The Positivity Thread

Even with my T is on high, I carried on my plans for Easter Sunday today. I woke up with loud T--which is normal for me but it usually goes down --but today not so much. I will not give up plans so my husband and I took my parents and our daughter and son in law to a beautiful Easter Buffet with shrimp, oysters, crab cakes, filet mignon, pork, pastas, roast beef, salmon, sole, chicken, roasted potatoes, vegetables and all kinds of desserts! I ate and talked and laughed and forgot about my T! God shined down upon me today. My mother is 82 so it was wonderful to spend time with her. The restaurant overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and it was quite beautiful. After our dinner and the others left, my husband and I took a ride further down the peninsula to our favorite spot on the beach to watch the sunset. All is well. :)
 
Had an adult drunken easter egg hunt... And had a big bonfire! My T changed tones today to a tinkering sound..seems to pop in every once in a while.. Weird. Happy easter everyone!
 
Had an adult drunken easter egg hunt... And had a big bonfire! My T changed tones today to a tinkering sound..seems to pop in every once in a while.. Weird. Happy easter everyone!


My T does that a couple days a week now Grace. It's like a soft tinkling or squeal. I was hoping for a day like that today but it wasn't to be. No worries though, we still carried on.

Happy Easter to you too!
 
Even with my T is on high, I carried on my plans for Easter Sunday today. I woke up with loud T--which is normal for me but it usually goes down --but today not so much. I will not give up plans so my husband and I took my parents and our daughter and son in law to a beautiful Easter Buffet with shrimp, oysters, crab cakes, filet mignon, pork, pastas, roast beef, salmon, sole, chicken, roasted potatoes, vegetables and all kinds of desserts! I ate and talked and laughed and forgot about my T! God shined down upon me today. My mother is 82 so it was wonderful to spend time with her. The restaurant overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and it was quite beautiful. After our dinner and the others left, my husband and I took a ride further down the peninsula to our favorite spot on the beach to watch the sunset. All is well. :)

Awesome! Right on, Kathi. Don't give up our plans for T high or low. Doing that will give it more fire to enslave us. By not giving T time nor fire, our brain will just immerse itself into the joyous celebration of Easter, the great day of the Savior when He has risen. When we rejuvenate the brain with all the positive chemicals of joy, it will flush away the negative chemicals which give rise to fear & depression. I had a great family gathering too on Sunday. So much fun, joy, great foods and laughter with grandchildren running around. By living our life abundantly regardless of T, we begin the step to MINIMIZE this T bully until it just melts away like the Wicked Witch on water when positivity rules our life.
 
Wow, thank you billie--you really make me feel successful at managing T. I've learned so much from all of you. I thank God that I got here.
 
Billie your support here has been truly amazing! God bless you man. If you ever come to Ontario I owe you a drink!


God bless you too, jraulc. We are all trying our best to help each other. I toast you remotely with the same invitation. Too bad your Maple Leaf and our Canucks didn't make the NHL playoff. But at least we can cheer the Raptors. Go Raptors!
 
I was definitely nervous about last week, as I sing in a choir and play in a bell choir, so being Easter week it was 6 straight days of rehearsals and liturgies. I was afraid my T would react negatively, but my only really bad day was Good Friday (and I thought "how appropriate"), but for Easter weekend I was blessed with relatively low T for all the family celebrations. The last 2 days have been a little high T-wise, which I can't figure out because the stress is over. Maybe it was all the chocolate and hard-boiled eggs!! Hope you all had a great Easter/Passover, too!
 
I was definitely nervous about last week, as I sing in a choir and play in a bell choir, so being Easter week it was 6 straight days of rehearsals and liturgies. I was afraid my T would react negatively, but my only really bad day was Good Friday (and I thought "how appropriate"), but for Easter weekend I was blessed with relatively low T for all the family celebrations. The last 2 days have been a little high T-wise, which I can't figure out because the stress is over. Maybe it was all the chocolate and hard-boiled eggs!! Hope you all had a great Easter/Passover, too!

I find that my T has a delayed reaction to stress...

