Thinking of Suicide — Have No Other Options

[KateW]

It took a couple years for people to figure out that the cause of my tinnitus is a small acoustic neuroma. Prescribed steroids first, then Xanax which has been the only thing getting me through. I have seen a neurosurgeon, neurotologist and radiation oncologist. They all told me different things and I still don't know the bottom line. I decided to have radiation because I'm 64 and figured it would be better to do it while I still have health insurance. Depending on who's talking I either will or will not lose hearing in my ear if I have radiation, will or will not lose hearing in my ear if I don't have radiation, will experience relief from tinnitus, or it will make it worse.

Everyone says to have hope because you get habituated but it has been two years and it is as loud, high pitched and constant as ever, possibly worse.

Has anyone had radiation for this condition? What should I expect?

Can anything be done for tinnitus. When you've had it for two years and you're not habituated?

Can't go on like this.

 

[GregCA]

I read a recent post on here about someone who underwent gamma knife for AN, and it seemed like it went really well. If I recall correctly, neither hearing nor T worsened. I seem to recall an improvement somewhere but I don't remember exactly.

I don't think doctors can really predict the outcome unfortunately.
Good luck!

 

[dayma]

@KateW I don't have experience with the surgery. I just wanted to reach out and offer some positive feelings. Your subject line worried me and I hope you find a way to get past this rough time!

 

[KateW]

Thanks. It scares me when everyone says it goes away after three months or you get used to it. It's been two years for me.

 

[GregCA]

Thanks. It scares me when everyone says it goes away after three months or you get used to it. It's been two years for me.

How did your doctors end up figuring out you had a VS? Did you just recently do an MRI?

When you say you can do a radiation treatment, is that proton therapy? gamma knife? other?

 

[Bill Bauer]

It scares me when everyone says it goes away after three months or you get used to it.

Check out point #1 in
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[Sassy7854]

My tinnitus has been so severe for several years and I have been feeling that I wanted to just give up. I then found someone who does Neurofeedback, And that has saved my life! I have only gone to her for a couple weeks but it has changed my life. I no longer am depressed or have anxiety. I am able to deal with my tinnitus in a different way. I am still going through the therapy to see if I can reduce my tinnitus even more. My outlook is so different than what it used to be. Never, never give up!

 

[GregCA]

My tinnitus has been so severe for several years and I have been feeling that I wanted to just give up. I then found someone who does Neurofeedback, And that has saved my life! I have only gone to her for a couple weeks but it has changed my life. I no longer am depressed or have anxiety. I am able to deal with my tinnitus in a different way. I am still going through the therapy to see if I can reduce my tinnitus even more.

So you managed to actually reduce your T (not just your reaction to it) using neurofeedback?

 

[grate_biff]

My tinnitus has been so severe for several years and I have been feeling that I wanted to just give up. I then found someone who does Neurofeedback, And that has saved my life! I have only gone to her for a couple weeks but it has changed my life. I no longer am depressed or have anxiety. I am able to deal with my tinnitus in a different way. I am still going through the therapy to see if I can reduce my tinnitus even more. My outlook is so different than what it used to be. Never, never give up!

Very nice to hear. Could you tell us a bit more what is involved in "Neurofeedback"?

 

[InfiniteLoop]

@Sassy7854

I use neurofeedback in a regular basis with the Muse headset for meditation (http://www.choosemuse.com/), and indeed has zero effect on tinnitus. I doubt that just modifying brainwaves can have more than just moderated effect on mood. Could you please describe the kind of neurofeedback that you are practicing?

 

[Sassy7854]

I am seeing a licensed neurofeedback therapist. I can tolerate my tinnitus better right now because I am no longer depressed or have anxiety. What she is doing is retraining the brain. I am still seeing her because I want to see if I can silence the noise in my brain completely. I am lucky enough to have insurance that is covering my treatments. Not all insurance will cover biofeedback treatments. I know that United healthcare does and also CIGNA and there could be a few others out there. I am not positive that this will work but it is worth a try. I have tried about everything else.

 

[InfiniteLoop]

@Sassy7854

Here you have a link to a summary on neurofeedback studies for tinnitus so far:
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2017.00386/full
Personally, I am skeptical that just training to increase the alpha brainwaves is going to really decrease the noise. It might reduce the annoyance at best.