I'm once again sorry to sound so negative but this is bullshit. I just came from the Senior Center where I was trying to read a suspense novel and had to stop and come home. The noise in my head was just too loud. I tried to go fishing the other day and the noise was so loud it ruined everything. People say to not stop doing the things that you enjoy. Everything I enjoy doing involves quite. Bow hunting, archery, fishing, reading. Listening to music "quietly" gives me a headache. People tell me to hang in there. I just don't see the point... I have had tinntus off and on over the years but nothing like this. It started last September. Every day I try to sleep as long as possible. It's getting harder and harder to fall back to sleep. I pray every night to go peacefully in my sleep.
I feel your pain ernie have you ever had your ears tested by the way if you have high freq hearing loss even mild hearing aids would really take the edge off the noise. Good Luck my friend,Pete
@erniej, Try stay positive through your down times. I totally understand about trying read a book when tinnitus is loud it's so hard consentrate on the story. I love reading Peter James books and his next book out is in May and looking forwards to reading it if my ears let me. I would have a talk with your doctor see if he can give you something to sleep and sound therapy can help also ...stay positive ....lots of love glynis
I have had every test done in the book. Including Cat scans and MRIs. I've been to Massachusetts Eye & Ear. Maskers. Hearing aids. Supplements. Medications. hypnosis. Accupuncture, a change in diet. Remeron helps me stay asleep when I take it at night. I tried my masker on softly. It used to help. It just makes it worse now. The volume is beyond masking this time. It's a masker/hearing aid. The masker worked so well a few years ago I purchased a backup one. This time around it appears like I have developed some hyperacus and the volume becomes piercing with the masker sound. I have been trying to stay hopeful. It's just wearing me down to the point where I'm losing the strength to fight. It's SO loud. I don't think that I am coming across just how loud it is. And the piercing part is the worst. Someone will suggest running a fan in the background to drown out the noise and I feel like strangling them. I know their just trying to be helpful. Kratom helps but it's too addictive and I build a tolerance quickly.
I haven't taken Kratom since a year or two prior to full blown T. Does this help with the ringing or just being at peace with it? Very interested..
For me, both. But, it attaches itself to the opiate receptors in the brain the same way morphine does so it is very addictive. If you take it all the time then try to stop you will be in trouble. I take 10 grams at a time about once or twice a month. I was thinking of taking 2.5 grams a day instead of cashing the buzz and see how that works. For me, it seems that anything that I try that works for a day or two, then stops working and the tinnitus comes back horribly. Like having a few drinks. ANY supplement such as valerian root, ginko, etc. I'm good to go for a day and then, BANG, I'm back where I started. The same with Kratom. I took some the other day. I was good to go for two days and then, bang, right back where I started. I like the Maeng Da capsules for Kratom. (getting off topic here). When I took it the other day I didn't get as high so I can tell that I'm building up a tolerance even at only two or three times a month. Be careful. I do love the stuff.
Thank you, I know first hand about opiate tolerance - and often wondered if that foolishness earlier in life didn't have something to do with the T in the first place..
Hey, @erniej, my sympathies. Sounds rough. You are doing everything I would suggest. And you have been to one of the best eye/ear hospitals in the country. I am thinking that yes, maybe you have developed hyperacusis. If so, I believe its important to continue with some light sound enrichment? (but I am no H expert). Also, hyperacusis can fade with time, more so than tinnitus. I had it in the beginning. But you have been suffering since September. I am so sorry I can't offer more other than to say I feel for you. It is exhausting sometimes, indeed, to deal with these disorders 24/7. I know my tinnitus just wears me out some days.
Opiates can be more ototoxic when combined with loud noise. That's what the US Military found out in some studies. It seems most opiate ototoxicity comes from abuse. I've taken Kratom before the really bad tinnitus started without any problems in that area. Then again I was only doing it about once or twice a month and then I even stopped for over a year or more. I never was much of a "drug" person. I was put on a synthetic morphine for a medical procedure and it was no different than taking the Maeng Da. They have enhanced Maeng Da but that's not safe. AT ALL. If you get hooked on any strain of Kratom it has to be tapered off slowly. I started, against a Doctors advise tapering off of 8MGs of Xanax daily last april and when I was down to 4.75MGS daily is when the tinnitus shit hit the fan. Now I'm down to 2MGs of klonipin daily. Just did a .5MG drop a week ago. The doctor warned me. But, I'm not going back on 8MGs of Xanax all over again. I tried up dosing earlier and it was too late. My advise to anyone prescribed any benzo that helps your tinnitus, if it works, stay on it. When my tinnitus started, going back up to a higher dosage was too late.
there's a LOT of BS around. I've been told bullshit like 'Don't worry, you will get your life back'. The first time was my psychologist, who specializes in tinnitus patients and said his technique 'works for everybody'. Couple months later, he had to admit that he generalized too much. I actually respected that. In another forum, I was told by someone the same bullshit. Of course, when asked, they didn't say how THEY 'got their life back'. They just said they did. Really ? I have been doing the opposite, and believe me, it has helped me much better. I can only tell you what has helped me, but I think that we are very similar: we can smell bullshit from a few miles away. I think it's best NOT to pretend that life must be 'the way it was before'. That's what I would tell these other people. There has been a --major- change here, this isn't a walt disney movie, and major changes aren't helped by bullshit told such as 'you'll get your life back'. The things that helped me the most are these: I learned to accept this new change in my life. I mean truly accept it. I kept telling myself 'hey, things can go bad. But they can also improve. Never forget that. I have seen it before. I got lucky before. I could have died that time, but I survived. Who knows?'. And improve they did. As Felix Dennis said: 'You can believe in luck. Just don't waste your time looking for it'. I don't care how I look to people, or if they think I am weird. I wear a masker 24/7. It's my best friend. Have you tried a masker? I use it everywhere, although most of the time I am by myself, when I have to see people, I explain to them that I am not listening to music, but a low-level noise to cover or mix with the noise in my ears. I avoid silence. I used to love silence, now I love racket. My masker is a mix of various noises: wind, rain, purple noise, hairdryer, and audiobooks. I imagine I live in the stove of a ship, loading coal. Crazy thought? Who cares. I don't care how I look, or whether people think I am crazy. My top priorities are: to use whatever, whatever helps. I also always keep in mind biographies of people I have learned about. The composer Robert Schumann felt like you, he would say 'I can't read the newspaper. I keep hearing the A note'. Another, was a doctor in the 1800's. He had to sit by a fountain when he had to write a letter, or he would not be able to concentrate. Also, stoic philosophy is now my religion. The most important thing is to learn to calm down. It is in the most critical moments that we have to try to be brave. Sorry, I might appear lecturing. It's more like a reflection to myself, after reading your post. I wish you all the very best.
