Spontaneous Recovery Stats: Many Recover (3 Studies)

[GregCA]

Yes! It did fade from its original volume. I have not been to Tinnitus Talk in a long time, but I logged in today and saw your question.

It has somehow softened from the original volume, but more importantly it's taken a backseat in my life. I'm mentally back to who I was before my hearing loss, and that's a place I never thought I'd get to again.

Congratulations! I'm happy for you!

 

[Capstan]

Thanks, it definitely took time. The noise is still there just not at the same volume as when I first lost my hearing. I can still hear it over a shower, in a crowded room, and everywhere I go. I just don't listen to it. I think that's the key for me.

Hi Tinker Bell

Did you have any reduction in your reactivity?

I have it to certain noises. Very glad to hear your doing so well!

James

 

[Bill Bauer]

Like what if around the 2 year mark or more you start to experience a stabilizing of it?

I am not sure whether your definition of "stabilizing" includes "fading". After reading this forum for more than 3 years, I can recall only a handful of posts reporting fading beginning after 2 years. It's rare but it does happen. Once fading begins, it ought to continue to fade (and I guess it doesn't matter when the fading begins). One unfortunate thing that seems to happen is that the more it fades, the slower it begins to fade. I guess it's consistent with the fading being a constant percentage of the current level - so the lower the level, the less absolute fading there is. But it all adds up.

 

[PhoenixAcademy]

I am not sure whether your definition of "stabilizing" includes "fading". After reading this forum for more than 3 years, I can recall only a handful of posts reporting fading beginning after 2 years. It's rare but it does happen. Once fading begins, it ought to continue to fade (and I guess it doesn't matter when the fading begins). One unfortunate thing that seems to happen is that the more it fades, the slower it begins to fade. I guess it's consistent with the fading being a constant percentage of the current level - so the lower the level, the less absolute fading there is. But it all adds up.

I mean it is fading, I think, and not being so erratic day to day.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I mean it is fading, I think, and not being so erratic day to day.

In that case, I hope the question wasn't hypothetical and that you have actually finally began to experience fading. If so, would you say there is a chance it began fading after you changed something about your lifestyle or made any other changes?

 

[PhoenixAcademy]

In that case, I hope the question wasn't hypothetical and that you have actually finally began to experience fading. If so, would you say there is a chance it began fading after you changed something about your lifestyle or made any other changes?

No clue. Not really. I stopped going around all loud sounds as much as possible. It was not hypothetical though, my tinnitus has gotten better. I used to have extreme sensitivity to everyday sounds and that is mostly gone. Like, some things were very loud.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I stopped going around all loud sounds as much as possible.

Have you adopted this policy years before you noticed this change for the better, or was it months before the improvement?

 

[PhoenixAcademy]

Have you adopted this policy years before you noticed this change for the better, or was it months before the improvement?

Since constant tinnitus started. I have only had constant tinnitus for ~2 years. I have had on and off tinnitus since I was a kid.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Since constant tinnitus started. I have only had constant tinnitus for ~2 years. I have had on and off tinnitus since I was a kid.

I am glad you tried it and I am glad that it would appear that it worked well for you. Let's hope for the best.

 

[PhoenixAcademy]

I am glad you tried it and I am glad that it would appear that it worked well for you. Let's hope for the best.

it was a natural reaction

 

[Bill Bauer]

it was a natural reaction

Same here. You won't believe how many attacks I have had to deal with as a result of me advocating these natural, common sense strategies.

 

[PhoenixAcademy]

Same here. You won't believe how many attacks I have had to deal with as a result of me advocating these natural, common sense strategies.

You were attacked for what? Avoiding loud sounds? Really?

 

[Bill Bauer]

You were attacked for what? Avoiding loud sounds? Really?

I was attacked for telling newbies to be careful around loud sounds.

