Tinnitus Stopped Mattering to Me

One or both ears?

 

Nice to know. I believe that both TRT and CBT are useless. They try to convince you that a health issue is not a health issue and that it shouldn't matter at all.

 

Sorry for double quoting but I have used CBT for another health issue (Facial Neuralgia) 2 years ago. It hasn't helped me even the slightest. It made feel bad instead.

 

Based on threefirefours chart, I was at an 8 for at least 2 months during the onset. It has reduced to 1-2 now,

I also believe that T is extremely subjective and it’s hard to impossible to accurately measure where your at because to me, where I am at depends on how much I pay attention to it, when I wa anxious and panicking frequently I thought about it and listened to it a lot.

 

Well if the volume reduced that's the real success story.

 

This supposed to be about success stories and was far more encouraging. Now it’s gotten way worse and hopeless sounding. I suggest you go to failure stories, and stay off “success” stories!!

 

Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.

 

= habituation

 

Big support! Do you feel better after that comment?

 

@jp1995 - I'm happy that your tinnitus has reduced so much in such a short amount of time! Hopefully it continues to fade away.

 

So basicaly you are doing stuff you really enjoy to get your mind off it, good idea. N64 is great btw, I spent loads of time gaming on one! I would recommend Conkers Bad Fur Day (about a drunk squirl, very humorous game) and Zelda Ocarina of Time - Master Quest (Its Zelda but with an insane difficulty level).
I still sit around worrying about it and buying suppliment after suppliment for it. I replaced my entire breakfast with anti-T foods just to try and find something that works. A couple days ago I bought 600 grams of Chinese foxglove powder which is some Chinese remedy against it, so yeah im still obsessing about it.

Well good that you found a way to get the socialising aspect in there as well
A family member of mine has T for about 60 years, and he hears it all day long, he said its not bothering him and does not keep him out of his sleep, I find that very fascinating, him being an elder-T (but non suffering person).

My T just slightly spiked a couple days ago, its still on the spiked level now. So im yet again hanging out on this forum and on the net for hours and hours. Doing fun things (while staying safe obviously) does sound like a good idea, tnx man.

 

good luck getting better with that attitude my friend

 

Nah he's right.

 

You are so lucky. Mine is a 9 all the time. With Severe Hyperacusis it makes this life extremely fun....NOT.

 

Has it gotten any worse in the past 13 years? I am just 5 months into this and I know for a fact that I have some hearing loss although it is not evident on the audiogram. I had some sound distortion in the beginning and I also had a terrible hyperacusis... Thank God it is much better from what it used to be. I still can't believe this has happened to me. When I remember how helpless I was at the beginning, without any real support.. no friends. My entire family treating me like I was imagining things and overreacting. Life can be really cruel when you fall down and no one wants to help you get up. You feel like a turtle positioned upside down trying to get back on your own feet. I sometimes get so angry at people. I don't trust anyone anymore and I only take care of myself. After all, we are all very much alone. There is no real love or care, at least not where I come from...

 

Seeing how this is a success story, let me say how happy I am for you! It is wonderful of you to come back here and share your story, there are many of us who appreciate you for doing so. Thank-you!

I agree with you, it isn't a miracle, it comes from within. The journey may indeed be a long one but you are proof that it can and does happen.

 

I notice the success stories often get derailed. I posted a success story on behalf of some people I met because I knew they’d never post it online. You could say it was the opinion of the other half who live with tinnitus and hyperacusis who you never get to hear from. Anyway, I remember it all turned out a bit like this thread; everyone arguing over habituation again. I totally get the disagreement. The subjective nature of the condition will always bring about these debates, but I just don’t understand why it has to drag over to the success section? After all, people come here for some hope by reading the positive stories of others who are doing well.

 

I’m in a similar situation to you except I’ve had tinnitus most of my life. When I had it mild it didn’t take too long to get over it, but I distinctly remember yahooing (google wasn’t big back then) it all those years ago. However, there either wasn’t any forums then or I didn’t look hard enough. After so long, a couple of months maybe, I found my life was back on track. I remember hearing it over the TV the one time and I even remember it was a Van Damme film. I remember hearing it whilst I read my guitar magazines in bed, but at that time I was real chilled out about it.

