How to Not Fear Your Tinnitus Might Get Worse in the Future?

[Ken219]

Has your been stable over time (with fluctuations of course)?

I get anywhere from 5 to 10 years of habituation. I am in a spike now. The spikes are always bad. I'm 70 1/2, I wish the lord would take me. I'm tired.

 

[Watasha]

I get anywhere from 5 to 10 years of habituation. I am in a spike now. The spikes are always bad. I'm 70 1/2, I wish the lord would take me. I'm tired.

Are the five to ten years not enjoyable? When you experience a spike are we talking about a permanent increase that you have to re-habituate to, or a temporary increase?

 

[Ken219]

Are the five to ten years not enjoyable? When you experience a spike are we talking about a permanent increase that you have to re-habituate to, or a temporary increase?

When I habituate life is good, back to normal, minus noise exposure and medication that may harm me. I visit my grandson on the West Coast, life is good. When I have a spike I am not sure if it is louder than the past, it just sucks! My goal is to habituate. I do use medications to assist with my habituation.

Watasha, you have had tinnitus for approx 15-16 months, how are you doing?

 

[Watasha]

When I habituate life is good, back to normal, minus noise exposure and medication that may harm me. I visit my grandson on the West Coast, life is good. When I have a spike I am not sure if it is louder than the past, it just sucks! My goal is to habituate. I do use medications to assist with my habituation.

Watasha, you have had tinnitus for approx 15-16 months, how are you doing?

I am doing better than I was when it started. It almost went away after 5-6 months, then for reasons unknown (I have a few ideas) it came back which greatly upset me and re-started the vicious cycle (and unsettled and keeps me unsettled going forward). I'd say it's as loud as ever, but I'm using close to the least amount of masking I have since it started so I have that to be positive about. It's still not easy and I have the same concerns with with noise and medicine exposure.

Do you fly? That's been a concern of mine.

 

[Ken219]

Do you fly? That's been a concern of mine.

Yes I fly. I use foam ear plugs, never had an issue. I am in the New York area and my grandson is near Los Angeles. I take cruises, land travel. When I habituate I do it all and have fun.

 

[Watasha]

Yes I fly. I use foam ear plugs, never had an issue. I am in the New York area and my grandson is near Los Angeles. I take cruises, land travel. When I habituate I do it all and have fun.

You wear foam ear plugs the entire flight? Listening to my tinnitus for five hours sounds like not a lot of fun...

How loud would you say yours is? I hear mine most places most of the time except a fairly noisy restaurant (but not loud) and the shower.

 

[Ken219]

You wear foam ear plugs the entire flight? Listening to my tinnitus for five hours sounds like not a lot of fun...

Mine is loud, it is hard to mask. The noise level of the jet may get as high as 105 dB, and at cruising speed about 85 dB. Plus if a child is crying it doesn't matter. I always have the option of removing them.

 

[Chester]

Tinnitus that is reactive to sound requires protection due to the fear of spikes and further damage, otherwise it is meaningless to carry or wear earplugs all the time.

 

[Alue]

When I habituate life is good, back to normal, minus noise exposure and medication that may harm me. I visit my grandson on the West Coast, life is good. When I have a spike I am not sure if it is louder than the past, it just sucks! My goal is to habituate. I do use medications to assist with my habituation.

Watasha, you have had tinnitus for approx 15-16 months, how are you doing?

Do you have hyperacusis too? What's caused your T to get worse?

Yes I fly. I use foam ear plugs, never had an issue. I am in the New York area and my grandson is near Los Angeles. I take cruises, land travel. When I habituate I do it all and have fun.

How do you find cruises? I went on one a year before getting tinnitus and it was enjoyable, but now with T/H I'm afraid to get trapped in loud situations. I've heard they have to do a boat drill (like fire drill) when everyone first boards and that it's very loud and goes on for a long time while everyone gathers.

 

[Mister Muso]

It might get worse. But you can handle it.

Stay away from compromising situations if you can. Protect yourself when you have to.

And try relaxation and meditation techniques. I listened to this one recently and it's transformed my attitude and greatly reduced a lot of the fear and panic I had been experiencing:



If you can't play it in Spotify, it's available to download for a couple of bucks from his website withandrewjohnson.com. You can also get some for free from Insight Timer or from his YouTube channel. I also highly recommend "Deep Sleep". I've usually nodded off within the first 5 minutes!

 

[Don Tinny]

Some fear is healthy. Life with tinnitus is strange and for some people not really enjoyable.
Yesterday I went to a loud shopping mall and I'm having a really bad day. Tinnitus usually fluctuates and maybe it's just coincidence, but who knows...

So it's like
"I made a mistake"
"What did you do?"
"I went to a shopping mall"

 

[Strife_84]

Little by little I've pushed my limits more and more.

Now, I've been into movies 2 times this months and both without earplugs.

Although I admit last time I would have used them but I forgot them at home. Since that movie was very loud.

But no damage done.

When I got T I thought I couldn't go to movies ever again...

I try to remember take my ear plugs with me next time. There were times sounds distorted in my ear, the movie was that loud.

But you need to figure out yourself what you can do, and what you cannot. Since we all have different kind of situation going on.

I consider myself lucky that only after 3 months I can go to movies again.

I was afraid when I got my T, for weeks. I protected my ears even when flushing a toilet or doing dishes.

