4 Weeks In, It's the Unexpected Stuff That's Tough

[Joe4]

This is my second post and thinking of things to put in this post has been a good strategy to help keep me calm when things have started to go arrays.

I'll start with positives of the last four weeks. I've found that keeping busy helps me keep my mind off T so have already started to participate in more activities. I run a lot more often and have entered a marathon as a way to keep myself motivated. Also like probably all of us T sufferers I've found music in the background to help profoundly so my Spotify has tripled in the amount of saved songs and I have found many new great artist.

Now the bad. The worst thing I have found is something I could never have expected. I told my closest friend I had T and explained how I'm sleeping very little as a result and struggling to cope. She laughed, just stood there and laughed saying I was an "old man with a little ringing in my ears". Now as a result the majority of my friends now know about it and also share her views. This has left me feeling lonely, a feeling I haven't experienced for a long time. Seemingly not being able to talk to people I expected to support me and be understanding of me not wanting to go to a night club, for example, has driven to me to a state of despair, it's this new found solutide which has only added to my issues. I have had other smaller issues but they are of huge insignificance compared to this.

Any words of wisdom at this time would be greatly appreciated as I find myself still seeing no state of content or habituation being a reality anytime soon.

Many thanks and apologies for the length
Joe

 

[Michael Leigh]

Hi @Joe4

I know that you're going through a difficult time at the moment but things will get better. All the help that you need was kindly given to you by @Kolisar when he gave you links to members posts on this thread: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/new-to-tinnitus-and-scared.23516/ You will be hard pushed to find better advice from some of the people in the links. Please read them and print the documents if possible.

All the best
Michael

 

[Paulmanlike]

I find it bizzare you're still friends with this girl, definitely worth binning. Man, that's horrible, you deserve better.

 

[Joe4]

Thanks Michael, I will go and have a re read of the material and thanks for the support

 

[glynis]

Hi @Joe4,
I'm sure your closest friend is feeling very guilty breaching your trust and not listening to the impact tinnitus is having on you.
I would try give her a second chance and maybe come on here together so she can understand how tinnitus invades your life and emotions and hard to sleep etc.
You will get support here around the clock and find strength in that as your now with a lot of understanding friends.
Love glynis

Regarding sleep Melatonin might help!

 

[Joe4]

@glynis thank you so much and I'll look into melatonin immediately. I do appreciate the support and I feel like I've gained 10000 friends overnight by joining this family and I am so staggered whenever I have a read of the posts so thank you. As to her, I've tried explaining to her and even showed her a few stories online but she still thinks it's funny I've got a "hum in my drum" and so do the rest of my friends. More annoying is they can see I'm physically drained and constantly down as they ask if I'm ok because I'm quite down at the moment yet still find it hilarious when I explain.

 

[Bill Bauer]

You could use nature sounds as sound enrichment. The sounds of crickets and frogs work well for high pitch tinnitus. When I was in that acute stage, I found that amitriptyline helped me sleep. It is non-addictive and it didn't make me feel drowsy the next day.

I am glad that you are protecting your ears. I believe this will increase the chance that you recover, or that your T will at least fade.

In case you haven't seen it, check out the thread below. There is a good chance that eventually your T will fade or go away.
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/spontaneous-recovery-stats-over-70-recover-3-studies.21441/

 

[Bill Bauer]

You could send the link below to your friends. I suggest that you do NOT watch it yourself (it is too depressing)

 

[fishbone]

This is my second post and thinking of things to put in this post has been a good strategy to help keep me calm when things have started to go arrays.

I'll start with positives of the last four weeks. I've found that keeping busy helps me keep my mind off T so have already started to participate in more activities. I run a lot more often and have entered a marathon as a way to keep myself motivated. Also like probably all of us T sufferers I've found music in the background to help profoundly so my Spotify has tripled in the amount of saved songs and I have found many new great artist.

Now the bad. The worst thing I have found is something I could never have expected. I told my closest friend I had T and explained how I'm sleeping very little as a result and struggling to cope. She laughed, just stood there and laughed saying I was an "old man with a little ringing in my ears". Now as a result the majority of my friends now know about it and also share her views. This has left me feeling lonely, a feeling I haven't experienced for a long time. Seemingly not being able to talk to people I expected to support me and be understanding of me not wanting to go to a night club, for example, has driven to me to a state of despair, it's this new found solutide which has only added to my issues. I have had other smaller issues but they are of huge insignificance compared to this.

Any words of wisdom at this time would be greatly appreciated as I find myself still seeing no state of content or habituation being a reality anytime soon.

Many thanks and apologies for the length
Joe

Do yourself a favor and get rid of those "so-called-friends". These people are not worth it and don't surround yourself with people that think and act like children. You are going through a tough ordeal and the last thing you need are people like that. These people will never understand, just how bad it feels, unless they have the same issue.

Your tinnitus is fairly new and it is understandable that you are feeling, the way you are feeling. It is going to take some time to adjust to this ordeal. Time + support+ distractions seem to be the formula to help you out.

Your tinnitus may fade or it may not, just hang in there and this forum has members that will always support you