Tinnitus Getting Better. Maybe...

[Deep]

Okay so let me quickly explain to you guys that I have had T for about 3 - 4 months and I am 19 years old, since then I have minimized my caffeine, nicotine and junk food intakes. I have recently got some molded ear plugs which I will use for when I DJ, which I am very happy with. In addition I also compose music at low levels as much as possible.

A few days ago I went to an audiologist to get a hearing test and by my amazement my hearing is still perfect! Although, the chart he gave me ends at 8khz, does that mean he did not test my upper spectrum? He may of fired one wave at around 16khz just to roughly test that area!? My T sounds like an old TV or electrical device that has just been turned on, a fairly high pitched ring, maybe a triangle or sine wave.

Anyway I have found that since I have had tinnitus it has fluctuated between ears (more commonly in my right), volume and maybe even pitch, but it is not pulsatile just to make that clear. I do not have any symptoms of disease, my balance is perfect (I do extreme sports).

Right so after getting my hearing results back I was very happy, I have recently been taking 100mg B complex vitamins along with 400 - 50omg of magnesium daily. My T had reduced quite a bit, this might be due to the B vitamins helping cell division and growth or the magnesium reducing anxiety etc. OR I have gone through a few days of it behaving, in-fact when I do breathing exercises I can sometimes experience silence.

Naturally I perceive my right ear to be slightly louder than my left, but both have gone to a very quite volume. I wake up not even noticing it at all and when I am in ambient places everything is all good, but even now typing this it is not so bad and usually when I am by my computer in a quite room the levels up quite a bit.

Oh and my hypercausis has reduced tremendously as well, maybe even gone at this point in time.. Now I just need to be careful and continue with these vitamins and lifestyle changes, I am starting to think maybe it is something to do with my diet or even drinking and smoking occasionally. But what baffles me is that I passed my hearing test, BUT the only explanation for me developing T is from long hours of sound exposure, unless it came along by complete coincidence relating to something else, maybe a cold or antibiotics, but that means it would of come on after a month + delay, hmmmm.

Anyway I continue my quest and this is just a quick progress report for people, I would love to hear any similar stories or anyone's thoughts, thanks!

 

[jennifer anderson]

Okay so let me quickly explain to you guys that I have had T for about 3 - 4 months and I am 19 years old, since then I have minimized my caffeine, nicotine and junk food intakes. I have recently got some molded ear plugs which I will use for when I DJ, which I am very happy with. In addition I also compose music at low levels as much as possible.

A few days ago I went to an audiologist to get a hearing test and by my amazement my hearing is still perfect! Although, the chart he gave me ends at 8khz, does that mean he did not test my upper spectrum? He may of fired one wave at around 16khz just to roughly test that area!? My T sounds like an old TV or electrical device that has just been turned on, a fairly high pitched ring, maybe a triangle or sine wave.

Anyway I have found that since I have had tinnitus it has fluctuated between ears (more commonly in my right), volume and maybe even pitch, but it is not pulsatile just to make that clear. I do not have any symptoms of disease, my balance is perfect (I do extreme sports).

Right so after getting my hearing results back I was very happy, I have recently been taking 100mg B complex vitamins along with 400 - 50omg of magnesium daily. My T had reduced quite a bit, this might be due to the B vitamins helping cell division and growth or the magnesium reducing anxiety etc. OR I have gone through a few days of it behaving, in-fact when I do breathing exercises I can sometimes experience silence.

Naturally I perceive my right ear to be slightly louder than my left, but both have gone to a very quite volume. I wake up not even noticing it at all and when I am in ambient places everything is all good, but even now typing this it is not so bad and usually when I am by my computer in a quite room the levels up quite a bit.

Oh and my hypercausis has reduced tremendously as well, maybe even gone at this point in time.. Now I just need to be careful and continue with these vitamins and lifestyle changes, I am starting to think maybe it is something to do with my diet or even drinking and smoking occasionally. But what baffles me is that I passed my hearing test, BUT the only explanation for me developing T is from long hours of sound exposure, unless it came along by complete coincidence relating to something else, maybe a cold or antibiotics, but that means it would of come on after a month + delay, hmmmm.

