Confused 50 Million Americans

[Rico Napoli]

Have T yet only couple thousand on this board. Where is everyone ? Confused 3 months in nobody has heard of tinnitus including myself . Been to 2 ENT and tell me have to habituate. Habituate ? Audiologist says perfect hearing for my age with minor SHL. Scared, frustrated and angry.

 

[skywalker]

Hello & welcome, your saying what most of us are thinking

 

[GMac14]

You would be surprised how many people have different severities of tinnitus. After my onset I began asking around and found several close family friends that either had T or knew someone who did. For example: My former boss has it, my neighbor has it, 2 of my best friends dads have it and a number of friends who are dj's and in bands have it. My uncle has it, and believe it or not my own BROTHER has it. (I guess he's had it since he was a kid and didn't know it was unusual. ) Of course, not all of these were due to noise exposure. Some were from disease, physical damage, ototoxic medication, childbirth??? etc.
In fact, I started a new job in February and made sure everyone knew how serious my condition was. A little over a month later, we hired a new tech who rode a Harley to work. Naturally, I asked him if he wore hearing protection, and he said "no, but I should though because the ringing in my head gets a lot worse when I ride." The guy had tinnitus and didn't even know it was a thing. Just sort of accepted it and moved on. (Frustrating... I know) obviously I felt sheepish after making a big fuss over mine but at the end of the day we all have different tolerances and symptoms so it's really a toss up. My advice is to ask around and see if you know anyone who else has it. I bet you'll be surprised. Most importantly try not to dwell on it and just wear hearing protection when you feel you need to.

 

[Ricky81]

Hopefully there will be a cure in the next few years. We can send people to the moon and robots to mars but can't fix our EARS??

 

[awbw8]

In a lot of ways, what's going on in between our ears is just as complicated as what's going on in the galaxy - at least when it comes to humans understanding it.

There's a lot to learn, but we know a lot also. Though there isn't currently a cure, our brains and bodies are very, very adaptable and even if the sound doesn't go away, your brain can learn to push it into the background (like GMac14's Harley-riding co-worker did) with time and the right support.

Hang in there

 

[martin12]

I also find it very strange that quote "50 million" americans have Tinnitus. I don't think that's accurate one bit. Maybe 50 M americans have experienced temporary Tinnitus lasting a few seconds or minutes, however likely only 5-10M have chronic T.

 

[Marlene]

Martin ,have you seen how many on this site alone have Tinnitus ,plus all others Tinnitus sites ,Go have a look then say it's mostly temporary Tinnitus .
When you see in the US how many millions live there,5 million doesn't sound far off the mark to me .
I'm my own family I know of 6 ,and that's only the ones I know of .will look up the UK numbers
I was sat in my Drs surgery back in Feb ,3 of us sat with chronic T on one bench ,as we found out sat chatting .
Wish mine was temporary ,we beg to differ hey .

 

[T-Saiyan]

1 year ago i didnt even know what tinnitus was.
50 million americans? yeah right. trust me if that was the case not only would people be well aware of T but a cure or efficient treatment would have been available by now.
.................

 

[LadyDi]

I think that 50 million is just all Americans who ever experienced tinnitus, even for a short while. According to the American Tinnitus Association, of those 50 million, 16 million are bothered enough by it that they seek medical attention. And two million of the 50 million are seriously impacted by it on a daily basis, to the point they cannot function normally. I have seen similar figures from other sources.

 

[Grace]

I think that 50 million is just all Americans who ever experienced tinnitus, even for a short while. According to the American Tinnitus Association, of those 50 million, 16 million are bothered enough by it that they seek medical attention. And two million of the 50 million are seriously impacted by it on a daily basis, to the point they cannot function normally. I have seen similar figures from other sources.

Are we the 16 million that have it constantly that are bothered by it? So i guess 18 million and 2 million of us seek help? And the rest just have say fleeting t but not constant.

 

[LadyDi]

Hi @Grace : As I read it, the 16 million are among the 50 million and were annoyed by T enough to a least go to a doctor and say WTF? Those people, though, may have nothing more than one med visit and move on. Of the 50 million, 2 million (we can assume they are a subset of the 16 million but who knows? Maybe they never went to a doc about T) are disabled enough by tinnitus that it impacts them daily in some way. I assume many of us here fall into that 2 million. I do think that one (not all) reason tinnitus receives less attention than other disorders is that a lot of people indeed just "live with it." Of course, that may be they've gotten the mainstream message there is no choice and just decided to suck it up.

At the end of the day, who cares if it is 2 million or 2 hundred that have intrusive tinnitus. People are suffering.

 

[RichL]

Those on Facebook, I presume all of you, type in world tinnitus forum and read the comments on that page, by the looks of it allot of people seem to be suffering without any knowledge of, or have any idea of a starting point to seek any sort of help.
I know there is only 12,000 odd likes but it makes me wonder how many people just continue suffering in silence from the ignorance of the medical field!
I know after I was told to just put up with it, I was one who continued suffering without seeking any more help from anyone.

