I'm Sorry, Everyone. I'm Not Weak and This Isn't Suicide, There Was No Other Way to Hear Silence.

For some reason, this thread has me wonder where you all realistically see yourselves within the next five to ten years.

Do you think you'll still be experiencing these debilitating hearing conditions by that time, by being wedded to earplugs and muffs for perpetual security, and your lives on hold indefinitely, or do you feel it's likely your present condition will have (mostly?) resolved by then and you'll be in the process of rebuilding your lives?

Tinnitus is a progressive condition. It can only get worse. There's your answer. Whichever path you choose you will get fucked anyway. Choose to be a hermit and live the rest of your life lonely with a barely increasing tinnitus till your dead. Be stupid and non caring about it you will be suicidal within a year.

The key is balance I guess. Live a decent life, but let it get worse progressively over a few decades.

That's not to account for random sudden loud noises though. Or a cure.
 
Tinnitus is a progressive condition. It can only get worse. There's your answer. Whichever path you choose you will get fucked anyway. Choose to be a hermit and live the rest of your life lonely with a barely increasing tinnitus till your dead. Be stupid and non caring about it you will be suicidal within a year.

The key is balance I guess. Live a decent life, but let it get worse progressively over a few decades.

That's not to account for random sudden loud noises though. Or a cure.
Does the published literature support that this condition gets worse over time on average? Not from what I recall. I will have another review of it.
 
Does the published literature support that this condition gets worse over time on average? Not from what I recall. I will have another review of it.

Everyone's damage and threshold to more damage is different it's always going to be difficult to know something like this. One person can be fine for 20 years with no change. Another can be feeling basically dead because of one brief acoustic trauma.

I never got to abuse my ears for 40 years. I got a temporary threshold shift and T from a music festival at 18, worsen extremely by awaking to a woodsaw outside my window/slamming of a window like 5 years later that continued a cycle worsening T/H.
 
I'll keep this short.

I've had tinnitus for 6 months. And hyperacusis. My tinnitus is very severe, I can hear it over everything. It's the loudest thing ever. There's no escape, and it just keeps getting worse. No matter what I do. I loved life, I had the most caring and loving girlfriend, everything was fine, I was happy, really loved life a lot. Peace and quiet, movies, reading books, taking naps, nature. Etc.

This motherfucker has taken everything away from me. My girlfriend tries her best to support me. I keep trying to enjoy life. But I can't enjoy reading anymore. Taking naps. Exercising. Going for a walk. How could I enjoy it when all I hear is this terrible monster roaring in my head??

Tinnitus is the worst nightmare, living hell! I'm not religious but this is literally Hell's soundtrack with Satan and all his *** little demons playing it, invading our heads, tormenting us! Making perfectly healthy, strong minded individuals just empty shells, emotional wrecks... Everything was fine before this son of a *** ruined my life, my health, my peace and quiet!

I'd rip off my ears if that meant I would no longer hear tinnitus! But no, this disease worse than cancer has invaded my brain, my whole auditory system, no escape!! Damn this all! Severing the auditory nerve, cutting off my ears, being deaf wouldn't make a difference, it would only get WORSE!

This is not life anymore! This is some f** up Satan's game, and there's no way out... The only way out of this nightmare is ending it all. It's the only cure. I can't wait for treatments that won't even fix this...

Maybe in next life, I'll hear silence again!

Stay strong, everyone! I hope you guys can fight this monster, don't give up. This was too much for me, there are so many people, including me, who lose their lives because of tinnitus... No one warns about this hell, until it's too late. I can't remember a single warning about noise causing permanent, severe tinnitus. We are told about hearing loss etc. And "loud noise can damage your hearing".. what about "prolonged noise exposure, or ototoxic meds, or neck injury, for example, can cause permanent severe ringing in ears!!!"???!! I see so many teens abusing their ears, listening to music way too loud, but most people don't even know what tinnitus is!!!

