I'm going through a very bad relapse right now – due to an accidental acoustic trauma (outside of my ability to anticipate).Just wanted to give a status update. My tinnitus is definitely less bothersome than it was a few months back. Not resolved but significantly less intrusive. Not sure if it is actually quieter but I'm not noticing it all day long anymore. I'm also finally sleeping much better after discontinuing ALL of medications I was trying.
So, both times I've gotten tinnitus it followed the same trajectory. Six months of pure hell followed by a transitional period where I was able to tune it out for extended periods. I can only hope this case of tinnitus will eventually fade and disappear into the ether like the last time!
Fortunately, my hyperacusis didn't come back and my left ear still seems to be clear of any tinnitus. My right ear is absolutely killing me, though.
I've been suffering from tinnitus for almost 4 years, but I managed to reach a pretty good place after about 3 or 3.5 years. Hyperacusis was gone, and the tinnitus volume seemed to have settled at something quite manageable. I wouldn't notice it for long stretches of times, and when I did, I was at peace with it.
At the moment I'm going through hell again. Sometimes I'm wondering how much more I can put up with, though. I've been suffering from chronic nerve pain since my early 20s, which has made my life miserable on its own. Then I developed tinnitus when I turned 30.
I had about 2.5 years to settle into it before I went through a gruelling divorce.
Going through this all on my own sucks. I also have a 4-year-old son which I co-parent with my ex. I love him so much, and he's what got me through the first time. But this constant pain, screaming tinnitus, and the instant depression that came on after this current spike lasted for longer than 3 days is slowly killing me.
I don't want to fail him, but as I'm now, I feel like I can hardly be a good father to him. Not being there at all seems worse, but at least he won't have to see me suffer.
For now I have the tiniest bit of hope that this spike will settle down in the coming days/weeks, but I honestly don't know what I'll do if it doesn't.
I suppose I habituated once, but looking back – it didn't seem nearly as bad then. Probably because I had someone to look after me and care for me, plus social security in the sense that I could take some time off from work in order to work on my health. Now I'm alone, and bills need to be paid – but I'm being laid off in April because I was working on a temporary contract.
Last week I wasn't too worried about finding a new job, but with this current hellish tinnitus... I'm worried I'll mess up either any interviews or the job itself.
This sucks. Tinnitus sucks. Nerve pain sucks.
Sorry for the rant.