Does Everyone REALLY Get Used to This?

[Marie79]

That is what so many people say. Except for very few that have severe tinnitus.

Sorry I know I've been posting a lot. I'm just so tired. I don't hear it outside so I know it's not that bad but indoors I usually hear it.

 

[linearb]

"everyone" is a pretty big number, so, I doubt it.

In my real, meatspace life, I know a number of people with pretty severe tinnitus (can hear it in all environments, in some cases makes it completely impossible to listen to music, etc) who seem to get along just fine, and I've never met anyone offline who says it completely ruined their lives.

YMMV, though, if you dig deep enough to find outliers and horror stories you will have no problem doing it.

If you can't hear it in normal outside environments I think it's incredibly unlikely that you won't adapt at some point. Do you have a history of problems with anxiety or depression? Do you have any other ongoing issues with happiness? If so, you may not really improve until you deal with that stuff.

 

[Alue]

I'm sorry, but, wanna trade places? I would LOVE to only be able to hear it indoors. It does seem like almost everyone with 'mild' tinnitus get used to it and get to the point where they don't notice it until they are looking for it.

"everyone" is a pretty big number, so, I doubt it.

In my real, meatspace life, I know a number of people with pretty severe tinnitus (can hear it in all environments, in some cases makes it completely impossible to listen to music, etc) who seem to get along just fine, and I've never met anyone offline who says it completely ruined their lives.

Impossible to listen to music yet seem to get along just fine. Sounds like they just put up with it and not complain, but that doesn't mean it's not a huge drag on their life. I don't know about others, but tinnitus that seems to compete with music has taken away any enjoyment I once got from listening to music.

 

[linearb]

Impossible to listen to music yet seem to get along just fine. Sounds like they just put up with it and not complain, but that doesn't mean it's not a huge drag on their life. I don't know about others, but tinnitus that seems to compete with music has taken away any enjoyment I once got from listening to music.

In that case the person is in their 60s, and probably giving up music seems like less of a bummer when so many of your peers are dead, or completely bedbound, etc (though he's had pretty severe tinnitus for 25 years I think, and has told me several times it just never really bothered him much... I only found out about it when his daughter mentioned it and said that he has a hard time understanding conversation if there's lots of background noise, and usually has the TV turned up pretty loud). But, yeah, I mean... "just fine" does not mean "have 100% the life they want to". I don't think it's a "huge drag" on their lives because these people have all told me that they don't really think about tinnitus consciously unless I bring it up. And, really, no one has "100% the life they want to", if you hold yourself to unreasonable standards you will be disappointed every time.

If you're sure you can't enjoy music anymore, then you can either accept that you'll have no enjoyment in your life, or find other things that you do enjoy. Simple, but not easy.

 

[Sam Bridge]

Outside can mean many different things. If i step outside onto my street i will hear it unless theres cars going by because other than that its silence. I assume OP lives on a busy area?

 

[Marie79]

"everyone" is a pretty big number, so, I doubt it.

In my real, meatspace life, I know a number of people with pretty severe tinnitus (can hear it in all environments, in some cases makes it completely impossible to listen to music, etc) who seem to get along just fine, and I've never met anyone offline who says it completely ruined their lives.

YMMV, though, if you dig deep enough to find outliers and horror stories you will have no problem doing it.

If you can't hear it in normal outside environments I think it's incredibly unlikely that you won't adapt at some point. Do you have a history of problems with anxiety or depression? Do you have any other ongoing issues with happiness? If so, you may not really improve until you deal with that stuff.

Dr. Hubbard says 98% of people habituate. He has it pretty badly too.

 

[linearb]

2% of 1,000,000 people is still a lot, but, I would imagine that the 2% probably in general:
* have co-morbid psychological conditions
and/or
* have tinnitus a lot worse than "can't hear it outdoors"

You're going to be fine. I'd say listen to Dr. Hubbard and go from there.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

depends on what you call "getting used to it".

5 years ago i hurt my groin very bad. I spent a solid 9 months feeling as if I had just been kicked in the nads before having 3 surgeries to release and fix muscles that were crushing nerves that ran to a very sensitive place. I still have some discomfort, thankfully higher up in the abdomen now.

I can say I had moved on with my life. I wasnt happy about it, but it was just part of life.

I imagine tinnitus will be similar one day. For now I can say that it's worse than what I previously dealt with, as crazy as that sounds.

 

[John G]

Dr. Hubbard says 98% of people habituate. He has it pretty badly too.

98% eh? Hmmm.Also.. how do we know what a bad case of T really is. Who is this Hubbard person anyways

 

[Marie79]

98% eh? Hmmm.Also.. how do we know what a bad case of T really is. Who is this Hubbard person anyways

He is on here. You can search him. He is a psychologist in NYC that specializes in tinnitus. He does Skype sessions. I think there are ways to see if someone has T really bad. I mean I have spikes that are awful for a few seconds at a time and they terrify me.

