Be Honest. Do You Still Enjoy Life?

[Javimaltes]

Indeed. I enjoy life very much. After almost five months I only have a few issues to improve. In the beginning, I felt terrible and thought that it was the end of my life. Some commentaries that I read here at the beginning were not helpful. Thank God I know personally people with tinnitus that have normal lives and do not complain too much and they guided me to a better mental place.

My message to the new sufferers is, to be patient and not seek information on the internet every day. Trust your doctors, your psychologist and your beloved ones, but do not trust random commentaries on the internet.

 

[AnthonyMcDonald]

Mild case.

OK I deserve that lol.

 

[lusiol]

Sadly, nope. I have always felt like a spectator of my own life/nightmare and that statement has increased with these stupid conditions

The pain is real though...

 

[Hottopic29]

I managed tinnitus till recently. No, I don't enjoy life anymore. I don't want to leave bed. I'm waiting to die with loud tinnitus and ear aches 24/7.

 

[linearb]

Yeah at the moment, given my current level of disability and everything else in my life and the godsend that are benzodiazepines, I enjoy life. Surprised I've never voted on this in 6 years or however old this thread is.

The caveats are because I know anatomy is extremely malleable and I could become much more severely messed up in an instant, whether from a too loud noise, a chainsaw blade going into my femur, or an errant hunter's bullet shattering my spine. I am not suggesting I would enjoy life under all such circumstances, only that, at present (and, really, since 2017 when I bit the bullet and went back on meds), my constant screeching 15 kHz companion does not prevent it.

It's been super bad the past couple days but I have been (and am) sick with some viral BS one of our kids brought home (hey, at least it's not COVID-19!!!) -- so what do I expect? Always gets insanely loud and screechy with blocked sinuses, I would not say I've been thinking about it more. I have been thinking about generally feeling sick and shitty.

 

[Lane]

Always gets insanely loud and screechy with blocked sinuses

Hey @linearb -- Happy to see you still enjoy life. Not happy to hear you currently have insanely loud tinnitus. Have you considered doing some nebulization therapy? I've been doing a lot of research on nebulizing, and think it would be good for everybody with tinnitus to learn about. Can do wonders for protecting us from viruses, and all kinds of sinus congestion or infection.

There are many different things you can nebulize, from extremely dilute hydrogen peroxide (which some people cringe at, though I believe it's extremely safe), to NAC, glutathione, colloidal silver, etc. In this day and age (of COVID-19), I'm convinced everybody should learn how to use nebulization to reduce risk of various kinds of infections, and be able to treat them effectively if we do get one. -- Hope you can get over this latest bout soon!

P.S. You may want to check out 1 minute of the following video, which shows a pretty dramatic before and after of a man using nebulization to treat mold toxicity.

Hydrogen Peroxide Nebulizer for Sinus Cleansing - UPDATED!

 

[BrysonKingMe]

Currently, absolutely not.

The insane atonal electrical shriek through by brain that changes every second, gets louder with noise, and brings me to my knees and tears almost daily, is destroying my life.

Am I optimistic about the future? Yes, since I found out the cause and speaking with other people who got tinnitus from benzos, who are now in a better place.

Buyer beware.

 

[SmallRonnie]

I am able to enjoy things in life even though my tinnitus is very loud and I have pain almost always.

 

[Nick47]

The dark, wet winter in the UK will be tough.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

Tinnitus did to my life what Allied Bomber Command did to Dresden in February 1945.

 

[BadNeighbors]

I've struggled a bit lately. I never went to concerts or clubs, I don't own a TV, or a stereo. I never really wanted to be around noise.

My favorite days were days in bed reading and writing, which aligned well with my career. I've haven't read a new book in 6 months. It really bums me out as I have a box of books that I've been meaning to read. I just struggle to get lost in them the way I once did.

 

[Kriszti]

Still a firm "no".

 

[Lurius]

STILL A VERY FIRM NO FROM ME TOO!

 

[CW Dragon]

The dark, wet winter in the UK will be tough.

I view it positively. The winter darkness will help me sleep better, the only thing I enjoy doing now. I feel a gut punch every time I wake up.

 

[Nick47]

The winter darkness will help me sleep better, the only thing I enjoy doing now. I feel a gut punch every time I wake up.

@CW Dragon, me too. 2 jet engines before I open my eyes.

 

[ashcash]

This summer (July forward) I have been miserable. I want to do things to mainly take the focus off the tinnitus. Skiing, getting a cat, better understanding the cochlea, getting back into shape and gaining weight/muscle, more sleep, gardening, yoga are on the agenda.

Making the most of life instead wasting time casually watching random YouTube videos like mukbangs, pranks gone wrong, scammer videos, freaky eaters, hoarders, etc. I'm still trying to reach the final acceptance stage of the five stages of grief - will hopefully reach it in the next few years. I guess maybe take the next couple of years off and focus on achieving inner strength.

@CW Dragon, have you tried skiing again yet? I haven't been in years but I've been wanting to go. I'm too afraid there's some giant loud noise involved that I've somehow forgotten about or discounted pre-tinnitus.

