Tinnitus, As I See It

Tinnitus, As I See It.

Most books on tinnitus will inform you that it’s a very common condition that many people habituate to with relative ease. Ask family members or friends about it and the first thing you will hear is: I’ve had it for years but just ignore it. Mine plays a tune. I hear it now and again but it’s nothing. It is always there in the background but its low”. I only hear mine at night etc.

These people are the fortunate ones that may never need to go to a GP and ask to be referred to an ENT clinic. When you reply to them and say: you are finding it hard to cope or you’re going to hospital for help - brace yourself for the look of surprise on their faces as if to say what on earth is wrong with you?

The truth is, tinnitus comes in many forms and intensities and no two people experience it the same. Fortunately, most people do habituate to tinnitus even after being referred to an ENT clinic and go on to lead a happy and fulfilling life. I can almost hear your sigh of relief, but I mustn’t forget to add, it does take time so be patient.

The thing that affects a lot of people is usually the first 6 months to 1 year and possibly longer of having the condition and thus, many people find forums such as this in a quest for help to make their path to habituation easier and if possible a lot quicker. There is nothing wrong with this as long as a person is realistic and their expectations are not set too high. Listening to advice of more experienced people that are seasoned to tinnitus can be beneficial providing their advice is adhered to and I will give one example below.

I understand some people do not want to take an antidepressant to help cope with tinnitus and in an ideal world no-one wants to take medicine. However, the facts are that tinnitus is generated in the part of the brain called the Limbic system which is directly affected by our moods. The more stressed or depressed a person becomes the more intrusive the tinnitus will appear to be. The calmer we are the tinnitus usually becomes less intrusive.

Antidepressants can make tinnitus worse for some people but this is usually temporary. The way I see it. If one feels their T, which is perfectly understandable, is depressing them they owe it to themselves to seek the help of their GP as the positives far out way the negatives in my opinion. My blood pressure medicine is listed as, can cause tinnitus. I have variable tinnitus that ranges from silent to severe. My BP meds don’t make my T any worse and I’ve been taking it for years. I prefer taking the tablets rather than risk having a stroke, kidney failure or worse by not taking them.

Habituation to tinnitus is possible but a person has to be prepared to try and help themselves, if they want to improve their quality of life. It will not happen automatically. Please start by listening to some of the good advice in this forum and following it.

I wish you well

Michael

 

Keep them coming,my dear friend,
Wise old owl.....hahaha young and handsome lots of love always glynis

 

Hmm. I'll try Glynis. Thanks for your kind words...

 

There are a considerable number of people who first found this forum as a result of long-term tinnitus following use of antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs.

Note that I am heavily biased on this issue because I believe I was needlessly medicated for a number of years and that it did far more harm than good.

 

Indeed Linearb. As I've previously said we are all different. What works for one person may not for another. My advice is just a suggestion.
Michael

 

Yeah; I do tend to be hawkish on this, and apologize if I am coming across as antagonistic.

Put differently and more simply, I would only encourage people to explore SSRIs/psych drugs well after making serious structural changes to their lives (well managed diet, sleep habits, exercise, yoga/meditation). My reason for that is twofold: for one thing, many people who do all that stuff first will no longer desire the drugs, and secondly, people who have done all that stuff are in a much better place to understand and deal with the consequences of taking the drugs, than someone who gets tinnitus in the middle of an overly stressed, out-of-shape, junk food lifestyle and then just adds drugs to the top of that toxic mix rather than dealing with the simpler problems first.