Personally, I think that tinnitus is equivalent to being burned alive for decades to come. However, when it comes to sound, people Do seem to have different tolerances. I can't stand hearing the neighbourhood kids playing outside [T had trained me to be bothered a little less by those kids' voices/laughter], but I realize that most people don't pay any attention to that sound. People put up wind chimes. I cut down my neighbours' wind chimes twice. Many people listen to the music when they would work on their school homework - I required complete silence. I Had collected my things and had gotten a room at another hotel upon finding out that the hotel room that I had paid for had a loud heater. I had no choice - I knew from past experiences that I wouldn't be able to sleep there. Yet I realize that most people who slept in that room over the years might not have even noticed the sound made by the heater.
Having said this, of course when T is loud enough it is going to drive everyone up the wall. But who knows, perhaps those people who willingly put up wind chimes in their backyards would be able to get used to a pretty loud T.
I have a extremely high tolerance for sound, I walked around with headphones full blast as kid constantly playing metal like slayer. For years my car had two 15" subs rattling my teeth with volume turned up over a straight pipe exhaust with the windows open. I was a car audio installer back when I was young, we used to go to competitions and blow our ears out sitting in those cars. In college I would study at the pub with loud music and people shouting. I have lived innner city my entire adult life because I liked the night life, for 20 years I went to clubs loud enough to deafen me temporarily, walked out drunk with raging tinnitus constantly, did not bother me. My gf and I used to joke about having concert ears as we laid in bed going to sleep.
I realize that some people are more sensitive than others, there are a lot of serious snowflakes out there that would conplain about just about anything these days, I guess this is where the real issue is, too many people crying wolf over a little sound, but I'm telling you, tinnitus can get to a level that is unbearable pain for anyone.
I have had over 10 major concussions from playing contact sports like hockey and lacrosse, I have had a qEEG done recently that shows traumatic brain injury, I have suffered from post concussion syndrome for years. I have ruptured my ears through barotrauma twice, I've had multiple ear infections as a kid, I've always had trouble with my ears and my head.
Iver the years I've had tinnitus go from concert type ringing to full blown screaming in my brain, my head screech's when I move my eyes side to side, so I try and hold them still all the time which is almost impossible. I have tinnitus all over my brain with just a mess of sounds bouncing around, some sounds are piercing and extremely painful, I walk around with a migraine constantly. I can't watch TV without massive pain, my tinnitus gets so loud that I actually can't take the pain, although I do try, I can feel these sounds zapping around my head like I'm being electrocuted. My ears also whoosh with my heart beat to the point where it feels like so much pressure that I feel like my ear drums are bursting. My ears always feel like they are bleeding and swollen. My hearing is messed to the point that I hear beeping, tinnitus and distortion when people talk.
I sit and rip my hair out, scratch my head until it bleeds trying to somehow distract. I lay in the dark for 14-18 hours a day trying to get my head straight for when my spouse comes home, I'm light sensitive, but I'm also sound sensitive to the point where when I get up in the night I can't even flush the toilet, have to sit to pee as the sound is unbearable. I sleep 10-20 min at a time, I have to move myself around because as I lay still the noise drills so hard it either causes too much pain, or it wakes me up in pain, it's like clockwork. If I drink myself stupid I can get over 1 hour of passout sleep, otherwise it's back to small shifts. I'm logging around 2 hours total per night.
I just went through 6 months of shingles without taking a single pain med because I didn't want to make my situation worse. I'm not bothered by a lot of things, I have a way higher than normal pain threshold, I've had broken bones playing sports and had all kinds of injuries, I'm not one to lay around and whine.
I'm generally laid back, except when it comes to this bull shit. I can no longer tolerate people telling me oh so and so has IT severe as well, but they just ignore it, must be a personality thing, honestly if someone says this to my face I'm going to knock them out. I'm sick of being humiliated by over this.
There is no way of knowing if someone has intrusive tinnitus or not, including me, after all we can't compare it with each other. It's not like you can go around listening to each other's, and testing out each other's ears/brains. I guess this is where all the confusion is. And hey, maybe I'm a snowflake wuss and just some senitive guy that is overreacting, We will never know. But when you tell people you are crippled by something and fight with everything in you just to get through a day, and some idiot comes along with zero proof saying things like oh yeah so and so has it severe and it doesn't have any impact on him, this is a slap in the face. How do I explain this to my family, they look at me like maybe I've lost my mind when people spew garbage like that with absolutely zero evidence. I hope karma visits these arrogant idiots and they get the most crippling form of whatever, and people just blow it off and dismiss them as over sensitive, or maybe just that type of personality.
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