Hi, I'm Beth and I'm new here....

[Beth]

I'm a long term (6 years) tinnitus sufferer and I would love to find out if anyone else has been on the same sort of journey. Mine started with a very quiet sound in one ear but I went into total panic and became really phobic about it. I used to go into quiet rooms and put my fingers in my ears to see if I could still hear it! Why do we do that?! I would give anything to have that quiet sound again.

Everything I have read about tinnitus seems to be the opposite of what's happening to me. Yes, I did go into complete panic to start with and have suicidal thoughts and take antidepressents for a while but 6 years along the road I now live what appears to everyone else, a normal life. Yet, my tinnitus is far louder and only on rare occassions am I unaware of it. Most things I read say tht the first few weeks or months are awful then you gradually learn to live with it and is decreases in volume over time or you have longer periods where you are unaware of it. Not so for me. It has got consistently louder and more intrusive over time but I have just learnt (with the help of several therapists) to live with it but most days wake with dread that it is still there and I'm still reduced to tears on a regular basis. I try to go about life as normal and not give it any credence but the stress seems to build up till I have a good cry about it again and then I worry that I have made it worse by reacting to it. I'd love to hear from anyone with the same problem who is managing to cope with it.

I wish you all peace and happiness, Beth.

 

[Steve]

Hi Beth, welcome to the forum.

I have the same thing, I had habituated to mine, though I did exactly the same thing as you with my fingers in my ears, wondering is it the same volume, will it get louder, will I lose my hearing gradually...? I was forever trying to hear it in different environments, wondering if it was being masked.

Mine too seems to have gotten louder over the years and I have no idea why. I struggle to not focus on it as not much is good at masking it. I don't actively seek to relax, I know I should. And I don't actively seek to manage it either, even though I know I should. I think I'm just too busy to really try and address it.

The best advice is to do what I want to do, try all of the different techniques that might help and find out what will work for you. Look at any underlying things (stress / anxiety is obvious as it's caused by the tinnitus), do you have neck pain, jaw pain, anything else that could be linked to your T or that general area? Have the therapists given you any good ideas?

 

[Beth]

Hi Beth, welcome to the forum.

I have the same thing, I had habituated to mine, though I did exactly the same thing as you with my fingers in my ears, wondering is it the same volume, will it get louder, will I lose my hearing gradually...? I was forever trying to hear it in different environments, wondering if it was being masked.

Mine too seems to have gotten louder over the years and I have no idea why. I struggle to not focus on it as not much is good at masking it. I don't actively seek to relax, I know I should. And I don't actively seek to manage it either, even though I know I should. I think I'm just too busy to really try and address it.

The best advice is to do what I want to do, try all of the different techniques that might help and find out what will work for you. Look at any underlying things (stress / anxiety is obvious as it's caused by the tinnitus), do you have neck pain, jaw pain, anything else that could be linked to your T or that general area? Have the therapists given you any good ideas?

Thanks for your reply Steve, I have had a lot of help from therapists, mainly on dealing with issues from childhood. I see a craniosacral therapist who believes (as I do now) that tinnitus is rarely a condition on its own unless it is something very obvious such as wax, but is nearly always unresolved trauma from the past. Have you read, 'Concious Medicine'? It explains that all symptoms are there for a reason and we should listen to what our body is telling us. That's what I believe anyway. When we listen to it and deal with issues it will no longer have to shout at us. So anxiety is certainly an issue with me but I am dealing with it.

I hope you have improvement soon. Is yours stress/anxiety linked?

Wishing you peace and happiness, Beth.

 

[Steve]

Mine started with a bout of Flu and progressed from there. Originally just a quiet noise in my right ear which progressed to both ears as the years passed.

I think that the stress and anxiety of tinnitus has an effect on all of us, whether we realise it or not. But I guess that mine has got worse because I struggle to not focus on it, which creates a response, which makes it worse, then I listen more.... And so on.

I haven't read that book, but it's interesting to think of things holistically (and not in a 'Thomas Coleman tinnitus miracle' scam holistic way). If things aren't right with you, you do feel it in your health. And when you have tinnitus you have an almost instant indicator that is very fond of flaring up to just remind you that you should relax more, or sleep more, or avoid those louder spaces.

The things that you do, food and drink you consume, attitude you have; these are all things that effect the brain and body with physical or mental processes. It's all going to have an impact on your general health and tinnitus if you have things that just aren't right for you.

Definitely important to get a good life balance.