The Positivity Thread

AWW. That's the sweetest masking I have ever heard.

 

@Rosemerry I am staying calmer. Even when I get this ping/spike all I can hear is my T for a while. That's not to say I don't have my break downs! But I am staying calmer. I even did this whole fancy cooking day that took me from 2pm to 7pm to finish! I was so proud of myself.

I like to think I have a interesting life. I do the exact same thing with my cats. Though my Mr. Peaches prrrr was so loud I never had to lean into him. Miss my boy. Then I make my ladies (silkie chickens) sing for me! Ha-ha.

That's where I'm at. Just trying to ignore it and go about my business. Getting more successful at it. Sometimes I do cave and listen to music/mask it, but that's okay. My grandfather has had T pretty much his whole life and he says most days he doesn't care about it, but even still he will turn on some music to tune it out.

My mom is super tired and they at least cleared her for the physical of the heart. It's electrical and I'm not happy with how the doctor is treating it. It's been getting worse and worse. Even her primary care doctor is pretty peeved at how they're handling it.

 

I think I will be leaving this forum for good now.

The aforementioned cold has finally left and T went again down to levels where I can only hear white sound in silent room. My mind has learned how to fully ignore it. Its been 9 months since onset now and although it never went fully away, as I hoped, this is good enough. I sleep now without any sound maskers. It over the time dropped from loud screeching noise that I heared most of the day to hissing sound only during the night. Rarely with Eeee tone that is not loud at all. For those who will read this in future there were two things that helped me

1. massage therapy. My T was most likely caused by bad medication that inflamated muscles in my neck and created a large nerve blocade in upper cervic system. Continuous massage therapy managed to remove this nerve blocade together with increased dosage of magnesium and regenerative salve that I was applying for over a month on the muscles there. Most likely months of this nerve blocade being in place already left some damage on nerve system, or ear system, or whatever, and hence why T hasnt left completely but so what.

2. Psyche. T hit in the bad time and made it even worse. To make long story short, I was a basket case. I was drippling in depressions, anxiety, hypochondria and so on for whole winter and spring. Sounds were much louder and for some reason for several months I have become very sensitive to light as well. All in my head. Time is the best cure, tho. I learned how to let go now. I just dont care anymore about these things. Things have tendency to turn out for better on long enough timeline anyway. I am relaxed now. Not stressed. Finally can think clear. I have made a decision to quit my job in following months. Its been something that has been paying for my bills, but not something that I wanted to do, nor something I wanted to be doing for future. I will be joining my friend in China in January, meantime I need to get few certificates. Enough time to do that. I dont know now what future holds for me and am enjoying that feeling. I wanted a change for some time now and now I am finally not afraid to take it. Ironically, its also thanks to this T experience.

I do root for all of you here and those that will only come. For the later, things will get better. One way or another. That is how the world works.

I thank to those that post here will positive experience and helpful tips. It helped me a lot at the hardest of the times and managed to get me through.

Sayonara,

Oliver

 

@Nikopol Congrats! I'm so happy for you.

 

It's been a little over 5 weeks. I'm doing okay!

Appetite is back. Libido is back. I have less interest in video games. I spend more time with my wife. Focusing at work helps distract from the ringing. The ringing is still mostly there, and it can be annoying, but it doesn't depress me anymore. Sometimes I think of it as a reminder: "If this is your ailment, you're lucky. Many people have worse things. What they would give to trade with you."

If I had H early on, it's mostly subsided. I sleep well enough, I don't seem to be awoken any more often than before. I have never used white noise to sleep, even when the ringing was apparent.

Either the loudness varies, or my perception of it varies, but it hasn't been louder than the onset.

I haven't adjusted my diet all that much. I do drink less coffee, but I haven't noticed an impact on it when I do. I drink the same amount of alcohol (1-2 beers a day in the evening). I never ate a lot of salt. I never sought out supplements as I think beyond a balanced diet, most other things are snake oil.

I keep earplugs conveniently near me and in my car, but I haven't felt the need to use them yet.

The Back to Silence method helps. Use it.

Give yourself time. Forgive yourself. It's a phantom sound. It cannot hurt you.

Stay strong. I love all of you. I'm going to try not to come here again for a few months. Stay positive. You are still alive.