To be fair, some people Can act in an unreasonable way:

The behaviour has actually gotten worse (some of you will read this with a 'WTF is wrong with you' reaction, and that's fair enough, my own family say it to me regularly). Nowadays, I am double protecting in the house and out of the house, in my car (I still drive as I have to for work) and when walking the dog. I listen to the tv and films on subtitles and with no volume. On the rare occasions that I watch something with the wife that requires volume, I can't hear the volume anyway through the double protection. I sleep in earmuffs as I can hear the road outside through the single glaze windows. I take baths and don't shower - if I have to shower it is in peltor muffs. When washing my hair, I used waterproof 'swimmers' earplugs and take great care not to make undue noise and splashing. I don't go out really much any more. I have friends over but make excuses not to go out to restaurants or places where it could be loud. I have even started saying no to golf (sounds stupid, but I have). My world has become a lot smaller. I am getting chewed up inside now as it is my brother's 30th birthday tomorrow and his wife has organised a meal for friends in London. I'm invited, she even consulted me on venue and booked a private room, but as it gets nearer I know that I will likely not go. I want to go, but I feel I just can't. I am also in the midst of a spike right now, caused by some road traffic noise. My front door is 20-30m from a road. I like to avoid exposure here and so run to the car/run the dog past the road to quieter wooded area, but today, I felt my earplugs 'pop' maybe due to wax behind the ear, and I'm now terrified it wasn't in correctly and I've caused lasting damage - this worry and spike is despite me having earmuffs ontop of the plugs.
...I also spend ages pushing the plugs into my ears; if they crack or make a sound or pop, I repeat the process until they do not do this when i take my hand away. Embarrassingly, yet truthfully, it has sometimes taken my 20 mins to leave the house satisfied that they are in ok. If they 'pop' when 5m from the front door, I am back in the house repeating the 'process'.

It is important to mention that these things did not happen to me at once. They were incremental, but they are at the point now where I do not recognise the person I was before they happened. I have almost become used to this life. Trying to do something different or outside of my limited comfort zone, puts me into a panic attack and weeks of protracted stress and rumination. The double protecting within the house started when I was caring for a sick family member, who has since died. I didn't want any spikes on top of that stress...but since I started doing it, it has now become habit...

Would I like things to be different - obviously yes!
Would I rather live like this than have the tinnitus get worse - sadly also yes, which is why I continue to do it...probably

In any case, I got accused of fear mongering, and my defense has always been that it's ok to be fearful of the scary things that can make one's body permanently uninhabitable.

For a representative sample of those discussions, check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/learn-from-others-mistakes.29437/
But over the years there had been dozens of those discussions...

 

[Vassili]

Hello!
I have my noise-induced T for 5 months now. I think I have 70% improvement. At the moment I hear low hissing that is not that loud, some firecrackers and squeaky doors in the distance (it's such a weird effect), some quiet whooshing sometimes. My H is still there but it became much more tolerable. Also have pain in my upper back, shoulders, neck and head that slowly goes away and becomes more and more tolerable and mild. May be I'll be lucky enough to recover after 6-12 months period. But who knows...

 

[Bill Bauer]

I have my noise-induced T for 5 months now. I think I have 70% improvement. At the moment I hear low hissing that is not that loud,

That's a lot of progress in only 5 months. Assuming you won't harm your ears again, it ought to continue to fade. You might want to stay away from loud noises, ototoxic medication, microsuction and ultrasonic dental cleaning (for the latter two manual tools should be used).

 

[Vassili]

That's a lot of progress in only 5 months. Assuming you won't harm your ears again, it ought to continue to fade. You might want to stay away from loud noises, ototoxic medication, microsuction and ultrasonic dental cleaning (for the latter two manual tools should be used).

