New to This, Any Help Appreciated

[baz 22]

Hi Guys, so I have had tinnitus for about 3 weeks now. I went to the GP last week and wow what a waste of time. She said nothing she could do and sent me on my merry way. She also talked like tinnitus was nothing, just like a common cold.

I am only 22 and am trying to come to terms with it, I have had quite severe anxiety and depression at times as to what my future may be like. I just don't know how I can stick this out for another 60 years.

Is there anything I should be doing to help my tinnitus since it is quite new to me? I read about AM-101 , but not sure about it. Should I see another GP or someone else?

During the day my tinnitus is more of a static sound, and at night I can hear a ringing when trying to sleep. My tinnitus is only in my left ear.

Also I think my tinnitus may be noise induced, I was listening to lots of loud music from my earphones for weeks prior to the ringing. Also I worked in a factory with loud machinery with no hearing protection for a couple years (finished that job about 4 months ago). Now I pay for the mistakes.

My tinnitus is not really bad as I have read from some posts. Basically during the day I don't notice it much just when I think about or try listen to it (really hard to not think about it). At work I don't here it because of all office equipment going. Just when it comes to sleeping is when it is a real pain. My tinnitus really kicks off from about 6pm to sleep time. I think it may be from anxiety of thinking about how difficult sleeping will be again. I am buying pillow speakers from amazon, hopefully they will help.

I also find my energy levels are way down and my appetite has significantly reduced, I am only eating about 1 meal a day at the moment.

Will it get better?

 

[Alue]

I'm sorry to hear you have this affliction too, but being that it's early and you don't notice it much during the day is good. Protect your hearing in in noisy environments, it can get worse if you keep abusing your ears. Just be glad you can't hear it 24/7 even in loud environments.

You should get in to see an ENT/audiologist to rule out any other causes, but don't expect them to give you a magic pill or anything.

 

[Vincent777]

Hello baz 22. Sorry to hear you've got tinnitus. Have you went to the ENT doctor? I know how terrible it can be, it drove me crazy two nights ago.

Try listening to this to mask your tinnitus, it works wonders for me. I use them together, basically one is white noise and the other is is Binaural beats music. I've slept like a baby from it.
Mix them together, white noise should mask the tinnitus while binaural beats should help you calm down. I wish you peace and calm my friend.













And check this rain sound generator, you can choose white, brown, pink and grey noise as well as some frequencies for the sound of the rain you want. http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php

Also get a doctor to prescribe you some clonazepam to calm you down, it makes your tinnitus lower as well.

Here's the study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22626945

I listen to this radio when I work from home to help me relax and get into the mood, it's an ambiental post-rock/trance with a little of dubstep: http://www.divbyzero.de/index.php/streams the a m b i e n t & d o w n b e a t radio station.


Hope it helps and update me on how you like the music/white noise sounds!

From what you wrote it sounds like your T is not loud. How loud is it from 0 to 10? It should pass eventually because our brain eventually filters it out, as the doctors explained to me it's the same process as when you don't feel the clothes on your skin or the ring on your fingers after a while. But you have to avoid loud noise exposures.

 

[Vincent777]

Here's @Bobby B quote that he posted on my thread.

My advice is to keep wearing those ear muffs if you want your ears to really heal.
You need to keep noise under 70 db for at least a few months.
Unless you live in a desert or remote countryside, there is no way you can control the noise yourself as soon as you step outside your house.

Walk into a restaurant or cafe with some music and loud crowd and that's a constant 85 db with 100 db peaks .Ride a train or car or walk along a busy street can be 85-90bd db as well, and a sudden unexpected heavy door slamming or fire/police siren can be even far worse if you don't wear ear protection.

Its great to desensitize the ears and listen to various sounds to rehabilitate - I do it too - but do that at home in a controlled environment not outside.

Some people on these site have T which ins't directly noise induced, maybe caused by anxiety or meds etc.. so for them 85bd is safe perhaps and wearing ear protection all the time is "bad" but not for us.

its really easy to make it even worse so be very careful..
I did read a lot of posts of guys with long term T and loss and most of them noticed T worsening - permanently - with noise levels that would be considered "safe" by normal standards. I did a few mistakes myself which I regret now..by being not patient enough with my ears healing process

Wearing ear muffs makes T more noticeable and harder to ignore for sure but over time your mind power can make T disappear even with ear muffs.
In life the easy way isn't often the best way.