Fast forward 13 years or so, and after a loud gig, my tinnitus went crazy. Basically all hell broke loose in my head and ears. You could say the noise was all encompassing. It was bad. I totally lost the plot and desperately tried to find help. I found an ENT dr who could see me that week, and I also found TT. The following two or so years were rough. I quit my band, had uncontrollable anxiety and depression, and just wasn’t enjoying life. I was living in a bubble of fear and my tinnitus effectively owned me. It wasn’t until I broke my way of thinking that I started to emerge out of my misery. I changed everything about how I dealt with it, and like a switch being flicked, it started to bother me less and less. Now, most of the time, I don’t care. It really doesn’t affect me in an emotional way. Once you deal with your reaction you can deal with the tinnitus head on. A lot of what makes tinnitus unbearable - from my experience - is the deep routed associations we make with it. Once our thoughts become toxic they make our entire mood toxic as well. It spreads like a disease through the brain making us feel terrible. Our thoughts create who we are. Think about it. Our active consciousness is a narrative of our thoughts 24/7, and these thoughts directly control if we feel happy, sad, annoyed, in love, etc. With this, your body secretes hormones to make the experience feel real. Negative associations will make you feel bad constantly. It’s like being terrified of dogs and then being forced to work with them. You’re going to be pumped full of adrenaline and cortisol all the time, and you’re never going to be happy. On edge yes, but happy, no. The secret, if it’s possible within your personality, is to teach yourself to like dogs. That way your body doesn’t have a physiological reaction making you feel bad. You regain control of you thoughts and decide how you feel instead of the decision being made for you.

I’ve said this before, but it’s why airline crew are not bothered about the noise of the flights they work on. Even though they can be surrounded by noise for 12 hours a day. It doesn’t bother them because they know the noise will end the second they get off the flight, and this gives the brain a sense of control over the noise. It makes it incredibly easy to filter it out because they’re not stressed out by it. Then you could argue that if it doesn’t bother them for such a great portion of their life, then why should it ever bother them? The answer is control. By having control you can create a more beneficial reaction to various stimuli.

Sorry for the long post.

 

Hi Ed, on a scale of 1-10 for loudness, how would you rate your tinnitus?

 

I got over my own tinnitus. It's still fairly loud, I think. But I don't care for it.

 

Don't be sorry for the long post, Ed. I love reading what you write. You have been through so much and yet you are able to remain upbeat and pass hope on to others.

 

This is probably the worst question to answer. I have no idea anymore. To the average person I’m sure the answer would be a scream and a ‘holy shit’! You listen to that, all day! But now I’m so bored of it it’s hard to answer. All I know for sure is that it’s too loud when I’m depressed or upset about it. I don’t have mild T anymore but I did have that for years, and know the difference.

 

What you think can change the average persons T from Mild to worse. Eg worse hearing loss, new acoustic Trauma . It can get worse not doing nothing. Just give your input.

 

Well in my case it was years of exposure to loud noise. Gigs, band rehearsals, night clubs etc. But anything can do it from ototoxic medications to having a physical condition such as otosclerosis, Ménière’s disease, a cholesteatoma, etc. It could even be because of a neck injury or a vascular condition.

Sometimes these can cross over and there can be more than one cause, and this is what makes tinnitus such a difficult condition to treat and understand.

 

Like you Ed, gigs, rehearsals, clubs etc.....
but then, of all the musos I know, and that’s literally hundreds of them, I seem to be the only one seriously affected.
So I’ve looked for other unique culprits, and there are two that may be relevant.

* In 1991 I had a very nasty illness called Sarcoidosis, which nearly ‘put my lights out.’
An autoimmune disease which attacks your bones, and puts a calcium sediment into your blood stream, which then clogs up lungs, kidneys, eyes, etc....anywhere where there are small capillaries.
I was into my last 24 hours, until I started a heavy regime of Prednisolone, at 30 mgs daily, for six months.
It definitely saved my life, but could could 6,000 mg of Prednisolone have predisposed me to “T?”

* A second factor could be this.
Brass players place their embouchure on that special place on the lips that vibrates best, that gives you a great sound, and feels most comfortable.
My embouchure is to the left, and consequently the bell shaft literally runs adjacent to my jawline.
‘Bone to Bone conduction comes to mind?
I was always known to have a broad ‘American’ sound, which one jazz critic complimented me on - “Dave is not a ‘waffler.’ “

All conjecture of course, but I’d be interested in your views Ed.

 

Dave, it’s often the million dollar question as to what the definitive cause is for a persons tinnitus. I’ve got no chance of answering this as the experts don’t even know in most cases. The high dose of prednisone could have been a predisposing factor in your case, but so could many other things. The truth is you’ll never know.

I know a few muso’s with tinnitus. One in particular said it took him 3 years to adjust and is now an avid earplug wearer. Just a shame that the majority of musicians who end up with debilitating tinnitus learn too late.

Did you read the Paul Gray thread I started in general chat? There’s some interesting insights in those articles.

 

I enjoyed reading that.

Even accepting that this is a truly horrible affliction, any attitude other than a positive response will be doomed.

 

Thanks Ed - I had missed it.
Very interesting. I’m not into rock music at all, but this guy is obviously highly talented, and writes with great candour. A nice guy.
It takes real integrity to admit so much to your public.

 

Very good example.