Working with Tinnitus

Just curious as to how many people with tinnitus works a job?

 

I work full time as a publicist but had to take time off during my last bad spike as I was too stressed to do my job properly. I'm back at work now.

 

I'm a garbage man w/ pulsatile tinnitus and tinnitus. just got back to work after one year off, it's not as bad as my mind convinced myself that it would be but it's still hard but not impossible

 

I had a high stress job that my ENT was convinced contributed towards my tinnitus. I doubted this as I had been in this particular career for many years and no longer felt the stress associated to it. Still I thought he might be right and that it be great if my tinnitus reduced. After two years of indecision I ended up leaving the job (retiring actually) but the tinnitus stayed the same. I'm disappointed but have no regrets.

 

@Lost life
My wife & I love SF.

 

Yep but I can get on with my work and barely pay attention to it at work. I work in an office btw.

 

I do. I got my tinnitus and hyperacusis from a work related incident (a single short duration loud noise). My last job was boring and required me to work in some loud areas. I think the lack of activity made my tinnitus worse (or at least made me focus on it more). My new job requires a lot of travel, my home is my office, but I fly to a different city Monday through Friday two to three weeks a month. Some of the laboratories I visit are kind of noisy (65-75db) so I have to wear earplugs in the lab if I'm spending all day there. I wear earplugs and earmuffs or noise cancelling headphones on every flight and I try to pick larger (more quiet) aircrafts. Despite all the travel, my tinnitus has been bothering me less often and I attribute that to being busy. Ironically, the part of my job that seems hindered the most by my hyperacusis is dining out at restaurants while traveling. If I'm in the same city as a co-worker or I want to go out to eat with clients, it can be very challenging to find a restaurant that doesn't play loud music or isn't uncomfortably loud. Finding flights that are accommodating is still a challenge as most airlines have been using more and more regional jets.

I have seen a number of people here that are suicidal and mention that they haven't worked in years because of tinnitus. While I completely understand how debilitating tinnitus and especially hyperacusis can be, I think inactivity just makes it worse. I don't want to get preachy when someone is really suffering, but I've been long term unemployed before, and it can really do a number on your mental state.

 

Oh yes. My line of work is VERY IMPORTANT. No man can understate it's significance.

 

I had to take a month off due to my tinnitus, I wanted more time off but the doctor only referred to a month.
I’m back at work now. I am really trying to stay positive, it’s hard especially when your stressed out, and it seems like the my tinnitus does become louder when I’m stressed.
It helps me knowing other people can work also with tinnitus, not that tinnitus in everyone is the same because it’s not!

 

@CrystalB
I'm glad you figured this out at a young age. Work, have a career and enjoy life. Tinnitus is going to be there to one degree or another whether we work or not so we might as well live a productive life.

 

@Hazel
Do you have hearing loss with your tinnitus?
It does feel good to be back to work! But with tinnitus too it does get stressful.
That’s great that you got to reduce your days of working! I wish I could, I thought about it but I don’t know if I could afford it, right now I’ve been doing 40 hour weeks, I would have never imagined me doing this about a month ago! We have to keep living, we can’t give up because of tinnitus. I think we all have went thru a really rough time especially the first few months! I didn’t know how I was going to live with this, i wasn’t sucidal or anything like that but it was hard to face the facts of having to live with tinnitus but we can and we will! I have realized it could be a lot worse.

 

I also got T from a single loud noise.

 

I was wondering about this myself. How do those folks support themselves without jobs? Can you get disability benefits for T and H?

I still work. I don't think I could get disability for this. But even if I could, I think it would be a lot less than I get from working and I'm not even making much as it is.

 

I’m lucky my family is able to take care of me. No real disability benefits for tinnitus or hyperacusis where I live, you have bigger chances to receive disability benefits for the possible depression your tinnitus is causing.

 

I know some people get disability for depression, anxiety, or other psychological conditions. I can only imagine what they have to go through to prove their disability. I talk to people with physical proof of their physical disabilities and they still have to fight to prove they can't work. It's so sad because if their disability could be taken away, they would happily go back to work.

 

What was the loud noise?

I assume most live with their parents, but a few are retired. Although I have a good relationship with my parents, I can't live with them so I have no other choice but to work.

Disability barely pays enough to live from what I understand (in the US at least). The only way you could get disability for tinnitus is if you are a veteran, and that's capped at 10%. My tinnitus and hyperacusis were caused at work, but worker's comp is a joke in the US. It was over 2 years ago and hasn't been resolved, and I don't expect to get much. Hearing issues just aren't seen as a big deal in our society.