You will see after a few months T will slowly move to the background and you will get used to it - but what remains is a weakened internal ear which you must protect.

 

[baz 22]

Thanks for the feedback, another restless sleep last night. I will go back to my GP friday and ask to see an ENT. I don't really want to take drugs but I will ask the doc and see what they say. Thanks for all the masking sounds vincent, will definately try them when i need to sleep.

 

[Vincent777]

It's your choice for the drugs but I've taken clonazepam before for my anxiety issues for 2 years and it has helped me and it worked wonders for me without any side effects or withdrawal. I was very worried at the beginning that I'll get addicted to it, paranoid even as I never took benzodiazepines before. I was very anti-drugs and anti-establishment, thought doctors want to get me hooked so they can control me or something. But nothing bad can happen from the lowest dose. I haven't developed any physical or mental dependence nor suffered withdrawal symptoms.

Like I said on my thread, my left ear went way quieter on 0 to 10 from 6 to around 2.7 and the right also went down from 2.5 to around 1.8 from taking 0.5 clonazepam. Woke up today and it's even lower now.

 

[Zug]

Thanks for the feedback, another restless sleep last night. I will go back to my GP friday and ask to see an ENT. I don't really want to take drugs but I will ask the doc and see what they say. Thanks for all the masking sounds vincent, will definately try them when i need to sleep.

Hey @baz 22 , there are White noise apps for phones. I used them a lot on the first 3/4 months. It's easier to set and just leave them on when you're watching TV, trying to sleep. etc.

 

[baz 22]

I think a big part of my tinnitus is anxiety about recently getting this. I will try them apps but I need to learn to relax / cope with this. Maybe a few meds are the only way in the beginning. I guess i was hoping this would only last for like 2-3 weeks. But coming into week 4 and feel kinda depressed that I still have it and anxious that it may never go away.

 

[Zug]

@baz 22 I took Clonazepan once or twice a week for the first three or four months. No shame in that.

Don't worry too much about anything for now, just mask and try not to obsess over it. The "Back to Silence" method in the success stories is a great strategy to try.

You'll have time to deal with it later if it doesn't go away. I'm on my 6th month and doing CBT (Cognitive behavioral Treatment). My T is not gone but believe me, it does gets easier. I can clearly hear my sound over my car's engine, with the TV on, basically all the time if I'm not distracted. The "if I'm not distracted" is new, I used to hear it all the time and almost went crazy on the first 3 months. If I had some improvement, so can you. You'll feel better, believe me.

 

[daniel1111]

Hi @baz 22

My tinnitus was also noise induced from headphones. At the early stages it's completely normal to worry about the future and be anxious and depressed.

Just like you, my tinnitus is/was not as bad as others I've read here, but it still took me to some very dark places.

I am doing very, very well now. It's only been 5-6 weeks.

If yours is quite mild like mine, you will probably get over it without too much trouble. It may not completely go away, but if it doesn't you will get to a point where you cope with it much better, even to the point where it doesn't bother you anymore. Then again, it may even go completely if you are lucky.

For sleeping, a speaker pillow sounds great if it's only in one ear.

Other than that, try not to worry about the future. Keep yourself busy and distracted to make sure it doesn't drag you into a deep depression. That's really half the battle with tinnitus. Also, try not to measure your tinnitus at all, if you do that it just becomes louder and more noticeable.

One more thing, lay off the headphones and anything loud for a good while!

Regards,
Daniel

 

[baz 22]

Thanks daniel, tinnitus really hits me hard at night and struggle to get much sleep. To be honest i just really want my life back. Trying to keep my head up but i am being pushed into some read sad thoughts.

 

[Sebastians]

@baz 22
for your sake, please do eat well. These are times of great distress and you need to provide your body and mind with plenty of high quality food. In times like these, it's easy to lose a lot of weight due to stress and anxiety. You'll just lose healthy muscle tissue. Get your calories from bananas, tuna, sushi, grilled chicken. Go have some fast food if you need it, it's better than starving your body.
Also get a multivitamin, magnesium tablets, omega 3 fish oild tablets.
It won't make you feel all happy in just a few hours/ days, but it will significantly impact your health, mood and wellbeing in the long run. Pamper yourself!
If you can, pick up running or go to a (quiet) gym, buy your own set of dumbells and work out at home if that's more comfortable for you.
I had a bad day today, but managed to drag my sorry ass to the office gym (empty after 5 pm), did a small miracle for me.