Time for a Short Introduction

[gorzakus]

I thought after looking for a few months on this forum to introduce myself.

I am a 42 year old male from Belgium, my tinnitus started end of February this year.

I have no idea what exactly caused it but provably riding my motorcycle (wind noise) and using ear buds when doing sports a and years of high stress due to several reasons.

My tinnitus is very fluctuating and very high pitched in my left ear, I have something that sounds like tinkling bells as well in my left ear but it doesn't bother me a lot and is only notable when it's silent.

I have a lot of episodes with fleeting tinnitus and to me those are one of the things that actually still piss me off because they sometimes keep lingering for a few hours.

I also have a lot of episodes where the sound seems to come from my brain and not from my ears. I think you call it head noise or static noise and it's very hard to mask this.

I've been struggling and still do but the sheer panic and anxiety has gotten a lot better. Occasionally took benzo's and they reduced the T to zero but they were not a lifetime solution unfortunately.

In the first 5 months I was afraid of every noise and every sound hurt my ears but this is almost gone, I still have sound sensitivity but it come and goes.

I am definitively addicted to this forum (don't know if that's a good or a bad thing) and especially the threads about research and treatments and looking forward to the near future were we all hopefully get some relief.

A special thanks for the ones managing and moderating this forum and putting all the data together.
Sorry for all the mistakes in grammar but I'm Dutch speaking so I have an excuse.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum @gorzakus

It is common to develop hyperacusis or sound sensitivity after the initial onset of tinnitus. I had H too after my ultra high pitched T hit. T is not going away for me but H did, and this happens to many people too. So hopefully your H will keep fading. Our perception of T also will change over time. The initial knee jerked reaction to T will slowly be replaced by more measured and composed response to it, particularly for those with less serverely intrusive T. Give it some time and keep positive and calm. This will lower your anxiety and stress level and will prevent the limbic system taking over, which tends to make T appear a lot worse. Have you found anything that can mask your T or head noise?

 

[Julien87]

Hi, where are you in Belgium? In the Flemish area I guess. I lived in Bergen (Graafschap Henegouwen) for a while.

Anyway, hang in there! I hope things will settle

 

[gorzakus]

Welcome to the forum @gorzakus

It is common to develop hyperacusis or sound sensitivity after the initial onset of tinnitus. I had H too after my ultra high pitched T hit. T is not going away for me but H did, and this happens to many people too. So hopefully your H will keep fading. Our perception of T also will change over time. The initial knee jerked reaction to T will slowly be replaced by more measured and composed response to it, particularly for those with less serverely intrusive T. Give it some time and keep positive and calm. This will lower your anxiety and stress level and will prevent the limbic system taking over, which tends to make T appear a lot worse. Have you found anything that can mask your T or head noise?

Yes I found a great app called rain rain which has high quality rain and river sounds and it's free ! I use it on the iPad at night , I slept a while without masking but now I use it again because it's easier to fall asleep for now .
I wake up a couple of times every night but I guess I sleep around 5 ,6 hours coming from 3 in the beginning so not too bad .
Thanks for the couraging words !

https://www.rainrainapp.com/

 

[gorzakus]

Hi, where are you in Belgium? In the Flemish area I guess. I lived in Bergen (Graafschap Henegouwen) for a while.

Anyway, hang in there! I hope things will settle

Yes I live in the Flemish part of Belgium , never been to Bergen actually.
Are you French speaking?

 

[Julien87]

Yes, actually I am French.
Although, I had some Dutch lessons at university

To be honest I prefer the flemish part! More beautiful cities such as the lovely Gent

 

[gorzakus]

Yes, actually I am French.
Although, I had some Dutch lessons at university

To be honest I prefer the flemish part! More beautiful cities such as the lovely Gent

I speak quite a bit French as well , but writing is a different story.
Just recently saw La Haine again and loved the scene with this quote

C'est l'histoire d'un homme qui tombe d'un immeuble de 50 étages. A chaque étage il se répète : « Jusqu'ici tout va bien. » « Jusqu'ici tout va bien.» « Jusqu'ici tout va bien. »… mais l'important c'est pas la chute : c'est l'atterrissage.