What Has Improved Your Tinnitus?

What have you noticed has helped with your tinnitus? I mean anything, like lifestyle and diet changes, dietary supplements, excercises, massage, etc?

Really interested as I've heard some people has had some results with some things, but the info is very scattered and hard to find.

THANKS

 

For me, I've been avoiding earphones and loud, sudden noises for the nine months I've had T. Fortunately, loud noises don't seem to do much to my hearing, as I've already been to the movies a few times. Earphones are what I may never use again, and I've been avoiding going for a swim ever since I had Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. Not too sure if it has anything to do with my T. I'd suggest avoiding yourself from places that are too loud, but not to the point where you don't set foot in such places ever again. In a way, try to distract your hearing from your T and loud noises. Doing so seemed to help me.

 

Listening music constantly. My T is not masked by songs that I love to listen but they can take my mind off from my T. I also just started to use masking sounds whenever I'm in my room. I know this may hinder my habituation but I do believe habituation is a myth for a T just like mine. Constant hissing and loud buzzing.

Not to listen myself and not being in conplete silence is the key. And fill your life with friends who have T. My Bff just developed severe T almost two weeks after the sudden onset of my T. We both have out Ts from ototoxic drugs. Mine was benzo and hers was Lamictal(Yes, it can be ototoxic because of its effect on glutamate thing). My boyfriend also has some T in his noth ears but it is very very mild that he can only hear it in complete silence. He never needs to mask it to sleep. I also discovered that one of my fav teacher at college has T! I always loved her since 2010 and she said she developed her T from Nurofen which she took it for flu. She said it got worse during last 2 years. But she is fully habituated to her T.

Yeah. These are my ways to cope with my T. I can not improve the T itself, but I can improve my reaction to it.

 

Time and trying to be happy at any cost.
Ricardo

 

Personally the thing that helps me most is keeping busy and my brain on other things and it seems to fade out of awareness. Also I work out at a gym 4 to 5 times a week to reduce adreniline and stress. Don t do alot of caffiene or alcohol, white sugar or chemical sweeteners. At night play nature sounds from youtube {birds chirping] Also dont allow yourself alot of stress for T will increase. Take up yoga or tai chi for relaxation. Remaining calm I think is your step to getting better and maybe in time even getting rid of your T.

 

Have T since 12/2015. Pretty bad at times. I found out that, while coming out of a anastasia in the hospital, my oxygen saturation was below 85%. Tests for sleep apneu is running now. I remember my T is mostly at it's worst just after i wake up. So i saw a connection between low oxygen levels in my blood and my T. So everytime i feel the T comming i just breathe very deep and after a minute or 2 the T goes down bit by bit until 80%. Guess it's just me but you can't imagine what a relief it is to know i can control my T. It always works. Try it, it'll cost you 5 minutes. I hope some of you have the same luck as I have with this. Kind regards and good luck with your T,
Eddie
Holland

 

Not being depressed helps big time.when you get your mental state under control you can better handle your tinnitus.

 

What's worked for me, in no particular order:

Avoid caffeine

Avoid hangovers Lol

Manage depression with meds and counseling

Talk to real people who've had T for a long time and habituated, in person

TRT helped my habituation. The WNGs and counseling helped me overcome anxiety and begin habituation. TRT is not a cure. It can help some people get over their anxious response to T and begin habituation.

Use background sounds to whatever extent that you need them. Lower them to work towards habituation. Day or night. WNGs worked very well for me and I wore them through the night. IMHO wearing the WNGs through the night helped me to accelerate habituation.

Time, patience, and faith that habituation will occur once anxiety is reduced.

I'm 17 months with this condition. I don't expect it to go away. I feel that I am beyond any anxiety, and am habituating the perception. I am dreaming of the day that I lie in bed and realize I haven't thought about my T all day. I don't know if it's 1 yr away or 5, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna happen. I've had lots of ups and downs but things are good now. I've had relapses but feel that I may be in a stable place now.

Best wishes, Trebor

 

Number 1: Hearing Aids (Got rid of all maskable T for me)
Number 2: Lamictal seems to help lower my T too, but with other meds and supplements I am not sure what is going on because it may lower it for a week or two but then it seems to not lower it. I hope I can figure out what is going on.

Note: I had T before but long term benzo use (while at first lowered my T) increased my tinnitus over time.

 

My T started in Nov 2014. I'm a 44 yr old male. I already had some bad anxiety issues from the year before (my father passed away, etc.). I was taking Klonopin and Buspar, but was at work one day using headphones for an online training - and as I turned the program on, the volume was really loud for a few seconds before turning them down. But my T started right there and the headphones even at normal volume levels made the sound "weird" to my ears.

I do have some hearing loss though probably from years back (loud music).

My T has remained the same, but I go through louder weeks at times and lately. I'm on 4-5mg of Valium (each night) and slowing weaning off it as to see if it's a cause or helping. I don't think I really need it anymore anyway as my anxiety is better. However, since I have been coming down on it my T has been louder but maybe it's just a coincidence or my brain has to re-adjust.

I cannot say anything that helps my T. I have lived a healthy lifestyle staying fit, working out, eat well, etc.

The typical pattern for my T is 2 days of very loud buzzing, then two days of low ringing...kind of a cycle...although lately more loud buzzing.

I may explore TRT one day or even considering a hearing aid as even that might help me I suppose. My T doesn't cause my stress or anxiety, but at times depresses me especially lately although I try to stay positive and keep busy enough to get my mind off it. Sometimes I dread the loud buzzing days as I feel like it puts a damper on my day when it could be a good day otherwise if you know what I mean. I try to not let it do that, but it gets hard at times.

I try to keep things in perspective too. Last year, I found out I had a cancerous tumor on my kidney, but it did not spread and I had it removed being able to keep 80% of the kidney. All of the tumor was verified to be removed, so I am very lucky.

 

Time....... To be more precise my tinnitus has fluctuated quite a bit over the years and my baseline is probably a bit louder than when I first got T and it's now in both ears but I rarely find it distressing or intrusive now.

 

Retirement.
I recently retired, so less stress anoise. Also, more sleep.

 

Anyone else?

 

Massages helped me a lot after I initially got T. My back & neck were in a knot ... especially after the T, and the massages helped me relax. Also, riding my bicycle a lot. I can barely hear the T with all the city noise and wind, so I'd forget about it for a while. I'm also taking vitamin D, Magnesium Citrate, E, Zinc and Omega 3 ... don't know if they help, but I was told by the doctor to take D because I was low. I'm getting Widex Zen hearing aids in ~2.5 weeks ... we'll see if they help. I have mild hearing loss, so the amplification is suppose to help some if the T is in the frequency range of the hearing aids ... and I believe it is (its a hiss). If nothing else, I found sounds "crisper" with HAs on, and I liked the Zen tones:

Widex - ZEN Melodie Aqua

I found it relaxing. Other than that, I think it just takes time to try to get your head around it ... hopefully it'll lower or go away, or I'll be able to habituate.