Two Months Into It and I'm 100% Better Now

Alxtan

Alxtan

Member
Author
Benefactor
Jul 16, 2013
36
Tinnitus Since
06/26/2013
#1
Hi All,

Today is my 2nd month anniversary with noise induced Tinnitus.

I have to say that I am very much better now. I am 100% not bothered by my T. I now could only hear it when I plug my ears or when I lay my head on the pillow. Before I can hear it in the bedroom but now I have to tell myself that I have Tinnitus in order for me to hear it in my silent room. And even if I did hear the ringing it does not bother me at all. I guess I can say that I am habituated to it already.

I don't know if the ringing got less or if I have just gotten used to it. If I plug my ears I think the volume has stayed the same but now I cannot hear it in places that I use to hear it. Like my bedroom. My brain has learned to ignore it. And now my life has returned to normal and I am back to my optimistic and happy self.

In the beginning I was so distressed over the ringing that I was trying everything I can to get rid of it. I tried Acupuncture, Massage, Epsom Salt Baths, Sound Therapy, Supplements..etc. Ultimately the real relief was accepting that there is no cure and to try and make the best of it. I knew that from the beginning but my stubborn self had to at least give it a try and hoped something sticks.

I am now continuing the supplements I have been taking if anyone is interested here is what I took and what I am currently taking. Vitamin B Complex, Vitamin B12, Tocotrienols, Gingko and Magnesium. I also fasted for a week while also taking Ester-C. The way I was instructed to take the Ester C was to take 1000mg for 5 days, 1500mg for the next 5 days, 2000mg for the next until I reached 3000mg. I am at 1500mg at this moment. I was told by my Doctor that this could help in healing. I was also instructed to fast for a week and using an Enema before fasting. I know none of this would cure the ringing but it did help me feel a lot better and in turn helped me get over my Tinnitus.

For the new guys who read this post and have mild/moderate Tinnitus my humble advice would be is, time is truly the only thing that would help. The sooner you accept this the sooner you will habituate. And even if you don't your brain will naturally habituate to it.

Thank you all for your help. I will try my best to come back every so often to re-pay the kindness. As I am typing this I don't hear the ringing. Usually going to this forum alone will intensify it but now no more.

Thanks again and I hope for the best for everyone!
 
#2
Oh I forgot to add that in the beginning I played a lot of Lumosity games to keep me distracted. I am now 90% smarter lol! :)
 
#6
christine kauhane said:
thats so good to hear , i am trying my best to get use to it its a daily thing some days are better than others ,do you think the vitamins worked??
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I don't think the Vitamins worked in lessening the volume. But it did help in making me feel better overall. The fasting was great too.

Thanks! I know I also have quiet days and loud days but it doesn't affect me. In the beginning I was focusing on the sound as much as possible until I lost interest and focused on other things. I find that this didn't work as good as I hoped it would. Then I decided to actually count how often and how many times do I hear the ringing throughout the day. I hear it about 1-3 minutes before getting out of bed, 5-10 seconds before starting the car, 30-60 seconds in the living room, and about 30 minutes before going to bed. If you add that up it's about 35 minutes a day. At one of my shops I would hear the drone and ringing of the ice machine for hours at a time. The fridge in my kitchen would hum and whine for hours sporadically. The noise from my 30 minute drive to work. None of those noise bothered me. What's the difference of 35 minutes of ringing? I don't know how severe your T is. If it is mild to moderate like mine you should try adding up how many times a day do you really hear it. I think you will find that it's not that bad. This really helped me a lot. And also accepting that it's part of you now really helped me. You now have a choice on how to accept it. You could be scared of it or you could love it or ignore it. I choose to love it and ignore it. I love it because it is part of me now. If it goes away it's good if it stays it's good too. It makes no difference to me now. My only fear is if it get's worse when I get older. My good friend who is also my PCP assures me that it will not good worse and statistically it get's better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks again and hang in there. You will get used to it and it will be nothing but a mild nuisance if that.
 
#7
Glad to hear you are so much better, Alxtan. Acceptance is indeed critical and I am working on it. Cognitive behavorial therapy helps with that.

By the way, have wanted to ask this: how does one measure the severity of tinnitus? Can the volume truly be measured, give its our brains making the noise?
 
#8
LadyDi said:
Glad to hear you are so much better, Alxtan. Acceptance is indeed critical and I am working on it. Cognitive behavorial therapy helps with that.

By the way, have wanted to ask this: how does one measure the severity of tinnitus? Can the volume truly be measured, give its our brains making the noise?
Click to expand...
I wonder the same thing. I've read other posts here where people categorize their T as Level 3, Level 4 etc. I guess Level 4 is very severe, three is less and so on. I have no idea how you asses this.
 
#9
@Alxtan,

Great to see hear about you progress! I'm very happy for you - and somewhat jealous :oops: Hope to get where you are some time in the future. I'm following your progression cause we share the same time span.
 