 

At first coming back to work it was hard, but with a week or two I was okay, I still have my moments but I’ve been able to concentrate more and I try to ignore my tinnitus, which is still hard because I’ve had tinnitus for 5 months and still trying to hibernate to the sound. Yesterday was the first day I really tried to ignore my tinnitus, I was so focused at work and had a lot going on that at moments I couldn’t hear it! I work in a public store in the bakery so I have something going on all the time and it does distract you.
I think working with tinnitus (if you can) is great, because it can distract you, keeps you busy and may help you not to just focus on tinnitus or depression. You can have tinnitus and still have a life.
I watched a documentary of a woman who lost all of her limbs from a flesh eating bacteria, and she was using a prosthetic arm thing and was doing her makeup! She was happy to be alive even though she had no arms or legs and she was dealing with it and still living a full life.
Now I don’t know everyone’s story, but that made me think if people can learn to live like that, then I can deal with this and learn to live my life as fully as I can. It’s amazing what the body and your mind can get use too.
I have wondered about the disability also, in the US, it’s very hard to get disability almost impossible. I know my mom has lupus, fibromyalgia, diabetes, PCOS, Heart failure, Lung Failure (due to Lupus), and that’s still not all that is wrong with her, and it took her 3 years to get disability. I also know other people who have disability’s that you can see and they still can’t get it!
My mom with all that is wrong with her, she still doesn’t give up, when my tinnitus started and still now she has helped me keep pushing for life, telling me that you can’t give up. Life is a battle you have to fight for it when something like tinnitus comes. Life is so short anyways.

 

I was on a conference call and there was feedback. I didn't realize my phone was set to speaker phone and I pressed it to my ear and got a blast of the high-pitched feedback. My ear has been ringing since that moment.

I'm in the US too and I barely live on my salary. I could never live on disability even if I could get it. Frankly, I don't know how I'll get by on social security when I'm eligible. I expect to be working for as long as I am physically able.

 

I work full time. It can be difficult, as stress makes T worse and affects sleep. It's better to be working if you are able, as it forces you to get on with life. If I were at home, not working, I think my T would be harder to cope with. My dream is to get a childrens book publsihed, so if I were at home making a living from writing/illustrating childrens books, that would be wonderful. We all need dreams; hoping it will become a reality one day.

 

I work full time as a teacher and in class, the tinnitus doesnt bother me. During class it is the hypercausis that almost kills me. After class, I just want dark and quiet as my tinnitus spikes. I have 10 more years of it to go. Good times!

Cheers!

 

Off da, I can only imagine how painful that must be.
Hopefully your pupils are understanding and sympathetic?

 

Senior kids are generally ok. Deeper voices, less energetic. Junior grades!! OMG. Grade 8's and 9's are great kids, but loud squeaky voices coupled with high energy... your head is spinning by end of class.

 

I would imagine, I have been working as a sub teacher with 8 graders.
And I have been thinking how that would be impossible for me after I got H.
You are a hero, sir!
Hopefully frequency therapeutics can fix us soon.

 

Hero... No. Sucker for punishment a definite yes

 

Hi everyone, I work in an office environment have done for 15 years and managed T in the last 12 months pretty well as had flexibility on things like my seating and working from home. I enjoy working as it is often a distraction and not noticeable.

Just started a new job recently where it’s a more of a fixed desk work environment and im sat close to a stereo playing 8 hours a day and noticed a spike. I also have Hyperacusis in one ear which is verging on unbearable with the constant music. I’ve spoken to work and whilst they are not able to accommodate any change in seating to a much quieter area my boss said he would try and ask people to keep it turned down.

However this has upset other people in the office and they have now turned it up higher than before. I’m at wits end I feel like I’m just causing people issues and it’s making me feel completely useless. I think it’s really hard to understand if you haven’t experienced it yourself.

I’m unsure as to what to do now but all I can do is keep talking to them I guess. Really useful to read other peoples experiences here.

 

@Sammi Cheshire
I was going to respond to your earlier thread by saying that your request to move to a quieter seat was reasonable and that if your boss doesn't agree to it that would tell you something about the person you are working for. But if people are being spiteful and turning up the radio then you already know the kind of people you are dealing with.

Can you get medical documentation of your hyperacusis? That might hold some weight with your boss if he becomes worried about violating your rights by not accomodating your disability. If it works, get him to turn off the radio entirely.

Perhaps you could also shop around for another job. I'm hesitant to suggest that because I know jobs can be hard to come by. But it's always good to keep your options as open as possible.

 

Hey thanks so much for this. I have a doctors appointment this week and am hoping if I have some kind of formal diagnosis this will help. I agree I may need to face reality if things can’t be worked out as ultimately health is the most important thing. I’ll cross that bridge if and when it comes I guess. Really appreciate your message though and always helps to get someone else’s perspective x

 

I work full time as a carpenter, I wear ear defenders all day which only makes my tinnitus louder but somehow I manage to block it out despite this. To be honest the only reason I notice it nowadays is because I make a conscious effort to protect my ears.