But seeing my boys' faces light up when they started their egg hunt in the house was pure joy that cut through the T like a bright ray of light. For the first time since they were born I was in charge of the Easter gifts and they got more than they bargained for, and TONS of money eggs for my two wonderful sons...not to mention my wife who enjoyed taking it easy this April for once!
 
I opened up the golf season here in Helsinki Finland in my home course. Beautiful sunny and calm evening. My T increases briefly every time when I swing. Must be somatic neck-head-T effect of some sort. Well, now I have something to blame when I hit awful shots... :)
 
Decided to try something cause i was curious so i took a klonopin before i had work this morning ( usually take them at night when i do) And just got home and my T is completely gone like not one noise when i plug my ears... I know once it wears off itl come back
But its just weird how that happens.
 
Decided to try something cause i was curious so i took a klonopin before i had work this morning ( usually take them at night when i do) And just got home and my T is completely gone like not one noise when i plug my ears... I know once it wears off itl come back
But its just weird how that happens.

That used to happen to me (nearly) when I took Klonopin, too. It would take my t down to nearly nothing. Now it still quiets it when I'm having a really bad time, but it's nice to feel like I have a little something I can fall back on.
 
Just had a great night playing guitar and singing some nice songs of Peter, Paul & Mary. Our last minute assembled band 'Better Bald Than Harry' was a hit singing some oldies in a church sponsored talent light. The young guys never heard 'Blowing In the Wind' nor 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone' but they like our songs and particularly our 'courage' & spirit of participation. They were surprised by our zest for having fun with life. We are the only group not under 30s but we love it. T can do its ringing, but I live my life to enjoy it abundantly these days. The heck with the T bully. I had a great evening and though the T bully tried to scream out of the top of its lung, it is futile to distract me from enjoying a great time. When we immerse ourselves back into living & enjoying our life, T will lose its tyranny over us.
 
So I went camping last weekend, I live near the Rocky Mountains. It was really nice, though on the day we where supposed to get back I left the truck's lights on, ups and the battery died. We had to walk quite a bit and we were in a remote area, but luckily, there was a nice family around and the father gave us a jumpstart.

Lately its been a bit hard, I have PT so I know that if i find the underlying condition maybe I can get rid of this symptom, but you gotta wait a while for tests, doctors sometimes dong give a shit. However, being around nature, and sleeping outside, doing a fire, looking at the stars, (I saw a shooting star, loved it); all this renewed my energy to keep going. Temp went down to -10 or so, not too bad for spring in Canada!

here is a pic of our camping site view:
 

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Hi. I joined this forum looking for answers and experiences. I joined this thread because the forum was so full of negativity. Reading other people's experiences has made me feel significantly less isolated with this condition. Although I deeply and personally understand the misery created by this condition I also understand the need to get better. I also understand tinnitus has many causes. It seems as though some tinnitus sufferers have become literally attached to their symptoms and use this as an excuse for whatever else isn't working in their life. Secondary gain is highly relevant in any subjective condition. People lose limbs and go back to work - others demand to live on welfare. Previously I mentioned experiences with schizophrenic patients but there are also those who have had horrific and traumatic childhoods who go on to live productive lives and find love and happiness. For every case of abject misery as an outcome for a condition/experience there are those dozens we wont hear about - those who pick up the pieces and find a different or new way of living. We all have the capacity for change. We can all find effective ways of adapting. Change requires effort.

Recently I started sound therapy as an exercise to starting Neuromonics (fortunately my tinnitus and auditory profile is suitable to the treatment). Basically if I couldn't comply with the initial exercises then I would not go onto the Neuromonics program which entails listening to the prescribed music for several hours a day. All treatments require compliance. Compliance requires effort. So I was left with the instruction to listen to the music at a volume just below the volume of my tinnitus. It is only one piece of music - classical played repeatedly for at least one hour twice a day. At first I noticed it then I didn't and as I didn't notice the music I also didn't notice the tinnitus either. Curious. But what do you do for 2 hours a day with headphones on?! I realised that I needed a task which was focal and engaging. For years I have painted as a hobby but never focused on any particular subject matter. So I set up my easel and have been painting human figures - getting it wrong and getting it right too. After a month of focussed and at time crazy-making painting I realised that I had excelled myself. I seemed to have leaped forward remarkably. Tinnitus (and the treatment) gave me the opportunity to be still for long enough to work effectively. Go figure!?

