Thanks for all of your comments. It is baffling and frustrating for so many people that there is no cure yet. But new management programs like Mindfulness Based Tinnitus Stress Reduction (MBTSR), which I am happy to talk more about, focus on putting the responsibility for healing into the hands of the person with tinnitus (while hoping, like all of you, that someday there is a way to change the brain to cure tinnitus without causing more problems). Essentially, mindfulness based programs stress how you, with practice and consistency, can use purposeful attention to re-wire your own brain so that the focus of attention is not solely paid to tinnitus. The more evolved part of our brains (pre-frontal cortex) with its ability to use reasoning, can convince lower more unconscious parts of our brain (Limbic system--midbrain--amygdala) to relax and see tinnitus as a meaningless sensation rather than a body sensation that the brain must keep on alert. By stabilizing the brain (as can be done with the hard work of attention control exercises like meditation) we can then use reasoning to convince ourselves that the tinnitus signal can really just be let go of, much like we can let go of white noise in a room. This is simple but NOT easy. Like deciding to go on a diet, it takes discipline, time, patience, and consistency. Until there is a 'cure' even if these management strategies helps to relieve even a bit of the suffering (enough so you can at least function day-to-day) it certainly is worth the commitment. It's not that there is no possibility for a cure some day, but that day has not happened yet. So in the meantime I think it is important to look at ways in which we can help relieve our suffering on our own. I'd love to hear your thoughts...
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