First off, habituation is just a fancy word for accepting tinnitus. You will be in pain until you die. The tinnitus will not magically stop when you habituate - nor will it decrease in volume even one percent. The only thing that changes in the best-case scenario is that you sometimes don't notice it.
It is not physically possible for my personality type to submit to the mental torture tinnitus brings. My father has Chron's Disease which causes unstoppable bleeding from the rectum and month-long periods of total agony when it spikes. BUT IT STOPS. It remits for him, and he can go years without a spike in bleeding and inflammation.
I, as a victim of tinnitus, can't go one millisecond of the day when I don't suffer from the constant, unrelenting agony of my symptoms. The left side of my face isn't numb and my ears never stop screeching. The problem with tinnitus is that it only gets worse and cannot be treated - and will never be cured, at least, not within my lifetime. I would trade this disease for paralysis or cancer, because then I could more easily invoke my right-to-die.
From early childhood to the present day, LONG before my disease arose, I LOATHED any kind of distraction. When my loud Italian family would yell, I would jump. When they talked, I would whisper. When I was in a room with loud background noise - or in a car, listening to the hum of the road - I would plug my ears up with headphones and listen to music. I never went to a concert or an airshow, I never fired a gun. I never exposed myself to any situation that destroys human hearing.
I am not physiologically capable of ever adjusting to tinnitus.
Heyyy, today I was thinking about how people used to deal with chronic pain like 2000 years ago when there were no painkillers like there is today, only some herbs or something lol. Do you have any thoughts on this..how did they get on with life you know?
I just want to be able to go a couple of hours without being in this hell.
I don't consider myself negative
Luke 4,5-7:
5 The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. 6 And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. 7 If you worship me, it will all be yours."
@linearb - I see you continue to engage in your favourite game of always playing the Devil's advocate along with your self-appointed role of 2nd guessing every argument (even the ones you agree with). Question: don't you ever get tired of yourself? Probably not. People with a self-loving personality usually do not. But trust me: those around you may well do. The thing is - and you may not be aware of it - but you are someone who derives his self-identity and sense of worth from an online forum - which - in itself is kind of sad, but, only made worse by the fact that this is a tinnitus forum and hence probably one of the last places regular folks would ever willingly sign-up (unless they had to, that is...).That's a bit of backpedaling, isn't it? That is, "accepting a disability" is a bit different than "Accept a mangled life, deprived of peace until you die, living in a limbo, drained of hope.", isn't it? If anything, the latter viewpoint seems to me to have very, very little to do with the concept of acceptance.
Well, it doesn't surprise me: agreeing with the preferred outcome of a patient - whether feasible or not - is the easiest thing in the world. All it takes is: to agree! It's like a politician being asked on live TV if he thinks there should be better care for the elderly. Well, answering yes to that is the easiest job in the world (especially if there is no accountability towards balancing the state budget).I've spoken to many of them; it may surprise you to know that not a single one of them thinks acceptance/habituation is an acceptable or optimal long term treatment.
Okay. Now suppose that was the answer to a question posed by your boss - how well do you think that would be received? Yeah, just give it time boss - someone smarter than you will eventually figure it out: don't worry! How long do you think you would be employed for?Give it time. Brighter minds than you or I are working on this problem every day of every week of the year.
you are joking right? lol, you dont go out much do ya...but I'm hard pressed to find many people in their 40s or beyond who haven't had to adjust to some horrible physical degeneration or another.
You must rewire your brain to love this sound. Who is to say that the sound of a drill is unpleasant...if you say its pleasant, then it will be....make your brain indifferent to it...drill sound, bird chirp, cricket in the night...whats the difference...This is not just a noise, I've never been bothered with a lot of noise, this is screaming screaching, drilling painful sounds that make me feel like I'm always right on the edge of loosing my mind.
@linearb - I see you continue to engage in your favourite game of always playing the Devil's advocate along with your self-appointed role of 2nd guessing every argument (even the ones you agree with). Question: don't you ever get tired of yourself? Probably not. People with a self-loving personality usually do not. But trust me: those around you may well do. The thing is - and you may not be aware of it - but you are someone who derives his self-identity and sense of worth from an online forum - which - in itself is kind of sad, but, only made worse by the fact that this is a tinnitus forum and hence probably one of the last places regular folks would ever willingly sign-up (unless they had to, that is...).
