Hello I Am New to This Site and Need Some Help Please

[Freddie]

Hello to you all out there I really need some help and good news guidance please.

I am in my mid fifties and up until this demon came I had a lovely settled life and enjoyed the odd days out , the odd holiday and socialising regularly but I just cannot get myself now back into my pre T days and get my head to where it should be and try to conquer this noise that I have had for just over 4 months now and still finding it hard to cope and have waves of anxiety. This is truly the hardest thing that has ever hit me so far in my life.

My T came to me i think to an emotional and stressed state I was going through end of last summer totally caused by myself overreacting on an issue that I had and , which I was not aware of at the time, a degree of mid tone hearing loss in one ear (my other ear must have been compensating for years) it is in this ear that tipped by poor brain over the edge and now have a mostly constant hissing coming from my right side and about another two quieter background noises underneath this which are manageable but are always there with the odd good day but mostly bad.

I really am, finding it hard to cope and so far my audiologist has given me a hearing aid to help with possible auditory gain to get in over the tinnitus with a view to eventually try to habituate along with plenty of sound enrichment. I am happy to give this a go but would love to know from anyone out there if anyone has any success with this route, I know it is early days yet but like everyone patience is hard at times to come by. Are there any other tips and advise that anyone can give me to help give me a better quality of life eventually. I fully understand the concept of not happening overnight but I think I need some good news help to get me out the other side eventually.
Thank you.

 

[Emil Mikalsen]

To cope better you have to find your own way and time will certainly help. Try to mask it with nature sounds etc, find something that relaxes you and that takes your attention away from the noise - for some people that's doing sports for others playing video games and so on. Taking medication to help prevent panic attacks and to calm you down is good, too, at least now that it is so fresh. Hope you are feeling better soon!

I feelt like this was so good that i had to do it @seal

i know it's hard to live with T at least in the first few months, in time your T might fade away - stay strong and don't let a sound get in your way of living life the way you want

 

[Freddie]

I feelt like this was so good that i had to do it @seal

i know it's hard to live with T at least in the first few months, in time your T might fade away - stay strong and don't let a sound get in your way of living life the way you want

Thank you for the kind reply and the quote by Seal, I also hope it might fade away and if I can get my head in the right place then in time it may, it is all such a shock still even after 4 months that i get so anxious still and yearn back for those days of peace and quiet

Thanks

 

[Martin69]

First of all this site here is one of the best tinnitus support forums world-wide.
So you will get all information you need.

Difficult for me giving right advice since I am still struggling with my high-pitched head sound.
Having anxiety and depression is very normal during the first months having T.
The goal for everyone is reaching habituation where it no longer bothers you.

What helped me so far:
- White Noise generators or natural sounds on an ipod (on PC you can run Aire Freshener)
- Listen to music or audio books
- Hearing aid can help to get more outside information on hearing loss frequencies (covering T a little bit)
- Reading success stories
- Getting meds for sleep (I take 30 mg Mirtazapine) if you have sleep problems
- Getting meds against anxiety (I don't take any) if needed
- Stay busy and try living your life as normal as possible. This is a challenge overcoming the depression.
- One can try clinical treatments like TRT, CBT etc.
- Live as healthy as possible and do sports (still difficult for me, but I go for long walks)

At the end, most people get relief once they have accepted T and live with it.
Many say "TIME is the healer". Most habituate between 6 and 12 months.

Some people find it useful visiting T forums every day (like me). Others try staying away and no longer think, read or write about T. It all depends.

Stay strong and try handling it day by day. Overcoming tinnitus is no Olympic event. It takes time.
At the end, it is just a sound - which I still need accepting myself.

 

[Freddie]

Thanks Martin 69, you have had your T about a month longer than me so you are probably in the same boat as I am in as much of trying to get on with day to day life but at times struggle I guess, I had hardly ever had to take a tablet in my life before this and now have some Amytriptyline all be it small dose to help at night mainly for the anxiety and notice lately getting head pains in the side and top of the head which no doubt is all down to tension.

Some great advice here from you so thanks for this really appreciate the help, I am determined to win this battle, mind over matter.

 

[Freddie]

Thanks Martin 69, you have had your T about a month longer than me so you are probably in the same boat as I am in as much of trying to get on with day to day life but at times struggle I guess, I had hardly ever had to take a tablet in my life before this and now have some Amytriptyline all be it small dose to help at night mainly for the anxiety and notice lately getting head pains in the side and top of the head which no doubt is all down to tension.

Some great advice here from you so thanks for this really appreciate the help, I am determined to win this battle, mind over matter.

Has any body on this forum been through CBT or TRT classes and found that they helped, was there anything that you were able to do yourself to add to what you had been taught, TRT I have read seems to be the most successful but can take anything from 9 - 24 months, any thing to add at all ?

 

[seal]

I feelt like this was so good that i had to do it @seal

i know it's hard to live with T at least in the first few months, in time your T might fade away - stay strong and don't let a sound get in your way of living life the way you want

thanks @Emil Mikalsen you can always add the things that help you to my original post, they also might help @Freddie to deal with his Tinnitus

 

[Martin69]

Thanks Martin 69, you have had your T about a month longer than me so you are probably in the same boat as I am in as much of trying to get on with day to day life but at times struggle I guess, I had hardly ever had to take a tablet in my life before this and now have some Amytriptyline all be it small dose to help at night mainly for the anxiety and notice lately getting head pains in the side and top of the head which no doubt is all down to tension.

Some great advice here from you so thanks for this really appreciate the help, I am determined to win this battle, mind over matter.

Never took any pills myself. Only sometimes an Aspirin against headache. I was never depressed or anxious before. So T has changed my life.

Yes. I try living my life as good as possible. Working is a challenge, but I try. Sitting at my laptop and having Aire Freshener running listening to "Summer Night" (cicada concert). I know it sucks. Would like having silence like everyone here. As many say here, time will be our healer.

I was in a tinnitus clinic. They explained limbic system, that T is just a sound that came into our awareness etc. At the end, it was all useful information. More or less the same you can find on www.tinnitus.org and www.tinnitus.org.au. But they do not take T away from you. You have to ACCEPT it, and I am not there yet. But I am working on my reaction to T, means I try to not react on it.

 

[Kathi]

Has any body on this forum been through CBT or TRT classes and found that they helped, was there anything that you were able to do yourself to add to what you had been taught, TRT I have read seems to be the most successful but can take anything from 9 - 24 months, any thing to add at all ?

I am going through CBT now. I took an 'anxiety toolkit' class every Monday for six weeks and then saw my therapist every week but now it's every other week. I learned about relaxation and meditation. I do both twice a day, along with self hypnosis. I learned how to work on changing my way of thinking. I'm still learning. I've been anxious most of my life and I had three life altering events in three years combined with an age related hearing loss--it may have been the perfect storm for tinnitus but no one really knows why some get it and some don't.

I had a terrible time in the beginning. I found my way here--actually, I think it was divine intervention. Everyone is supportive and there is lots of information here. I am older also. Most days I just get on with my life--we like to look for antiques and I work full time. I've gotten great encouragement and help here. Dr. Nagler is onsite here--check out the Dr.'s Corner. He was a T sufferer too so he knows our plight and has a lot of wisdom and loves to help us.

I was having a very loud t day today and was using some masking but now I'm just sitting here typing with it buzzing away and I'm okay again. The forum really helped me today. I hope it helps you. I'm glad you're here.