Hi folks, I've had mild T for over a year now. Last night I went out for a social event (restaurant) for the first time in years. I have not been able to get out for some time due to being a carer and my own subsequent illness following bereavement. Naturally, I was apprehensive but I had a good night meeting some interesting people. I was worried about how my T would be upon returning home as the restaurant was quite noisy. To my surprise, after a hot bath, it was no louder than usual and even went away again as it has been doing lately at lights out. However, I've been out again today with friends and it does still seem to be louder at times when I'm back in the quiet. Is this true 'reactive' T or what? It goes back down after only some minutes but I understand that such a spike can last much longer for some people. Will continued exposure to outside noise eventually settle this or might I always have temporary louder T when coming indoors? Any thoughts /experiences? Jonathan
Only you are the best judge. You can feel how your ears respond to the situation better than anybody. Perhaps bring some sort of ear protection for louder environment. I used to have sound reactive T due to some element of H. But after a while, I got sick and tired or tip toeing around T. I just did what I like and let T be. Of course I would protect in the really loud environment. We need to be prudent about it but in the same time not a slave to T either. So after some time of doing this, I gain my freedom back, doing most of the things I used to do without worrying about Mr. T. Here is a success story of someone who says he gets better when he chose doing nothing for T, LOL. To each his own. https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/doing-nothing-worked-for-me.4778/
When in noisy environments John, it might be a good idea to wear noise reducing earplugs. These don't block out the sound completely, they reduce it. They are cost around £10. Google noise reducing earplugs if you're interested. They shouldn't be used to reduce normal everyday sounds as there's the risk of making your auditory system hypersensitive. If you don't use a sound machine at night consider using one as they can be very helpful. Look for my post: Intrusive tinnitus on the forum. All the best Michael
Hi UKjon, Great to hear you went out and had a great time. Keep on going out and having fun and just have some noise reduction plugs in your wallet. You sound so much happier and settled since we have known eachother and a lovely Christmas to come. keep the positivity up John and you have my number...lots of love glynis
Maybe it's just the contrast in the sound environments. When it's noisier, you're distracted by conversations and things going on around you. When your surroundings are quiet, there are much fewer distractions and so naturally your mind pays attention to whatever stimulus is happening. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Count your blessings that the T is going away at lights out. That's when it gets worse for a lot of people.
I think for most, T moves up and down in intensity. When people refur to reactive T, they mean it competes with the environment in real time.
Thanks for your replies. I think Cheza has a point. I've just had an afternoon rest and got more silence. My T is sometimes more entrenched upon waking in the morning but getting up and moving around swallows it up amongst other sounds in the house although I'd still rather not hear it. My PC masks it so does eating or scratching my head or hyperventilating when I'm in a panic attack.. I do wish I could stop my jaws clenching at night though. However, it does go up when out but I'm not sure it always does. I've noticed that when I arrive at my front door and go inside, it's very quiet at first especially when I go into my (very quiet) bedroom. But after just a few seconds when my ears have re-adjusted so to speak, the T is louder than when I went out. It calms back down after 10-20 minutes or less. As I've spent a whole year in breakdown monitoring and worrying about T, I think I have become over vigilant although I've never liked loud noises. Hitting two plates together when washing up makes me wince. When I'm out, I can't stop thinking about what I'll hear when I'm back home. So naturally, I'm already on high alert. I think that stress can make the ears over sensitive which may have happened to me. I'm sure I don't have hyperacusis. I have no pain. My hearing is fine and I've never had an ear infection. Perhaps things will calm down in time. Many people advocate exposing the ears to (reasonable) levels of sound and not overprotecting them. It is important to wear plugs in certain environments but I suppose it all depends on each person's individual interpretation of what is 'too loud' at any particular time. Jonathan