 

If you are feeling well I agree that you should leave this forum. That's my advice to anyone feeling much better. Leave this place! Unless you are here to help others.

 

I used to come to this site when I was stressed over my T. I had wondered whether I would eventually kill myself at the thought of dealing with this for the rest of my life. Then I discovered acoustic CR neuromodulation via this site (can't thank you all enough for that) and via generalfuzz.net. I had moments of silence for the first time in a very long time. Yes the T returned minutes later, but just knowing there was a way to get rid of it temporarily made all the difference. Or so I thought.

Fast forward a year or so (can't remember when I first found that site). I don't bother using ACRN or anything similar as I no longer need it to keep my sanity. My T is as loud as it ever has been. It's there when I wake up and when I go to bed and every moment in between. When I wake up in the middle of the night it's there. It never goes away, but my stress about it has. And honestly I don't even think it has to do with the ACRN since that's temporary silence and I haven't used ACRN in several months. I think it's just a change in my outlook.

My T will never go away. I'm sure of that. There won't be a cure during my lifetime and that's okay! There are conditions I could have that are far more severe. I'm alive and am grateful for being alive. So instead of dwelling on my T and being depressed about it and wondering if I'll ever kill myself, I've accepted that my T is here to stay and I just moved on with my life. I made the choice to not to let T take over and instead I focus on enjoying music and podcasts and audiobooks and conversations. I rarely think about my T any more even though it's always saying "Hi, I'm still here!" I went from wondering how long I'd be alive to rarely thinking about the constant noises in my ears.

If you are thinking of killing yourself, please don't. Give it time. Realize that although it might feel like there's no reason to live, things can get better for you. If you end it all you'll never find out. Your live has value. Don't end it!

Much love and support to you all.

 

My positivity today is my acceptance of my diagnosis of Meniere's and the fact that today isn't as bad as Sunday. And that I can manage to live life around this. It will not get the best of me. I may have to change the way I do things, but not the things that I do.

 

I love this @Gin! Right now I'm at the beach on vacation - something that several months ago struck fear into my heart. I didn't think I could go away with my newly loud T & H. Didn't think I could leave the comfort zone of my own house and bed. But I'm fine, sleeping like a baby, having a lovely time, T blaring away, barely paying it any attention. We rock! xoxo RM

 

At first it was a loud crackling sound but it gradually tapered off to a softer static sound. Not sure how I got it, maybe a rock concert.

 

I just got back from the beach! Went solo. Stayed for 4 days. Had a blast. Did have vertigo and blaring T and little H. But had a great trip. Even took a boat ride to see Dolphins. Sometimes you just gotta say, do it anyway. Fun Fun.

 

I hear that it is almost magic seeing dolphins swiming. I hope I see it someday.

 

It was beautiful

 

I've been a nervous wreck for about two months, as a newbie with T and (possibly) H, not nearly the worst case if tinnitus I've ever heard of, but it has not been fun. Went to the Dr. yesterday, got an Rx for Clonazepam, and took .5 mg this morning upon waking. Now, I had taken a little generic Xanax (alprazolam) a couple of times since this happened, which calmed me down for a few hours but I did hear the noise the whole time while on it, although I wasn't as bothered by it due to the sedative properties of the drug. I did not do well the next morning, from the rebound effect. This morning, the relatively low dose of Clonazepam started working in about an hour, and I had practically no symptoms all day, and felt very calm and relaxed - the best day I've had since this began. It's been 12 hours since I took it, I'm not as calm as I was earlier, but the majority of T symptoms are still at bay. Not to sound negative, but when the drug wears off later or tomorrow, symptoms will likely return to some extent, maybe even with a rebound effect, but at least I now know that my case is probably not as serious as I thought or it would likely not have been possible to go nearly this long with virtually no symptoms.

 

My T is ringing like hell tonight...but it soothes me...

 

@zeroday I've kinda trained myself to react the same way! Like, oh cool, my own personal sound machine.

 

Not really a "Positivity" post, or about T, but relevent to our general health.

I got my yearly flu vaccination the other day at my pharmacy, free (with health coverage) and no appointment necessary. If you haven't received it yet, I would suggest doing it soon before flu season starts and/or they run out of supplies.

 

Agreed. We know to protect our ears from loud noises, but it is also important to protect our ears from the flu and colds. My hearing loss is from a virus. There are many stories on TT of individuals like me, and people whose tinnitus got worse from a virus.

