The First Time You Didn't Hear Your Tinnitus (Even If Only For a Second)

caffclifton

Member
Author
Benefactor
Jul 16, 2014
113
34
Oxford, England
Tinnitus Since
02/06/2014
Cause of Tinnitus
Labyrinthitis (Inner ear infection)
Hi All,

So you may have seen I'm my posts I have habituated pretty quickly and can go for long period in the day where I don't hear my T. By that I mean It's still there ringing away but I'm so focused on something else my brain doesn't focus on it there for I don't hear it.

I would love to hear all your stories about when you had moments like this and how you felt, wad it a one off thing or did you find you didn't hear it more and more. I think sharing these stories may help newbies come to terms with living with T and might help them on the road to habituation.

I think my favourite memory is when I woke up and T wasn't the first thing i thought about. that was an AMAZING day, I didn't wake up feeling sick or worried hearing that horrible ringing I was just thinking about the day ahead. Now I cant remember the last time i woke yp and T was the first thing I thought about.

Newbies to T, where as medically your T may not get better, LIFE DOES :). I Cant wait to hear all your stories

Caff x
 
Hi All,
I think my favourite memory is when I woke up and T wasn't the first thing i thought about. that was an AMAZING day, I didn't wake up feeling sick or worried hearing that horrible ringing I was just thinking about the day ahead. Now I cant remember the last time i woke yp and T was the first thing I thought about.
Same here! Waking up on sunday, with the morning sun shining through the blinds......your body totally tension free and your mind still in the twilight zone. And T....just nog present something to worry about.

Riding my bike on the Lek dijk:
lekdijk.png

With my helmet on and my earplugs in T tends to be....well, uhm present! As soon as I start to brake, downshift corner and roll-on the throttle my mind just goes blank. Love to forget about T this way...:D
 
It's such an amazing feeling to not be able to hear it even for a second. Happened the other day for me then it got worse. :(

Those periods of time when you don't notice it will become longer in duration as the process of your habituation progresses. Your quality of life will improve proportionately to the degree of your habituation. So, take heart, your situation is going to keep getting better!...(y)
 
I can't remember the first time I "didn't hear" my T, but I do remember a great time that echos all of yours:

While I had been more or less habituated in terms of my mood and life for a while, I was still listening to my little cricket sound-soother noises when I slept or was in my quiet room. I went traveling a bit this summer and when I came back I just didn't feel that I needed the crickets. I fell asleep in the silence and I woke up in the silence. I saw the sun bathing the bed in morning light, heard the little morning birds I once thought I would not be able to enjoy again, I saw the trees in the wind and felt that glorious, lazy, oh-my-bed-is-so-soft-and-warm-and-i-don't-have-to-get-up feeling. I lay there just basking in all of that and then some moment later I remembered my T existed and there it was, but it did nothing to diminish the morning. Ahhhhh :)

I love this thread @caffclifton, by the way. Thanks for the idea. Not only is it nice for newbies, but it was a nice way for me to remember a lovely moment, too!

Also, @Sjoerd, thanks for sharing that picture - that is absolutely gorgeous.
 
@awbw8 - Thanks :love:

I love remembering times when I haven't heard my T and i think all of us sharing these will really help the new suffers realise it isn't all doom and gloom out there. The internet was such a dark place when I first got T and made me feel like I would never be "normal" again. Lefts fill everyone and the internet with some hope and some truth about how living with T can really be. The good days outweigh the bad by a long shot

xx
 
I'm managing a diary and there are clearly days that it was gone. And I noted down exactly why it was gone in those days. But ENT's / Dr's wont believe me.
 
Hi @Codaz, I'm sure it's very possible you T was gone for some period of time, depending on what causes you T. Though I think here we're talking about moments when it feels like the T is gone, i.e. we didn't hear it, but not when it was actually, physically gone.
 
Hi @Codaz, I'm sure it's very possible you T was gone for some period of time, depending on what causes you T. Though I think here we're talking about moments when it feels like the T is gone, i.e. we didn't hear it, but not when it was actually, physically gone.

No it was gone. I plugged my ears, went to the most silent room I could think of and it was gone. Nose was no more stuffed up, just for a day. It was heaven. I did a lot of things that were lying around in my room since T start.
 
Hi @Codaz, I think you misunderstood what I was trying to say. I was saying if you say yours was gone, then that's great!

I was just saying this thread is people talking about when theirs felt gone due to habituation, but wasn't actually physically gone.
 
The first time I stopped hearing mine was walking through some scenic park near my house. I remember, as I walked, BOOM... it was gone. I heard it all. Birds chirping, wind blowing, leaves in the trees, water running. Even that wasn't happening, I still heard no T. It was amazing and listed me for a good 2 hours. Only to come back later that day :(
 
I have had T for over two years now and it will usually disappear after a few beers, not always, but usually. It will always get quieter with alcohol anyway. It will also go away for days at a time if I get a better than usual night's sleep. I am so very thankful that it does go away at all. It is so odd because I know my hearing is pretty good - I can hear clocks ticking in a quiet room, birds chirping outside through closed windows, very distant traffic sounds of cars on pavement - leaves rustling in the wind. I always thought that if your hearing ability diminished as you got older you just wouldn't hear things you used to hear - it never occurred to me that you would be hearing something that wasn't there - isn't life strange?
 
I have periods of time when I 'forget' my T. The first time it happened was when my husband and I went on one of our quests for oil memorabilia and other antiques. I remember that I didn't hear it for the afternoon. I thought I was cured but the next day it was back and the disappointment was tremendous.
 
The only times I've actively noticed that my T isn't there are a few seconds a few times just as I wake up. I sort of notice second or two of quiet before someone presses the T-button in my head.

Besides that there have been plenty of times when I don't think about it, but that's not quite the same.
 
A couple months ago I realized I was not measuring my reaction to my T and it felt SO good. Heaven. And a big hole in my mid section of my body seemed to open up and "Let go" and I felt so normal and relaxed. And happy.

(My T is always there but I've trained myself to not hear it.)
 
A couple months ago I realized I was not measuring my reaction to my T and it felt SO good. Heaven. And a big hole in my mid section of my body seemed to open up and "Let go" and I felt so normal and relaxed. And happy.

(My T is always there but I've trained myself to not hear it.)
You sound like you're doing great. Cheers mate.
 
The day before my birthday has been the first in many years were I was truly anticipating and overly excited.
My tinnitus basically faded much in the bagground because of my changed focus, and on the day of my birthday was the first time my t has ever seemed lessened, because of actual less db I can't tell, definitely the power of focus :)
Not to say I'm anywhere near habituated, that day made made me know that habituation is an actual thing.
 

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