The Positivity Thread

This video has lifted me up countless of times. I keep it on my desktop and play it often. It's helped me get SO much stuff done.

Shia LaBeouf "Just Do It"...

 

I remember hating this meme. It's so damn forced.

 

My T has been sounding like a soft hum of crickets instead of loud ringing for a while now and I'm very thankful for that. T is probably half the loudness as it was a month or so ago. I hope my daily jogging and eating more healthily has been paying off. Whenever I hear it, it doesn't bother me that much. I can still sleep at night (even without white nose) and most importantly, listening to music via on-ear headphones at low volume hasn't worsened my T at all (I know many in this forum are against using headphones, but music brings me joy wherever I am, so I took the risk). I'm still hoping it will disappear in a few months time, but right now I'm glad I've gotten used to it and that it has gotten somewhat better over time.

 

I am depressed but hey, let's all try to find a light and have some posivity in our lives, it is okay to take care of your mental health, your feelings are valid, but get right back up and repeat the cycle as many times till you truly are happy ♥️ I hope everyone has a great day, thank you for making a positive thread, I appreciate it little by little I will get better and reading positive posts of 'happiness' gives me hope I will soon find happiness

 

Maybe by accidental i prefer to think it was provident guidance, I habituated in 4 months. First month was hell. There were no escape. When i lie down it got louder. ENT was useless. I went to my primary care who prescribe Maxzide to lower my blood pressure because the ringing was setting off fire alarm in my head. Then an ER physician prescribe Lorazepam 1.00 mg to use during my acute anxiety.

Bare in mind, all this time i still held a technical job. I have to go lie down every 3 hr. At meetings sometime i couldnt hear what people were saying. Then i moved to sleep on the couch next to water heater. This was winter time. The sound of it soothed me and i went to sleep, after praying to Jesus and read book of Psalm. Luckily i got close to my normal sleep and able to function. Before that i was an 18-19 hr person. Remained energetic for 18 hr before sleep. With T at that time, it put me to 16 hr active. The Lorazepam helped a lot. I was able to sleep.

Around month 2 1/2 i saw an audiologist who gave me a sound wave hearing device to turn on. It was a trial so it didnt cost anything. After 1 month, i saw no improvement, maybe my T was getting better on its own, so i returned the device. Now that I think of it, maybe it did help. It soothed me mentally and put me on road to habituation quicker.
After month 4, T has gone down to livable level. There were no more squealing. Just constant background eeeee. Most time it faded in my head and caused no problem. There are days where the eeeee got high. But not so high it is not livable. The high days are almost immediately follow by an easy day when it lower to an even soothing noise if you can imagine that. And i hear it only when i want to hear it. If i carry on my duties in day time it never bother me. At night the Lorazepam does the magic. I sleep like a log. Overtime I was able to reduce the Lorazepam dosage to .25 mg by cutting it down to quarters. My Primary Care doc said such low dosage is not addictive and has no residuals. Yeah it has been 5 years and my health is good, thanks be to God and Jesus Christ.

Specific things - Wine lowers it, Allergy meds lowers it, the most effective allergy med of all is what i
buy from Chinese herbal shop ! And i read someone said studying helps it too as mind forms different
pathway.

Summary: what works ? I owe it to divine guidance - faith, the course (I never planned it but worked out) that push me to road of recovery by first getting blood pressure under control, then the soothing noise from water heater and the sound wave hearing aid, and the maintenance dose of Lorazepam.

Why was I spared ? I believe God has different purpose for different people. May God of Jesus Christ richly blesses you.

 

“Tell people you love them.”

I do it every time that feeling wells up in me.
I have to - I can’t even stop myself.
I must sound like a broken record,
I tell my aborable Sylvie,
so many times a day,
my children,
my grandchildren,
my pussycats.

I look at photos of people I have lost,
children I have lost, and I have a real ‘need’
to say out loud- “I Love You Sweetheart.”

Okay - so it’s an obsession,
I don’t care,
It’s a good one.

As a little kid - as a big kid,
They were words I never ever heard.

Every Tuesday the grandchildren living closest to us all come to dinner.
As they leave we hug each other, individually,
and say “it,” and I feel so touched to have that now.

I have just noticed that I have been away from this part of the forum for far too long.
I intend to put that right,
It does me good when I come here.
Like everybody here, I suffer.
We don’t have to suffer alone,
and very often I seem to do that.

 

I got kinda emotional reading this.

I'm exactly, the same. I got it over a year ago, I never had issues sleeping or needed to mask it. But it was there, it was new, and it was frightening. I obsessed over it and it stopped me from doing things. I tried so many methods including those that you mentioned.