 

Good suggestion. I get mine every year in September. I had the flu years ago and it made such an impression on me that I never missed getting the annual shot since then. If anyone reads this that has not yet had the flu, take my word for it, it's a lot worse than just a bad cold.
It also takes some time for the body to respond and develop it's defense against it. That's why waiting until January or February is not a good idea.
It doesn't totally prevent getting the flu but it does afford some protection by reducing the severity of the symptoms.
As that old saying goes, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

 

Just came back from a bar, drank a few beers that spiked my T to the roof. 2 hours later I'm still a bit drowsy but the T is back to baseline again, Now I'm heading to the ice cream shop to spike the T a bit more haha

 

I'm 2.5 yrs in. The first two months were truly the worst. I've had numerous "spikes" where I've had 3-4 weeks of mental discomfort. My beast rises up from time to time, but I've learned to accept him and fight him. He has gone from being my master to being my slave. He rises and he falls. Some days I don't even think of him. Other days and other times I think "wow, this is pretty damn loud", but he still doesn't bother me. I recognize him, but then I ignore him. When I first met him, I couldn't; he commanded my attention. He denied me of sleep, concentration, and day-dreaming. I will never forgive him for that; to the best of my conscious abilities I will deny him that access. I will ignore him, I will think past him, I will deny he exists, I will forge ahead into MY FUTURE, not his.

 

Hi @Engineer - Thanks for posting this on the Positivity Thread. You have had tinnitus for a quite a while now and have suffered through it but (ultimately and fortunately) you have become "master" over it and habituated. Your post is good news and will serve to encourage other members who are suffering and demonstrate that one can look forward to the future with a positive attitude and have a fulfilling life. I wish you much happiness and success in all you endeavor.

Best wishes,
Barbara

 

I will post what I have already posted in "my" thread:

Since there is an anechoic chamber in our laboratory, I have made a small sample test with my colleagues (young researchers age < 35). Test sample was 10 people, 2 of them knew about their T, 8 persons stated that they are T free. Each of this 10 colleagues stayed in chamber for 2 minutes. After the test, just one person out of 10 stated that he can hear the complete silence in the chamber. Most of them experienced different sort of sounds as we do (especially the tonal T). This could be maybe interesting for someone with a mild T seeking for the complete silence. Of course, I would need much bigger sample, but it seems, that there aren't many people who can actually "hear" complete silence.

 

Did you ever hear of the Heller & Bergman tinnitus experiment? It's from the early 1950's, and very interesting, as well.

 

I did and I wanted to see by myself in a smaller scale. It is funny, that I would maybe get more reads and citations, if I made this kind of research, than with my "normal" research.

 

Very interest findings. I remember a while ago when I was at the doctor for a routine examination, we chatted and I mentioned I have tinnitus to which he quickly replied "everyone has it" and I disagreed with him. I was rather surprised by his statement and wished I had asked him at the time if he had it but I didn't. I was under the assumption that whenever I was in a quiet room that it was 'completely' quiet but I suppose I am mistaken. As your experiment illustrated, there must always be some kind of sound, however slight, that we don't detect/pay attention to/are not conscious of -which we would consider annoying and the variance of sound and intensity must range from person to person.

Heyyy... if you need a larger sample... there are over 21,000 of us strong here!

 

after 8 months in my t was this morning so silent, that i thought, it was gone. Incredible feeling. My brain can get over this! I got so much power from this event, that i want to share it. stay strong, Guys. We will win this fight.

 

Hi @Aschenherz - Thank you for posting your good news, it is very encouraging. It is always uplifting to hear that someone who has tinnitus can habituate and can go on to enjoy their life. Let me wish you good health and much happiness in your future. Take care and be well.

Best wishes,
Barbara

 

nice thread

 

Maybe I should really reconsider my research and move from saving our planet to tinnitus research. It would be definitely much more easier to get my research funded.
It really seems that for most of the people there is some sound. I think I can little bit relate to this. I got my T first when I was really young and for couple months the T was really annoying. Then it reduced to the point I started sleeping and living normally. Since that (till second onset) I did not hear my T (although I am pretty sure there was some T, but just not annoying, somewhere in the background of backgrounds).