Rich

 

[dan]

there is tinnitus and there is TINNITUS!

 

[Ricky81]

Gallop should do a Tinnitus poll. They are really good at finding the right demographics and data and making calls and getting an accurate percentage.

I would trust Gallop if they surveyed and found out what percentage of People have T in USA.
The percentage would also differ from Country to Country, for example countries at war will have higher T due to noise trauma.
Same with countries that have loud concerts, music etc.
While countries in Africa might have lower T percentage.

 

[martin12]

About 1-2M out of 370 M Americans have Chronic T (longer than 1 year). The odds of chronic T are far less than 1%.

The chances of getting Chronic T are extremely low, but do happen to some people (we can be called the unlucky ones).

Put it this way, if 50 M Americans had Chronic T the waiting line to see an ENT would likely be a year, maybe 2...

 

[Ilija]

About 1-2M out of 370 M Americans have Chronic T (longer than 1 year). The odds of chronic T are far less than 1%.

The chances of getting Chronic T are extremely low, but do happen to some people (we can be called the unlucky ones).

Put it this way, if 50 M Americans had Chronic T the waiting line to see an ENT would likely be a year, maybe 2...

Is that just your estimate or is it a proven statistic, I'm curious because well to be honest I'm looking for any "proof" if you will that my Tinnitus isn't permanent.

 

[aylp]

@LadyDi

I beg to differ..The numbers are important in the world we are living in.

If the numbers are small, the sickness are not well known, there are no researchers getting interested in, there is no medical field journal publishing research in that matter.

On the other side, few numbers do not create a market, if the sickness is not lethal nobody pays attention to those who are sick, no research funds are generated. Thus again no researcher gets interested in it as there is no fund to be used in double-blind experiments, staff expenses, medical equipment etc.

A few examples: wobblers is a support group for people who are cursed with bilateral vestibulopathy. These people are poisoned by modern medicine (aminoglycoside antibiotics). Their vestibular system are knocked down permanently. They cannot see clearly, they have oscillopsia i.e jumping vision, they cannot walk and hardly can function. Their numbers are so small -probably less than 5000 around the globe- that no research is "profitable"

moreover the modern medicine's current focus is 'lethality' and 'epidemics'. Ebola is the perfect example. Look at all the fundraising and public campaigns. The 'life quality' perspective is not very popular in medicine. That's why, in my opinion, we get "get used to it" a lot.

T is indeed very common, more common that we think it is, but the severity is the key. We suffer. Myself, one of my ears is paralysed, does not hear well, the things it hears it hears wrong, it makes its own noises for every sound it hears, and it disturbs my vestibular system.

It is at least encouraging for us that numbers are inflated to include those with acute T. We can therefore at least satisfy 1 of the criteria modern medicine is interested in: Market.

Small market+no lethality+no epidemics: humanity may even find a unified theory of gravity or time travel but still no cure for that disease.

 

[LadyDi]

Hi @aylp: What I meant by that statement is that "numbers aren't important" from a moral and ethical stand. You mention patients with bilateral vestibulopathy (which sounds horrible. Helps me remember there could be worse things than having tinnitus). They are suffering. They deserve treatments and research that can help them. But that doesn't happen with most of the "orphan diseases" because, like you say, there is little funding for research and little financial incentive for the medical marketplace.

Having said that: 2 million people with chronic and often disabling tinnitus in the US alone is nothing to sneeze at. As people here repeatedly report, it now is the number disability claim among US veterans. I think this is one reason we are starting to see more research and investment in T treatments; the medical marketplace has recognized there is money to be made. Also, some doctors have come realize how debilitating the condition can be.

But tinnitus will be a tough nut to crack, as I have said before. It's a brain disorder that just happens to start with the ears, and brain disorders are difficult to treat. We still have no cures, and few decent treatments, for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

And as you said above: tinnitus doesn't kill you (even if it can make you wish it would), it's not contagious and its patients aren't visually disfigured or crippled by it. I, for one, would at least like to see more money put into public awareness campaigns. Some tinnitus is preventable but people are unaware they are putting themselves at risk.

 

[dochoppy]

Yes, Tinnitus along with hearing loss is the number on service connected disablitiy, I think the US pays about 2billion per year now in disability, that number will continue to rise after over Ten years over war veterans return home with or develop tinnitus as well. 2 billion dollars is enough money for someone to take notice of, even the federal government with its deep pockets, will start to take notice, so I urge all veterans who have Tinnitus/hearing loss to file for disabiltiy with the VA.

 

[Marlene]

I'm in agreement there ,if more Vets In the USA ,UK ,Canada etc ,got media attention ,things will move on I'm sure of that ,the disability bill alone for T ,will only be getting bigger as each year pass ,the general public will get behind service personnel ,needs the newspapers and TV coverage .Shame these Goverments into acting .
Yesterday on BBC TV ,talking about a probe landing on some comet ,look at the waste of money spent on that ,that amount of cash could have been better spent on earth .people here raising funds ,to get much needed operations done .Plain Crazy or What