Don't Listen When They Say "It Won't Go Away"

[Smartone202]

@Smartone202, I believe @Bill Bauer has mentioned several times he's aware of people's spike lasting as long as several months before calming down again. He may have even had this experience himself. -- Best to you!

Yeah I've read some of his posts on spikes. @Bill Bauer any thoughts on my situation?

Just to summarize- Tinnitus in 2004 after airhorn near the ear (initial injury). Calmed down after a few weeks. Then from my memory and everything I can recall, I believe it was at least another year after until it got to a point of becoming near non existent. Had to listen for it in a super quiet room.

Fast forward almost 13 YEARS later and only maybe 3-4 spikes lasting 2 weeks max I'd say during all that time, I'm at a wedding on July 15th 2018. Music is INSANE to the point where you'd think it was a nightclub. I still protect myself like I always have bc I know my one ear is damaged from 2004 injury. By protection I dont mean earplugs but I mean only being on the dance floor for 10-15 mins at a time. Towards the very end I stayed on dancefloor for almost an hour. I knew it was crossing the line and could tell my ear was bothering me. Still, didn't think TOO much of it bc hey, its been 13 years of NEVER worrying. I left that night with ringing in my ear and it has not gone away since.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

No one knows how long someone's spike will last. Many that post here have different things going on along with noise exposure. That should always be taken into consideration otherwise it's just guessing. There's many things that could a spike other than noise. So when one has a spike they must be cautious of many other things that can delay recovery. This can include nerves, nerve fibers and muscle in the ears or anyplace within the head. Some of the many things to be cautious of is awkward posture, neck bending, infections and sensitivity to certain medications.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

@DebInAustralia

It's hard to believe, but I do believe the brain is able to rewire itself.

With tinnitus only the peripheral nerve - the other pathway - (neuropathy) that related to the cure of certain physical conditions. Loud noise associated with the auditory eighth cranial nerve can't, but certain damage within the ear can heal.

 

[GregCA]

It's hard to believe, but I do believe the brain is able to rewire itself.

It's actually very believable: a leading scientific hypothesis is that this is the very reason for T's genesis itself (in a significant percentage of cases - mostly hearing loss related), i.e. a result of maladaptive plasticity. The brain can and does rewire itself, but it doesn't always do it "in the right direction", unfortunately.

 

[Jazzer]

I would like to say that I see myself as a realist.
All I am interested in is finding out the truth.
Discovering the reality of any situation gives me the truest possible options.
Sugar coating anything in life has never suited nor interested me.
If I am to die in three weeks time, please tell me.
Basically I am allergic to that glorious expression
"Bullshit !!!!!"

Definitely not for me, the
"Just choose happiness and enjoy the sunshine,"
candy, as expounded by the agony aunties.
Severe Tinnitus is a reality - many of us suffer with it - please save your pep talks for those with a 'sweet tooth' palate.

Within five minutes of waking up one terrible morning with 'pressure cooker' Tinnitus, I knew it was real, I just knew it was here to stay.
At my first hearing clinic, a charming young audiologist lady asked me how I coped.
I managed to stutter the words 'stoical acceptance," then I cried quietly.
She left her chair, came round her desk, and put a lovely arm around me.
A quite exquisite gesture.
I held on to her for a moment or two.
"There are things we can do for you," she said.

In reality, of course, I found out that there is actually 'nothing that can be done for you.'
At home, I had no desire to get up and leave my couch.
I did not want to see anybody - even my beautiful children or my grand children.

But I have to tell you - eventually, things started to improve - almost imperceptibly - there were some changes.
The noise lost some of its sting - because I obsessed less.
I still heard it - but I 'listened' less.
I am now very much better.
I function - I go out and walk - I meet people - I go out to dinner - I mix - I have my life back - albeit a different life.

So what helped?
Practicing deep relaxation.
Being a 'soft mouth - jaw hanger!'
Daily meditation.
"Yes I can still hear your interminable hissing, but right now I am going to drift off into a lovely meditational place of safety, and you can't even stop me!"
You see - accepting the 'reality' actually focused my mind on those things that were possible.

Reality is all there is folks.
Don't blame me.
I didn't write the book of life!
Dave x
Ex Jazzer

 

[Jazzer]

 

[Greg Sacramento]

mostly hearing loss related

Hi Greg: Do you have a recent link for this on hearing loss where the brain re-wires itself for the biological positive that's not about perception or mindfulness or anything similar? In other words from hearing cell loss. We know that vagus nerve micro treatment hasn't been too successful. The brain can re-wire itself sometimes if a physical cause is removed and hearing loss is limited or by the other pathway to the brainstem by way of the peripheral nerve.

 

[GregCA]

Hi Greg: Do you have a recent link for this on hearing loss where the brain re-wires itself for the biological positive that's not about perception or mindfulness or anything similar?