Thank you for your advise. Yes, at the moment I'm constantly protecting my ears and, I guess, my music days are over. I'm happy that everyday sounds do not bring me much pain anymore. Buy the way, starting from day one after my acoustic incident I haven't worn any earplugs, I made myself go outside, do normal things while I was at home and I really quickly introduced everyday sounds back into my life. First three months were really painful, full of anxiety and mild vertigo. I remember once being at the supermarket and while buying food my tinnitus got so intense that I had a feeling of being somewhere at the battlefield with tanks firing, there were so many different sounds,really loud sirens, explosion-like sounds all kinds of really loud noise. I remember my head started spinning and I thought that I would loose it but I managed to calm down and got home safely. I really hope this nightmare ends within a year. Right now I feel much better but it still worries me. May be I would've forgotten about the noise already because I tend not to concentrate on it much but my ears still hurt and burn sometimes. Also all those sensations that something is moving and popping inside your ears always remind me that I still have this problem. And yes, every tinnitus sufferer needs a good hug. If you haven't experienced it than you won't understand.

 

[Bill Bauer]

I remember once being at the supermarket and while buying food my tinnitus got so intense that I had a feeling of being somewhere at the battlefield with tanks firing

Personally, I think that ignoring the signals from your body is a dangerous strategy.

May be I would've forgotten about the noise already because I tend not to concentrate on it much but my ears still hurt and burn sometimes.

If you notice tinnitus getting louder or your ears burning and hurting more, if I were you I would seriously considering reversing your strategy on

Buy the way, starting from day one after my acoustic incident I haven't worn any earplugs, I made myself go outside, do normal things while I was at home and I really quickly introduced everyday sounds back into my life.

I am not sure how this is different from breaking your arm and then doing your everyday activities as if your arm hasn't been broken, while ignoring the pain.

those sensations that something is moving and popping inside your ears

It sounds like TTTS. It normally goes away after a year or two.

 

[Vassili]

I guess it was a stupid idea to go to supermarket with H. My T is not getting louder, its getting quieter actually, but slowly. Pain is still there but I concern it rather a mild discomfort at this stage. Its not getting worse. I can't wear earplugs all the time. Ears get tired quickly. Outside I wore a hat and a hood. It helped me. I've also seen two ENT Doctors. Both of them said that its not an acoustic trauma but an acoustic shock. Audiogram hasn't revealed anything. They said that me hearing is absolutely perfect and I can feel that. I don't feel any changes in hearing especially now after 5 months. But I know damage is done. Who knows may be if I experience one more shock like that I can say goodbye to my hearing. Well, doctors said that I was really lucky and that I should be thankful that it all turned out that way. They didn't really explained me anything about the TTTS syndrome but prescribed me some medicines and supplements and advised to wait for a year or even longer. So I really hope that you are right and it will go away within a year hopefully. It was the first time in my life when I've experienced pain from the sound. I had something like that may be 5 years ago. But it was in such a weak form that it went away after couple of hours, 5-6 may be. An there was no pain. Bit this time it is different. It's really some sort of trauma.

 

[Laurie1961]

@Vassili Great news for you!!! Interesting choice of words by your doctor--- acoustic shock and you should be thankful it turned out this way-- no signs of any damage, all curious things for doctors to say. Maybe telling you it's great news or you are lucky, turned out this way? Very unusual choice of words for doctors. And, calling it shock, correcting your term trauma which would include most injury-- shock? What kind of shock. Strange words and reading between the doctors comments makes me go, hmmm.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

Chronic pain like CPPS can be MUCH MUCH MUCH worse. Well I rather have mild CPPS than a severe tinnitus but other than that...

I've had both. If you're still struggling, read "A headache in the Pelvis". This info and a good PT changed my life.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

You were attacked for what? Avoiding loud sounds? Really?

Nobody attacked Bill for telling people to avoid loud sounds. People have criticized him for going far above and beyond that. Like removing fire alarms from his home. Like removing airbags from his car in case they go off.

He has advocated some truly dangerous behavior on this site.

