I'm very frustrated with the pace of tinnitus research. That is why I am looking at graduate school for tinnitus research myself.
I got tinnitus when I was 17. I was scared as hell, because there was even less information then than now. Basically, they told you that you had damaged your ears somehow and you had to live with it. There was little or no belief that it was a brain issue back then. I understand the panic, the desperation. The thoughts that your life are over, that you won't be able to to live a normal life and participate in normal activities, like going to a dance with a girl, or being in a bar with loud music. I remember scared to go hunting with my own dad because I was concerned about the blast from the gun, so much so that I did not go with him. It hurt him very much and he could not understand why a son would not want to hunt with his father. I have been dumped by girls for other men because they were tired of my worry/obsession about tinnitus, or wearing ear plugs when we went to movies and I got weird stares. Nothing is more emasculating than to have people stare at you in public when your girlfriend is there, and to have her ashamed. I have had to quit jobs that were good paying opportunities because of noise levels. I've cried out of desperation on my mom's shoulder, which is frustrating for a mother that can't help in ways I can't imagine. I've looked at that shotgun leaning against my wall. How easy it would be to pop a buckshot round in it, drive up into the mountains out in the middle of nowhere, hike somewhere with a gorgeous view and end it. That wouldn't be beating tinnitus, it would be giving in. I've come to terms with that. I want to study tinnitus, and beat it like the piece of crap it is. I want to contribute in a way so that others' lives won't be profoundly impacted the way mine has.
What am I getting at here? I am just saying I know all about tinnitus. I don't remember what silence is like. I want it gone. I don't want others to have to go through what I have gone through. If that means counting myself out of a trial that COULD have a possibility of helping me, I'll accept that. I want treatments available for that scared 17 year old I was. I want a doctor to be able to give that scared teenager some kind of meaningful treatment, instead of saying "Go home and live with it. No one really knows much about it."
At the end of the day, we all make decisions about our treatment. I want to ensure that a drug like AM-101 has all the possibility of making it through regulatory trials. If it does, maybe then the doc could squirt some of that crap in my ear drum and it could help.
EDIT - My purpose of this message was not to convey fear, desperation or to make anyone worried. I am just saying that I know what all of you face every day. Just be careful that we don't shoot ourselves in the foot when there is real opportunity here.
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