As far as I know we have no way to measure the "biological sound volume" (we haven't even figured out a way to define it, in spite of having some way of "visualizing tinnitus" via imaging for some subsets of root causes).

We only rely on patients to provide the "perception sound volume", so I'm not sure we're going to find any literature that talks about an efficacy over one of these 2 sampling points, given that we only have the latter and not the former.

The hypothesis around auditory cortex maladaptive plasticity is however prevalent in pretty much all sound therapies targeted at reducing sound volume (i.e. not focused on habituation), whether it be ACRN, windowed white noise, and tailor made notched sounds. Their modest success hints that the hypothesis has value for some of the patients, but not all of them (as do so many other T treatments).

I invite you to read volume (dB) improvements with WWN: http://www.tinnitusjournal.com/arti...ective-personalized-treatment-of-tinnitus.pdf

Whether this is due to "biological sound volume" change or some other dampening actor on the sound pathway is anyone's guess, I think.

 

[Greg Sacramento]

As far as I know we have no way to measure the "biological sound volume" (we haven't even figured out a way to define it, in spite of having some way of "visualizing tinnitus" via imaging for some subsets of root causes).

My bad as I thought you were referring to just biological re-wiring. We are (all) on the same page. I agree with sound therapies as I also often write about some of them. Thanks

 

[Bill Bauer]

I left that night with ringing in my ear and it has not gone away since.

Does this mean that your T hasn't faded compared to how it was 2 months ago?

Thank you for sharing your experience. I will keep in mind that one never really stops being vulnerable...

 

[Smartone202]

Does this mean that your T hasn't faded compared to how it was 2 months ago?

Thank you for sharing your experience. I will keep in mind that one never really stops being vulnerable...

My updates are all over these forums in various threads. In a nutshell, my situation looked to be improving for a couple of days recently, and it was an amazing feeling. The T had been the lowest in these 2+ months. But then things took a shockingly horrific turn. I am now currently experiencing Pulsatile Tinnitus in my left T ear. You read that right. I woke up last Saturday at 4am from a bad dream to the piercing in and out sound of Pulsating T. Constant beeping matching the sound of my pulse. Surreal.

It has been on and off ever since. I'm trying to convince myself that my brain just went haywire from anxiety and that this will calm down soon, but I'm losing hope day after day. Contemplating an MRI and/or a trip to the doc to try some anti-anxiety meds to see if that calms things down.

Thank you for your concern Bill.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I am now currently experiencing Pulsatile Tinnitus in my left T ear. You read that right. I woke up last Saturday at 4am to the piercing in and out sound of Pulsating T. It has been on and off every since.

The scariest part of any T sound is that it might be permanent. Based on what I read on this forum and on my own experiences, a sound can be confidently considered to be permanent if it is relentlessly at the same level for over three months. It makes sense to ignore all of the short term fluctuations (I know that it is easier said than done). It is too early for you to panic about this new sound.

 

[Smartone202]

The scariest part of any T sound is that it might be permanent. Based on what I read on this forum and on my own experiences, a sound can be confidently considered to be permanent if it is relentlessly at the same level for over three months. It makes sense to ignore all of the short term fluctuations (I know that it is easier said than done). It is too early for you to panic about this new sound.

It's just surreal how my T was doing better and then boom, perhaps the worst of all T sounds/scenarios begun one morning last weekend. I am praying you are right, but then again PT is known to be legitimately caused by something (i.e. Blood vessel obstruction). Do you think its possible this really is stress related and it may just subside soon or should I schedule an MRI?

 

[Bill Bauer]

Do you think its possible this really is stress related

Sorry, but I know very little about PT...

I have had the following experience on several occasions

Recently, after being in a car for over 6 hours (while wearing hearing protection), I noticed a new tinnitus tone. It was pulsatile tinnitus and it sounded like a bow torturing a fiddle - a "wow" sound at every heartbeat: "wow...wow...wow...wow...wow."

It is gone now, but it was certainly a scary experience.

Is that what pulsatile tinnitus sounds like? Has anyone experienced temporary pulsatile tinnitus under similar circumstances?

Thus far, it would always go away.

It's just surreal how my T was doing better and then boom

It is normal for fading to be interrupted by spikes, and for it to be followed by more fading...

 

[linearb]

Time for a truth bomb:

The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all kinds are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. It must be so. If there ever is a time of plenty, this very fact will automatically lead to an increase in the population until the natural state of starvation and misery is restored. In a universe of electrons and selfish genes, blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

Richard Dawkins

this first part of this true; on the other hand, many people including me feel that Dawkins is a boring and tiresome self-righteous jerk who isn't half as wise as he assumes he is.

The second part of this to me reads as exactly the kind of reductive nonsense that gets Dawkins into trouble. I don't know what the fundamental nature of reality is, but that dude is equally clueless.

Athiests who insist that they've got it all figured out are just as boring as religious fanatics.