Anyway I continue my quest and this is just a quick progress report for people, I would love to hear any similar stories or anyone's thoughts, thanks!

i have had pulsating tinnitus for some six weeks now and it is getting worse i am very tired at the moment

 

[Deep]

Sorry to hear that, what does it sound like?

 

[Karen]

Hi, Deep,
It sounds like you are doing all the right things. B vitamins and magnesium can really help tinnitus, in many cases. And the dietary changes you've made are good, as well. We may never really know what caused our tinnitus, but we can go forward from where we're at, and try to find things that will minimize it.

It's great that you did so well on your hearing test! It kind of sounds like they didn't test you for higher frequency hearing loss, so it is possible you have could have some hearing loss in the very high frequencies. I'm glad your hyperacusis is almost gone! That's an indication that things are going in the right direction. Keep us posted on your progress!

 

[Deep]

Thanks for replying, yes things are still going well, although I am very technical about these things and I still do experience louder and quieter days, this makes me realize that the mind is a very powerful thing in the way that it reacts and adapts. I will carry on with these lifestyle changes and keep you posted, but at the same time I think there is a good chance that this is simply my mind re-programming my thoughts on this condition. Some people may adapt more quickly than others, I now strongly believe the right mind set and diet could correlate to this positive outcome.

Obviously it is great connecting with people online and talking about T, but I found out the other day a friend of mine in the music scene has it too, I highly recommend getting to know someone in person who also has it, it makes you feel way less alone.

In addition I would like to note that any T sufferer in their right mind are going to have depressing days, even if they think positively most of the time. This is what makes the condition so tricky, its a constant stalker that you have to disregard friends with, or enemies for that matter, but accept it as you, at-least until a cure

 

[Karen]

You are right about the mind being a very powerful thing, and that it may be the key to finally adapting/habituating to this condition. Any type of support is helpful, but you're right in that it helps to know someone personally who has T, who will understand. My husband also has tinnitus, and though his is not the same as mine (I have both ringing and pulsating), at least I know that he understands some of what I'm going through.

I think you are on the right track in many ways!! Here's to more "up" days than "down" ones, and let's hope for a cure soon.

 

[Makoto Deguchi]

Hello, I am musician too. I have read your story. I have similar problem of T. I hope it will better each other.
Anyway, your music is cool! I listend you Page"Soundcloud ".
Please check my Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/makotodeguchi

 

[Deep]

Yeah was just listening to your music before I saw this post actually, nice work, you need to move onto soundcloud! Thanks!

 

[Stefan Hansson]

Hi. First of all. English isn't my first language, so there might be some spelling mistakes. I'm as you fairly new with T. You story interested me, since I had many of the similar experience in regards of the pitch of your tinnitus and treatment. My T started after a rock concert almost 3 months ago, where i didn't protect my ears. The same night I had severe hearing problems after the concert, where i had a hard time understanding what people said for a while, but also a very loud ringing in my head. My hearing came back to normal the next day (also had my doctor check it out 6 weekes in), but the T was really bad the first 2-4 days, and got zero sleep and was freaked out. Then it became smaller and smaller after 1-2 weeks, i could't here the sound anymore, but somehow felt i could here something faint, but it wasnt on the same pitch as the first. At that point I thought "I made it". But after that I still had some problems with noises around bedtime, and sometimes i woke up in the morning and had a new sound in my head, it felt differently and sometimes it would change. As you, I experienced the T going from one ear to another for a while. Now i actually feels its not doing that anymore. About 4-6 weeks after the concert, i became very nausious and experienced a loud high pitched sound (like an old television) which has been there since, but it has decreased and isnt as loud as before..

Question:
Do you feel you are more sensitive to noises similar to your tinnitus pitch? I visited a mate, which had and old TV screen on, and the sound was very clear for me, when it for him was barely noticable. I said to him "thats how my T sounds".
I also have experienced a somewhat more sensitive hearing around high pitched electrical sounds, coming from printers, computers, vacuum cleaners etc. where the might be multible sounds, but where there is also a high pitch near my T. Results is that the sound seems louder, than it is to others.

