Hey Everyone, So i have browsed these forums over the years. My tinnitus started around 8 years ago after a Melvins concert in a university. The guitarist left his feedback on and i was next to a loud speaker. As usual you would get the ringing but this time it never stopped. It took a while to come to terms with this invisible devil and over the time i have tried nearly every supplement under the sun , i even had a dream where i stood on my head and it disappeared i thought wow this must be a sign and tried it when i woke up only to get an awful headrush. I have even contemplated suicide only to fear that once i died i would be eternally trapped in a black void of T . So 8 years ago long time and i will say yes you habituate even to the point where you don't care for silence as you never knew what silence was. However the times i have become hyperaware is when i goto loud places. I ALWAYS take ear plugs and recently missed them when iwas in london , low an behold all the old anxiety and fears and even a perceived (could actually be an increase) of sound and variety of tones came back. I get a few stages when this happens . 1 FRANTICALLY LOOK FOR A CURE READ ALL RESEARCH 2. LISTEN INTENTLY TO THE SOUND IDENTIFY TONES (these generalyl make it worse) 3. i LOSE INTEREST AND GO ABOUT LIFE AND THE T is just another background noise. ok some things that have helped. - whistling the tone of my T as loud as i can and feeling a vibration knocks that little T sound out for nearly 30 seconds to a minute (and all us sufferes know what even 2 secs of non t is like) it does always come back so this may be a head thing but its nice!! - meditation using binaural beats somehow takes me away from all perceptions. - ZINC Anyone again big hello to everyone!
Welcome Atomic, Glad for you, that in 8 years, you don't miss silence and forgot what it sounds like. Sad for me, cause I just passed my 1 year anniversary and apparantly, have many more years to go, trying to habituate. Unfortunately, I still remember what silence sounds like. }:-( My brother who has had T for 35 years said to me. "If my T went away tomorrow, I'd be in the same boat your are today, but trying to deal with sudden silence, instead of sudden Tinnitus like you! I think the silence would freak me out completely, I'd be afraid of it now!" Weird how the brain works! I just wish mine would work a tad faster! };-) God bless, Sailboardman
I can relate to what your brother said. Being in Vancouver, a melting pot of immigrants from major noisy Asian metropolis, I happened to meet an immigrant couple who were in near panic mode dealing with the new 'silence' around our suburb. They felt nervous & insecure, didn't know what to do in such silent place. They were afraid of being mugged while nobody is around to help. They were so used to the hustle and bustle of crowd, traffic and noise everywhere. Their brains were craving for that old familiar scene and were 'stressed' by the sudden change to a more silent and less crowded world. LOL. Go figure how the brains work.