I'm one of the people that frequently debate him. He is right in that in early stages you should rest your ears. But once you stabilize you can resume life with proper precautions. I've had tinnitus for 4 years and I go to concerts (when the world isn't hiding from disease) and play acoustic drums EVERY DAY. My tinnitus has only gotten better regardless.

You don't need to stop living life, which is what he advocates.

 

[NeoKortex88]

I've had both. If you're still struggling, read "A headache in the Pelvis". This info and a good PT changed my life.

Thanks, I got rid of it with stretching but took me over a year. My tinnitus is from stress now. Is your tinnitus gone?

 

[Autumnly]

But once you stabilize you can resume life with proper precautions. I've had tinnitus for 4 years and I go to concerts (when the world isn't hiding from disease) and play acoustic drums EVERY DAY. My tinnitus has only gotten better regardless.

You don't need to stop living life, which is what he advocates.

That's not possible for everyone. There are enough stories of people getting permanently worse, for example after attending a concert, indicating that not everyone has the same type of stable tinnitus. While this obviously isn't the case for everyone and many people can resume their normal lives eventually, especially conditions such as pain-hyperacusis can further make an individual's situation more complicated. Telling people they'll be just fine if they wear hearing protection and implying everyone can go back to living a normal life with tinnitus isn't a balanced view either.

 

[Bill Bauer]

Like removing fire alarms from his home.

I had done that.

Like removing airbags from his car in case they go off.

I have contemplated doing that, but in the end I haven't done it. I hope I don't live to regret this. In the thread where this got discussed, I quoted multiple posts by people who wished they had done that.

You were attacked for what? Avoiding loud sounds? Really?

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/why-do-some-people-hate-bill-bauer.27106/

@Bill Bauer speaks the truth... our ears are compromised, we can no longer withstand the abuse of loud noise.

Why do some people want to make belief that is not true and constantly argue with Bill?

PLEASE MAKE SENSE TO ME?

 

[Bill Bauer]

I've had tinnitus for 4 years and I go to concerts (when the world isn't hiding from disease) and play acoustic drums EVERY DAY. My tinnitus has only gotten better regardless.

So you agree that in addition to airbags and fire alarms, I got attacked for advocating not doing things like going to concerts while wearing earplugs.

As for your experience, it reminded me of the post below

It can get extremely bad. I went to clubs and concerts for four years after initial onset of mild tinnitus and hyperacusis, and I was fine. I got some increased tinnitus before going to bed, but that was all.

Until one day, it wasn't.

But that's ok - you do you.

Nobody has ever claimed that Every person who does those things will live to regret it. You can't deny that the risk is there, and some of us believe that when it comes to tinnitus, very small risk Isn't acceptable.

 

[Tom Cnyc]

So you agree that in addition to airbags and fire alarms, I got attacked for advocating not doing things like going to concerts while wearing earplugs.

I don't have the patience to debate this with you anymore.

@Autumnly I had bad hyperacusis for most of a year. I avoided loud sounds and wore earplugs most everywhere during that time. I don't advocate for people with hyperacusis issues to strap in some foamies and go see bassnectar.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again. I share my positive experience here because not enough people have. When I was in the worst period of my life, I was depressed like I could never have imagined because I thought I lost my passion of playing music.

If any of you are of the small minority that can't get back to life, and I really feel for you if that's the case, then just ignore my message. It's not for you. It's for someone who is like I was to have a glimmer of hope. Statistically there are more people in my position than people who don't improve. 3/4 people in my band have tinnitus. and we all had it before we started the band. nobody has gotten worse.

As to my own tinnitus, of course I still have it. I don't think it ever totally goes away. But honestly I'm in a dead silent room right now and barely hear it, and its a mild hiss. For most of April it was about as loud as my refrigerator. 2350Hz. It happens 2x a year and lasts about 2 weeks each time. When my allergies get bad in spring, and usually when winter first kicks in. I assume its due to sinus inflammation and don't panic about it. I just run a fan for a few days and it always fades.

