A few thoughts on my 1-year tinniversary. I have been treating it as a TMJ problem, and had improvement from a 7/10 to a 2/10 after eight months, but seem stalled at 2/10, with hours here and there of 1's and hours of 3's occasionally. A few thoughts that I thought I might share:
- I used to love, love LOVE silence. An extreme introvert, I craved time alone with nature, soft music, or even just silence. I have not heard silence in a year, and am resigned to never getting to zero, but surprisingly this bothers me less than I thought it would. But this took a lot of readjusting and acceptance that I am not in control.
- I was debilitated with constant anxiety the first few months when it started, but today can go a few hours forgetting that I even have it. It does not go away, but getting involved watching TV, reading a book, or even enjoying a restaurant with friends or family I don't notice it, and forget I have it. I will then suddenly realize that - gosh - that ringing on my ears is still there.
- Three months into T I had to give a public speech (which I normally do well at), but the T threw me off, distracted me, prevented me from collecting my thoughts. Worst speech in my life. Work took extreme concentration. Today I have no issues, present to my boss and others often without hearing it.
- Like many other posters, I am surprised at the number of other T sufferers out here when you mention it - two brother-in-laws even, and I have known them for years. So many suffer without sharing.
- My T is not hearing-loss related, so as mentioned in the linked-post above I have more avenues for finding the reason and helping the T. My TMJ treatments have lowered the T from an average of 7/10 to 2/10, and I have noticed a clicking that used to happen when I walked (or any motion of my head) is now gone. However, after another 8-9 months of braces (I'm a tin-grin at 50) if my average doesn't go down, I will start looking at other causes/treatments.
- I used to love, love LOVE silence. An extreme introvert, I craved time alone with nature, soft music, or even just silence. I have not heard silence in a year, and am resigned to never getting to zero, but surprisingly this bothers me less than I thought it would. But this took a lot of readjusting and acceptance that I am not in control.
- I was debilitated with constant anxiety the first few months when it started, but today can go a few hours forgetting that I even have it. It does not go away, but getting involved watching TV, reading a book, or even enjoying a restaurant with friends or family I don't notice it, and forget I have it. I will then suddenly realize that - gosh - that ringing on my ears is still there.
- Three months into T I had to give a public speech (which I normally do well at), but the T threw me off, distracted me, prevented me from collecting my thoughts. Worst speech in my life. Work took extreme concentration. Today I have no issues, present to my boss and others often without hearing it.
- Like many other posters, I am surprised at the number of other T sufferers out here when you mention it - two brother-in-laws even, and I have known them for years. So many suffer without sharing.
- My T is not hearing-loss related, so as mentioned in the linked-post above I have more avenues for finding the reason and helping the T. My TMJ treatments have lowered the T from an average of 7/10 to 2/10, and I have noticed a clicking that used to happen when I walked (or any motion of my head) is now gone. However, after another 8-9 months of braces (I'm a tin-grin at 50) if my average doesn't go down, I will start looking at other causes/treatments.