Tinnitus Cured Going Into Summer — TIP: Thinking of Tinnitus as Fridge Noise Helped Me Cope

[Matt973]

Tinnitus for me became a problem one spring. I think it was caused by using a saline nasal spray as that was supposed to help with the hay fever related congestion I always get. A week or two into trying the spray I was still feeling very congested and that's when I started noticing problems with my ears (which weren't normally a problem for me).

I first started getting more consistent tinnitus, rather than just a short ping for a few seconds I sometimes got and still sometimes do. I also noticed that my hearing started to get very sensitive; I started noticing noises I don't usually hear from things like lights, the rustling of leaves on the trees sounded like a cacophony, and my normal daily trip to the cafe with my co-workers became unbearable from the noise.

I had the thought then that the saline spray might be causing me problems and I stopped it.

I had fairly constant tinnitus for a week or so after that, so much so that I had to put a fan on at night to sleep. I remember saying to my doctor at one point that my left ear felt like it had been to a rock concert by itself the previous night! She told me it had fluid in it though it didn't seem to be infected and so we should take a conservative approach unless it became unlivable or showed signs of infection.

After that, the problem seemed to start to fade out as spring turned into summer. I still had some noise all the time, but it was less and less intrusive.

The thing that helped me to deal with it well was a quote from a doctor on this site: just treat the sound as fridge noise and do everything you can to ignore it. Whenever I'd notice it I'd just think "well, there's that fridge again", and do my best to ignore it.

After a few months of this I'd got so good that I rarely thought about it.

Then, I actually went to listen to the sound of the tinnitus one day to see how it was going and; it was gone. Completely. No more ping at all.

I'm not quite sure what the lesson from all this is for all those who still suffer from tinnitus. I guess it's just being aware of your body and knowing that although you might be doing something to help with one problem, it could become the cause of another.

 

[Ghost]

Love this, thank you so much for sharing.

 

[Wrfortiscue]

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Eric Ryder]

Sounds like your tinnitus was pretty low volume. For me, I don't have to listen for the tinnitus; it's right there in my face, 24x7, at about volume 7/8. In the early morning I may wake up to it more like a 2 or 3 or 4, but by the time I get out of bed it's back up to a 5 or 6 and within an hour, or less, it's at a 7. Later, by 4:00, it starts ramping up to an 8, most days. By bedtime it may have settled to a 7 again.

 

[Wrfortiscue]

Sounds like your tinnitus was pretty low volume. For me, I don't have to listen for the tinnitus; it's right there in my face, 24x7, at about volume 7/8. In the early morning I may wake up to it more like a 2 or 3 or 4, but by the time I get out of bed it's back up to a 5 or 6 and within an hour, or less, it's at a 7. Later, by 4:00, it starts ramping up to an 8, most days. By bedtime it may have settled to a 7 again.

How are you dealing with it?

 

[Gb3]

That's so awesome to hear! I'll think of that next time it's bothering me.