 

[Lane]

I'm too afraid there's some giant loud noise involved that I've somehow forgotten about or discounted pre-tinnitus.

Hi @ashcash -- I was out shoveling snow one day, and when I came back in I noticed a pretty significant spike in my tinnitus which lasted for the rest of the day. I don't know if it was the wind, or the cold, or a combination of both. If you go skiing, you may want to be sure to do your best to keep your ears toasty warm!

 

[bobvann]

It's a tricky one. Some days are calmer, but on the next day I can feel as @AnthonyMcDonald put it once; being skinned alive.

 

[just1morething]

I'm caught between not wanting to live with head noise and not wanting to die. I think the airplane barotrauma messed up my left inner ear. I've tried almost everything except IT PRP injections. I have a static type noise mainly in my left ear. One ENT said he would put a tube in my left ear as I think he said I have negative pressure and a retracted ear drum. The noise seems to make me more tired.

 

[ashcash]

Hi @ashcash -- I was out shoveling snow one day, and when I came back in I noticed a pretty significant spike in my tinnitus which lasted for the rest of the day. I don't know if it was the wind, or the cold, or a combination of both. If you go skiing, you may want to be sure to do your best to keep your ears toasty warm!

Yes, since getting tinnitus, I have noticed that my ears are super sensitive to cold, like I can feel the cold all the way in my eardrum in a way I never have before. Which is weird because my mom who has some hearing loss, but no tinnitus, has always said she can't stand cold because it makes her ears hurt. I always thought she meant the outside of her ears, but now I get it, unfortunately.

 

[Mike T]

No! Some days I'm ok, other days just wait for the day to end.

 

[Óscar PP]

I still enjoy food, outdoor activities, watching TV series, listening to music, driving my car, and some other things.

But due to tinnitus I have stopped reading books, and engaging in any kind of intellectual activity is painful. I no longer can enjoy the sound of silence, and this for an introspective person is pure torture. I'm still around just in case a cure comes out in the next few years, without that hope I would've topped myself already.

I'm gonna quote myself here on a post I made 18 months ago to throw in some positivity.

Things have improved massively during this time in the sense that despite the loud high pitched ringing being pretty much unaltered, I can now sleep soundly for 7-10 hours a night (also thanks to 15 mg of Mirtazapine) and I'm back enjoying reading books and being in "silence" although it doesn't mean the same as before and it's never going to be as peaceful as it was pre-tinnitus, but somehow my brain has adapted to put the ringing into the background and not notice it unless I actively think about it.

Not everything is perfect though, I still fear my tinnitus may worsen in the future be it from noise or from the same virus that caused it in the first place, or for any other random reason, and I do still notice it and it becomes annoying when I have a headache or when for whatever reason I didn't manage to sleep more than 6 hours, for instance.

Bottom line is things can improve with time (I'm now 2 years and three months in), but we still need more research into this condition in order to find a cure or at least some drug that lowers the volume, because no matter how "habituated" we become to it, nothing guarantees it will stay at that level indefinitely.

 

[momus]

Tinnitus has actually improved my life. It's taught me that just about anything can be mitigated. It's made me much more aware of the small pleasures that are oh-so important to fully appreciate. Suffering is the path, sorry, but that's how it goes.

I remember when a Tibetan teacher named Ken McLeod was speaking to a packed house at my Zen Center in Portland. He asked if anyone had any questions, so I mentioned that my empathy for others had gone way up after getting tinnitus, and I wondered why that was?

He said, yes, that's how it works.

Next question?

 

[NiMo]

Some of you fockers are depressing. It's just a focking noise and it can't hurt you. Stop focusing on it and get back to enjoying life regardless of it. Stay busy, don't talk about it, have conversations, take up hobbies and get out of your own way.

 

[DeanD]

Some of you fockers are depressing. It's just a focking noise and it can't hurt you. Stop focusing on it and get back to enjoying life regardless of it. Stay busy, don't talk about it, have conversations, take up hobbies and get out of your own way.

If you ever end up with tinnitus like some of the 'depressing fockers' on here end up with, you'll maybe understand.

I have had tinnitus all my life. It was moderate and stable. For 45 years I didn't give a single shit about it. Never once Googled tinnitus, never even knew that support forums were needed and couldn't understand what the fuss was about. Lived my life and was 100% truly happy. Did everything, went everywhere great career and had big plans for the future.

Then things changed.

My tinnitus is so bad now my girlfriend can actually feel my head vibrating at times. I can't hear people on the phone now properly (call with doctor yesterday) because the tinnitus is so loud.

It pierces my ears and my head. I have 15 tones and they react and become even louder with low noise, like a fridge hum.

I still see you play guitar.

I get it. I was there living with tinnitus loud enough that at one point I went searching in an attic for the noise. I played guitar too without an issue. Still at that point it never once bothered me.

I wouldn't have got what all the fuss was about when I had that type of tinnitus either.

Now I do.

 

[Markku]

Some of you fockers are depressing. It's just a focking noise and it can't hurt you. Stop focusing on it and get back to enjoying life regardless of it. Stay busy, don't talk about it, have conversations, take up hobbies and get out of your own way.

