PennyCat

Hang in there Penny!!! One moment at a time, love.

@Joe Cuber Thanks, Joe. Anissa (my dog) is doing well, Penny is still having some medical issues though

@SarahMLFlemmer Thank you :,)

@SarahMLFlemmer With the way things are right now, I’m not sure I can hang on that long ;( Though I am trying. Glad your mentality is better!

You are so young @PennyCat and 6 months is such a short amount of time. Please, try to be patient.

@tpj Thank you, I’ll try :,)

Thank you, @SarahMLFlemmer @eagerUser @Joe Cuber :,)

@Mo8409 I am on an antidepressant and doing an outpatient anxiety program, but they can only do so much ;(

@PennyCat That's true. Trusting in God's Word gives me peace with it. Right now my left ear is hurting so bad. I hope you can make peace with it soon. Love always!

The ttts seems to come and go. The good thing is the anxiety and panic because of it gets less and less as time goes on.

For a couple of months I was able to trigger TTTS episodes by _burping_. They would last _an entire fucking day_, independent muscle twitching without any sound trigger.

I've had ttts in my left ear for aslong as I can remember when certain sounds happen. I assumed it was normal with noise. Doesn't bother me anymore. You'll get there @PennyCat :)

Easier said then done! Don't let the anxiety get to you! Anxiety makes everything worse. *Hugs*

I read about Penny. Poor thing! Glad she's ok. And I'm proud of you. You had to wait there a long time. Hope it wasn't too bad for you.

Hi there. <3 hope you're hanging in there okay.

@tpj Thank you! Yeah, it was pretty rough for a variety of reasons.
@SarahMLFlemmer Thanks, I’m struggling a bit again with my TTTS but I hope it passes. Hope you’re hanging in there too!
@Joe Cuber Hello hello, Joe :)

I had this happen on one occasion back in Feb/Mar 2022 when one of my co-workers to my left would speak to a group of us in a room, my left ear fluttered. Maybe 20 minutes before I left. Never happened again until yesterday, over 1 yr later, and it happened while listening to a podcast here but not until I had been listening for quite a while. Same thing - speaking on padcast made left ear flutter. Weird.

I don't normally sit and listen to podcasts at my computer, so that was unusual. No unusual noise exposure or unusual earplug use. My anxiety and depression levels are up recently, though - maybe a factor.

@RunningMan Mine seems to come and go. I know that anxiety and TTTS are closely associated, and for me I think it’s probably the cause or a huge contributor. So that may be the case for you too. I know other people develop it from ear trauma though, but stress can definitely exacerbate it.

@PennyCat, are you still taking Zoloft? If so, I would be cautious about using these drugs together. Perhaps you could talk to your doctor about it first.

@sakrt That's true about dementia, even the over the counter ones, not sure about the newer DORA sleep meds. ADs can do the same. Of course, lack of sleep is associated with dementia also.

@tpj I am. An old psych prescribed it while I was on ADs in the past, and my new psych also mentioned prescribing it to me, but at the time I hesitated because of my past experience with it making me sick. So I’m pretty sure it’s safe to take on top of most ADs. But I’ll definitely bring it up at my next appointment

@Damocles No, at least not that I’ve experienced. But I’m worried the loudness of the scans will, especially with how sensitive my ears are and with TTTS. But I don’t even have scans scheduled so I’m worrying over a hypothetical scenario at this point

Then I'd say your risk for worsening from MRI/V/A is closer to that of a normal person's. If you wear good (double) protection for it (MRI safe ear defenders + foam plugs) then you'll probably be okay.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/mri-safe-earmuffs.27412/page-2#post-675221

Of course avoiding scans like these is the best thing a tinnitus sufferer (of any type/severity) can do, if possible.

Maybe give it to the end of the year and see if things don't improve by themselves(?).

I already do Flonase every day & take Zyrtec, so not sure what else I can do for that

Not sure to be honest @PennyCat, but resist the urge to keep popping your ears (if your doing that at all)

@makeyourownluck Thanks :,) If I’m not mistaken, do you also have pulsatile T, or did at one point? How do you cope??

Yeah still got it, right ear, I manage ok but it impacts me more than my regular T now since it’s variable.

In terms of coping, I was a hot mess for months, then I just veey slowly got used to it. Still shit, and always will be, but it doesn’t impact my life too badly anymore.

Hope that helps

As someone that dealt with these thoughts and anxiety long before T became an issue, it's really important to try and keep busy/distracted with things you like to do to not fixate on it and get through the bad days. Take it easy Penny, you're going to be okay.

