Tinnitus 7/10 Advice on how to deal?

Hi,

I just wanted to share my story, I might have at one point in the past, when I first got T.

I've had T for 5yrs now (I'm 36). It fluctuates from a 4/10 to 7/10. When I first got it, it just popped out of nowhere, I thought it was the end of the world—I kept doing the things I had to do, life, work, family, because I had/have to. Can't stop living, I force myself to live my life regardless of my T. But it's horrible right now, I can deal with it, since I know it fluctuates and will change—and I can't just pause my life, I have responsibilities to myself, my career, and my family. I have a mild to severe anxiety disorder on top, but again, I remind myself I can't pause my life, I have a job to do, and I have to get that job done (but bottling up my emotions, fears, etc eventually I implode and have a breakdown [panic attack]—but I wait it out and move on—my breakdowns are not forever I remind myself). My T got so bad once, I got very suicidal. All I could hear was my T. I couldn't sleep, it affected my ability to do my job (I'm a medical applications IT specialist—so I spend a lot of time working off and onsite with customers). I would go home and cry and pray for it to go away, to stop. This was the lowest it ever got, but family and doctors helped me get through this spike. It lasted 3 mnths. Now it's bad again, but since I experienced this once before, I hope it will go back to 4/10 that I can ignore and usually forget about. I use a fan, pink noise, etc to ignore it. When I'm out and about, I just don't have time to think about it, but it's there and it plays on my anxiety and fear that it will stay this way (7/10). I know I'll learn to live with it, as I can't pause my life—but that dark period I went through, I don't want to go there again. (If you got this far, thanks for reading!)

So I guess this is more a share than anything else. And looking for advice on what others do to cope—I also listen to rain and classical music, especially music that is a similar decibel to my T to retrain my brain to associate the noise with other things. I bike too, being outside helps me ignore my T as well; being in the zone for miles and miles is wonderful (highly recommend cycling! Or other forms of outdoor activities).

Best and blessings to all while coping and fighting your own battles with your T.

 

Tinnitus can change our lives for sure. I gave up a birthday party today because of it. Kids would have been screaming and it would have just bothered my ears and gave me a nasty spike. I really liked the fella that was having the birthday but they (him and his family simply do not get it that my ears ring very LOUD 24-7) and they encourage the kids to scream more. You have to look after yourself, when you have tinnitus. Not many will care that you suffer, unless they face it as well....

Because of this, I didn't feel bad not going. No one was going to alter their ways, because one guy with loud tinnitus was at their party. That's fine with me as well....

At the end of the day I count, we count, I suffer, we suffer and the rest of the world doesn't care...Take care of yourself and set an agenda that benefits your ears, the rest of the world can take a back seat......

 

I admit, since it spiked, I've been a hermit—stayed home with my bandaids, my ambients and pink noise (today being Sunday, I'll be up and at it Monday, so no time for T). At least I can sleep through it—how the heck I do that I don't know, I lay on my pillow and my T rings and rings and rings, but I eventually fall asleep (usually). It took a longtime to get to that point—again, I use my bandaids. The Marpac Dohm is my best friend. Thanks for your reply fishbone.

I see a lot of people mention trying different teas? This is of interest. I don't drink tea—I avoid caffein. As for medications, I'm on regular meds already for my anxiety (but my anxiety is mostly under control )

 

Back in the days I use to really try hard with certain people, and was trying to talk to them and try to convince them that tinnitus is no joke. Ringing in the ears and the hearing loss/pain really... can shatter people's lives. They would just laugh at me and try to make a stupid joke. I don't try with these people anymore. This birthday party today(which I didn't go) had quite a few of these people, I used to try to convince. Best thing to do is to simply look after yourself. Take care of yourself. No one will care to understand, your issue 100% unless they suffer. If people don't care, you simply shouldn't care either and just move on...

 

Hey there, I would suggest keep praying and ask God to give you insight and wisdom on what's causing it to fluctuate. Maybe He'll show you something. In the past, sometimes I tried to figure out things on my own for years and then I prayed and these great ideas came to me within days that I never thought about before and they really helped. One of the reasons I didn't pray as much a long time ago was I prayed a few times for it to go away and that didn't happen so I think "well, I guess I will have to figure this out on my own." Instead, I think I should have prayed for wisdom on what to do. I think sometimes this stuff is a trial and it teaches us many things.

Secondly, I would suggest that you get a hearing aid. Ask for a trial of the Signia 7nx aid. It has built in maskers (I believe customizable) and some other sounds if I am not mistaken. Why stick around your house with pink noise when you can take it with you?