Also do you feel that you are a bit more sensitive to loud sounds since?
I'm not thinking on normal sounds, but above 80 decibel, I was in the cinema today, and experienced the action scenes as being very loud, (my mate thought they were high too, but he wasn't annoyed by them in the same way).

Now im almost 3 months in.
Some days are worse than others. Like you i have also startet up with B12 vitamins and magnesium pills. I feel better, but unsure if thats the vitamins or me coping with it better. I still have problems sleeping (getting 2-3 hours a night) these last days, but have experienced a couple of good nights, where i slept around 8 hours, and i woke up almost without T. I have been used to sleep in complete silence before (even using earplugs), and i have a hard time coping with the T at night time, so try to distract myself with other noises, which also disturbes my sleeps somewhat, since im not used to noises at night.

The best sleep i have gotten though, has beeen without any devices turned on. But on the other hand, my worst nights also had no devices turned on. Probably I should start trying to sleep without any devices on, but i feel some anxity to do that, since i had some bads experiences with it.

How do u sleep yourself, you got something turned on?

One thing you might check out is http://today.uci.edu/iframe.php?p=/news/release_detail_iframe.asp?key=1570

There is an audioclip (on the right of the text) which i have downloaded to my MP3. I listen to with my headphones on at a very low level.

Tinnitus reseach is very focused on the stimulation of faulty neurons (being the reason for the T sound), and have only used the audio clip for a day or so, but so far i have enjoyed having it on, since it relaxes me and may or may not (too soon to say) have a positive affect on my T.

I feel my T is, when i hear other stories from people with T, and think on how it was the first hours and days after the concert, as currently being rather mild. Im not really hearing in my daily life, unlesss im concentrating on it or have hands over my ears. But nighttime it becomes more clear. I dont know if other feel the same, but its like when my head goes down, or feels preassure (from the pillow), it somehow amplifies the T.

But as I said, i have a very simliar high pitched T as you have and would like to share experiences with you, so that we might one day get rid of it or cope with it in a way, so it doesnt affect our lives.

 

[Deep]

Okay I am going to answer the questions I can remember in no particular order:

1. I sleep with no masking sounds, I find it is very important to hear your T but choose to tune it out by choice of mind and not by masking the sh*t out of it. If you are going to mask your T set the volume to an equal amount, if not slightly lower than your T. If you mask dramatically and for a long amount of time your T will just seem louder after, it has to be a CHOICE of mind. And anyway if you can constantly hear your T and have positive feelings towards it, this will only lead to habituation.

2. I to do not really hear it when I am out in the ambiance of the world, please re-frame from closing your ears and testing the volume, I spent a couple of months doing this frequently and it is only negative, it will worsen your condition temporarily.

3. Yeah I guess I am sensitive to loud sounds but every-time I am in a night club I wear molder ear plugs and limit my time inside (unless performing a set) so I do not experience a weird sensation or anything like that. I did have Hypercausis for a bit with certain high frequencies (such as dinner plates tapping together) but this is 90% reduced, may be due to my vitamins, mindset etc.

4. Yes my T definitely flares up to sounds that appear similar to it for example my computer fan and the sound of an old TV like you were mentioning. My T also sounds like an old television, I believe this is close to what you experience?

5. You were briefly talking about some sound treatments, as much as I am hopeful for Nero-modulation, it is way to over priced for its success rate and sometimes doesn't even work. I believe oxygen treatments could be crucial after loud sound exposure and long term I believe a drug will be synthesized that specifically targets the root problem of T which is an over-stimulation in the auditory cortex. You mentioned your hearing has gone back to normal, let me rephrase that and say that your hearing THRESHOLD has gone back to normal, other things are still functioning differently and certain sounds are still perceived incorrectly by the brain as to those with normal hearing. You brain is turning the signal back up, not necessarily because of the hairs in the ear that may of been damaged, but due to the brains over-reaction to the initial cause. Theoretically a drug will be able to reset this central nerves system repulse.

Deep

 

[Stefan Hansson]

Yeah I have also experienced that maksing (like white noise/purple/pink noise) have made my T more loud.