20 Years of Tinnitus

[DavidHoward]

I've had tinnitus for almost 20 years. It sounds like a high pitched dentist drill 24/7. I can't hear the tea kettle whistling away when I'm in the next room. I haven't gone to a doctor about it because I figured they can't do anything. I have a hard time sleeping. I get maybe 2-3 hours a night on average. I wear ear plugs and a helmet when I ride my motorcycle. I don't wear ear plugs when I: travel on airplanes (a lot, for work), make green drinks in the Vitamix, drive my Mustang with road noise. Should I be wearing ear protection for those things, or will it make any difference at this point? Also, how can I get a better night's sleep?

 

[sanj100]

I've had tinnitus for almost 20 years. It sounds like a high pitched dentist drill 24/7. I can't hear the tea kettle whistling away when I'm in the next room. I haven't gone to a doctor about it because I figured they can't do anything. I have a hard time sleeping. I get maybe 2-3 hours a night on average. I wear ear plugs and a helmet when I ride my motorcycle. I don't wear ear plugs when I: travel on airplanes (a lot, for work), make green drinks in the Vitamix, drive my Mustang with road noise. Should I be wearing ear protection for those things, or will it make any difference at this point? Also, how can I get a better night's sleep?

Wait.

Am I reading this correctly.

Are you saying you have had what sounds like really intense tinnitus for 20 years which has severely affected your sleep and in 20 years you havent even visited the doctor about it?

Or was it that you've had mild tinnitus for 20 years which has only recently gotten worse causing you these sleep issues?

 

[billie48]

Also, how can I get a better night's sleep?

Welcome to the forum. You are like a T veteran of sort. To take the positive of your T journey, it is comforting for the suffering members to know that one can live and cope with high pitch dentist drill T 7/24 for 20 years so far and be still sane and functional in our life. Lol. But seriously, you did a great job coping with T. Congrats. You can share some insights for our members if you like. As for sleep, there are various ways to help. Masking at bed time with nature sound using sound machines like Oasis will help.
: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-...d-Oasis-Therapy-System-Speakers/dp/B00MH5HKTA

Or you can use PC with speakers. I have ultra high pitch T so masking with high pitch nature sounds during the worst time was a great help. You can try sounds of heavy rain, waterfall, shower, cicadas, cricket, etc. I even used squeaky faucet at one time just to mask the T. Here are some sites with great sounds:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.

Some people find they need more help to sleep such as taking prescribed sleeping pills (eg. Remeron), or more natural stuffs such as Melatonin. Here is a site with more natural choices for calming and sleep. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

http://www.christopherhobbs.com/lib...ealth/herbs-and-natural-remedies-for-insomnia /

 

[DavidHoward]

I should have said that I did tell doctors about it in the past but they didn't offer any hope. I guess my question is if there is some sort of specialist that I am unaware of.

 

[sanj100]

I should have said that I did tell doctors about it in the past but they didn't offer any hope. I guess my question is if there is some sort of specialist that I am unaware of.

So you're saying you've have really loud tinnitus for 20 years and haven't habituated at all in that time?

Have you ever done cbt, trt, meditation,
Yoga?