How Do People Suffering from Tinnitus Not Go Crazy?

[JohnMiko]

I have recently started wondering why I haven't gone crazy and what life would be like without Tinnitus. Would I be more productive? Would I be able to concentrate better? Would I say "Huh?" less?

I remember living in the Scottish highlands for about 5 years. One night in about 1993 or 94 (I was about 28 or 29 years old) , I was sitting out on a point on a perfectly still evening. I was recalling someone saying that "you can never hear perfect silence. There is always some sound", and I was thinking that that evening was pretty close. When I closed my eyes I could hear absolutely no sound..........except the high pitch tone which was there all the time but I only noticed it when I thought about it. It was the only sound I could hear then.

I imagine over the years since then it has grown worse gradually but about November last year i became aware that I was pretty much hearing it and vaguely aware of it all the time now. It gets a little worse and a little better but I have been getting quite concerned about it over the last 6 months.

There is a Youtube clip I have used to demonstrate the level of sound I am hearing to family members but they don't get it and my wife said " Why are you playing this to me?". Wives are not very sympathetic to husbands I think.

Anyway, in the following clip, with my PC volume up high, and the clips volume on the first notch, that is about the volume I'm hearing 24/7 ;

.

I answered an Ad for a hearing aid that might help Tinnitus but when I found it was going to cost me about the same monthly repayments as a pretty nice car I never went further.

Although I've done little about it over the years, the increased volume over the last six months has led me to seek some advice...... just in case it keeps getting louder.

I have recently started contemplating what I would do if it got so bad that I couldn't stand it, but amazingly, I seem to just keep adapting and generally not being too aware of it all the time.

Where have I got it from? Not sure specifically, but I'm a diver and have been for about 30 + years. I also have worked in construction and would almost definitely have taken the stance in my younger years that Ear-muffs / earplugs etc, were not necessary.

Also notice that I sleep well and on occasions when I fly, it is the pain in my ears as we descend that wakes me from my slumber and then I equalize.

So that's my story.

 

[billie48]

Welcome to the forum. Your thread title is quite interesting. Good question. Why not every one going crazy with T, especially very high pitch T? I guess the best answers are in the success stories.

For me to survive the initial months with high pitched T, I needed to do masking quite aggressively. I wrote about masking and some nice sound sites in my success story. For brevity, you can read it from this link. Hope you find other parts of the success story helpful to you. Also, try read up other success stories. You can learn about their strategies. I include my story link and the most read success story on TT forum called 'Back to Silence'. Hope these can give you some help. Good luck. Take care. God bless.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...w-i-recovered-from-tinnitus-hyperacusis.3148/

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/back-to-silence.7172/

 

[JohnMiko]

Thanks for the Welcome billie48. I intend to have a good look around this website when I have some free-time. Had a read of the post on your second link and not sure how that would help but will give it a try. I have had Tinnitus for over 25 years and cannot remember excatly being aware of it, but in all honesty, it has only been bothering me over the last six months. So with regards to the second link, this seems to imply that focusing on the volume Im hearing I may be making the matter worse. But Ive only started focussing on it more recently BECAUSE it seems to have become so loud. It is true that I am tired and fatigued all the time (working 6 days a week around 12 Hrs per day) and I have just thought that was the cause. It would be great if I could control this (or rather my response to the Tinnitus) with just my mind. I have never in all that time sought treatment or medication until now so lets see how I go.
Thanks for your comments. At least here I am talking with fellow sufferers. Non-sufferers just say, "Go and see a Doctor"

 

[volsung37]

Maybe some of us have gone crazy and don't realize it!

 

[Jazzer]

I have recently started wondering why I haven't gone crazy and what life would be like without Tinnitus. Would I be more productive? Would I be able to concentrate better? Would I say "Huh?" less?

I remember living in the Scottish highlands for about 5 years. One night in about 1993 or 94 (I was about 28 or 29 years old) , I was sitting out on a point on a perfectly still evening. I was recalling someone saying that "you can never hear perfect silence. There is always some sound", and I was thinking that that evening was pretty close. When I closed my eyes I could hear absolutely no sound..........except the high pitch tone which was there all the time but I only noticed it when I thought about it. It was the only sound I could hear then.

I imagine over the years since then it has grown worse gradually but about November last year i became aware that I was pretty much hearing it and vaguely aware of it all the time now. It gets a little worse and a little better but I have been getting quite concerned about it over the last 6 months.

There is a Youtube clip I have used to demonstrate the level of sound I am hearing to family members but they don't get it and my wife said " Why are you playing this to me?". Wives are not very sympathetic to husbands I think.

Anyway, in the following clip, with my PC volume up high, and the clips volume on the first notch, that is about the volume I'm hearing 24/7 ;

.

I answered an Ad for a hearing aid that might help Tinnitus but when I found it was going to cost me about the same monthly repayments as a pretty nice car I never went further.

Although I've done little about it over the years, the increased volume over the last six months has led me to seek some advice...... just in case it keeps getting louder.

I have recently started contemplating what I would do if it got so bad that I couldn't stand it, but amazingly, I seem to just keep adapting and generally not being too aware of it all the time.

Where have I got it from? Not sure specifically, but I'm a diver and have been for about 30 + years. I also have worked in construction and would almost definitely have taken the stance in my younger years that Ear-muffs / earplugs etc, were not necessary.

Also notice that I sleep well and on occasions when I fly, it is the pain in my ears as we descend that wakes me from my slumber and then I equalize.

So that's my story.

"Wives are not very sympathetic to husbands I think...."

Very difficult for them.
We still look the same, of course, but we are suffering.
I make a real effort to be cheerful with everybody, family, children, g/children, neighbours, the assistants in the shops - but of course, our wives know us so well, that they can't help wanting us back the way we were
"happy-go-lucky."
It is quite sad for them too you know. xx

 

[JohnMiko]

I had T since before I had a wife and family. I never really talked about it or even considered it a problem because its been there so long. So far I dont think its effected me apart from recently Ive been saying a lot "Gee my Tinnitus is so loud at the moment". Maybe I'm lucky in that I've had it so long that the "loud" phase is only marginally worse than the one Ive had for so long (but maybe just more noticeable). However, these days when I stop and listen to it (or should I say perceive it, because it is literally in the middle of my head rather than "Coming from outside the ear"), I just think; How do I actually manage to live with that sound and function normally. In fact, were I to play that sound to non T sufferers in a room without them knowing I was playing it, it would pretty quickly drive them nuts.
This forum has made me think about the fact that if its "all in my mind" then maybe I can control it.
Ill just have to give it a go.