Hello!

[madsci]

Hi all,

I've been suffering from T for about a year now. Every day feels like a battle that I don't want to fight anymore. I've been on several treatments from my T/Migraine doctor, and none of them seem to work. The only thing that seems to relieve it for some time is alcohol, which comes with it's own set of baggage.

I'm a molecular biologist doing computational work in vaccine research, specifically protein-design. It is like being a mechanic and not being able to fix your own car.

I think my T was caused by sinus issues, extreme stress, and then a single day that I had too much nicotine from my vape while a military airplane flew very close to the ground. After this, the sound never went away. These are now all my major triggers that can make it worse: Stress, sound, nicotine.

I carry around cotton for my ears, which I wear most of the time. This helps, as sustained sounds can keep it going. I've decreased the nicotine as much as possible, which has helped, and intend to be off completely soon.

As for the molecular side of things, After some research, perhaps my T was originally caused by the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, specifically the alpha9-alpha10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the cochlea. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2737545/

Perhaps this could be the hope I'm after, and others here?, but I can't find any real treatments hitting it.

Sorry for the very somber post, but this I cried as I signed up for this site.

I hope to find some solace some day, as I hope you all do to.

Sincerely,
-Jared

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. As a molecular biologist, you probably can understand and be more intelligent than most on the discussions in the treatment section, such as those about Trobalt and more. The drugs being developed now that we are aware of are AM-101, OTO-311, RL-81, SF0034 etc. They are all either being tested or researched. So the medical/pharmaceutical world is catching up on tinnitus with these new drugs on the horizon. Check out the Treatment section on TT for more detail. By the way, have you use masking to help you cope with T? Also try to read up more success stories to give you more hope. T is not an end game. I thought it was a few years back when my ultra high pitch dog whistle T and severe hyperacusis first hit. I was turned into a physical and mental mess daily with relentless anxiety and panic attacks. I thought my life was to be over and that I would never recover. But today I live a happy and absolutely enjoyable life after learning from others how to win the battle with T. Below is my success story and also those of my first mentor Paul Tobey who after suffering badly for 4 years had turned around by making his choice, and he posted about it calling it 'My Choice' which is still featured on ATA. Take good care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/from-darkness-to-light-how-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

My Choice by Paul Tobey:
http://www.ata.org/sites/default/files/my_choice_concert_pianist_personal_story_tobey_june_06.pdf

You may also want to read the most read success story 'Back to Silence' by IWLM who gets better after 40 years of bad T by using a simple but effective method:
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

[madsci]

Thank you for the welcome, it is good to know that I am not alone, that there is hope, and that life can be enjoyable even with it. Thank you so much. I will research those drugs to see where they hit and how - perhaps one can be useful. I hope at least one of them is not a small molecule (which can have lots of off-target effects as most people have experienced).

I have read up on some of the research (vegas nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, hearing aids, etc.), but none seemed to be available yet to the general public, but are very positive. There was one place in the UK that seemed to have some hearing aid, but even that was vague. I am happy that there is a research section on this site, it is very comprehensive - I started there!

Anyway, again, thank you so very very much. I am tearing up just to read your reply. I'll be around the forums more and try to keep a more positive outlook on things instead of seeing this giant, scary black whole of a future.

Your words have really helped me.

-Jared

 

[James]

Welcome @madsci
Being a molecular biologist must be exciting. That might be a distraction. I hope your doing great on the job.

How are you sleeping? Anyway, I'd say it takes a long time to understand what habituating might be, at least for me. We live with it. It seems to bother me less, so time has helped.

I predict you will live a great life. Give yourself some time with the T. There's much worse things in life besides Tinnitus.

 

[billie48]

Thank you for the welcome, it is good to know that I am not alone, that there is hope, and that life can be enjoyable even with it. Thank you so much. I will research those drugs to see where they hit and how - perhaps one can be useful. I hope at least one of them is not a small molecule (which can have lots of off-target effects as most people have experienced).

I have read up on some of the research (vegas nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation, hearing aids, etc.), but none seemed to be available yet to the general public, but are very positive. There was one place in the UK that seemed to have some hearing aid, but even that was vague. I am happy that there is a research section on this site, it is very comprehensive - I started there!

Anyway, again, thank you so very very much. I am tearing up just to read your reply. I'll be around the forums more and try to keep a more positive outlook on things instead of seeing this giant, scary black whole of a future.

Your words have really helped me.

-Jared

You are most welcome, Jared. Yes good life can be back. Just believe it. Besides some effective strategies out there, there are also new drugs on the horizon as above mentioned. Here are good articles on SF0034 which they say seems to have less side effect as Trobalt or Retigabine and is very specific in the Potassium channels it is targeting. This is exciting to read even though it may a while before the drug is ready.

http://www.drugtargetreview.com/485...4-highlighted-in-the-journal-of-neuroscience/

http://today.uconn.edu/2015/06/quiet-that-ringing-in-the-brain/

 

[madsci]

@James Thanks for the words of encouragement. I do computational work, so some earphones, with not-too-loud music, helps to drown much of the T while I work. I've now moved to a much-more quiet work area, as some of the noise would make it worse, even over music. I'm sleeping better once I started wearing earplugs at night. Alcohol helps - and right now, when it is loud, having a few drinks before bed is sometimes the only silence. Trying to get over that.

I've found that I can plug into my PS4 controller as well, which can be amazing on a loud T day, so I hear it less.

@billie48 Thanks for the links. I'll check them out - perhaps there may even be ways to mimic what they do with non-small molecules to increase the targeting (I work on protein design specifically). I have a friend who is developing tech to do this using crazy peptide synthesis, and it may be worthwhile to go that route at some point.



Today is much better than yesterday, just having some support here has been great. Knowing that it can be quiet, and it might not come years or some far-time down the line is amazing. Thank you!

 

[Madi H]

Sup fam!

I'm probably the youngest to respond. But trust me when I say hold on! Things get way better with time. Whenever I'm down grabbing Ice cream or something always does the trick. Keeping busy is the best thing to do. Staying still and sulking is gonna make you feel worse.

I picture T as that one little shitty part of your day. You can make every day the best day ever with T. It is up to you wether or not you will allow T to dictate everything you do. Because honestly it is just a sound I'd be damned if I allowed my good days turn bad because of T. I won't ever allow T to be the reason my day went south and I suggest you do the same.

Keep positive and keep reading success stories

 

[madsci]

I picture T as that one little shitty part of your day. You can make every day the best day ever with T. It is up to you wether or not you will allow T to dictate everything you do. Because honestly it is just a sound. I'd be damned if I allowed my good days turn bad because of T. I won't ever allow T to be the reason my day went south and I suggest you do the same.

That was incredibly inspirational. I don't know how to make a tearing up emoticon, but yeah. I'll be reading these words and coming back to this general thread often. Thanks for the welcome!

 

[Madi H]

Cool!
Life isn't over with T. Life will pass you by if you choose to continue to dwell on it. If i ever feel upset I start to ask long term questions.
What college will I go to? What will I be when I grow up? What kind of dog am I gonna buy?
It gives me stuff to look forward to. Millions have T but thousands are here so if millions of people can disregard that shit so can I.
I'm 15 and I've met 4 other students with T.none of them care that much