This afternoon I am going back to my audiologist to start the neuromonics treatment. I think that I am half way there and she agrees.

I applaud anyone who makes an effort to get better. But sometimes getting better requires us to get better at other things too - like taking better care of ourselves in general; maintaining and finding positive social outlets; enriching our lives with nature or culture; learning new skills like cooking or gardening. The world is a big place - bigger than our tinnitus.

This is my last posting until I finish the neuromonics 6 month treatment where I will let you know how it went.

I wish you all strength and hope.
 
I stay positive knowing this is a livable condition, that as quickly as this came into my life without explanation, it can quickly leave without explanation. I know that I have all resources I want available to me try and they are abundant. My Granddad gave me perfect advice, he told me that there is nothing in my body that spirit in me, as me, cannot work through, rise above and restore to perfect health that is the truth of my being. He affirmed that whatever caused this condition has no business in my body or consciousness, that I can accept that anything that caused or contributed to this condition can slip back into the nothingness from which it came. That if there is anything going on in my life that has led to this or any changes that I have to make they will be revealed to me. That I will be shown not how to cope, but how to live with this in perfect harmony which is taking place right now. I know that whatever I need and whatever is necessary I will be provided with to rid me of this condition that is no longer needed. And that affirmation alone gets me though every day knowing that it is so.
 
So I went camping last weekend, I live near the Rocky Mountains. It was really nice, though on the day we where supposed to get back I left the truck's lights on, ups and the battery died. We had to walk quite a bit and we were in a remote area, but luckily, there was a nice family around and the father gave us a jumpstart.

Lately its been a bit hard, I have PT so I know that if i find the underlying condition maybe I can get rid of this symptom, but you gotta wait a while for tests, doctors sometimes dong give a shit. However, being around nature, and sleeping outside, doing a fire, looking at the stars, (I saw a shooting star, loved it); all this renewed my energy to keep going. Temp went down to -10 or so, not too bad for spring in Canada!

here is a pic of our camping site view:
Hey! I'm from Edmonton and I just so happened to be in the Rockies last weekend as well. My father and I hit up Lake Louis for some end of the year skiing and had a blast.
 
Yesterday I was spending time with my friends and guess what... they decided to sing karaoke. Yaiks!!! Well, I decided that I won't let T to tell me what to do so... I just put my earplugs in and took the risk. And guess what guys! It didn't have any effect to my T!! Even though my friends are VERY noisy :D I just feel very happy now haha
 
That's impressive katriina. I believe one of the reasons I got T was my almost 10 years of accumulated noise exposure from karaoke. And stress. And medication. Or all of them.. who knows. At the place I am right now I wouldn't dare go to karaoke again, even with ear plugs. I applaud you! You give me hope that I may too, sometime in the future, go to karaoke again with my friends! I needed to hear that. Thank you.
 
Yesterday I was spending time with my friends and guess what... they decided to sing karaoke. Yaiks!!! Well, I decided that I won't let T to tell me what to do so... I just put my earplugs in and took the risk. And guess what guys! It didn't have any effect to my T!! Even though my friends are VERY noisy :D I just feel very happy now haha
If i could sing i would do karaokee but id hurt everyones ears with just my singing in general lol
 
Weird... I hope I am not just getting my hopes up, but I haven't been able to hear my T lately. At first I thought it was just because I was busy at work yesterday and there is always some type of noise while I'm at work, so I didn't think too much of it. I thought perhaps I was just having a low-T day and I couldn't hear it over the noises like I usually can. But then even when I went into rooms that were pretty quiet, I would sit there and listen for it and I still couldn't hear it. So, I decided to go to the quietest place I could think of at my work, and that is the sound-treated booth at the nurses office. So I went there and asked if I could try to listen to my tinnitus. So as I sat in the sound treated booth, I was actively trying to listen for my tinnitus and... nothing! I was literally in silence the way I used to remember it. I don't know if it is gone for good or not. But this isn't habituation, because I am actively listening for it. Habituation is essentially just getting really good at ignoring it and not letting it bother you. But this is different.

