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Thank you for sharing!

Such a shame.

@Damocles I hope that day will come for you soon, that you are freed from tinnitus or freed from caring about tinnitus.

My tinnitus is very high pitched, not easily maskable, mostly on my right side but when I get spikes I get multiple tones from both sides. My tinnitus is very loud when I focus on it or give it too much attention. When I don’t pay attention, it fades into the background. My tinnitus used to...

@DesperatePartner, I have read stories in this forum of people that failed at all strategies but still were OK in the end. One of my most effective strategies was staying away from forums. In my early stage I was reading a lot. But only after I stayed away from forums for a while I started to...

Maybe it's because in the early stages the brain looks for any other noises that might be there and then finds the other noises? My tinnitus sounds have also changed in the the first 3 months, but not much since then.

It is mainly one tone but if I listen attentively I do hear other tones.

@GCS, don't be too hard on yourself and try to stay positive. You can read many stories on this forum of people that have had a similar experience to yours and they are doing much better now.

@SlyTendencies, welcome to the forum. Thank you for sharing your story. Good to hear that you are already progressing in the anxiety department.

My tinnitus is also of a very high frequency and does not blend in well with environmental sounds. That is why I gave up on masking in a very early stage. I think the fact that I decided to accept the fact that my tinnitus is not easily maskable helped me get used to the sound. With getting used...

@Wrfortiscue, I have one high pitch tone that is the main one but if I pay attention I do hear other tones as well.

Same here. The loudness of my tinnitus goes up when my attention goes to the tinnitus and goes down when I do not pay attention. I discovered this very early but back then I was not able to refrain from giving my tinnitus attention.

In my first few months I was trying to find all spike factors from own experience and from what I read on this forum. So I avoided alcohol, coffee, salt, loud environments, you name it. But there was a turning point where I decided that I would not let tinnitus be the leader of the rest of my...

@BrOKeN_1, thank you for taking the time to share your story! Happy for you that you are doing better.

@Mikkijan, great to hear! :)

It is my personal opinion that there is no upper limit. You could be doing the wrong things for years that prevent you from habituating. Once you start doing the right things you may achieve habituation. I think you can learn a lot about the right things to do, by reading the habituation success...

Thank you @Chris135 for your story of habituation success. It is very helpful and encouraging for people that are trying to achieve habituation.

I had filling work done at the dentist multiple times, no problems.

Got it. My mind is always wandering. But it does happen sometimes that I just listen to my tinnitus and fall asleep. I am so used to the sound that it almost has a calming effect. That may sound very weird but it is true in my case.

I do not think about my tinnitus before sleep. Even if my attention goes to my tinnitus, any new thought will distract my attention away from my tinnitus very quickly. I do not have to force myself to think of something else. It just happens naturally.

I don’t know because I only have experience with my tinnitus. What I can say is that in the early stages, there were low tinnitus days where I would be focusing a lot, so having a bad day, and there were high days that were OK because I was not focusing so much.

Great question. I think my mind never rests and is always thinking of something. I found out long time ago that when I am about to sleep, my mind gets very creative. So often in bed I think of new things to do or try out. In any case, I am always very calm when going to bed and tinnitus is not a...

Sounds like a great idea and I think I have read about someone successfully applying this. Even if it does not mask enough, it is still calming which is also always a good thing.

I turn off the light and my mind does not move back to the tinnitus, even though it is clearly audible. At first I tried to mask with sounds on my phone or even with a speaker. But soon I realized that I could better just try to get used until my mind does not focus on the tinnitus anymore. And...

In my case it went down to almost 0%. I rarely think about my tinnitus. But for me it is not so much about paying attention, the big win for me was when my tinnitus stopped affecting my emotional state. Nowadays if I pay attention to my tinnitus, it is without an emotional reaction.

Doctors should understand that for many tinnitus sufferers there is a clear link between tinnitus and anxiety. They should understand that many tinnitus sufferers want to be helped with both the tinnitus and the anxiety.

At first I avoided many things but mainly coffee and alcohol because I was afraid of spikes. But after a while the fear for spikes faded and I started drinking both again.

@Eddee, happy for you! :) Thank you for sharing your story.

I too went to the ENT and he was not able to help me. All I got was "your brain will adapt and with time will filter out the tinnitus". I have never read any stories about an ENT solving tinnitus problems. I agree, in my opinion they have no clue about how to treat the anxiety and stress...

I was vaccinated, no side effects.

@Kam75, sorry to hear about your sleeping problems. I too had a lot of problems with sleeping. I did not take ADs but I tried everything else like calming tea, trying to relax before going to sleep, staying active during the day, and going for long walks. The long walks really helped me to be...

