine just to satisfy you, cause when the patient visits them and tells them their problem, then he is bound to prescribe a medicine.
2)good psychologists that are aware of tinnitus will try to teach you to get accustomed to the T... they try to calm. us down...

There is nothing helpful in worrying about something that you cannot help...

Try to accept things the way they are, and most importantly....dont stop what youre doing, you can do everything you do in life...normally....
You wont get anything if you close your doors and sit inside....
wait for the right time when there is ample research being done....
....
Due to the rise in noise level in todays world...and also the extensive use of
phones... more and more young people are getting effected more people are aware of this ...and the faster the research is going to proceed

 

...we can only hope.

The reality is that the vast, vast, vast majority of people who expose themselves to "excessive" social noise every day (through music, phones, games, etc...) will never develop significant tinnitus or hearing loss. My dad is one of these people - 120dB 50x/lifetime through concerts, an autoimmune disorder that may weaken his ears, and then add on top of that constant power tools and metal music exposure through headphones... no T.

We can only hope that more people who expose themselves to 95dB daily start getting killer multi-tone T that can't be "managed." Maybe then, research will turn towards hearing a little bit... As it stands right now, hearing is something that the most intelligent people out there seem to take for granted.

They'd rather spend $2 billion dollars sending a rover to Mars than spend $2 billion trying to cure hearing loss...