Still struggling and freaking out about my pulsatile T. I hope it settles back to how it used to be soon. I can’t live like this

Sorry to hear you're struggling lately Penny, did it suddenly just get worse without anything affecting it? As for sleep, melatonin and chamomile tea might help a bit. I have the latter every night before bed.

@TheCapybara Yep, got worse out of nowhere, I can’t pinpoint any reason. I’ve had one or two periods of time where it’s gotten worse and eventually reset, so that’s my hope, but the uncertainty is scary. I take melatonin, hydroxyzine, and magnesium every night but still struggling w/ sleep

@PennyCat from my personal experience hydroxzyine was spiking the shit out of mine @PennyCat

Lol @makeyourownluck!

;)

Haha :P Thank you both !! <3 @Damocles @makeyourownluck

I truly feel what you say when you feel down each time you feel ok. I hope you find relief soon PennyCat.

Hi @PennyCat. Sending you a big hug. Wish there was something I could do to help you.

@eagerUser @tpj @Joe Cuber Thanks everyone :,)

My anxiety is so dumb. I hate how easy it is to convince myself that it’ll never be okay, that it’ll only get worse, and that I’ll have no choice other than death because I won’t be able to handle the suffering.

@PennyCat that's exactly how I feel every day. You couldn't have described it better. The hopelessness and anxiety are just exhausting

@PennyCat it's gotta get better, it just has to.

Sounds like your cliche GAD to me, believe it or not this time next year I doubt you’ll be focusing on either of those things

Unlike tinnitus, anxiety is all in the mind and can't affect you unless you let it. Keep reminding yourself of that.

and give my love to THE Penny Cat, also. ♥

@Joe Cuber Thanks Joe, I had been doing a little better with my anxiety but I know it’s often an up and down journey, much like tinnitus.

@Damocles Thank you :) and will do!

Thanks @Joe Cuber :) I have felt a bit less anxiety over the past few days, it’s hard to tell whether that’s due to being in the IOP, taking Zoloft, time passing, or a combo of all 3. I think I’ll end up doing the 8 weeks of treatment if that’s what they think is best for me

Nice to see this ☺️ What are you reading lately? Reading is also one of my main hobbies.

@RainbowCat I just finished the book I was reading last night - it’s called The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda. It was great, I highly recommend if you like mystery/thrillers. I rated it 5 stars on Goodreads. I’m in the process of reading all of her books, 2 down so far :)

I didn’t know you were only 5 months into onset! I’d be very hesitant to call what you have worsening or a spike. Just the natural progression of tinnitus in the early stages. I’d be very confident to see improvements 6-12 months down the line @PennyCat :)

Thanks @Hardwell, that gives me some reassurance :)

@Joe Cuber Thanks, I’ll try my best :P

Any ear issues in the family? Tinnitus and menieres runs in mine. @PennyCat

@Strawberryblonde Both of my parents have very mild tinnitus but it’s likely just due to age

The same thing happened to me when I was 18. I'm now in my mid thirties and still have no answers.

@Joe Cuber @Hardwell Thank you both! I appreciate it :)

@ErikaS Thankfully I’m not by myself, I’m at home with my parents, although I am alone a lot of the time. It really is nice to have that support, I’m glad we both have it!

Woah-ho @PennyCat, you think this is me serving up TOUGH love?

Let me tell you now, what you're receiving from me here, is LOVE love.

Lord Almighty Jesus! Pray hope I don't have to dish out the TOUGH love at any point! https://bit.ly/3HFJ2CB

@RainbowCat Thank you <3

There will come a time when it'll become better for you to manage :) I have ocd tendencies and my ability to manage the T got better it just took mental strength and time :)

@Strawberryblonde Thank you, I really hope so!

Saw your photo @PennyCat. Beautiful dog. Keep doing what you mentioned and remember, it's still early days.

@Damocles Thank you, that’s a really nice way to look at it. I think I will take it as a sign for sure.

@tpj Thank you, my dog is the thing that helps me stay here when things are hard. And Penny cat too of course :P

Thank you @Joe Cuber :)

Yep! I also have multi tones in each ear and crazy fluctuations throughout the day. It’s definitely hard to adjust. But there’s nothing we can do about the T. We can however try to get on top of the anxiety

I have distortions too, started nearly a year ago with morse code beeping from flushing and all that, on top of stuff like the fridge being louder due to increased sensitivity to sound, it was maddening at first.

But it does improve over the span of months, I know it's really rough but you're gonna get through this Penny.

@TheCapybara I think I’ve read some posts where you’ve mentioned that. It’s good to hear that it can improve as time goes on, I think that’s the general consensus that I’ve found. It’s just hard in the meantime, which I’m sure you relate to. Thank you for the encouragement :)