@Havel, great to hear that you are doing better. My tinnitus also fluctuates a lot from day to day. I had more anxiety on the low days than on the high days, because on the high days I knew that it would go down again. Same as you, I was never able to figure out what causes the fluctuations. But...

You are still in an early phase, the way you react to your tinnitus may change over time. For me, a lot changed in the first year and the way I felt after one year was totally different. My tinnitus was no longer causing anxiety, which for me was the biggest problem.

Great to hear that you have managed to adapt. Thank you for sharing your story!

My work is mostly office. Whenever I concentrate, my tinnitus — or perception of tinnitus — goes down. So working has always been a welcome distraction.

@EddieL., great news! Happy to hear that you are doing better and that the fear is no longer there!

I hope your new sounds fade soon. I do not have experience with new sounds but I am sure the members on this forum will be able to give some advice.

Thank you for sharing your story!

Thank you for your feedback, I really appreciate it. I only joined to forum so I can help others, because I was helped by this forum in my early days. Do you think I should share my story in another form, or do you think it is best to not share my story all?

Do you go with a dog? Or are you not a dog person?

I have once read a post on Tinnitus Talk saying that silence is the absence of external sounds. It may not be easy at all, but I think that if you are at peace with your internal sounds, you may enjoy "silence". You may enjoy the peacefulness of the woods again. I am not sure if it is achievable...

No, but I did read an online article about actively listening to tinnitus as an exercise. You are probably referring to that same article.

It took about 4 months before I started feeling confident that I would habituate, which was a huge milestone. It was also then that the sleeping problems went away. But the overall process was very non-linear so it is hard to say. So if I would have to pinpoint a timeframe, it would be around 1...

For me that was exactly how I felt. Luckily in time, that 75% slowly started going down and now is close to 0%. I hope that happens for you too.

It is OK to be scared. It is OK to have fear. Accept it, but don't run from it. If you run, the fear will grow. If you sit it out, the fear fade. I realized early on that it was the fear that was causing all the bad things, the anxiety, the stress, the sleepless nights, depressed feelings, dark...

Not being aware as in not being on my mind. If I think about it, I can feel that I have a shirt on. My arms feel the sleeves around it. But I have to stop and think about my clothes in order to feel them. Other than that, the feeling of the clothes on my body is not on my mind. I wear glasses...

My tinnitus did not worsen. It has always been the same with low days and high days. Nowadays I do not notice differences in loudness because most of the time I forget that I have tinnitus.

Great to hear!

One of the things I did in the early months was to force myself to just listen to my tinnitus. I removed all noises that would mask and I would cover my ears or sit in a very quiet room and just listen. I would listen for up to 10 minutes and would just try to breath calmly. At some point, my...

No, I did not have hearing loss. I was tested and my hearing was perfect.

I did get back to normal and my life is not better or worse because of my tinnitus. At first, it took away my ability to enjoy life for a while and back then I thought that I would have to get used to living a less enjoyable life for the rest of my life. But once my brain got more and more used...

@kingsfan, it's a good thing to go out and enjoy life. Don't let the tinnitus spikes hold you back from doing things that you enjoy. That is what I did and it significantly helped me to get to the point where my tinnitus would take the backseat.

In my first 6 months the worst part was not being able to sleep properly or not at all. At some point I thought that if only I could sleep well again, I would be able to deal with everything else. Now I sleep very well and if I don't, it is not because of my tinnitus. There was a turning point...

In my first months I still noticed spikes and high and low days. I never found a cause or pattern so I just gave up looking for one. After many more months I got so used to my tinnitus that I don't notice a difference anymore between high and low days. I think there is still a difference in...

In my case, I got so used to my tinnitus that it does not bother me anymore. I can hear it all the time but because it does not trigger any emotions, I am not consciously aware of its presence. Therefore, I don’t care if it is there or not. It does not interfere with my life or quality of life...

I too had these exact same thoughts in my first year of having tinnitus. Those thoughts are long gone now. I now think the opposite. I am now much more confident that I will be able to deal with whatever difficult events the future will bring. I am mentally stronger than ever.

I too stopped reading books and doing intellectual things. But with time the tinnitus faded into the background of my awareness and I now again enjoy reading. I have followed courses and studied and did exams without failing once and also being best of the class. All with tinnitus present, but...

I took two Pfizer shots, no problem whatsoever.

There is nothing wrong with feeling like an unstable wreck. Don't fight the feeling. Accept it. It will get better.

The first time I traveled with tinnitus I also was very anxious. But in the end, all went well and the traveling may even have been a turning point of seeing that I can enjoy things without being bothered by the tinnitus.