Two Months In and Greatly Struggling — How Do You Habituate to Tinnitus?

Hi all.

I’m still at a very acute state, and I have so mixed negative emotions. I’m scared, angry, sad, numb. I find myself being all over the place emotionally. I hate all the noise, cars, horns, ringing bells from bicycles, building places, you name it!

I’m so angry with my ”friend” because she thought passing that tunnel (read my first post) was such a good idea. I didn’t really like the idea at first, because I felt that something was wrong, but I ended up walking there anyway. I should just have turned around, and let her be stupid alone. She didn’t developed any tinnitus, but I did! I never wanna see her again!
(I know this is not her fault in reality, this is just my depressed brain speaking).

Everything just hurts from my hyperacusis. I do wear my earplugs around any loud noise, but I need to live and cannot wear them 24/7. Also when I wear them I hear my tinnitus even more!

I miss my silence! I know that I might have tinnitus in my ears for the rest of my life, but if I at least could have it mild, and how the hell do you habituate? Does habituation mean that you don’t hear your tinnitus or more that it stops to upset you?

Please, I need some encourage. I want to recover. I really do

My thoughts goes out to all of you out there.

 

Habituation means you still hear the tinnitus but you stop paying attention to it.

 

For the majority of people with tinnitus, they have it but it no longer bothers them. When I first got it, I was surprised to learn of so many of friends who also have it but never mention it. They all said the same thing, that it used to bother them but that they no longer pay attention to it. Chances are the same will happen to you in time.

 

Takes about 6-9 months before you start seeing serious improvement in your situation and “habituate”.

 

I'm not fully habituated yet, but it's enough that I forget about the tinnitus for much of the time, and when I do notice it, it's not nearly as disturbing as it originally was. Just hang in there, and if you'd like some practical advice and guidance, I'd suggest watching Dr. Hubbard's video regarding CBT for Tinnitus Distress:

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/cognitive-behavioral-therapy.1648/page-2#post-300962

 

A few things that helped me habituate are:

- earplugs when sleeping
- daily omega 3
- daily green tea

 

It took me nearly two years and it was gradual. You can’t control it. What I did do was try to set a routine and keep it going. Engage with other people even if you’re not listening, go out even if you don’t enjoy it. Watch tv even if you don’t feel like it. Gradually you’ll have small moments when you don’t hear it...i t goes from there and somehow it goes to the back of your brain for chunks of the day. The first three months I was off work so be kind to yourself. x

 

Why do you use earplugs when sleeping? I started taking omega 3 daily and green tea! Good advice

 

Thank you! I really hope I will get there soon, but I know that it can take a while before I do.

 

Good advice I actually started CBT last week. I hope this will help me cope!

 

Same question. Why do you use earplugs when sleeping? How does that help?

 

The anxiety is making everything worse Just try to keep busy. My Tinnitus is loud but when my mind is pre-occupied with something I don't hear it. I am finding hyperacusis the bigger problem - I can live with the loud Tinnitus but the mild hyperacusis is more worrying. as I can feel my ears are wounded.

 

@Mymlan
@Mikejl46

The earplugs for sleep for T are not intuitively obvious, as sleeping is generally the quietest time of day for most. I also live in the suburbs, and not a particularly loud area.

My T, like some others have a diurnal variation, being quieter in the morning, and louder later in the day. When I put the earplugs in at bedtime, I find that the T lessens in a few minutes, and the T is even quieter in the morning. I also find that I sleep better, and without waking up. I also find that on days when I have to wake up for work in the morning, and cannot wear my foam earplugs to sleep, that my T is not as quiet in the morning. These patterns have been consistent, and reproducible.

My T is noise induced, and have no idea if it will help other causes as well. I have habituated from loud, intrusive T to mild T with days that I can barely hear it in about 9 months, and I credit nocturnal earplug use as important to that process. The first 3 months I did not sleep with any earplugs, and had minimal improvement, although I started the omega-3 at around the same time, so not truly sure which was more important.

Some users prefer white noise at night, but found that it made my T worse. Of course, to each their own, and YMMV.

 

I absolutely hate my life. I cannot deal with this! It’s like a speaker put in my ear playing the same annoying crap, which goes like EEEEEEEEEEEEEE, and wiowiowiowiowiowio. In the background I hear a broken morse code and on top of that a little bit of shhhhhhhhhh.
Hyperacusis is also one main problem. I can hardly be outside anymore. Life is on hold. This is not a life.

I would change everything if I could, but it’s too late. I hate this!!

 

I'm just like you. In fact I just got done crying like a baby. I mean an all out cry. This is so hard. Peace be with you.

 

Dear Mym - Every member on here has Tinnitus to some degree or other.
Mild - moderate - severe etc....
There is a great variance.
Members all try to help, genuinely giving you their best advice, so there is much to consider.

Having had mild Tinnitus for 24 years, but now severely for 5 years, one practice has been a crucial life saver to me.

We have all lost our peace and quiet, as you already know.
That is such a sad thing.
Truly hard to take on board.

For me - knowing that I have lost my ‘Quiet’ it became absolutely vital
to re-experience ‘Peace.’

I do experience Peace.
I have found it by daily practicing meditation.
I won’t go into detail just here, but if you are interested I can post you my notes.

Take care,
love
Dave x
Jazzer

 

Just got back from the doc. I'll be trying trazodone for insomnia and depression linked to my tinnitus.

 

This is hard indeed. I cried a lot because of this, every week. I know exactly how you feel. I wish that there would be some help for all of us.

 

Thank you Dave for your kind response! I know that all of us here on this forum are suffering. It’s just the anger. I cannot see myself live with this for the rest of my life

 

Two months in is so early days... Took me over a year and then some to go back to being ok. Sure a new reality but was happy enough with my lot.

 

Hi there! I'm fairly new to tinnitus too so I don't have a ton of practical tips for you unfortunately. What I'll say though just from experience and what I've learned in therapy is that your feelings are totally valid so if anyone makes you feel like you need to "get over it" or whatever, ignore them. It's ok to cry sometimes if you need to. It's ok to be mad and sad and frustrated and all those things--tinnitus just plain sucks. Of course eventually there's the part where you have to try to stay as calm as possible and think about how to deal with it which I know is SO hard, I've struggled with anxiety my entire life. I plan on trying mindfulness/meditation for now, and I've found sleeping with some sort of noise helps me (although of course everyone is different, so experiment and see what works for you). For me, reading other peoples' stories, especially those who have learned to live with it or found relief helps a lot in not giving up hope. Hang in there!

 

So sorry you struggle with tinnitus and noise induced pain.

It honestly breaks my heart to see countless people on this forum talk about the same problems with no real solution. Habituation might be easier if you didn't have pain hyperacusis to go along with it.

 

Yes it’s really depressing. So even if I could learn to ”ignore” the sounds, (that some claim is so easy), then everything hurts and constantly reminds me all the time. I don’t know what to do anymore. My ear feels damaged, and actually I can feel the damage.

 

you've said this before and it's true, most of these audiologist clinics are basically hearing aid sales facilities.

 

Did the hyperacusis ever effect your hearing? Did things ever sound quiet, or not clear?

 

It affects my hearing in a way that it makes external sounds sound distorted.
For me it is the ear fullness that make things sound a bit dull. But this comes and go.

 

Distorted how? I also have distortions in hearing and dull hearing as well.