In addition, it has 12khz bandwidth instead of 8khz like many other aids. (You will need an extended audiogram to know your hearing loss between 8khz and 12khz). More amplification of hearing loss can help mask more noise with background sounds. It also has notch therapy for tonal tinnitus and it hooks up to an iPhone so you can stream music to it if I am not mistaken. I hope I can try one this year...it's just a matter of money. I tried the Signia Primax 7nx (I think that was the name of it) and I really appreciated the 12khz bandwidth. I am in no way an employee of Signia or (formerly Siemens) but I really liked the Siemens aid the best out of the few I tried. If you don't like that, check some of the other ones out. Hearing aids and maskers have really helped me even if I don't have the top of the line model myself.

 

Well - if God’s got the cure for Tinnitus - bring it on.
Personally, I’ve never found him - though I spent a long time looking.
I have come to see at all religions as spiritual mythology.
I have absolutely no wish to upset anybody here
- just my views folks.
However, I do believe in nice, kind, loving, caring people.
(ie - you lot xxx)

 

It really amazes me how people mock me for my condition. My mom is the only one who tries to understand me bc she is my mom. But my sisters or friends, they Just look at me weirdly, mock me or forget that I even have it. I mean, People don't need to cry for me, but they can at least respect my sickness, not mock it. They laugh at me when I start explaining the condition. Also, my ex boyfriend has the same things. In addition, he is half deaf because of loud music and he also told me to live Like it doesn't exist. He acts like he doesn't have it. It is like I have a broken leg and they all tell: oh, that is nothing, you will get used to walking weirdly...

 

Fools are, a dime a dozen in this world. You do your best, to live a good life full of love, support, giving, helping. Let karma handle and deliver the sweet symphony of reality to the wicked and the foolish....

In life we have to take a stand. No one should EVER walk all over us, or make us feel less. Give people chances to show their worth. Once that is violated, then they should not be dealt with ever again......

 

Only advice I have as a fellow loud T sufferer at times is, when you change your lifestyle around your T you will obsess about it more which will make it more debilitating. You need to develop the courage to get out there and live and what will happen is...your T will go more into the background. This is like diving off the high dive. Just do it.

As my avatar, I am a dedicated cyclist and also live where I swim almost every day. I choose to make my body as fit as possible. When cycling as you mention and swimming, I basically don't have T or it goes away mostly masked by ambient environmental noise.

Last thing is...get your hearing checked. Follow my hearing aid thread now evolving on the forum. I think you may find as many others that your tinnitus is a result of some level of hearing loss and hearing aid technology has improved to distract you from your tinnitus not unlike you and I are distracted by being out and about...and living our lives. Choose to live your life and not withdraw and obsess. You will find you feel better when you get out there and live.

I will continue to update the hearing aid thread because likely where I am headed to quiet my tinnitus down in particular when I am alone without much ambient noise to distract me.

My reasoning present day is this. I like having a plan.
Hearing aid technology with notch therapy to distract from tinnitus for next few years until more effective technology is developed to address the root cause of tinnitus...either pharma aka drug therapy...or more likely neuron de-excitation....new science identifying the aberrant neurons misfiring and quieting the neuron's in our brains that is creating the false construct of sound aka tinnitus.

 

steam sounds really help me deal with tinnitus when I am in quiet surroundings....

Sleep Well! Boiler Room White noise. 8 Hours!

 

First - I've been gone for a long time - I just graduated from college (with my second bachelors a few months back in Info and tech) . Thank you everyone for your responses to this thread. Your responses are helpful! And encouraging. I got sidetracked by job hunting since I graduated, and just recently got an IT position at a prominent hospital! I'm exited to once again join the working world—the job will be challenging, but I'm used to high intensity environments, my job is another thing that puts my T in the background, thank the stars, I don't have time to think about it, only my job.

As for your response stophiss, yes! You seem like a kindred spirit. A fellow cyclist, exercise helps keep me sane, whether from my T, or when work drives me nuts and I want to stab something! (j/k) I donot have hearing loss that I know off, I've been to several ENTs and gotten the same result, that my range of hearing is normal regardless of my T spikes (or when it is normal, yet still annoying—but only when sleeping, thus I rely on a fan, or pink noise! Pink noise is at the same decibel as my T, so I forget about it). I know that there are aids you can get that create a mild 'white noise' in the ear to help drown out the T during the day, but are not hearing aids—they are expensive and my insurance will not cover them , my T is not considered a 'health issue', or considerable impairment. But I have looked into that, thankfully during the day I forget about it, too busy to think about it—even when I'm in a quiet space and I can hear it zinging like a high pitched needle stab in my ear (blasted noise!). I've found ways to cope.

I've just been curious about what others do to sleep at night Jomo—your idea is interesting, never tried that, I'm too much of a pink noise fan, it goes in the background with my T, and is pleasant (to me). A fun thing is when the electricity goes out at night and I wake up to the zinging in my head! Ug! Trying to go back to sleep is such a bane, I bought myself a portable battery powered white noise machine. I generally don't have trouble sleeping with my T, even when I have to listen to it, sometimes without my 'bandaids', fan, white noise, etc.

Do any of you get 'spikes' that come and go, like when it is what you are use to and then gets louder?

Thanks all.