Tinnitus and Me

[Darwinfisch]

Hi All,
My ENT says my hearing is fine, but back in November I was at a concert in a small venue without hearing protection and feel like my eardrums really got raked over. The post-concert hiss - which I've had before - was the worst I've ever experienced. The worst of it went away pretty quickly, but after a few days I realized there was a high-pitched leftover. I lived with it pretty calmly for about a month, waiting for it to go away, but work, stress and tinnitus conspired to give me a small mental breakdown just after Christmas.

I had trouble sleeping to the point where I needed meds. Things are mostly stabilized now, but during this whole period the T has subtly increased. It's still mild-to-medium, but is a real distraction. I don't have it as bad as many on here - my heart goes out to you all - but it's something I'm having trouble accommodating in my life right now. I'd like to think I can habituate, my my brain just doesn't feel ready yet. It's railing against the unfairness.

I have two main frequencies - the dominant one during the day is around 14kHz, but there's another 8kHz lurking underneath I hear during quieter moments. I could do with some tips for masking/dealing with the higher pitch.

Currently I am taking/using/doing:
Quetiapine (Seroquel) - less than 6.25 mg / night. Trying to eliminate completely. Scary stuff (but very effective for sleep).
CBD oil - taken sublingually in the evening
Headspace app meditation daily
AudioNotch app with various masking tracks
Regular exercise

Thanks!

 

[ole gray]

I just want to welcome you to a top notch forum where there are so many sources of great information. Hang in there bud and keep the faith!

 

[billie48]

I could do with some tips for masking/dealing with the higher pitch.

Welcome to the forum.
When tinnitus is new or at a new irritating level, and the ringing is causing much anxiety and panic plus sleeplessness, it is advisable to get masking going so you won't be so anxious and fearful and can sleep better. Stress and anxiety are toxic to T. So try masking if you haven't done so. When my T was new, I used to mask all day just to prevent panic attacks from hearing my ultra high pitch loud dog whistle T. Try masking if you haven't yet. For high pitch T, like what I have, you probably need sounds of heavy rain, cicadas, waterfall, waves, cricket, waterfall, etc. Best of luck. Take good care. God bless.

1) Mask at bed time if having trouble sleeping, by using a sound pillow or sound machine with pillow speakers. There are good sound machine & pillow therapy systems like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Sound-Oasis-...d-Oasis-Therapy-System-Speakers/dp/B00MH5HKTA

2) If you need masking on the go, try load an ipod with nature sounds or music using itune. If you have a smart phone, you can download free APPs for soothing or T-masking sounds. Use wisdom in the use of headphones or earbuds as extended use or excessive volume may hurt your ears. Try set the volume slightly below that of your tinnitus.

3) With PC & speakers, you can try these excellent masking sounds to see which one masks best:

TT's excellent audio player: https://www.tinnitustalk.com/audioplayer/

or this online sound library, particularly the self-mix nature sounds: https://mynoise.net

or download free sound generator 'aire freshener': http://www.peterhirschberg.com/mysoftware.html

or click play to mix these sounds with this simple sound generator: http://asoftmurmur.com/

or search youtube with words like 'tinnitus masking sounds', 'white noise', 'rain sound' etc.