#11
carlover said:
sorry op ,it depends how loud it is ,if its not loud you habituate ,if it is loud you contemplate suicide,simple equation.
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Yes mine would be considered mild as I can only hear it when it is quiet. I am scared that it will get louder and I wouldn't know what to do.
 
#13
While posters have the right to express their opinion, I appreciate how debilitating T can be, and I respect the right for people to make their own choices... have to agree with you, @inadmi



There are many newbies who come to this board. Many have been told (incorrectly) by their doctors that there is "nothing they can do" to help themselves. They are devastated and scared, and still don't know much about what their options are -- just like I was three months ago. The S word really is the last thing they need to see.
 
#15
Sorry If ive upset some on here but its a big elephant in the room isnt it. Suicide????? Thats all hide from the truth shall we:mad: For some people it has been an option and theyve taken it.

Tell you what I get fed up about,this Habituation lark.As though if you havent habituated then you are some sort of failure ,or not mentally strong enough.

I habituated for 20 years ..why? because the sound was at a level I could live with nothing todo with mental toughness ..an ear infection aug 2010 has led to a noise level which makes it impossible to habituate to. When you go to bed with hearing aids in and the sound of rain blasting out on an enrichment box and you can stll hear the jet engine in your ears you aint habituating anytime soon!!!..and I tell you for 3 days and nights during that time as i walked the streets of Chiswick London with th aftermarth of that ear infection to try and get away from a noise you cant get away from If I had been certain there was life after death I may have taken that option

It will take a revoloution in medicine to sort out this T and the more people including Drs and scientists and MPS realise that this thing can and does lead to suicide the better.

Why run away from it???? Confront it accept it and try and get a huge shift that does not include the damming words "nothing we can do go away and live with it"
 
#16
carlover said:
Sorry If ive upset some on here but its a big elephant in the room isnt it. Suicide????? Thats all hide from the truth shall we:mad: For some people it has been an option and theyve taken it.

Tell you what I get fed up about,this Habituation lark.As though if you havent habituated then you are some sort of failure ,or not mentally strong enough.

I habituated for 20 years ..why? because the sound was at a level I could live with nothing todo with mental toughness ..an ear infection aug 2010 has led to a noise level which makes it impossible to habituate to. When you go to bed with hearing aids in and the sound of rain blasting out on an enrichment box and you can stll hear the jet engine in your ears you aint habituating anytime soon!!!..and I tell you for 3 days and nights during that time as i walked the streets of Chiswick London with th aftermarth of that ear infection to try and get away from a noise you cant get away from If I had been certain there was life after death I may have taken that option

It will take a revoloution in medicine to sort out this T and the more people including Drs and scientists and MPS realise that this thing can and does lead to suicide the better.

Why run away from it???? Confront it accept it and try and get a huge shift that does not include the damming words "nothing we can do go away and live with it"
Click to expand...


I'm not sure I agree with all of your post carlover but... I do strongly agree with the fact that when tinnitus is low it's easy to habituate and when it screeches it's definitely nothing to do with a lack of mental strength if you can't 'get used to it'. If we live near a road with car noise then, yes, we can probably easily 'get used to it' - but put a jumbo jet right outside the window and not many of us would be able to 'habituate'!

As for suicide... I know that when I was considering it I would have just done it rather than talked about it (I have talked about it since but only to express how bad I once felt or to try and dissuade others by saying that it gets better). If you've really made up your mind then there is no decision left to be made or dissuaded from. However, I do feel that it's a personal decision. None of us really know what another's tinnitus is like and whether we'd be able to 'cope' with it. I definitely wouldn't encourage anyone to do it but I do respect anyone's decision to end it ... as long as they get it over with quickly and cause as little pain as possible to anyone else.

Click
 
#17
I didnt mean to upset anyone ,apologies if I did.Thing is you know what really frightens me? The thought of being old and incapitated lying in bed for months before I leave this place and not having access to maskers, hearing aids etc and trapped with this noise in my head,I dont fancy that, thats for sure.
 
#18
You didn't upset me carlover. I don't think that suicide should be banned from being mentioned as it's a very real thing that actually happens... and does happen because of tinnitus.

As far as your worry of when you're old and incapacitated... why not write a plan so that, if the worse does come, those around you - whether family, friends or hospital staff - know that you need your maskers and hearing aids? You could wear it in a medi bracelet so that you could be sure that your needs will be taken into account.
 
#19
While I don't see us enforcing a ban on discussing suicide (as a matter of fact Finns' suicide rate is quite high so this topic hits close to home), I tend to agree with @LadyDi:
There are many newbies who come to this board. Many have been told (incorrectly) by their doctors that there is "nothing they can do" to help themselves. They are devastated and scared, and still don't know much about what their options are -- just like I was three months ago. The S word really is the last thing they need to see.
Click to expand...

