I'm not sure if it's because I've been reading lots of T related things today, or if its because I didn't sleep many hours last night (not T related), but it is so loud. bleh.
Good point LeQuack! I think pretending to be 'normal' is really important. The doing of normal things for a person with t is good training and good discipline. I started off on this horrible journey pretending to be normal at work and at home. After months and pretending to be the old me, I decided I actually was the old me - but just with the tinnitus. For my friends, workmates , family and even my kids, my tinnitus has disappeared into the past somewhere. It's not mentioned; forgotten. That's good for them, and good for me because they treat me the way they 'normally' would. Only my wife is aware of my struggle now...and I'm making sure the impact impact fading there too. I don't want to bring people down with worry and grief for me. So, hanging on to the good bits in life is important, but I'll freely acknowledge that when the noise is bad, it's really hard to keep to any plan - so being a bit forgiving and gentle with yourself is extremely important too. Here's to the occasional quieter day. R
I feel like T somehow does this on purpose. I had a really great past few days, and last night I thought "this is not anything to fuss about, I am feeling like myself again", and then BOOM, T today strikes back with a vengeance.
I totally get this! Have a few low days and think I might be finally on the road to habituation then bang - loud again
Mine too. I had a woman screeching to a stop on her bicycle yesterday and now the left ear feels full and locks up at times.
Whenever this happens to me (like today) I remind myself that it's not the sound that changes. It's my perception. There is a curious effect recognized in TRT: after some time into the treatment there is a stage when patients start complaining of their tinnitus being worse. It is explained by the fact that some habituation has already occurred and your brain was not noticing the sound, then, for some reason, it focused on tinnitus again. This contrast of perception makes it seem like being louder. So, it's a good sign, basically . Probably, something similar applies to spikes provoked by loud external sounds. You hear it, it's loud, it makes you focus on your hearing, inevitably, you notice your tinnitus.
Don't worry about it, Demi. These are setbacks on the way to eventual habituation. The sleep issue may have caused the spike. But it is very normal for recovering folks to have spikes on and off. It will always settle back to baseline. When you eventually habituate, your brain will not even pay attention or monitor T to realize it is a high or low day, and it will fade T out of consciousness when it gets busy or distracted with other important things during the day That is basically where I am at right now. My T is very loud today, screaming with ultra high pitch. It is a piercingly high energy shrill. A few years back, I would be frozen with fear and my brain would be monitoring this ringing all the time. Not now. As I am typing on the subject of T, I can hear it ragingly loud. But in a few moment when I am on other things, it will be faded out of consciousness. How can that be? When you reach the state that the brain no longer perceives T as a threat (perhaps just a distraction or annoyance), then the brain can fade it out. This is the same when you are on a plane or on a train with the loud noises around you but if you are focused on watching a movie or reading a magazine/book, you will go through period you don't hear any of the loud noises around you because they are not a threat to the brain. So the trick is to train, condition, or even fool your brain (LOL) that T is not a threat. Repeat this message or suggestion to your brain often. Self-hypnosis call it that if you may. The brain is trainable. Given time, the brain will slowly fall in line and it will harden to the sound.
Demi's story is like mine. A few nice quiet days followed by a couple of noisy ones, followed by some quieter ones. I haven't found a thing that influences the volume though. Basically what I wake up with is what I'm left with for the day. Sleep time is when it resets. Louder, softer or the same. The quiet days are great - I don't even notice the sound for hours on end. Then the next day , Boom! Here's a noisy one for you!!! Weird. These days when its noisy ( like today ), when I hear the noise ( an hissing, hi toned combo ) I think more along the lines of "Booooring!!" rather than "Help"...for me, that's habituation. Billies right too. A good, positive mantra is important. Good luck to all of us!
Hey Roger...my tinnitus came on about one month after yours, and I am about at the same place. I tell people my tinnitus had graduated from "debilitating" to "annoying." And I agree: it s habituation. My goal is to now get from "annoying" to "occasionally annoying." My T is like a toddler. Part of me, always with me, usually fine... and occasionally really annoying. We do need to keep moving forward, although I would say as time goes on, I want to make working on my tinnitus a smaller and smaller part of my life. Don't want to be at a restaurant thinking, "Gee, do I need to put in my ear plugs?" or telling people why I need to put in these weird looking plugs while we eat. Just put in the plugs and move on.
T pretty much affects me the same way, good days and bad days. What gets me through the bad day is knowing that good days are right around the corner. I have been keeping a log since I got T, as suggested by my ENT. Each day I rate it on a 1-10 scale, 1=no noise 10=the worst. My ENT said this also helps him see how I am reacting to T. When I go back and look through it, I have found I had more good days than bad ones, that in it self makes me feel better.
I started logging the good and bad days using 1-10 scale too. When I look back, there's more good days than bad ones too. Also my scale reduced from 1 to 5. Fortunately for me, the force 8s, 9s and 10s seemed to have been restricted to the first couple of months. Now I go from a great '1' to an irritating 3 or 4, ( like today. ) with a couple of nice quieter days to look forward to. All the best.
Really? I so needed to hear this @NeoM - thank you. I'm having an extra loud day so this has lifted my spirits a little
Just realize that when your tinnitus is queit, it will get louder. When it is loud, it will get quieter. ....and so it goes.
Yeah. The other day I was reading about a musician, I can't remember who, and he said that his son had tinnitus for 3 years after visiting a loud night club. Just remember anytime that it doesn't seem as intrusive or anytime you can forget about it while doing something else is progress. Sure, it takes time, but you'll get there. Just make sure to use sound enrichment 24/7.
So love to hear (no pun intended) that there is a lot of pretendimg to be ok going on. I know its the only way now. All rhe world's a stage...got to love Shakespeare. LOL