Hey Jemina,

I have not been on this site for a couple of years. The people on here helped me get my shit together.
I have pulsatile T in one ear and High frequency in another ear.
I had a breakdown, depression, lost my fiance and friends 2 years ago when Tinitus joined the party.
You will get through this, I go movies, got a job, hit the gym and got my life back. You will adjust and am on no meds now. I have a fan on at night, tv is louder and listen through headphones to mask. I wish you well and pray for you.
 
Does the published literature support that this condition gets worse over time on average? Not from what I recall. I will have another review of it.

I use to have barely noticeable hiss/static tv noise and it was very very low. Due to the years/decades of loud noises and situations, it got much much worst. The two things, that made my tinnitus the demon it is today (Loud sounds/and meds).

After periods of bar hopping and concerts and night clubs, I noticed that It got worst and worst. There has to be some reason for the tinnitus to get worst (most of the time). I haven't had martial arts in almost 2 weeks due to the holidays and my ears feel better.

Anything can trigger the tinnitus and causes spikes. That's why some folks could possibly journal their routines to see what helps them and what can possibly trigger a spike....
 
Tinnitus is a progressive condition. It can only get worse. There's your answer. Whichever path you choose you will get fucked anyway. Choose to be a hermit and live the rest of your life lonely with a barely increasing tinnitus till your dead. Be stupid and non caring about it you will be suicidal within a year.

The key is balance I guess. Live a decent life, but let it get worse progressively over a few decades.

That's not to account for random sudden loud noises though. Or a cure.

If T/H/etc are destined to only ever get worse no matter what, as you claim, then how is it that everyone who get it don't necessarily get worse? If about 20% of people get tinnitus at least once in their lifetimes, wouldn't it be an unparalleled public health crisis, loaded with about a billion-plus people on the planet right now whose condition will get worse and become suicidal?
 
If T/H/etc are destined to only ever get worse no matter what, as you claim, then how is it that everyone who get it don't necessarily get worse? If about 20% of people get tinnitus at least once in their lifetimes, wouldn't it be an unparalleled public health crisis, loaded with about a billion-plus people on the planet right now whose condition will get worse and become suicidal?

Ok the age of tinnitus onset is a huge factor here but I'll discuss that later. I'm out at the moment. Think of it logically. You have tinnitus due to loss of hair cells. The more hair cells you lose the louder your tinnitus gets. Over time it is inevitable to lose more hair cells. Time=increased tinnitus in theory.
 
Wtf is this thread. We need to put every one on this forum on an island and do some serious battle royale

Let the 'silence games' begin!
Whoever makes the most noise would likely win. Just steal everyone's ear protection, scream a few times, and watch everyone flee into the ocean.
 
Tinnitus is a progressive condition. It can only get worse. There's your answer. Whichever path you choose you will get fucked anyway. Choose to be a hermit and live the rest of your life lonely with a barely increasing tinnitus till your dead. Be stupid and non caring about it you will be suicidal within a year.

The key is balance I guess. Live a decent life, but let it get worse progressively over a few decades.

That's not to account for random sudden loud noises though. Or a cure.

This simply is not true. I know many people whose Tinnitus got better over the years. No worsening. And these are the people who are not in this forum. They just get on with life. And don't obsess over every noise exposure. I don't want to sound rude. I understand obsessing over these things. I'm no different. I just want to clarify that not caring about mild Tinnitus and continue with life including noisy events etc does NOT mean your Tinnitus will get worse.
 
I just want to clarify that not caring about mild Tinnitus and continue with life including noisy events etc does NOT mean your Tinnitus will get worse.
Yes, it just means that the Probability that it will get worse will be higher.
 
Yes, it just means that the Probability that it will get worse will be higher.
No. It is my deepest belief that if you would just keep on living without all your analytic thinking of sounds and volume your Tinnitus would be much better. Beside the physical component this is mainly a brain thing. And the brain loves focus.
 
if you would just keep on living without all your analytic thinking of sounds and volume your Tinnitus would be much better. Beside the physical component this is mainly a brain thing. And the brain loves focus.
I agree - the more you are afraid of it, the louder the T. However, personally, when I am in a safe environment where it is unlikely that I will be exposed to noise, it is easy to not focus on T. If I were at a loud restaurant, etc., all I would be thinking about is that I am about to pay for these couple of hours with years of my life spent in Agony. I would be thinking that I am getting a very Low Compensation for making my body uninhabitable. Of course, not everyone who plays with fire gets burned, but of course the more you play the fire, the higher is the chance that it will catch up to you. The risk is real, just ask the people whom I quoted in my post below
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/

I've had plenty of spikes, and most of them were clearly not due to stress (or due to the "extra focus"). When I got exposed to something like a slamming door or a loud phone, I would completely disregard it. After all, it is just a loud phone - no way it could harm me - or so I thought. I would be completely calm, and then the spike would come as a surprise.