But it is also important to have a platform where you can openly discuss difficult and even controversial subjects. No shame on admitting to have contemplated suicide and then hopefully having found ways to avoid it and eventually to share those important tips and experience with the rest.

It's essential that it doesn't blow out of proportion though. It's the very, extremely tiny minority who have decided or decide that they just can't live with tinnitus.
So newbies shouldn't be worried; the chances they'll habituate & get better are in their favor.

I couldn't find much about this subject in the form of investigational studies, but this one sheds some light (how accurate, your guess is as good as mine); http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11791935

Interesting that the 100% Better Now thread has turned into this - just gives contrast to tinnitus though. A horrible thing.
 
#20
Interesting that the 100% Better Now thread has turned into this - just gives contrast to tinnitus though. A horrible thing.

I think this observation from Markku about this thread shows us how wide the range of feeling / coping / getting better and learning to live with - this condition can generate in conversation from the feelings of those who suffer. I personally have found from friends and colleagues that most people's knowledge about this condition is limited and most people quote 'the worst' that some people commit the S word' This is surely because bad news and the worst situation causes the most reaction - and I again re-enforce to all newbies many hundreds of people with T world wide all find a way through and learn to cope help is out there go ask - try and take ideas from people who know what it's like. Positive posts like Alxtan are encouraging that it can and does get better.

I personally have recently had two night without setting my masking noises to play and when I woke up in the early hours and realised this I thought 'Oh well - I actually cant hear anything - No nothing - quiet - sleep again - I woke up early 5 am and thought OMG its gone - the next night the same ..... last night - it was there the noise keeping me awake - BUT I had two nights where I am sure I didnt have any T at 3/4am !!! It was amazing so maybe it will be tonight another T free night ?? I know its possible !

I hope everyone has some good T free moments to build on and gets the help they need to find it xx
 
#21
Hey @carlover, no offense taken. And I didn't mean to imply that the suicide topic should be "banned." This is a place where we should be able to talk about difficult things. And this thread is a good example of how, even if we disagree, we are respectful of each other. TT really is a great group of people.

Like Markku said, I think this is just one topic where we need to use good judgement. There are very few suicides, especially when you consider the huge numbers of those with T. And I suspect, as the study Markku cited suggests, that some of them were deeply troubled before tinnitus came along. But having said that, just reading about S and tinnitus as I was frantically Googling around in my early days was enough to send me into a tailspin. I found myself contemplating moving to Oregon, where physician assisted death is legal after you establish residency (although having tinnitus sure wouldn't qualify you). Honest. That's how desperate and crazy I was for a couple weeks, although I laugh about it now. I bet others have had their moments, too.
I'd rather hear the success stories.

And speaking of which: @cher, that's so cool that you are having some T-free nights! Habituation? I bet you will have more of them. You are back up after your wobbly. You go, girl.
 
#22
While a forum is indeed a place of expressing thoughts and emotions and disucssions on even the exterme situations should not be avoided, a statement like ",if it is loud you contemplate suicide,simple equation" is a statement which the does not apply (only-maybe) to the one posting it, but sounds like a "rule" someone needs to follow.
 
#23
Inadmin , leave it out mate.I was just giving the top and bottom of this thing.





Id go back and remove it if I could ok? People are making too much out of it.If someone tops themselves through T thats their choice no one elses and we should respect their point of view.

I was just showing the top and bottom of this thing.


I have had T for 27 years.For 24 of that apart from the first few months when I thought I was going mad I had habituated,by that I mean T was part of my life not my life.I could watch the TV for example and not hear it.I could sit In a room and read a paper and basically just hear a backround noise it did not worry me.When I went to bed I could hear it but liveable.Itwas bad enough for me tolook at different treatments ,even went to a private ent.i had to avoid noisy clubs but life was ok.

From an ear infection in aug 2010 it is now intolerable in every situation.

In a car doing 70 with music on window open I can still hear it.

Yet all over the internet I get people basically intimating "ive habituated ,im stronger mentally than any non habituer out there " etc etc and that winds me up.The OP did not say that but it set me off.

Now Im not talking about it anymore and if Markku wants to delete any posts relating to this topic fair enough.

But personally not mentioning that T does cause people to do themselves in is frankly nonsense ,just part of this P.C world we live in and also total disrespect to those that have taken that route ,like they didnt exist.

However bearing In mind the above posts I never ever wanted to touch peoples sensitivities ,sorry for doing so.

Thats my lot on this.Lets move on.
 
#27
for me, 2 weeks ago, i thought is was going to be final exit, and even my wife who is totally against such things even asked if she should be getting ready to live alone. luckily my tinnitus is getting a bit quieter, so it is not necessay to do anything drastic like that. when it was bad, if this was my dog i'd be getting it put to sleep. luckily the combination of new meds helps me sleep and the tinnitus is slightly quieter, and does not have that screaming torturous character to it, that i thought for sure it was game over.
 

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