I live about 3 blocks from the highway and on a real quiet night the noise of the cars bothers my wife. she has basically perfect hearing. a pin drop she can pick up. it bothers her at times. ironically my hiss covers it up totally so sometimes I have an easier time sleeping than her.

 

[Mymlan]

As to my own tinnitus, of course I still have it. I don't think it ever totally goes away. But honestly I'm in a dead silent room right now and barely hear it, and its a mild hiss.

May I ask, how long did it take before you reached this state?

 

[Tom Cnyc]

May I ask, how long did it take before you reached this state?

I started to get meaningful improvement with my tinnitus at 14 months. Hyperacusis started to fade after about 9 months.

From there it has gone up and down over the course of the 3 years that followed. But each time it goes down, it seems to get lower, and the spikes - while still loud and annoying - aren't nearly as intense as they used to be.

Loud sounds are not what causes my spikes. It's almost always sinus inflammation. Sometimes it's just random.

My personal theory on hyperacusis - and I am NOT A DOCTOR - is that it is caused by the muscles of the ear being in constant tension to protect itself. Essentially the tensor tympani is stuck on "protect" mode. Unfortunately, we really can't control this muscle. Hold a fist. Feels ok for a minute, right? But squeeze it hard for a day, a week, a month, a year? That fucker is gonna hurt. even touching those muscles will be agony. In my opinion - that's your hearing. It's so diligently protecting your hearing that it causes pain when you hear something.

This is likely why people have success with noise therapy for hyperacusis. The muscle starts to calm down over time. I didn't do the TRT generators. But I did gradually return to music while I still had remnants of hyperacusis. I started first with my electric guitar not plugged in. then my acoustic with earplugs, then lighter plugs, then no plugs, so on and so forth. Personally I think starting to move past this mentally allowed my fight or flight to chill and my hyperacusis to fade.

This is a focus group of 1. But my experience tells me this is true. As is the experience of the many people I know with tinnitus.

I'll repeat the success stories I've posted elsewhere.
-My physical therapist had it for a year really bad, now gets it once a month (punk concert).
-A childhood friend had it for 2 years, now gets it like once or twice a month (shotgun).
-My drum teacher told me his faded dramatically (and he plays drums 6 hours a day for a living).
-Mine faded.
-I have two friends from this forum that had theirs go down a lot - @dpdx being one - and if you read his posts he was SURE it wouldn't. Another doesn't post here anymore and we just check in on each other via Facebook. She's totally fine.
-A DJ I know from the NY rave scene of the aughts had it for nearly a decade. When he had a kid and stopped going to shows his faded to almost nothing. He never wore earplugs even when he had it.
-2 guys in my band have this, one doesn't wear earplugs when he sees his fav bands, but does in most loud environments. The other wears plugs at practice, but not when he goes to concerts or when he performs. Neither of them have gotten worse at all.
-Buddy from work's father had it real bad from being a UK Chopper pilot. Faded after 2 years.

Almost everyone I know with tinnitus outside of this site got a LOT better. The people I've met who didn't get better also didn't get worse and still do music.

Stay hopeful, people.

If anyone wants to talk to me about my journey, or just needs some encouragement - PM me. I'm running out of energy dealing with some of the more negative people here.

 

[Mymlan]

@Tom Cnyc Thank you for your kind response! It really keep me motivated, since I suffered one year already. I know that other suffered for longer, and I honestly don't know how you guys cope.

Best wishes to you all!

 

[magiccat]

Question, my tinnitus has been spiking really bad last days and I am trying to figure out why. I just now wondered if it is some kind of allergy, I don't normally feel allergy symptoms but now when i think about it i experienced blocked ears some days ago and they my tinnitus escalated. Can it be that this periods blocks anything in my sinuses without me noticing it? It is the worst allergy period now right? Im really hoping my spike calms down soon....