Now returning to 2nd guessing. 2nd guessing isn't so bad if it is done with a purpose and where the counter argument has some substance to it. In your case, however, you just do it for the hell of it. In fact, most of the time - in relation to topics such as the annoyance of tinnitus - you even silently agree with the original proposition. But you like to throw in your better knowing and wise-old-man style counter arguments in order to "stir the pot" and further inflate your already bloated ego. And probably to practice your online thesaurus as well. No doubt a gourmet delight for your self-loving psyche; your daily free ride in the Internet world. But there is no depth to your line of argument:
- Well, it doesn't surprise me: agreeing with the preferred outcome of a patient - whether feasible or not - is the easiest thing in the world. All it takes is: to agree! It's like a politician being asked on live TV if he thinks there should be better care for the elderly. Well, answering yes to that is the easiest job in the world (especially if there is no accountability towards balancing the state budget).
- Okay. Now suppose that was the answer to a question posed by your boss - how well do you think that would be received? Yeah, just give it time boss - someone smarter than you will eventually figure it out: don't worry! How long do you think you would be employed for?
Lastly, could we "please" agree that your tinnitus actually is a problem and bothersome for you (so that you do no have to repeatedly claim otherwise as a means to present counter arguments):
View attachment 11098
View attachment 11099
View attachment 11100
View attachment 11101
Well I'm working on it. And not sure about the sounds, some the pitch is painful.You must rewire your brain to love this sound. Who is to say that the sound of a drill is unpleasant...if you say its pleasant, then it will be....make your brain indifferent to it...drill sound, bird chirp, cricket in the night...whats the difference...
I've had T for almost 3 years now, I can cope a little better with the suffering slightly, but even now, I can hardly sit still. I pace the house, walk outside for hours, play tennis on a backboard until I feel sick. My ears feel like they are infected and bleeding 24 7, every noise is worse than being punched in the head, I have a smoke detector in my brain 24 7. Trying to do the simplest task like checking my accounts, paying bills, making sure my car is insured are highly difficult for me. Hell, sitting watching TV without pulling out my hair (literly) the entire time is almost impossible. This is not just a noise, I've never been bothered with a lot of noise, this is screaming screaching, drilling painful sounds that make me feel like I'm always right on the edge of loosing my mind. I'm a hardened sufferer, I can hide it at times but there is not a second in my life that I am not being tortured. Screw my dreams and all the rest of it at this point, I just want to be able to go a couple of hours without being in this hell.
I don't consider myself negative. I was always someone that people wanted to be around, and maybe still am. I have been called out for being negative a lot now that I have T, but hey, for me it's honestly. No amount of sunshine and rainbows will make a difference. I have built a nice life for myself, nice cars, nice home, lots of nice things but none of that matters now, it's al about survival for me. Get up and stumble through the day the best that I can. If this makes me negative then fuck off and don't read my posts. Being labeled as negative because you are disabled by a potentially horrific condition is just the last thing that anyone needs. It's like you can't talk about what this is or can do to a person (if it's bad enough) without some jackass jumping all over you with cliche sayings and some bull shit about being positive. At some point none of that matters, you really aren't processing much in the way of thoughts anymore when you are on auto pilot all day pushing hard to get through.
How about no positive or negative, just be real. I've done very well in life thinking clearly and objectively, for the most part the blind optimists are the ones who get fucked. Something bad happens and they are the first ones to bail on everything and everyone because they can't handle lifes realities. Strange enough, the people who constantly preach positivity always seem to be the weakest and most negative minded.
hows that for negative!!
Brighter minds than you or I are working on this problem every day of every week of the year.
Death is a normal and essential part of life, so to believe it's "bad" you have to believe that on some level life is fundamentally "bad". This seems like a silly belief structure to me, because it would increase suffering and decrease pleasure in life.It is a very frightening feeling to be trapped between tinnitus and death , because not is known which the two is worse.
It is true, but life is made up of opposites : silence and tinnitus , good and evil , life and death , etc. One good and the other evil , therefore death seems bad as tinnitus. Although death looks like as an possible but false emergency escape route.Death is a normal and essential part of life
but you are someone who derives his self-identity and sense of worth from an online forum
nah, disagree. These are all dualisms, which the human mind seems to gravitate towards generating, but they only exist as artifacts of mind. The universe is singular, as far as I can tell, and cares not for "good" or "evil"...It is true, but life is made up of opposites : silence and tinnitus , good and evil , life and death , etc. One good and the other evil , therefore death seems bad as tinnitus. Although death looks like as an possible but false emergency escape route.
nah, disagree. These are all dualisms, which the human mind seems to gravitate towards generating, but they only exist as artifacts of mind. The universe is singular, as far as I can tell, and cares not for "good" or "evil"...