My husband went shooting one time without ear protection and he said for 2 days his ringing was so bad he couldn't even HEAR over it. Some people have it that bad. He is better now but still has T. He is the type that can be like "oh yea I can hear it and then effortlessly not hear it." when he listens for it he can hear it almost anywhere. I think it just takes ALOT of brain training? For him he didn't train to not hear it he is just very naturally not an anxious person and I think that has a lot to do with it

 

[Alue]

depends on what you call "getting used to it".

5 years ago i hurt my groin very bad. I spent a solid 9 months feeling as if I had just been kicked in the nads before having 3 surgeries to release and fix muscles that were crushing nerves that ran to a very sensitive place. I still have some discomfort, thankfully higher up in the abdomen now.

Ouch. I've had kidney stones, that's my only comparison but not for 9 months straight.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

Ouch. I've had kidney stones, that's my only comparison but not for 9 months straight.

ya know what? Tinnitus is worse. I knew that would eventually go away, even if it meant removal. You only need one. This? lol. I've got another 50 years of this joy.

 

[linearb]

when he listens for it he can hear it almost anywhere. I think it just takes ALOT of brain training? For him he didn't train to not hear it he is just very naturally not an anxious person and I think that has a lot to do with it

I have two friends like this; one of them has much worse hearing overall than I do, but says he rarely thinks about any of it because he's just good at screening stuff out.

People with higher anxiety are prone to just constantly scanning the environment for threats, which makes tinnitus a bummer. However, it's probably not blind chance there are so many of us out there -- if you think about the conditions our species must have evolved under, it was useful to have people around who always assumed that a dark shape moving in was a wolf coming to kill us and not a harmless deer.

You can't snap your fingers and change who you are and how you relate to the world, but, some change is possible with time and diligence or else I probably wouldn't still be here, let alone moving forward with life and feeling basically enthusiastic about it

 

[Marie79]

I have two friends like this; one of them has much worse hearing overall than I do, but says he rarely thinks about any of it because he's just good at screening stuff out.

People with higher anxiety are prone to just constantly scanning the environment for threats, which makes tinnitus a bummer. However, it's probably not blind chance there are so many of us out there -- if you think about the conditions our species must have evolved under, it was useful to have people around who always assumed that a dark shape moving in was a wolf coming to kill us and not a harmless deer.

You can't snap your fingers and change who you are and how you relate to the world, but, some change is possible with time and diligence or else I probably wouldn't still be here, let alone moving forward with life and feeling basically enthusiastic about it

Do you think habituation is still possible for us? I am totally the high anxiety person. CRAPY... there are no wolfs to kill in my world

 

[GregCA]

Dr. Hubbard says 98% of people habituate. He has it pretty badly too.

I've seen this number tossed around before...
Are People Who Get Tinnitus Generally Unhappy About Their Life?

Needless to say, I'm quite skeptical about it.

 

[linearb]

Do you think habituation is still possible for us? I am totally the high anxiety person. CRAPY... there are no wolfs to kill in my world

I think habituation is a weird word that means different things to different people, but I can hear my tinnitus in pretty much all environments and still have large chunks of time where it's not present in my consciousness so I think you will be fine if you're anything like me.

 

[Madi H]

It's weird cause it's true. I mean I get upset sometimes. My T fluctuates all the time. It goes low to high in volume and the sound always changes, especially at night. Sometimes it's a little hard to sleep but then I remember my lazy behind has napped my entire life, so what the hell can a little noise do to me? I basically said if I don't give two shits about other things, then it is completely my choice to give a shit about T.

Honestly when you get T you have two choices you have to reach at one point.

To sulk forever and accept the end of the world
Or
To continue to live and be happy

And trust me everyone starts off at the first option. The people with negative answers haven't truly reached the second yet.

 

[Marie79]

I've seen this number tossed around before...
Are People Who Get Tinnitus Generally Unhappy About Their Life?

Needless to say, I'm quite skeptical about it.

No way. I know SO MANY people that have it now that I have it. So many happy people. I think it's probably anxious people that have it affect their lives as much maybe?

 

[Oli]

Yes I also think the same thing, we are prone to more dwell with it especially me cause I have OCD
Im the most anxious person I know and tinnitus send me in the worst depression of my life
Zoloft just start doing something
Like I think of killing myself one time an hour and before it was 24/7

 

[Madi H]

I believe it!! I've met other teens with T and tons of adults that work at my school with it. My nana, uncle and cousin have T, but they don't care. I've had anxiety problems before T. I have a type A personality.

 

[Madi H]

@Oli
I'm happy they help! Depression runs in my family but I don't take my medication. Sometimes I think it's healthy to cry even if I find know why. If it gets to be too much I go on a walk or drive to clear my mind.
Moving forward is important and it's great that you've started 'living' again.

Life isn't over when you get T. Life will just pass you by if you continue to dwell on T.

 

[Telis]

No way. I know SO MANY people that have it now that I have it. So many happy people. I think it's probably anxious people that have it affect their lives as much maybe?

