Poll: Can Your Tinnitus Be Masked By a Ceiling Fan?

[Sailboardman]

@Telis,

Bro you know I feel your pain! My right ear is blown and my brain just tries to make up for the lost frequencies. The more noise I introduce into my life, the more reactive and louder my T gets! It becomes head filling hissing and whistling, that drops me to my knees at times. A wretched condition, that actually has driven me to the edge of insanity!

 

[zombiechick]

My T is pretty loud. Some days I get a reprieve. It can be reactive at times. No H thankfully. But no device mask it but it helps me cope and I try and force my mind to focus on the sound or I try and find a sound that mimics the sounds in my head. So, it's not masking it but it's making it tolerable by blending in with a sound that less stressful. Miss my low T.

 

[Alue]

Not necessarily,my uncle has loud T,so loud in fact he sleeps with a portable radio under his pillow to block it out.

He's the most habituated person I have ever met,it literally doesn't bother him at all @Alue

How loud is it you ask?According to him he hears it over everything,the only thing that masks it is sleepSo don't give up just yet

That's what everyone says, I know someone too that has tinnitus and can hear it everywhere. But I do think the ability to mask it makes a huge difference in how easily a person can habituate. I only wish I mine could be masked by street noise. Volume and pitch do matter.

Markku posted this last week:

Here's the full article:

http://archotol.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=482183

Conclusions Severe tinnitus shows some signs of improvement over time, especially when psychological treatment has been given. Tinnitus maskability is an important prognostic factor of future tinnitus annoyance.

The longitudinal part of this study set out to answer 2 overall questions: what happens to tinnitus over time and what is the role of CBT? Out of a large set of variables only a few differences were tested for statistical significance. The changes observed for the total sample was that tolerance of tinnitus increased. However, tinnitus grading remained stable from a statistical standpoint. For 21% tinnitus grading did increase and for 26% it decreased, leaving tinnitus grading unaffected for 53% of the total sample.
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[JasonP]

@Telis,

Bro you know I feel your pain! My right ear is blown and my brain just tries to make up for the lost frequencies. The more noise I introduce into my life, the more reactive and louder my T gets! It becomes head filling hissing and whistling, that drops me to my knees at times. A wretched condition, that actually has driven me to the edge of insanity!

I feel so bad for you. That is horrible. This is really depressing to hear. Please go see a doctor to see if there is anything they can give you to help you deal with the tinnitus better. I had to get on Lamictal for depression and also taking klonopin although the klonopin I developed a tolerance for. If all else fails some people have been helped by a drug called Potiga but there can be some bad side effects to it. If you are suffering to the extreme though it might be worth looking into.

 

[JasonP]

Ya I'm only 3 months in and it's fairly mild but still drives me up to walls when will all our nightmares end

I don't always recommend this but if this continues to bother you, you might could look into going to a doctor to see if there is some kind of medicine to help calm you down. If it is mild, and you are on a medicine that "helps your brain" you might start to think "Oh well, this T isn't too bad" and then it won't bother you and you will be able to take your focus off of it a lot easier. My personal advice though for medicine is don't take anymore than you need and don't take benzodiazapines long term. Right now I am taking Lamictal as a mood stabilizer since I don't do well on anti-depressants. Fish Oil (natural alternative) taken for a while can also improve mood. Melatonin can help me calm down at night and help me to get sleepy (I don't know if it is good to take long term though.

 

[JasonP]

My T could easily mask my ceiling fan, even on high! I sleep with a nature sound machine on my bed, right next to my head and sometimes, even that can't mask my T. My head is a noise factory, out of control.

Have you had your hearing checked and tried hearing aids? They helped knock my T down some. Also you might could try a pillow speaker and hook it up to a computer headphone jack and go to mynoise.net and select some kind of sound to mask. Rain or running water can help me. You can adjust the sliders to where you need them to be for your tinnitus (bass, mid, treble) Hope you get better soon.

