Is There Life After Tinnitus?

[patt183]

Hello!

I am just genuinely wondering.. is there LIFE after tinnitus? I am not talking about existence. I am talking about LIFE.

I am only 19 years old and my life was only supposed to start, but I feel like it is over after getting such a debilitating chronic condition as tinnitus. I have never even heard about tinnitus prior to this which makes me even more angry.. WHY DON'T PEOPLE TALK ABOUT IT?

How do you live with something like tinnitus if anything could make it worse? Smoking, drinking, flying, diving, eating junk food, parties, exercising, going to festivals, movies, listening to music, common cold, getting pregnant, medicine etc.

I would wait all week to go to a bar with my friends and get crazy drunk. I would wait all year to go to a music festival. I used to be obsessed with relaxing hot baths (tried to take one today, but that buzzing sound in my head made my cry my eyes out and I wasn't anywhere near relaxed even after masking the sound). I used to love going to the cinema but the last time made me so crazy paranoid.

Whenever I think about my future I just do not see it. I became boring - something I was so afraid of. People used to love me for being the life and soul of the party, for always being so positive, loving life and laughing the loudest. All there is now is tears. I look in the mirror and I do not recognise myself. Feels like no one is ever going to love me with this chronic condition cause it is too much to put up with.

My life was near perfect. I guess that is why it is so hard for me to accept the fact that now it is not. I was going through a moderate depression episode at the same time but that was nothing compared to this as I could always find peace by lying in my bed and hugging my mom. However now doing even something simple like that feels like a torture.

So how are you actually supposed to enjoy your life and do considerably normal things if they can make you feel worse in a long run? How do you enjoy those once enjoyable moments of life if all you can hear is BZZZZZZZ and EEEEEEEEE?

P.S. sorry for being so negative, I am just feeling a little bit emotional today.

Have a good day.

 

[Zeneth]

I guess not..... :/

Im just waiting for the "cure" or a good treatment

 

[patt183]

Even my depression was sort of positive (sounds weird, I know) because I always knew I was going to get better as there are so many treatments available.

Why are people warned about hearing loss but not tinnitus? Why is no one actively looking for a cure if it is such a common condition? I don't get it.

 

[zeroday]

As difficult as this may sound it's all about time...I have had T over 20 years (high pitched and continuous tone) I don't even think of it, it's as normal to me as as if I didn't have it...it's ever present and unmaskable...it's just there...

 

[Jomo]

Im new to this as well and feel exactly like you do about how little this is talked about. As a drummer i maybe heard it me tioned once but otherwise nothing. Its really terrible how i have to deal with somthing now that could have totally been prevented. But i will say being much older than you that your life is not over. Im 3 months in and continue to live my life...i work crazy hours and do everything i want. I havent touched my drums yet but i one day will with appropriate protection of course. Right now as i write i am on a train in noisey NYC subway with ear plugs on. You may have to adjust a little bit but what you do with your life is still your choice. Dont give up !!!

 

[GregCA]

I havent touched my drums yet but i one day will with appropriate protection of course.

Get an e-kit - you can control the volume. I've gone back to my e-kit since onset and so far it has helped me.

 

[Michael Leigh]

@patt183 Everything that you are feeling at the moment many of us at tinnitus talk have also felt. Try not to be too hard on yourself. There is life after tinnitus and I believe you will be able to do all the things that you want. I recently posted an article in this forum titled: Tinnitus, A Personal View. It was written especially for for people new to tinnitus and I think you might find it helpful. Please click on my Avatar and choose: started threads and it's at the top of the list.
Best of luck
Michael

 

[pef]

There's life if you choose to live it. Yeah, T sucks, but many people have physical problems that are much, much worse. I have it 24/7, and I have a head cold right now so I pretty much ear the T over everything. But it doesn't bother me.

The way I got over T was that I realized I would have it the rest of my life. So I willed myself to accept it; it was either that or be distracted and depressed. And quite frankly, I got sick of being distracted and depressed - it was a lot of work!

Go out with you friends and have a drink. Go to a movie. Have a nice dinner. It won't hurt your T, and you might even forget about it for a while.

 

[JohnnyMx]

I am just genuinely wondering.. is there LIFE after tinnitus? I am not talking about existence. I am talking about LIFE.

Hi Patt, sure, There is a life after Tinnitus.

I've had mild T since I can remember. At your age, my Tinnitus was louder and I was still able to finish an engineering degree.

3 years ago my T got louder, I can hear it over the loud sound inside a big airplane. This time I had problems at the beggining, but I'm now back, being a full time engineer, a full time father and a full time husband.

There is a life after Tinnitus, as soon as you accept that there is not a PERFECT LIFE. Most of us that struggled at the beggining (in the onset or when it got louder), was because we felt like our perfect lifes ended. Wrong, nobody have a perfect life. People have MS, cancer, very bad chronic pain, its blind, phantom pains, have lost children, have lost limbs, have children with brain damage, have had life changing strokes, ALOT at very young ages . Just see around you, most of the people have something to fight with everyday.

Accept your new situation, your new "normal", start with little steps to enjoy life again, and in couple of months you will be living your LIFE again.

Keep strong!

Your friend,
Johnny.

 

[Mario martz]

Hi Patt, sure, There is a life after Tinnitus.

I've had mild T since I can remember. At your age, my Tinnitus was louder and I was still able to finish an engineering degree.

3 years ago my T got louder, I can hear it over the loud sound inside a big airplane. This time I had problems at the beggining, but I'm now back, being a full time engineer, a full time father and a full time husband.

There is a life after Tinnitus, as soon as you accept that there is not a PERFECT LIFE. Most of us that struggled at the beggining (in the onset or when it got louder), was because we felt like our perfect lifes ended. Wrong, nobody have a perfect life. People have MS, cancer, very bad chronic pain, its blind, phantom pains, have lost children, have lost limbs, have children with brain damage, have had life changing strokes, ALOT at very young ages . Just see around you, most of the people have something to fight with everyday.

Accept your new situation, your new "normal", start with little steps to enjoy life again, and in couple of months you will be living your LIFE again.

Keep strong!

Your friend,
Johnny.

This is the best reply i have ever seen in a while!
and i believe so.
right now my T is blasting, but im enjoying literally ENJOYING my coconut drink and about to find a book to read and chill.
you just have to accept that things chaged, it takes a while and its not easy and just as Johnny said.
there are people who have more things to deal and still carry on.
not saying tinnitus is not that difficult, all im saying that its just part of the game.

right now im taking test to see if what i have is MS, Menieres, lyme or something else,
yes its scary at some big big point, but even if i was 100% healthy i could die tomorrow.
what matters is today and what you do about it.

there is life after tinnitus.
you just have to accept the new normal and focus on things you can do.

 

[Foncky]

(...) Go to a movie. (...) It won't hurt your T, and you might even forget about it for a while.

How do you know ? Be careful with statements like that. We're all different.

You wrote in your thread : "My T is not so loud - driving in a car can mask most of it."

I'm glad, but don't think it's always like that. It's not for me.

 

[Sam Bridge]

As difficult as this may sound it's all about time...I have had T over 20 years (high pitched and continuous tone) I don't even think of it, it's as normal to me as as if I didn't have it...it's ever present and unmaskable...it's just there...

This is it pretty much. Mines like a zzzzzzzzzzz minda sound, its just there and you carry on.