Going Insane from Tinnitus?

[LostTruck]

Sorry you're suffering so bad, I have been there too. One thing to keep in mind is that most acoustic trauma caused tinnitus fades away in 6-18 months. I have had several really bad acoustic traumas in the last 15 years or so, and they have faded away to zero or near zero each time, it just takes a long time.

My first trauma was from exposure to very loud power equipment with no ear protection. I had screaming loud tinnitus, pain and fullness, and bad hyperacusis. I thought my life was over and was suicidal. But, it all went away in just over one year. Faded to zero.

Your tinnitus will improve over the months and could very well fade to zero, but you must ALWAYS protect your ears from now on.

P.S. I would not take any antidepressants as they could actually make your tinnitus worse. Do some research before taking any drugs like that.

I have some questions for you. After your acoustic traumas, were you working a job during your recovery/healing periods? Were you exposing yourself to normal sounds still? Or did you decide to overprotect and isolate in a quiet room with earmuffs/earplugs most of the time? Was your tinnitus ever reactive?

I have severe reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis going on for about 1 month now. I understand it's early in the recovery process but I'm really struggling to cope. My mental health and sleep are terrible. I had to stop working and moved back in with my parents. I decided to overprotect and stay home almost all day while wearing either ear muffs or plugs as much as possible. I feel like this gives my ears the best chance to heal first and then if I see improvement I would try to slowly re introduce normal sounds again.

I'm not sure how much longer I can function like this though. It feels like I'm going crazy and losing my mind more and more each day. The tinnitus is so loud I hear it almost all the time and I can no longer mask it as effectively due to the reactive component. I'm so depressed and sad. I get bad anxiety at times too. I will not take any medication for those issues because I do not want to risk making my tinnitus and hyperacusis worse. Almost all medications are ototoxic and have the risk of making tinnitus and hyperacusis worse. So I need to find another way to cope with my mental health symptoms while waiting and giving my ears more time to heal and recover.

The loneliness from isolation is terrible. I think I may need to try to get a job and go back to work to establish some sort of normalcy in my life again. But I'm worried about this potentially making my tinnitus and hyperacusis worse also. Outside of the house, there are so many things that are out of my control and could be a risk. I don't think I can go back to my former job because the environment is too loud at times. Do you think if I got a job doing something in retail, that it would be safe to do so? I do not want to do anything that could risk my recovery and healing. As long as the store is fairly quiet and maybe they would allow me to wear ear plugs while working, it may be ok? I'm not qualified to do any remote work from home jobs, plus I feel like that may just continue to make me feel even more isolated and lonely.

But I think I may need to try to work again to regain a sense of purpose and accomplishment in my life. Plus if the job has a physical component it could make my body tired and I would sleep better. But I want to go about it in a careful and responsible manner while not risking my recovery and healing.

You seem very well versed and have a lot of experience with tinnitus and hyperacusis. I would appreciate to hear what you would recommend I do and any other additional insight/advice you could give me. Thank you.

 

[gameover]

I have some questions for you. After your acoustic traumas, were you working a job during your recovery/healing periods? Were you exposing yourself to normal sounds still? Or did you decide to overprotect and isolate in a quiet room with earmuffs/earplugs most of the time? Was your tinnitus ever reactive?

I have severe reactive tinnitus and hyperacusis going on for about 1 month now. I understand it's early in the recovery process but I'm really struggling to cope. My mental health and sleep are terrible. I had to stop working and moved back in with my parents. I decided to overprotect and stay home almost all day while wearing either ear muffs or plugs as much as possible. I feel like this gives my ears the best chance to heal first and then if I see improvement I would try to slowly re introduce normal sounds again.

I'm not sure how much longer I can function like this though. It feels like I'm going crazy and losing my mind more and more each day. The tinnitus is so loud I hear it almost all the time and I can no longer mask it as effectively due to the reactive component. I'm so depressed and sad. I get bad anxiety at times too. I will not take any medication for those issues because I do not want to risk making my tinnitus and hyperacusis worse. Almost all medications are ototoxic and have the risk of making tinnitus and hyperacusis worse. So I need to find another way to cope with my mental health symptoms while waiting and giving my ears more time to heal and recover.

The loneliness from isolation is terrible. I think I may need to try to get a job and go back to work to establish some sort of normalcy in my life again. But I'm worried about this potentially making my tinnitus and hyperacusis worse also. Outside of the house, there are so many things that are out of my control and could be a risk. I don't think I can go back to my former job because the environment is too loud at times. Do you think if I got a job doing something in retail, that it would be safe to do so? I do not want to do anything that could risk my recovery and healing. As long as the store is fairly quiet and maybe they would allow me to wear ear plugs while working, it may be ok? I'm not qualified to do any remote work from home jobs, plus I feel like that may just continue to make me feel even more isolated and lonely.

But I think I may need to try to work again to regain a sense of purpose and accomplishment in my life. Plus if the job has a physical component it could make my body tired and I would sleep better. But I want to go about it in a careful and responsible manner while not risking my recovery and healing.

You seem very well versed and have a lot of experience with tinnitus and hyperacusis. I would appreciate to hear what you would recommend I do and any other additional insight/advice you could give me. Thank you.

@LostTruck, it looks like @jjflyman missed your post. Maybe he will respond still. I can't answer for him, but I don't think anyone, including a success story like him, can tell you how much exposure your ears can take. It's uper individual, nobody knows, you will find by trial. Probably better to err on the conservative side.

I wanted to put closure to this thread I started. My anger is gone. Well, 98% back to "normal" levels. I am sometimes angry at stupid people on the road, it's silly but harmless. I am not having anger attacks anymore, I am not looking for "fights" at all. I am not sure I am even depressed anymore. More like thoroughly resigned, extremely tired, extremely fearful of the future still and unwilling to continue much longer with this suffering and worsening condition (my tinnitus and hyperacusis are a lot worse than when I started this thread, sadly).

In other words, no I have not gone crazy due to tinnitus (and hyperacusis). I am just being slowly killed by these.