What Happened to Me When I Stopped Caring About Tinnitus

Hi everyone,

It has been a while since my last visit on Tinnitus Talk.

When I got tinnitus around 4 years ago, I thought my life was done. There had to be something wrong with me, right?

My noise was loud and high-pitched, first in my left ear. After a couple of months, the noise started in my right ear as well. I couldn't sleep. I was worried. I couldn't work...

The cause of my tinnitus was neck injury and/or stress. Like most people here, I tried a lot of things: relaxing more, ENT doctor, meditation, hearing tests, and the list goes on and on...

Nothing really helped... I was becoming a bit hopeless. I contemplated scenarios like moving to a beach where the noise of the waves would mask the sound a bit.

It was a dark time.

At some point, I decided to quit looking for a solution. And that changed everything for me.

The result I wanted was a normal life.

The specific solution I wanted was for tinnitus to be fully gone.

It was time to rethink this whole thing. I chose a different solution: I accepted tinnitus as a temporary thing I am experiencing. And that did the trick. I got the result I wanted.

There are times when I don't hear the sound for weeks. It's still there, somewhere in the background. I can zoom in on it to make it louder. Or I can accept it go on with my life and do everything I want.

In my case, I have a feeling that supplementing with vitamin B12 and D3 helped with noise reduction. But full disclaimer here: it's hard to tell if these vitamins really helped.

For the last couple of years:
- My tinnitus had gotten much better and is around 35% loudness compared to the first year
- I have been sleeping with earplugs, no sound masking, just normal earplugs (because I live in a noisy street in Amsterdam)
- I often use headphones listening to music
- I started diving again
- I go out to bars and restaurants (pre-COVID-19)

There is one reason why I am here today, writing this post for you. And that is to say:
For most people it gets better. They simply leave this forum and you just don't hear about them anymore.

There a millions of success stories worldwide.

This compelled me to write this one last post here: to let you know that most people just simply move on because tinnitus doesn't have grip over their lives anymore.

Another thing that helped me is my belief that tinnitus is temporary. I believe in technology and see how it is changing our world. The scientific community is making breakthroughs in different fields that can solve or aid with tinnitus. I have a feeling that some team of smart scientists will eventually find a broad working cure (because they have a billion-dollar incentive to do so).

Take care

 

Great post, thanks for sharing. For me, I had almost cured myself then I took a half a pill of Pepcid AC last week and had this weird allergic reaction to it and I got a new tone that switches ears and competes with other sounds. I'm trying to stay patient in hopes it will get better again but this is a good mindset to have. Just accept it is temporary and go about your life. Sad part is my work closed due to COVID-19 and I am a single guy so I'm stuck in the house every day by myself. I want to get married and have kids now just for a distraction. lol.

 

Don't use headphones.

Your tinnitus is mild if you can sleep with earplugs. My tinnitus when wearing earplugs is so loud that I can even faint.

 

Thank you so much for this. Phenomenally helpful, profound in its simplicity, and inspiring. Reminds me of the acceptance and commitment therapy approach, summarized here (the creator of which, Steven Hayes, has tinnitus).

 

I agree headphones can be incredibly helpful and therapeutic at sensible listening levels.

 

Tinnitus every day since 1974. I can't remember a day without my ringing to keep me company. I need to get something as loud as a running lawnmower to drown out mine.

But I think because I've lived every day I can remember of my life with it; it's just what life is. I can't remember "silence." I don't know another life. It's always there.

Like you; I've accepted its presence, and just go on with life.

 

Thank you for sharing your story!