 

[Sailboardman]

Have you had your hearing checked and tried hearing aids? They helped knock my T down some. Also you might could try a pillow speaker and hook it up to a computer headphone jack and go to mynoise.net and select some kind of sound to mask. Rain or running water can help me. You can adjust the sliders to where you need them to be for your tinnitus (bass, mid, treble) Hope you get better soon.

I've been wearing a hearing aid masker for 18 months now. Right ear is severly deaf from 2-8 k standard test, 65-70 Db's loss, flat across. Probably gone all the way up to 22k. I hear zero high frequency. SSHL was the diagnosis. Had an intratympanic injection of cortiosteriods done, was on a prednisone regiment intially, tried meds, not fcor me. had 8 months of acupunture, did MRI's, chiro & dental work for TMJ, supplements, etc, etc.

Right cochlear is shot. Nerve has been tested and can hear 15-20 db's better though. I've been down the road awhile with this and basically, I survive. What's done is done. My bedside masker usually works well and I try not to set it louder than my T level. Somedays are lower and others real screamers. It's the rollercoaster ride of tinnitus. I don't freak out anymore, just keep busy and try not to let it beat me up to much.

Thanks for the info though!

 

[billie48]

Somedays are lower and others real screamers. It's the rollercoaster ride of tinnitus. I don't freak out anymore, just keep busy and try not to let it beat me up to much.

This in essence is the state many T veterans are in. Some tend to think because they don't react to T anymore because their T has subsided. Not true. At least not for me. My T is screaming with such ultra high pitch the few days and resonating my whole head. But it can't extract an oz of negative emotion from me nor my brain any more. We are hardened to this T bully. Couldn't do that when T was new but nowadays T can scream all it wants and the heck with it. Ya, keep busy and enjoy life to to the fullest not holding back. I am working, fishing, gardening, dancing, singing, movie going, playing with my grandchildren, and in 3 weeks me and my sweetie wife will be celebrating our 40th anniversary with a 2 week vacation of Europe on a cruise. Ya, I will probably hear my T above the jet noise, but who cares. T can go to hell and I will live and enjoy my heaven. Amen.

 

[JasonP]

I've been wearing a hearing aid masker for 18 months now. Right ear is severly deaf from 2-8 k standard test, 65-70 Db's loss, flat across. Probably gone all the way up to 22k. I hear zero high frequency. SSHL was the diagnosis. Had an intratympanic injection of cortiosteriods done, was on a prednisone regiment intially, tried meds, not fcor me. had 8 months of acupunture, did MRI's, chiro & dental work for TMJ, supplements, etc, etc.

Right cochlear is shot. Nerve has been tested and can hear 15-20 db's better though. I've been down the road awhile with this and basically, I survive. What's done is done. My bedside masker usually works well and I try not to set it louder than my T level. Somedays are lower and others real screamers. It's the rollercoaster ride of tinnitus. I don't freak out anymore, just keep busy and try not to let it beat me up to much.

Thanks for the info though!

You are very welcome for the info. If it ever gets so bad you can't stand it, I guess you could look into Potiga. Some of the people on here have been helped by it but it comes with risks and the potential for very serious side effects.

 

[Cillian]

I don't always recommend this but if this continues to bother you, you might could look into going to a doctor to see if there is some kind of medicine to help calm you down. If it is mild, and you are on a medicine that "helps your brain" you might start to think "Oh well, this T isn't too bad" and then it won't bother you and you will be able to take your focus off of it a lot easier. My personal advice though for medicine is don't take anymore than you need and don't take benzodiazapines long term. Right now I am taking Lamictal as a mood stabilizer since I don't do well on anti-depressants. Fish Oil (natural alternative) taken for a while can also improve mood. Melatonin can help me calm down at night and help me to get sleepy (I don't know if it is good to take long term though.

I've been on diazepam 2mg for 3 months

 

[jeanoroid]

Oh if it were only masked by a ceiling fan..
Maybe a poll "Is your T masked by the shower" as running water supposedly covers all frequencies as such..

 

[JasonP]

Oh if it were only masked by a ceiling fan..
Maybe a poll "Is your T masked by the shower" as running water supposedly covers all frequencies as such..

I hear you. I would feel really bad for the people who can't be masked by a shower. That is awful.