What Have You Given Up Because of Your Tinnitus?

How much of your life have you guys given up because of your tinnitus? I'm still pretty young, soon to be 25, and have spent my life studying (and still am) and therefore it feels a bit like my life didn't even got to actually start before this happened. I know I sound really ungrateful, considering that things could be so much worse, but the thing is that I see a lot of problems with the future that I had in mind. I actually see a lot of problems with my current way of life as well, but some changes are harder to make than others. I just feel like there are countless of things to avoid, and I don't know how to get used to it.

Do you still travel, go to restaurants, concerts and other noisy places, or do you stay away from such things? Did you quit a noisy job and moved to the countryside? What have you given up because of your tinnitus?

 

I don't feel like, I have given up my life all that much. I have lived it to the max through out the years. I still travel, go to concerts, events, restaurants. I still SMILE too

Of course I use protection, but tinnitus hasn't limited me at all in my life. I got my tinnitus as a teen and have never been scared of it and it never limited my life. My biggest factor in my increase of tinnitus was the meds that I was given and overdosed on. Prior to that my ringing and hearing was much better....

Life is still very exciting to me and i see no LIMITS at all. Each day is a new opportunity to do something great and live a good life. Read my posts and you know that my life is no cake walk, but my mentality is just different

 

@fishbone I do confess I'm not the most positive person out there, but after reading different posts here it feels like there are so many things to avoid to not increase the sound. It's good to hear that there are people out there that are doing well and isn't letting themselves be held back by it.

 

We can avoid, protect and over-protect but there is no guarantee that our tinnitus will not increase. There are tons of cases that tinnitus has increased due to stress, depression. I am all for being protective of our hearing, but to go that extreme is not how I would deal with it.

I talk for myself when I say this....If i avoided everything and said "O'man, this, that ,those ,here ,there will spike my tinnitus, this WILL lead me into depression and will stress me out". Try to balance things out in life, extremes are NEVER good and will affect you one way or another.....

 

In the beginning, I had an ENT. He was convinced my job was causing my T to be worse due to the stressful nature of the work. Admittedly, it was a stressful job but after doing it for over 20 years, I felt comfortable enough to continue. I often disagreed with his assessment but he continued to say it was the job. Finally, I caved and left after 25 years of service, I took a chance that he might have been right all along and that my T would improve. Well, it didn't and I left my job for nothing. My point is that we need to continue living life with or without T. Live your life to the fullest.

 

Does your tinnitus spike afterwards? Are you sometimes worried that loud noises could permanently increase your tinnitus or are you at a point where you'd just accept it if your tinnitus were to permanently increase? I think that's what I struggle with the most, the fear of making it permanently worse. Right now I can somewhat cope and get through the day. Hoping that in a couple of years I'll be able to handle my tinnitus similarly to you.

 

Sorry to hear that @Michael B , can't have been an easy decision to make. I'm studying something that will get me a job that can be both stressful and noisy, but I guess I have to make sure to use protection and not stress to much, and not let my tinnitus get in the way of things.

 

Gave up headphones which still bothers me because music is life. And movies which going to theatre was my favourite thing to do.

Captain Jack

 

I think the biggest thing I gave up is peace of mind. I am now constantly vigilant on what can cause spike in my T, but I make sure to take precautions instead of avoiding activities altogether. Only once did I proactively stopped and quit a public activity because the noise level was insane (even for individuals with good hearing, in my opinion). I still travel, go to restaurants, and exercise. I don't go to concerts or movie theaters often, but if I will it will be with a set of nice earplugs.

 

I gave up everything because of Tinnitus, it kind of crippled me.

 

Headphones and concerts although I did go to a few after getting tinnitus but this place kinda scares me away rom going to more. However I am going to one outdoor show in August with custom ear plugs.

 

I have T since 2nhalf months. I had to give up on drinking loads of coffee(which is good), I had to give up on excess sugars (which is good), I had to give up on partying and concerts (feel somewhat bad), I gave up drinking for 2months back but drank last weekend as I was frustrated with T but was fine after drinking. (but reduced alcohol). Overall looks like T is changing me for better only thing is T is annoying when I want to sleep other times I am busy with work, cooking and life. I am 28years old. I thought I was done studying and working since few years and can have time of my life. lol maybe I can still have time of my life but I have to be disciplined. That is what T is teaching me. I started doing yoga, breathing exercises, drinking miserable ACV, (good for me) and diverting....

Avoiding loud places when all friends are there feels sad but you can't have it all sometimes. Just gotta suck it up and wear ear protection and if the sound is too loud I just leave.

I am a developer I code wearing HFs low volume before T. My T is not due to HF or noise induced but after T I gave up on HF usage at work. Using headphones allows me to be in my zone and stay focused for longer time and get more done. But with T I do not want to take any risk which could alleviate. So, If I badly want to hear a song I hear for 5min-10mins and thats it. I am not plugged in for hours. Initially it was hard to focus but I am fine now.