First I thought you were joking, because there are even some so-called professionals whose thoughts align with the above, and so I hoped you were being sarcastic.

I have to say, if you were sincere, then your earlier post in another thread summarizes it well:

In my opinion most people won't feel too deeply about others' issues because they're so focused on their own. Honestly, myself included. We can give to charity and feel briefly for others, but if it's not any issue affecting our children, spouse or immediate family then we don't generally put a lot of effort in to understand and console.

Tinnitus is not the same for everyone. The scale literally goes from it being something you can only hear when you plug your ears to being tortured with highly reactive, multi-tone tinnitus that you can't mask anywhere, which pierces through your brain and incapacitates you to a level you couldn't imagine.

It's basically the difference of some music playing a mile away that you can barely hear to being blasted with large studio speakers in a confined, small room.

Please try to have some respect and empathy for those who are on the worse end of the spectrum. We have lost genuinely wonderful, caring, loving people to the consequences of severe tinnitus - those people are no longer with us to defend themselves and the actions they took, but let it be absolutely clear; they were not weak, it was not just a focking noise, and there was no option of just staying busy and taking up some new hobbies; their tinnitus was soul-crushing, life-altering, utterly debilitating. And please make no mistake; this it can be, for any of us. I'm 100% convinced that there is a level of tinnitus that nobody, not even the strongest of minds can survive.

All this said, I actually agree staying busy, avoiding making it the center of your thoughts as much as possible, were it through hobbies or so, can be very helpful for the garden variety of tinnitus. And some people definitely benefit not constantly reading about tinnitus.

But your comment, applying it across the board, is what too many in the general population without tinnitus (or with mild tinnitus) think. That thinking needs to be fought back at all costs.

 

[Lurius]

Some of you fockers are depressing. It's just a focking noise and it can't hurt you. Stop focusing on it and get back to enjoying life regardless of it. Stay busy, don't talk about it, have conversations, take up hobbies and get out of your own way.

Please, please go fuck yourself.

 

[Gee82]

Some of you fockers are depressing. It's just a focking noise and it can't hurt you. Stop focusing on it and get back to enjoying life regardless of it. Stay busy, don't talk about it, have conversations, take up hobbies and get out of your own way.

You are so ignorant.

 

[GeorgeLG]

As others have said, this is not one monolithic condition. It's a very wide spectrum with drastic extremes. I believe that there are mild cases with over focus and extreme cases with amazing fortitude. Like @Markku said, there is probably a level of tinnitus that even the toughest among us can't handle, including me. Fortunately most cases can be managed and skills learned to cope but to assume that everyone is the same is not helpful.

There is a pronounced tendency to project our experiences onto others through self absorption and to lack empathy. The inability for many to truly empathize with something not experienced themselves is part of the human condition. It goes both ways. The focked sometimes assumes that everybody is focked and the manageable cases sometime assume that the focked are cry babies and need a life. It is a form of validation and confirmation and is rooted in being internally focused. Typing focked btw is a pita because of spell correction, in the future I will just stick with f$&ked. There is a world outside of ourselves and many people live in a world that we have not experienced. Just because a few people of the 35,000 here go into a quiet room to find tinnitus and can benefit simply from some coping skills does not mean that everyone here has it that easy. Some of the descriptions of what is experienced here is dramatic and sobering, downright frightening .

We are not helping anybody when we make such throw away statements, even those with milder cases. If you're here, tinnitus is negatively impacting your life. If it wasn't, you would be peacefully enjoying your hobbies elsewhere.

Let's help those suffering and in need not criticize people not living our lives and experiencing the world as we do.

In addition, I believe that a dismissive attitude towards severe suffering in any condition is an attempt on the part of the person doing the dismissing of convincing themselves that this cannot happen to them. It is a fear based attempt at validating an internal theory that the worst among the us are bullshit and therefore not possible for them. I face this a lot with terminal cancer. Again, it's human nature but not helpful.

@NiMo, you have had tinnitus for one month. I hope you have a smooth ride and I know that you fear ending up like some of the stories that you have read and I hope that does not happen. You are here so it has not been an entirely smooth ride because you could not ignore it at first.

George

 

[NiMo]

Okay, I will try this again without video assistance. I stand corrected!

I have worked in the medical field for decades and I've seen the strongest of souls and the weakest of people. I've lost empathy for some people (mainly addicts) that waste their lives and don't help themselves, while generally negativity effect those that love them most.

Conversely I have a strong admiration for cancer patients and others with chronic illness that are sweet, strong willed individuals who obviously never deserved their fate.

My comment was callous and I should not have made it... for that I apologize. I personally have another lifetime affliction of folliculitis. Like tinnitus, it can be mild and very livable. Yet, its root is bacteria on skin and often associated with antibiotic resistance.

I believe dealing with folliculitis has made my transition to tinnitus possibly easier than it should be. In early stages of folliculitis I spent the first two years researching and tried everything including crushed garlic baths for a month. In the end nothing helped other than advice found on most common medical sites. No cure, just management.

I worried myself stupid at times with folliculitis and when I developed tinnitus I told myself I'm not doing that again. I should be more aware that it's not an easy transition for others. My job has hardened me and made me less empathetic towards some people.