In any case, the bottom line is to create an environment for yourself where you can relax and forget about T (to the extent that it will let you). Pretending that dangerous environment is safe is insane and (if you are rational and are informed) will and ought to result in the most stress of all.
 
This simply is not true. I know many people whose Tinnitus got better over the years. No worsening. And these are the people who are not in this forum. They just get on with life. And don't obsess over every noise exposure. I don't want to sound rude. I understand obsessing over these things. I'm no different. I just want to clarify that not caring about mild Tinnitus and continue with life including noisy events etc does NOT mean your Tinnitus will get worse.

Not wearing a seatbelt does not mean you will die in a car accident.
Not wearing a condom does not mean you will get an std.
Not using a reserve chute during a jump does not mean you will die.
Crossing the road without looking does not mean you will die.

Want me to go on?
 
Tinnitus is a progressive condition. It can only get worse. There's your answer. Whichever path you choose you will get fucked anyway. Choose to be a hermit and live the rest of your life lonely with a barely increasing tinnitus till your dead. Be stupid and non caring about it you will be suicidal within a year.

The key is balance I guess. Live a decent life, but let it get worse progressively over a few decades.

That's not to account for random sudden loud noises though. Or a cure.

It's not linear. More hair cells lost does not equal a proportionally greater tinnitus. If that's how it worked, then due to age-related hearing loss there would be precise descriptions in medical literature of how loud the inevitable tinnitus of a 60-year person is supposed to sound and how louder it gets year-on-year. :) There wouldn't be many stories of tinnitus spontaneously going away, and this forum would have millions of members all with steadily and unstoppably worsening tinnitus, instead of a few hundred sufferers who often leave after a few months and never come back. The fines for breaking noise ordinances would be as stiff

Of course there IS a relationship but it's definitely not a simple linear thing. So tinnitus worsening is NOT inevitable at all.

Plus we don't actually have to outrun entropy until our deathbed - we only need to keep T manageable until viable treatments appear, and that can happen as soon as this month. The end is near, and in a good sense.
 
Ah entropy. The literal bane of existence. Damn laws of physics. Screws us all.

Seriously, screw entropy.

Although it should be possible to eliminate it from our lives. Not universally, of course; but LOCAL entropy can definitely be reversed at the cost of increasing entropy elsewhere. And we have this big-ass blob of helium increasing its entropy and blasting us with free energy all day long! If only we learned to properly harness it before we go extinct.
 
It's not linear. More hair cells lost does not equal a proportionally greater tinnitus. If that's how it worked, then due to age-related hearing loss there would be precise descriptions in medical literature of how loud the inevitable tinnitus of a 60-year person is supposed to sound and how louder it gets year-on-year. :) There wouldn't be many stories of tinnitus spontaneously going away, and this forum would have millions of members all with steadily and unstoppably worsening tinnitus, instead of a few hundred sufferers who often leave after a few months and never come back. The fines for breaking noise ordinances would be as stiff

Of course there IS a relationship but it's definitely not a simple linear thing. So tinnitus worsening is NOT inevitable at all.

Plus we don't actually have to outrun entropy until our deathbed - we only need to keep T manageable until viable treatments appear, and that can happen as soon as this month. The end is near, and in a good sense.

What potential treatments are possibly coming this month? Just curious. I'm in a bad spot and recently posted about it but I've perused the forums a bunch before this and always see people talking about the next breakthrough coming soon, and it's always just been disappointment.

If I knew real treatment for H (T too but especially H) were coming in the near future my suicidalness would drop quite a bit.
 

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