My journey with tinnitus began on April 6, 2012. As a bivocational painting contractor, I spent five or six hours that day power washing without hearing protection. At some point, I started experiencing lasting tinnitus. Up until then, I had only dealt with short bursts of tinnitus that lasted a few seconds and occurred occasionally over the preceding months.
Adjusting to this new health challenge was extremely difficult. I visited an ENT who diagnosed me with tinnitus but told me there was nothing he could do. Being a man of faith, I turned to God for help through prayer and fasting.
As the months passed, I struggled to live my life as best I could. There were countless nights of lost sleep and days of battling to maintain a positive attitude while living with the affliction of tinnitus. However, this struggle inspired me to pursue a deeper relationship with God, leading to a personal revival of my calling.
In the fall of that year, my wife and I embarked on a road trip to preach at several revivals in Tennessee. During one of these revivals, as I was praying with my eyes closed, I felt unsteady on my feet. This unsteadiness continued over the following weeks, prompting me to research the possible causes. I discovered that, in rare cases, tinnitus could be caused by an acoustic neuroma tumor.
I contacted the ENT again and asked if an MRI would be appropriate. He agreed, and soon after, I underwent an MRI with contrast. On a cold winter day in January 2013, while working in my painting business, I received a call from the ENT. It was one of the worst calls I could have imagined. He informed me that I had a tumor on my auditory nerve and recommended a brain surgeon.
The first surgeon I consulted recommended Gamma Knife surgery to treat the tumor, but given the life altering nature of the situation, I sought a second opinion. I was referred to another brain surgeon, the head of neurology at Yale Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. After reviewing my MRI, he recommended surgery to remove the tumor. He worked closely with a skull base ENT surgeon, who confirmed that surgery was the best course of action.
The surgeons explained that the operation would leave me deaf in the affected ear and that I would likely experience tinnitus for the rest of my life. The weeks leading up to the surgery were some of the darkest days of my life. As described in the Bible, it felt like walking through the valley of the shadow of death. I did not know if I would survive or what challenges I would face if I did.
The surgery lasted seven and a half hours, with the final few hours performed under a microscope in the dark. Thankfully, it was successful. Although I experienced some Bell's palsy afterward, my recovery went very well. The head surgeon even remarked, "It does not get any better than this; you have set a new standard." I give praise to the Lord for His grace and mercy.
Going into the surgery, I knew there was about a 32 percent chance that the tinnitus would be cured. Unfortunately, I was not among the fortunate few. Over the nearly thirteen years since my diagnosis, I have learned that certain triggers can make tinnitus worse and more intrusive. For me, stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, weather changes, and higher altitudes are significant factors.
The mind does seem to habituate to the noise over time, but it took me longer because I refused to accept tinnitus as permanent. To this day, I continue to pray daily for healing. My tinnitus has been intermittent, with about 55 to 64 percent of the time being manageable and the remaining 36 to 45 percent being louder and more challenging.
I strive to maintain a good diet, leaning toward a vegan approach, though it is difficult to sustain long term. I also take supplements, including turmeric (1000 milligrams), quercetin (500 milligrams), melatonin (3 milligrams), magnesium (250 milligrams), and L-theanine (200 milligrams).
There have been many times when tinnitus has brought me to tears. In those moments, I pray, and God has always brought relief. The longest stretch of debilitating tinnitus I have endured was nearly two weeks. Despite this, I can confidently say that you can live a productive life with tinnitus.
I have maintained a successful painting business, preached in nearly half of the states in the country, sustained a marriage of almost 20 years, and been a father to four children. Living with loud tinnitus is undeniably challenging, but as Psalm 46 verse 1 says, "God is a very present help in time of need."
If you learn to focus on other things and lean on God, you can overcome this. You have got this!
Adjusting to this new health challenge was extremely difficult. I visited an ENT who diagnosed me with tinnitus but told me there was nothing he could do. Being a man of faith, I turned to God for help through prayer and fasting.
As the months passed, I struggled to live my life as best I could. There were countless nights of lost sleep and days of battling to maintain a positive attitude while living with the affliction of tinnitus. However, this struggle inspired me to pursue a deeper relationship with God, leading to a personal revival of my calling.
In the fall of that year, my wife and I embarked on a road trip to preach at several revivals in Tennessee. During one of these revivals, as I was praying with my eyes closed, I felt unsteady on my feet. This unsteadiness continued over the following weeks, prompting me to research the possible causes. I discovered that, in rare cases, tinnitus could be caused by an acoustic neuroma tumor.
I contacted the ENT again and asked if an MRI would be appropriate. He agreed, and soon after, I underwent an MRI with contrast. On a cold winter day in January 2013, while working in my painting business, I received a call from the ENT. It was one of the worst calls I could have imagined. He informed me that I had a tumor on my auditory nerve and recommended a brain surgeon.
The first surgeon I consulted recommended Gamma Knife surgery to treat the tumor, but given the life altering nature of the situation, I sought a second opinion. I was referred to another brain surgeon, the head of neurology at Yale Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. After reviewing my MRI, he recommended surgery to remove the tumor. He worked closely with a skull base ENT surgeon, who confirmed that surgery was the best course of action.
The surgeons explained that the operation would leave me deaf in the affected ear and that I would likely experience tinnitus for the rest of my life. The weeks leading up to the surgery were some of the darkest days of my life. As described in the Bible, it felt like walking through the valley of the shadow of death. I did not know if I would survive or what challenges I would face if I did.
The surgery lasted seven and a half hours, with the final few hours performed under a microscope in the dark. Thankfully, it was successful. Although I experienced some Bell's palsy afterward, my recovery went very well. The head surgeon even remarked, "It does not get any better than this; you have set a new standard." I give praise to the Lord for His grace and mercy.
Going into the surgery, I knew there was about a 32 percent chance that the tinnitus would be cured. Unfortunately, I was not among the fortunate few. Over the nearly thirteen years since my diagnosis, I have learned that certain triggers can make tinnitus worse and more intrusive. For me, stress, lack of sleep, poor diet, weather changes, and higher altitudes are significant factors.
The mind does seem to habituate to the noise over time, but it took me longer because I refused to accept tinnitus as permanent. To this day, I continue to pray daily for healing. My tinnitus has been intermittent, with about 55 to 64 percent of the time being manageable and the remaining 36 to 45 percent being louder and more challenging.
I strive to maintain a good diet, leaning toward a vegan approach, though it is difficult to sustain long term. I also take supplements, including turmeric (1000 milligrams), quercetin (500 milligrams), melatonin (3 milligrams), magnesium (250 milligrams), and L-theanine (200 milligrams).
There have been many times when tinnitus has brought me to tears. In those moments, I pray, and God has always brought relief. The longest stretch of debilitating tinnitus I have endured was nearly two weeks. Despite this, I can confidently say that you can live a productive life with tinnitus.
I have maintained a successful painting business, preached in nearly half of the states in the country, sustained a marriage of almost 20 years, and been a father to four children. Living with loud tinnitus is undeniably challenging, but as Psalm 46 verse 1 says, "God is a very present help in time of need."
If you learn to focus on other things and lean on God, you can overcome this. You have got this!
