Can Any Practice Help — While We Wait for a Cure?

[Jazzer]

I desperately want a cure for the 'hell on earth' that is tinnitus. I long for it.

It took almost everything from me, as I'm sure you all know by now.

BUT - it isn't here yet, is it? We currently do not have one.

In the meantime - I would like to ask everybody with significant loud tinnitus if they utilise any methods to alleviate their symptoms, which they can recommend as being genuinely helpful to them.

I am not looking to promote anything in place of a cure - nothing on earth beats that. Nothing!

But - have you folks found anything at all that helps?

 

[linearb]

I try to meditate twice a day, and I take Clonazepam.

The period of time I spent meditating with earplugs in was probably pretty helpful, too; don't do that much anymore. Of course, the ambient noise where I live now is practically earplug-level compared to the city, ha.

EDIT: I shoot for two 15-minute blocks a day, that are 5 minutes empathy-related work ("metta"), and 10 minutes breath or body scan focused. I almost never make that bar, but if I get 5 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes at night, great.

 

[GregCA]

Making music seems to help me: it doesn't reduce the tinnitus volume, but it certainly seems to take away some of its nasty power. I've noticed that this sometimes extends for a few hours after I stop playing even.

For a moment, my brain is able to focus on the music and put tinnitus in the background: it's still there and I can hear it all along, but it feels like a background noise rather than a foreground noise.

 

[Lins12]

I came here to ask the same question. I'm going into my 4th month with my tinnitus and am hopeful but anxious about all the research.

I shared my story in the introduce yourself section, but the TL;DR is that I have high frequency hearing loss (at 8000 Hz) which is not common for my age (40). No known cause. Something also happened physically to my ears as one eardrum has scarring and a middle ear bone in the other ear is too reactive to sound. Both are consistent with a history of ear infections, but I'm not even sure I have even had one infection. An ER doctor diagnosed me with an infection in July - when all this started, but my ENT (who saw my ear 2 months later), didn't think it was an infection as I never had pain or a fever. So no one seems to know at this point...

I was / am anxious and scared. I've never really had anxiety before, but I had a panic attack, and had quite severe psychological paralysis. I still get anxious and have my days / moments of tears, but I have more hope. Learning about some of the research being done was a huge step in me getting better. It gave me hope and reminded me that medicine can and does change. I forgot that for the first 2.5 months and thought that the way it was now would be the way it will always be.

But, I can still get anxious just waiting. How does one wait to see if the research will actually lead to anything? And how does one wait to then see if the device / results end up helping me?

I'm anxious about the research today.

I know that in the meantime all I can do is live my life. Some things I'm finding helpful are prayer, going to spiritual direction appointments (so I can talk about the spiritual impacts of all this on me), a benzo (I'm 1 month into Clonazepam), getting outside - I started walking nearly every day with a neighbor, gardening, and being outside barefoot to literally get my feet on the ground, writing down my thoughts, going to counselling, and have started looking into volunteer opportunities.

I may consider going back to work on a casual basis, but that seems more stress inducing than volunteering, so we shall see. I may look into just doing casual pet sitting.

I used to love reading, but am having a hard time with it lately, but I find comfort just going to the local library. I started just going there and browsing the DVDs. My husband and I often have movies to watch now. Some days my goal is just to get to the end of his work shift, so we can then curl up and watch one of the movies. I have a weighted blanket, which I have also found comforting. I have also started checking the free events at the local library. We have a local recreation department aswell, that offers more affordable options for all sorts of activities. I plan on checking their winter catalogue when it's realized and hopefully finding an art and/or dance class.

My goal now is to try to have something preplanned / arranged for a minimum of 5 days of the week - whether it's a planned walk, volunteering, going to an event, a class or the spiritual direction etc That way I can better deal with the paralysis that accompanies my anxiety. If I have something already in place, it takes away some of the energy needed to make daily decisions. And it gets me out of the house, out of my head and into life a bit more.

But some days, especially now as I'm just starting to get things in place, all I can do is remind myself that all this research has to lead to something, at some point, and I just have to hang on until we get there.

 

[Lane]

(I'm 1 month into Clonazepam)

Hi @Lins12 -- Just to let you know if you're not aware of it, but Clonazepam and other benzodiazepines can cause or exacerbate tinnitus. Not saying people shouldn't use it if they absolutely need it, but sometimes people use it without it being an urgent necessity, and then develop a dependence on them. -- Take care!