What's "it"? T with hearing loss? T with deafness? T with ear pain? T with H? T you can hear in only in the background? Multiple Sound T? Low frequency T? High pitch T? Pulsating T? T in the brain? T in just the ears? T that causes migraines? T with vertigo? Reactive T? Objective T? Fluctuating T? Fleeting T?

 

[GregCA]

No way. I know SO MANY people that have it now that I have it. So many happy people. I think it's probably anxious people that have it affect their lives as much maybe?

I don't know what you are saying "no way" to, but you seem to be claiming your anecdotal evidence trumps statistics from the American Tinnitus Association.

 

[linearb]

What's "it"? T with hearing loss? T with deafness? T with ear pain? T with H? T you can hear in only in the background? Multiple Sound T? Low frequency T? High pitch T? Pulsating T? T in the brain? T in just the ears? T that causes migraines? T with vertigo? Reactive T? Objective T? Fluctuating T? Fleeting T?

probably, probably not, maybe, probably not, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, sure, probably not, maybe, maybe, almost certainly not, probably, unlikely because most people over 25 have some fleeting T and barely think of it so I wouldn't even call it a condition.

The only people who even know what all these things are, are people with catastrophic tinnitus, and people who are obsessively fixated with their tinnitus. Those things probably account for the 1-2% of people with T who have the hardest time habituating.

 

[linearb]

I don't know what you are saying "no way" to, but you seem to be claiming your anecdotal evidence trumps statistics from the American Tinnitus Association.

I believe she is probably saying "no way" to the question you didn't actually ask, "are people with tinnitus generally unhappy with their lives"; in context it's easy to see how it could be parsed that way.

98% might be high; there aren't really any good huge, very long term, super large sample sized studies on this. "Some majority" is probably better. For instance, a 700 person study of TRT concluded that 54% of subjects experienced some degree of habituation; unfortunately we can't just jump to "okay, so 46% of people never habituate" because there was no follow up here, so it's entirely possible (personally I'd say likely) that some of those people who didn't habituate in the study period, eventually did.

Based on my own experience -- if you'd asked me 18 or 24 months after severe onset whether I'd ever habituate to any degree, I would have said "probably not, life is awful, kill me now". I'm singing a different tune today -- but it's extremely time consuming and expensive to follow hundreds of people for years and years, and even if you do, understanding all the co-factors at play is probably impossible.

 

[GregCA]

The only people who even know what all these things are, are people with catastrophic tinnitus, and people who are obsessively fixated with their tinnitus. Those things probably account for the 1-2% of people with T who have the hardest time habituating.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 15% of the general public — over 50 million Americans — experience some form of tinnitus. Roughly 20 million people struggle with burdensome chronic tinnitus, while 2 million have extreme and debilitating cases.​

That's from the ATA's site.

If my math is correct, then among T sufferers:
- 4% haven't habituated at all and have a debilitating/disabling form of T
- 40% have "burdensome T" - whatever that means, but it doesn't sound like it means they habituated well
- the rest must be living with it without too much of a burden (which may fit well into the "habituated" bucket)

It doesn't look like a vast majority habituates. A small majority yes, but not large enough to dwarf the other guys.

 

[linearb]

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control estimates that nearly 15% of the general public — over 50 million Americans — experience some form of tinnitus. Roughly 20 million people struggle with burdensome chronic tinnitus, while 2 million have extreme and debilitating cases.​

That's from the ATA's site.

If my math is correct, then among T sufferers:
- 4% haven't habituated at all and have a debilitating/disabling form of T
- 40% have "burdensome T" - whatever that means, but it doesn't sound like it means they habituated well
- the rest must be living with it without too much of a burden (which may fit well into the "habituated" bucket)

It doesn't look like a vast majority habituates. A small majority yes, but not large enough to dwarf the other guys.

well, there's a lot of guess work here, and we don't actually have the sources of the data the ATA used.

I've got burdensome T and my life is pretty awesome so I don't necessarily agree that "burdensome tinnitus" means "no habituation now or ever". But, we're snipping about semantics here because what we don't have is a 20,000 person 50-year study on tinnitus outcomes and lifetime happiness ratings that's controlled against another 20,000 person 50-year study on lifetime happiness outcomes in general. So your guess is as good as mine, and when you have a cheery outlook it's a lot easier to do cheery guesswork.

 

[GregCA]

well, there's a lot of guess work here, and we don't actually have the sources of the data the ATA used.

We do. It's in the quote I provided. The source is the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
What's not explained is the CDC's methodology.

 

[Hialeah]

Ok someone tell me how I'm going to habituate, 2 jets engine in my ears, very high power transformer in my head,reactive, hyperacusis, even when I walk my steps sound in my ears, 4 different noises, never going down, 1 year no 1 seconds of peace in my head my brain and my life, I tried everything and nothing, what I have to say is that is a shame still nothing to relieve this horrendous condition.

 

[Marie79]

I don't know what you are saying "no way" to, but you seem to be claiming your anecdotal evidence trumps statistics from the American Tinnitus Association.

where is the percentage for the ATA? I got that 98% from Dr. Hubbard on here.