From the first weeks and weeks of terror, to the slow recovery and habituation, and now at a point where it is in the background and there if I listen, but never bothering me.

And now, I just make sure I protect my ears.

I finally feel back to how I used to be, and wait on a cure.

Great post, thank you for sharing.

 

How loud is yours? Can you hear it almost everywhere, even when it's loud around you? I'm still battling my worsening from April. I'm 6 months in, definitely feeling better but not good. Still scares me a lot.

 

It's fairly quiet, I only hear it in silence, or if something reminds me of it. It's at about a 2 on the scale.

It will get better.

It took me two months before I could wake up without it being the first thing I thought about.

 

I had no idea where else to put this but I thought tinnitus denizens would appreciate it.

 

I have had Tinnitus for 3.5 months now and it has been a very hard rollercoaster. There is much positivity in my story, yet still a lot of darkness. But I feel that is my own fault.

So, I have had Tinnitus for many years. It was silent and far in the background, I could hear it in very silent situations, but there was 0% distress about it. All cool. Because it was no deal for me, I do not even remember when it started. Must have been many many years ago.

Then, 3.5 months ago, I went to a concert. I got a very high pitched ringing afterwards, which got accompanied by a "classic" tinnitus sound in the mid frequencies over night. I also had a mild hyperacusis, which did not stress me that much. It scared the hell out of me and I got very depressed and feared to lose everything, since no meds where helping me. Within 3 months, I was already able to habituate. The sound was still there, but my reaction was gone. Hyperacusis was gone. Sleep was getting back to normal. So, very much positivity, until I screwed up myself!

Then, feeling to safe again, I made a big mistake and went to a night club with my friends. I brought earplugs with me (only -17 DB ...) and spent a good hour in a very loud floor, especially the bass was heavy. When I went out to get some fresh air, I noticed I am having a setback. The noise in my head felt louder and more agressive than before, triggering m anxiety again. Some days later, another intermittend tone developed in my right ear. This was when I fell in a really dark hole. I got back to normal and destroyed it all gain. Dealing with this setback was hard, but after a few weeks, I was already able to cope better with it.

Then I made another mistake. I went to a birthday party with a lot of guests and a DJ playing music. I was wearing -30 dB protection and felt kind of safe. I avoided the speakers and went out or the room often to quieter places. But after this evening, I again felt like I screwed up even though I can't tell if my T really got worse or I was just listening out for it more because of my anxiety. I would call this another self-induced setback. 1 week later, my Hyperacusis suddenly became worse, which again boosted my anxiety.

A few days later, I got a dentist appointment. I thought, this can't be that bad since I have not heard that anyone got hearing damage from it. I thought, bring your ear plugs and everything should be fine. But it was not. Especially the ultrasonic cleaning was unbearably loud. Since it was inside the mouth, ear plugs were most likely not a good idea because of the conclusion effect. Another major anxiety-triggering, self-induced setback for me.

Long story short, so you won't make the same mistakes as I did: Please, for gods sake, just give it TIME and avoid any loud noise as long as you can, especially with noise induced tinnitus. From what I know, the hearing system needs a lot of time to recalibrate and regenerate and to adapt. If you expose yourself to loud noise, you are unnessecarily challenging your luck. I have been to hell an back and then kicked myself back into hell again. Please, do NOT do that. I would suggest not to overprotect your ears, especially when you have hyperacusis, but do NOT go to very loud places / events, even with earplugs. At least, this is the experience I made. I hope posting this is OK in this thread because it is so important to be very careful, and then, with time, things are very likely to get better!

 

6 years for me so far. First few months were the worst as the whole thing started abruptly one night with strange numbing sensations and a sharp chest pain. After an emergency room overnight (chalked up to anxiety, which I had never had before) and follow-up stress, tinnitus kicked in slowly a couple of days. And it never went away. One thing that made it tough in the beginning was that, in my head, I would assume that tinnitus was the sign of oncoming anxiety or something bad. Like "spider sense" But you have to break that link. It's not a sign of anything - it's just there, inside one of the most sensitive parts of our body. Whatever balance is messed up inside that delicate assembly has permanent consequences. I think one year of low-dose Celexa helped me at the time. I weaned off of that a long time ago, but don't hesitate to see a pyscho-pharmacist. That's one doctor that was actually helpful for me. Unlike the multiple ENTs I met with...

I had one of those days yesterday: clogged up with a cold, hit my head hard doing some exhausting errand, then went to a loud concert. Needless to say my tinnitus has shot through the roof. But I've learnt to be patient. Go with the flow and hope for the best...

 

Today I put on my favorite Ray Charles music, and was glad that i was able to hear, even if it meant having to hear the other noises inside my head.