Little by little, I've tried to find out what sounds I can tolerate. And I've found out at week after week my condition has improved.

Believe in your body, it will respond to it.

 

[Chester]

If your tinnitus is non-reactive to sound and you don't get spikes after those sound exposures, live your life normally. I never wore any protection since tinnitus started back in 2016. I go to the movies as usual ( just saw "Toy Story 4" today), ride my bike almost everyday except rainy days, boxing training, watching movies in my home theater at home, music, family gatherings, you name it. I am living a perfect happy life today but still with tinnitus whis is 99.5% gone. I am having a lot of complete silence days these days. My guess is I will be able to live in full silence within next 2~3 months.

Little by little I've pushed my limits more and more. Now, I've been into movies 2 times this months and both without earplugs.

 

[Natalie18]

Hi,

Recently I am suffering a bit more with my tinnitus but I am sure with the right mentality, good people around me and lots of distractions I will be ok.

However, I can't stop worrying about the future and the idea of my tinnitus getting worse and worse. I am only young and the thought of this really terrifies me.

Please can someone help put my mind at ease slightly because it will completely set me back if I get too much into this mindset as I have been reading horror stories of people's tinnitus getting worse and its really distressing me.

Thanks so much

 

[John Mahan]

Hi,

Recently I am suffering a bit more with my tinnitus but I am sure with the right mentality, good people around me and lots of distractions I will be ok.

However, I can't stop worrying about the future and the idea of my tinnitus getting worse and worse. I am only young and the thought of this really terrifies me.

Please can someone help put my mind at ease slightly because it will completely set me back if I get too much into this mindset as I have been reading horror stories of people's tinnitus getting worse and its really distressing me.

Thanks so much

Whether you have tinnitus or not, worrying about the future is pretty common. I know its hard for people like us to be objective about tinnitus...or remember a time when we didn't have it.

Think about this. Visualize yourself right now without tinnitus. Would you still be fearful of the future? Perhaps. Some people are, with or without tinnitus. In fact, many with tinnitus, if they didn't have it, would simply substitute something else to be fearful about.

Btw, I have a friend that has had ringing in his ears his whole life. He thought everybody had it.

If you think about life, without being too dramatically dismissive, life is largely a choice. Its a leap of faith. One can choose fearfulness about the future or more a choice of acceptance of what happens and deal with the consequences as it unfolds.

Fearfulness maybe somewhat mired in analysis which is the opposite of getting out there and living. A little more caution to the wind may help. Ride the rollercoaster more and think less of the consequences.

There is a joke in motorcycle circles...per the other active thread I posted in because I used to be quite engaged in the hobby...but no longer. The joke, is, you never see a motorcycle parked outside of a psychiatrist's office.

I believe that says it pretty well. Live your life.

Btw, don't know your age, but therapy for tinnitus is emerging. Tech is changing geometrically.

Choose hopefulness. Do I walk the talk? I try, but not always. We are all frail humans looking for a path.

 

[Lynny]

Tinnitus will get worse over time even if you protect your ears 100%. Age related hearing loss over the decades will make tinnitus louder.

BUT, we have some very promising treatments for tinnitus coming out in the next 10 years. Also, some people's tinnitus doesn't get louder as they age.

I haven't even thought about age related hearing loss inevitably worsening it ahhh I'm 19 now imagine how bad it'll be at 80

Kind of hoping I'll die young

 

[Daniel Lion]

I haven't even thought about age related hearing loss inevitably worsening it ahhh I'm 19 now imagine how bad it'll be at 80

Kind of hoping I'll die young

Medical breakthroughs and scientific innovation will help you to lead a happy and good life. Hang tight.
As far as dying young goes... you are quite photogenic, you could be in a Tarantino film or an action adventure film, like Captain Marvel. Being a super hero is dangerous and increases your chances of dying younger, you would think.

 

[AVIYT]

I haven't even thought about age related hearing loss inevitably worsening it ahhh I'm 19 now imagine how bad it'll be at 80

Kind of hoping I'll die young

Some days I look at the elderly that I've met who have lost their hearing, and wonder how it'd be to live 50-70 good years and only then lose your hearing. You wouldn't be suicidal as you'd know your time was nearly up anyways. Maybe?

I know somebody who beat cancer twice and wears a hearing aid, he's a toughened son of a gun who lost his wife and has had tinnitus for a while. But somehow tinnitus seems the least of his problems.

But then I think of one thing... people like us, who have lost hearing and gained tinnitus before we even hit 21 years, the legal drinking age in the States, the legal rental age, the legal motorycycle driving range in many countries, who haven't finished college and barely have started working and still had so many dreams...

At least we have a chance of living out our last years if we'd get to 80+ without tinnitus. Those who already are near that age have 0 chance. Even if something would come out in a few years, before it'd be at their doctor's office... it would be too late. Most probably they'd be in a hospital or home for the elderly by then.

 

[Lynny]

Medical breakthroughs and scientific innovation will help you to lead a happy and good life. Hang tight.
As far as dying young goes... you are quite photogenic, you could be in a Tarantino film or an action adventure film, like Captain Marvel. Being a super hero is dangerous and increases your chances of dying younger, you would think.

I'll consider a career change

How many years do you estimate it will take until we have something that actually significantly lessens t impact?

 

[Daniel Lion]

Things will take off in two years.
In seven to ten years we will be fine tuning.
I am super optimistic.
I am often tortured, believe me.