The thing I am worried about though is it coming back. I was to a point that it never bothered me, even when it was a loud day or moment... but I'm afraid that if it is gone and it comes back, it will crush my hopes and I'll be sort of starting over.
 
Weird... I hope I am not just getting my hopes up, but I haven't been able to hear my T lately. At first I thought it was just because I was busy at work yesterday and there is always some type of noise while I'm at work, so I didn't think too much of it. I thought perhaps I was just having a low-T day and I couldn't hear it over the noises like I usually can. But then even when I went into rooms that were pretty quiet, I would sit there and listen for it and I still couldn't hear it. So, I decided to go to the quietest place I could think of at my work, and that is the sound-treated booth at the nurses office. So I went there and asked if I could try to listen to my tinnitus. So as I sat in the sound treated booth, I was actively trying to listen for my tinnitus and... nothing! I was literally in silence the way I used to remember it. I don't know if it is gone for good or not. But this isn't habituation, because I am actively listening for it. Habituation is essentially just getting really good at ignoring it and not letting it bother you. But this is different.

The thing I am worried about though is it coming back. I was to a point that it never bothered me, even when it was a loud day or moment... but I'm afraid that if it is gone and it comes back, it will crush my hopes and I'll be sort of starting over.


@MattK I'm with you, I've had a few days and episodes where it seems to have gone away or next to nothing, at least for a few hours. My attitude is I've got it, I suppose, and I'll take it one day at a time. When my stress levels are low, and I'm feeling better about things, it seems to get awful quiet. When I'm around loud noises, or at least louder noises, it seems to get worse, but not really to "spike" as such, just a bit more noticeable. And of course stress makes it worse. Which for me seems to be the key factor. Almost like if I won the lottery and all of my worries were over, it would be gone for good.

I would just take it as comes, feel good about it when it's quiet, and not worry too much about if it stays quiet/gone. And try not to be afraid of it, so to speak. Either way, great news.
 
the only moment I truly forget my T and don`t even hear it is when I play my guitar ... thank God for music and instruments! thank you god, I mean it ... thank you ... again :)
 
My Husband and I went to a family "Kentucky Derby" party today--we had a great time! I laughed and laughed and it felt so good to be out in the sunshine, surrounded by family. Later we went into the house to watch the race and we all put a couple of dollars into a pool and drew numbers to represent the horses. My number, 17, came in second--oh well. :) Then we ate a huge meal. It was a great afternoon. I almost stayed home because of my T--it's loud today but decided that like Dr. Nagler says: I'm not letting T drive my bus. I did occasionally notice my T but mostly I didn't--I was too engaged in having a great time.
 
Love your post, Kathi. That is the way to live life with tinnitus. Live and enjoy your life abundantly regardless of T. Let it ring what it wants, but let us live our lives regardless. T doesn't have to be everything. I used to tell it to take a ticket and wait in line as I was busy. So great to have our life back and so happy for you to achieve this level of freedom from it in your young T life. You are making amazing progress by following Dr. Nagler's advice. Congrats.
 
My Husband and I went to a family "Kentucky Derby" party today--we had a great time! I laughed and laughed and it felt so good to be out in the sunshine, surrounded by family. Later we went into the house to watch the race and we all put a couple of dollars into a pool and drew numbers to represent the horses. My number, 17, came in second--oh well. :) Then we ate a huge meal. It was a great afternoon. I almost stayed home because of my T--it's loud today but decided that like Dr. Nagler says: I'm not letting T drive my bus. I did occasionally notice my T but mostly I didn't--I was too engaged in having a great time.
I went to a Kentucky Derby party too! Like you, my T was rather loud that day and I debated whether I should go or not. And then I said to myself "don't let T boss you around" so I went and had such a fun time. It was at my niece's restaurant and it was packed...all the women wore big hats and the men had bow ties, etc. It was very noisy, tho, and I did wear my earplugs part of the time (especially during the race when everyone was yelling!) I even had a mint julep. I don't think I had a spike, but the T has remained rather loud Sunday and Monday...hoping for a quieter day today.
 

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