 

Today, I did a fire in Houdini (vfx logicial) ahah
And I got 83% at my LSQ (sign language of Québec) mid-term exam!

 

I had several consecutive low-anxiety days laat week. My T was quieter (either that or it bothered me much less.) I've now had just as many bad days where I feel anxious and it seems more intrusive, but I'm handling it slightly better than I did when this began a few months ago. So I hope I'm making progress toward habituation, even if it's slow.

 

Hi all,

Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US. I have a lot to be thankful for. My son, his wife and my grandson are visiting. We picked them up at the airport last night. It was the first time meeting my grandson and he's as cute as a button! I haven't seen my son and his wife in 2 years. It's taken this long for me to work up the courage and ease out of my depression.

I've very nervous about my tinnitus and my ability to make them feel welcome and to do all the things they want to do while they are here. I doubt they understand tinnitus and I'm meaning to have a talk with my son because he is in the army and that means loud noise on the shooting range. Fortunately, he's no longer on the combat side but now on the support side of the military.

Please send me some positive energy. Say a little prayer, cross your fingers, think a positive thought anything to help me get through this week and even enjoy having company. This is a huge step for me.

Many thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!
TC

 

TC, just said a little prayer for you to some higher power. You are not alone in this terrible struggle. Good for you that you are seeing your family! Hugs.

 

Thank you Manny, that's very kind of you. I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. -TC

 

Oh @TuxedoCat. I remember years ago my first hosting of Thanksgiving for my husband's family. I know you will enjoy the moments with your son, wife and grandchild. Soak it all in and enjoy.

We are hosting again and have not seen his sons in a few years due to both living in another state. Yeah the noise level gets a big high for me at times. But I am gonna enjoy the day cooking and set up stuff for them to keep busy with outside.

 

@Starthrower
Thank you and I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving with family!
TC

 

I habituated to tinnitus about a year ago after a few weeks or so of pure emotional hell where i felt suicidal etc..

Since then I've had only one really bad 'spike' where it really bugged me and that lasted no more than a day or two. Most of the time I hardly think about it. I'm just checking in to say it does get better. Peace x

 

So you habituated?

 

Happy 5th anniversary positivity thread

 

did you have hyperacusis, pain from noise or noticable hearing loss?

 

Beautiful, crisp winter weather. Enjoying some inches of snow with the family, also enjoying them slightly less when I'm trying to move them around with a 10hp snowblower.

Kurt Vile is coming to town next month, should be a good show. <3

Kurt Vile - Loading Zones

 

Well it is cold winter in Canada. So like the snowbirds that fly south to stay away from the cold, me and my wife went on an extended vacation in Florida and Caribbean. What a good time to be warm and sunny and fishing all days plus dancing to the music with my sweet wife. Life is not just great. It is awesome. Years ago when my ultra high pitched tinnitus and severe hyperacusis hit me suddenly, I was in a mess physically and mentally, depressed, tired, suffering from relentless anxiety and panic attacks. Lost interest in things and home bound lots of time, lonely and seemingly hopeless. I survived on medications and each day was a long, suffering, dark and stressed filled day. I never thought good life will return again. But never say never. Today I am enjoying my life to the fullness. The heck with the T bully. I kicked its butt. Scream all it want. Don't care. Don't pay attention. Don't give it any time. Couldn't do that when T was new. But things change for the better. Positivity is what gets me to this state. Wrote my success story with detail on how I moved 'From Darkness to Light...' with my T & H journey. Let's try to be positive each day, each moment. God bless. you all.

 

A poem:

I imagine I'm a robot,
it helps me cope.
My T has lower volume now,
it gives me hope.

I have noticed my tinnitus has changed. It used to pierce my mind that I had bit balance problems. Now the high pitch has lowered a bit and now it reminds more of a white noise with a high pitch more in the background. Good? I don't know.

 

I will write more good news.

I slept quite well. Not enough but half hour more than usual and my sleep was more solid.

When I went to bed I almost had normal feeling. It was more silent than usual inside my head. I have a feel this has gone down to notch. That is good...

So there is hope for you!

Rest your ears and demand that ENT that they give you a good dose of prednisolon! It has reduced the pain in my left ear and the feeling of constant pressure has reduced as well.

I have 80mg / 7 days, 40mg / 2days / 20mg / 2 days.

T is still there and my right ear is sounding like a tire deflating but for some reason I can now control it by biting my teeth together and moving my jaw back.

I am so glad if this is getting better

 

One of the nice things about living in a relatively warm climate is that the cicadas are out at night, and they cover high pitched tinnitus fairly well.