Tinnitus Driving Me Crazy — I'm a Pilot and It Has Definitely Been the Cause of It

Hello,

I've had tinnitus since 2017. It was manageable up until about 8 months ago and now it is very loud and activates my limbic system. I'm hoping to find some success stories from anyone who has had bad tinnitus for 5+ years.

Had a hearing test and I have some hearing loss in "high frequencies".

I'm a pilot and this has definitely been the cause of it.

It's so loud that I have a hard time concentrating even with fans, music and air conditioning.

 

Mine is very loud and it used to wake me up. My psychiatrist prescribed 7.5 mg of Mirtazapine to help me sleep and I no longer wake up. By keeping busy and playing background noise I am able to momentarily forget my tinnitus and I can sleep. I hope you feel better soon because I really struggle sometimes and I know it’s hard.

I would speak to a doctor and audiologist. Maybe hearing aids can help. A girl on here has no hearing loss but said hearing aids have helped her loads.

 

I hope you are doing ok. Please protect your hearing vigilantly. I suggest to change your life completely and live quietly as much as possible as to prevent it from becoming reactive and getting hyperacusis. I didn't stop everything when I got loud intrusive tinnitus and kept trying to go places. Even with earplugs I got worse and now am very suicidal. Don't take any medications and take this as a sign to get as healthy as possible and treat your ears like fine China for the rest of your life. You don't want to become homebound. It can get very very much worse. Tinnitus has no limit. Get stress free.

 

Welcome to the forum. You can try read through the success stories. There are many members who got well after struggling for a long time. I wrote my success story titled "From Darkness to Light....". The most read story is "Back to Silence" from I Who Love Music and he had bad tinnitus for a long time until he discovered a simple method that he described in detail in his story.

Take care. God bless.

 

Hey @billie48, you're a huge inspiration. These last couple of weeks have been difficult. I freaked out and went to an audiologist. I had 2 tinnitus spikes at 9 am 2 days in a row. I cut out coffee and meds and they stopped. I read about your struggle with SSHL and now I worry about that also :/ I don’t have it but I’m always worried about the future and worst case scenarios. Do you still worry about stuff like that? Should I worry?

 

@5atoshi, thanks for the good words. I am doing fine now, looking forward to the fall salmon season to catch some good fish and also a cruise to Southern Caribbean in November. Life goes on with me. Tinnitus stays the same, a humming jet-engine like ringing in the left ear which turned deaf about 2 years ago, and a dentist-drill like tinnitus on the right ear. It wasn't easy at the start but I try following the helpful strategies that i mentioned in my success stories and so I manage to move on with life. The heck with tinnitus and all. It takes time to get used to the new normal. There are other aspects of life that help me soldier on with heating challenges and tinnitus. I hope you will get better over time. God bless.