- Aug 22, 2015
- 102
- Tinnitus Since
- 1/20/15
- Cause of Tinnitus
- Most likely acoustic hearing loss
Hi,
I hope I can help a few people out there who are scared and looking things up for the first time like I was 6 months ago. I acquired T in January of 2015, after a night of loud music in my home. I had a very, very anxious reaction to it in the coming weeks. Thankfully, I had support systems in place already in terms of counseling and access to medication. I used Xanax, Mirtazapine, and other meds to help reduce anxiety and get to sleep in the first 60 days. Masking worked for me initially (first few weeks), but after awhile its effectiveness waned as my brain became adept at finding my T no matter where it was in the noise. If you have an adverse reaction to T, and you probably do if you are reading this, you must seek help from a health care provider for your anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. Just do it. There is no shame in it. It helped me tremendously, and it helped me early in the process. It was temporary, but necessary.
I did extensive reading (I mean everything) the first 60 days, and decided to proceed with TRT. (Google Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) I had an option for AM-101 and decided not to pursue it, after agonizing over the decision. In retrospect, I firmly believe I made the right decision. I'm not in a position to argue this point, its a personal decision for anyone with the prospect, but one must weigh the pros and cons. Four months outside the window of entry to an AM-101 trial, I feel that I made the right decision. I applaud the researchers, but my calculus did not lead me to thinking that I was a good candidate for the AM-101 trials, although my anxiety almost pushed me there.
My first two months basically sucked. Highs and lows. Depressed and then OK, and then depressed again. Lots of problems sleeping. At about day 60 I began TRT. Sleeping was a problem, so I had no issue with wearing the devices wile sleeping to see if they helped. Within 1 week I no longer needed sleep meds. This was huge for me. I prepared myself for the fact that progress would be slow with TRT. It is. Things change month to month, and its a bumpy road.
A few months later, I found I could go days without wearing the devices, and could sleep without them. My "perception" of my T was about 10 times less after four months. Its not gone, and I am not under any assumption that it will ever go away, but yes, it seems like its about 10 times lower in perceived volume, and that's when I decide to try to listen to it. One of the amazing things about TRT is that it seems to train your brain not to care about your T. I certainly don't mean to assert that this will work for anyone else ... its my personal experience after T induced from moderate hearing loss. I am also taking B-12 ( for my own natural deficiency), magnesium supplements, and 500 MG NAC Daily, as well as a good multi-vitamin. All good stuff, but I had no improvement in the first 60 days with basic supplements, but then dramatic sleep improvement immediately with TRT (within 1 week), and then gradual overall improvement thereafter with TRT (within 4 months), while continuing with the supplements. Personally, I credit TRT with the majority of my improvements but I will stay with the supplements due to the positive studies with respect to hearing loss prevention.
T messes with your head. It really does. I live in Massachusetts, and we have cicadas here during the hot summer months. If you do some reading, you will find a lot of folks compare their T noises to cicadas. With the windows open here in August, I truly am amazed at how comforting the sounds of the cicadas are.
The big thing I hope a newbie will take away from this is that although T can come on suddenly, and cause great anxiety, and it seems like this is a horrible life changing event that you can't recover from .... In fact in many cases the brain will slowly accommodate this change. Again ... its slow ... months ..... but eventually the brain has no use for this bullshit, and that's what it is. Its an unimportant signal. It would be so much easier if we could just consciously ignore it, immediately, but we can't. Hang in there. I was there, and now I am on the other side of this crap, and hopefully you will be too, but it will take some time. My T is not gone, but my brain is no longer per-occupied with it. Life goes on, and my brain has life front and center, not T. This would be damn hard to imagine 4 months ago, but here I am, and here you hopefully will be in a few months.
Best regards,
Trebor Naganalf
I hope I can help a few people out there who are scared and looking things up for the first time like I was 6 months ago. I acquired T in January of 2015, after a night of loud music in my home. I had a very, very anxious reaction to it in the coming weeks. Thankfully, I had support systems in place already in terms of counseling and access to medication. I used Xanax, Mirtazapine, and other meds to help reduce anxiety and get to sleep in the first 60 days. Masking worked for me initially (first few weeks), but after awhile its effectiveness waned as my brain became adept at finding my T no matter where it was in the noise. If you have an adverse reaction to T, and you probably do if you are reading this, you must seek help from a health care provider for your anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. Just do it. There is no shame in it. It helped me tremendously, and it helped me early in the process. It was temporary, but necessary.
I did extensive reading (I mean everything) the first 60 days, and decided to proceed with TRT. (Google Tinnitus Retraining Therapy) I had an option for AM-101 and decided not to pursue it, after agonizing over the decision. In retrospect, I firmly believe I made the right decision. I'm not in a position to argue this point, its a personal decision for anyone with the prospect, but one must weigh the pros and cons. Four months outside the window of entry to an AM-101 trial, I feel that I made the right decision. I applaud the researchers, but my calculus did not lead me to thinking that I was a good candidate for the AM-101 trials, although my anxiety almost pushed me there.
My first two months basically sucked. Highs and lows. Depressed and then OK, and then depressed again. Lots of problems sleeping. At about day 60 I began TRT. Sleeping was a problem, so I had no issue with wearing the devices wile sleeping to see if they helped. Within 1 week I no longer needed sleep meds. This was huge for me. I prepared myself for the fact that progress would be slow with TRT. It is. Things change month to month, and its a bumpy road.
A few months later, I found I could go days without wearing the devices, and could sleep without them. My "perception" of my T was about 10 times less after four months. Its not gone, and I am not under any assumption that it will ever go away, but yes, it seems like its about 10 times lower in perceived volume, and that's when I decide to try to listen to it. One of the amazing things about TRT is that it seems to train your brain not to care about your T. I certainly don't mean to assert that this will work for anyone else ... its my personal experience after T induced from moderate hearing loss. I am also taking B-12 ( for my own natural deficiency), magnesium supplements, and 500 MG NAC Daily, as well as a good multi-vitamin. All good stuff, but I had no improvement in the first 60 days with basic supplements, but then dramatic sleep improvement immediately with TRT (within 1 week), and then gradual overall improvement thereafter with TRT (within 4 months), while continuing with the supplements. Personally, I credit TRT with the majority of my improvements but I will stay with the supplements due to the positive studies with respect to hearing loss prevention.
T messes with your head. It really does. I live in Massachusetts, and we have cicadas here during the hot summer months. If you do some reading, you will find a lot of folks compare their T noises to cicadas. With the windows open here in August, I truly am amazed at how comforting the sounds of the cicadas are.
The big thing I hope a newbie will take away from this is that although T can come on suddenly, and cause great anxiety, and it seems like this is a horrible life changing event that you can't recover from .... In fact in many cases the brain will slowly accommodate this change. Again ... its slow ... months ..... but eventually the brain has no use for this bullshit, and that's what it is. Its an unimportant signal. It would be so much easier if we could just consciously ignore it, immediately, but we can't. Hang in there. I was there, and now I am on the other side of this crap, and hopefully you will be too, but it will take some time. My T is not gone, but my brain is no longer per-occupied with it. Life goes on, and my brain has life front and center, not T. This would be damn hard to imagine 4 months ago, but here I am, and here you hopefully will be in a few months.
Best regards,
Trebor Naganalf
Member
Thanks for the quick reply Eric.