I love listening to music so I come home I play songs on my bluetooth speaker but at a very normal volume. I love concerts last I went was coldplay last year before T. I don't think I should go concerts anymore. All my friends are planning for Ed Shreen concert it is sad for me not to go but I don't want screeching T for 3 hrs of fun.

People live with worse conditions and diseases and be brave about it and get on with life. When I feel bad that I am missing on things because of T I reevaluate and think how lucky I am for the comforts I have and I have to deal with T optimistically and not play victim. I cried insanely 1st month of T kept feeling bad about my situation... later I realized crying or being sad abt T is bad for me and my cure. Literally stopped talking abt T with friends, husband, mom and dad. Did this since a month and sometimes now I forget I have T during daytime even when I hear in office conference rooms I stopped panicking like before.

So, I read more on success stories, try to be disciplined and still have fun but with precautions. I feel am missing on few things but its ok I can do many other things like play board games, have house parties with medium level music, painting, work, shopping, going for a spa, studying....

 

Good point Imshael. I think as you experience life through the years it will become less of an issue. You are still young - so of course this seems like a life sentence. But it isn't.

 

I've given up headphones as well and it really sucks. I literally miss them everyday, but it's just not worth it.

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that.

I know, there are really a lot of things that are way worse than tinnitus (well, tinnitus that's really bad can't be easy and I wouldn't wish that upon anyone). I have close family members whose suffering is way worse than my own, so I don't have to look very far to get some perspective.

 

Yeah, it really does feel like a life sentence. I suppose the good thing is that there (with some luck) might be a cure in my lifetime, so I'm gonna hold on to that small hope for now.

 

Driving, I found out that the airbag deployment (depending on which airbag and if they both deploy) is anywhere for 160-170 decibels. To me, this is horribly and dangerously loud. I used to enjoy being in cars, but I do not anymore.

 

I have given up everything. I have got used to the idea that I will never enjoy life like most normal people and I am only 26.

 

I have given up headphones but other than that I still live my life as I used to do. The only difference is that when I go to concerts, clubs, theatre, restaurants and parties I make sure to protect my ears and I make sure that I don't stand directly in front of the speakers. I'm only 21 and even though I'm not that big of a party girl I would be cut off from a lot of the social life I have if I gave up on those things which is I refuse to do because it would make me lonely and depressed which would only make matters worse.

I guess life's for the living and of course I make sure not to be reckless with my hearing but even if I gave up on all those things that make my life worth it in order to avoid my T getting louder I cannot protect myself from accidents that could make my T worse and I would feel so God damn depressed if I had given up everything in order to avoid my T getting louder but then it happened anyway because of a stupid accident.

 

I plan to continue to travel. I have never been to any loud events in my life. I lost the ability to enjoy silence, and to not worry about being exposed to noise that will prove to be life-changing. Otherwise, the biggest thing I lost is that I won't be able to use a motorboat even if an opportunity arises for it sometime when I travel (so my lifestyle hasn't really changed).

 

You have no idea how much I relate to this. For years and years music has been my stress relief and my favourite thing, but now it just doesn't bring me the same joy that it used to. It doesn't matter how low I keep the volume, I feel like my ears get tired immediately.

Not even with earmuffs and earplugs?

 

@anusha -I think you are doing really well.
Well done x

 

Probably not. Unfortunately, there doesn't exist hearing protection that provides 60 dB of protection. I might change my mind in five years. At the same time I don't want to be one of the people who relax, and end up with screaming T again (T that was completely preventable)...

 

I have given up a carefree life where I can go anywhere, anytime without wondering if it’s going to mess me up. I miss not having to be vigilant about where the next loud noise is going to come from. I do think of all the normal everything day things I won’t be able to do with my kids without taking noise exposure into consideration.

 

Most boats hover in the 70s to 80s at cruise, with some of the louder speedboats hitting over 100 at full throttle. A 34 decibel reduction would be more than adequate in most cases.

 

You nailed it! That life i once had, man that beautiful carefree life is gone forever. I can do whatever i wanted, whenever i wanted. Now i cant go outside without having a T spike. I just wish i had 20-30 years maximum to enjoy life. Kinda ended too fast (age 27).

 

The carefree with no health worry lifestyle.

 

You are using figures for dB that the doctors say might damage the hearing of a healthy person. The countless experiences posted on this forum prove that now that our ears have been compromised, much softer sounds can hurt us too.

Also, you haven't used the method described at
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media...how-to-use-the-noise-reduction-rating-nrr.pdf
(and by other credible sources) to adjust NRR of earplugs.

According to the manufacturer, plugs rated as 34 dB NRR would provide a certain noise reduction of only (34-7)/2 = 13.5 dB.

 

If they're properly inserted or custom you're getting much more than 13.5 decibels of protection, that figure assumes the plugs aren't being worn properly. So worst case scenario, you're only getting 13.5, that still puts the decibel range in the 60s and 70s, which is comparable to the interior sound levels of a mid tier luxury car.

 

I hope you are right.

The idea that there is a very small chance that I will have to pay for this experience for the rest of my life (or even for the next 12-24 months) would likely poison the experience of being on the boat, though...