MemberMy T started after persistent noise problems at work, and I was pretty frantic for a while even though it was not so loud that it prevented me from sleeping. (It's high-pitched ringing, about 6750 now though I think it was much higher in the beginning.) I'm chronically under-slept, though, so maybe it would have kept me awake if I were not always really tired by the time I got into bed. Or maybe I was avoiding going to bed until I was really, really tired - because I did not want the T to keep me awake.
The work I do requires concentration, doggedness, sometimes creative problem-solving, and often heads-down-don't-bother-me analysis. I was distraught when the T hit, because I felt that all I could do was lightweight stuff that didn't really require many brain cells to fire. I just could not do the hard part of my job. I did file a workers' comp claim, saw an audiologist who said "stay out of noisy environments and come back in 6 months if it's not gone", and mostly worked from home where it was quiet until the problem construction stopped. I managed to skid along without getting fired, and was able to do some of the harder stuff by taking more time to do it.
I started tracking days where it was quiet (which I still have, LOTS of them!) and days when it was not so I could try to form some idea of causality. Not a lot of luck, except that aerobic exercise definitely makes it better though not immediately. Maybe it just makes me so tired I fall asleep like a log, so I don't care if it's ringing or not. One thing that almost always TRIGGERS it for me is a nap in the evening! If I fall asleep for an hour sitting up, like in a chair, I almost always wake to ringing. Weird. I don't track it any more; I think I learned enough from the month or two where I kept that diary. I do note in my sleep app (Sleep Cycle) if there was ringing when I went to bed, or not. Therefore I can related a night's sleep to ringing.
I began using AudioNotch immediately, simply because it was an easy, non-invasive therapeutic activity that I could perform easily. I know myself - I'm very cheerful normally, and I am a control maven, so when I take steps to make something happen my brain very happily helps me believe it has happened. I use the notched tracks whenever I am in a noisy environment and need noise-cancelling earbuds.
I'm going to get custom earplugs too, and damn the expense. I have had several long days on planes recently, and even though the Bose QC-20s are very comfortable, they are not really all-day comfortable for me. Planes are very noisy! I need an alternative and have very small ear canals. So I'll go to the doc and get the molded earplugs.
SO, the upshot: I am working out a LOT, which makes me sleep deeply; eating healthy; protecting my hearing, as I did not experience hearing loss; and slowly getting back to the point where I can do the high-concentration work I need to deliver. The T is not completely gone, but its frequency (ha ha) is less and it has become a slight annoyance instead of a giant PITA.
I hope that this can help someone here on the site. It was both comforting and scary to read a lot of the posts here the first week, but since my symptoms were not as severe as many people's, I kept reading. I'm at the point where the T could in fact disappear without my realizing it for days, or maybe even weeks. If that happens I'll come back and let you know.
The work I do requires concentration, doggedness, sometimes creative problem-solving, and often heads-down-don't-bother-me analysis. I was distraught when the T hit, because I felt that all I could do was lightweight stuff that didn't really require many brain cells to fire. I just could not do the hard part of my job. I did file a workers' comp claim, saw an audiologist who said "stay out of noisy environments and come back in 6 months if it's not gone", and mostly worked from home where it was quiet until the problem construction stopped. I managed to skid along without getting fired, and was able to do some of the harder stuff by taking more time to do it.
I started tracking days where it was quiet (which I still have, LOTS of them!) and days when it was not so I could try to form some idea of causality. Not a lot of luck, except that aerobic exercise definitely makes it better though not immediately. Maybe it just makes me so tired I fall asleep like a log, so I don't care if it's ringing or not. One thing that almost always TRIGGERS it for me is a nap in the evening! If I fall asleep for an hour sitting up, like in a chair, I almost always wake to ringing. Weird. I don't track it any more; I think I learned enough from the month or two where I kept that diary. I do note in my sleep app (Sleep Cycle) if there was ringing when I went to bed, or not. Therefore I can related a night's sleep to ringing.
I began using AudioNotch immediately, simply because it was an easy, non-invasive therapeutic activity that I could perform easily. I know myself - I'm very cheerful normally, and I am a control maven, so when I take steps to make something happen my brain very happily helps me believe it has happened. I use the notched tracks whenever I am in a noisy environment and need noise-cancelling earbuds.
I'm going to get custom earplugs too, and damn the expense. I have had several long days on planes recently, and even though the Bose QC-20s are very comfortable, they are not really all-day comfortable for me. Planes are very noisy! I need an alternative and have very small ear canals. So I'll go to the doc and get the molded earplugs.
SO, the upshot: I am working out a LOT, which makes me sleep deeply; eating healthy; protecting my hearing, as I did not experience hearing loss; and slowly getting back to the point where I can do the high-concentration work I need to deliver. The T is not completely gone, but its frequency (ha ha) is less and it has become a slight annoyance instead of a giant PITA.
I hope that this can help someone here on the site. It was both comforting and scary to read a lot of the posts here the first week, but since my symptoms were not as severe as many people's, I kept reading. I'm at the point where the T could in fact disappear without my realizing it for days, or maybe even weeks. If that happens I'll come back and let you know.
