Tinnitus Discussion Looking at Stats

[Gilly6864]

I think there are around 20,000 members here that have some kind of tinnitus. Not all have severe intrusive tinnitus.

There are 2 million people who have tinnitus so bad that they can't function/work,etc.

This site only covers around 1% of the severe population.

Further, not all 20,000 members have the severe form as described by the stats.

So, the reason a cure is not forthcoming is because severe intrusive tinnitus is rare.

50 million people experience some form of tinnitus but the majority have a very mild to soft tinnitus.

Around 16 million have tinnitus that distracts them from everyday life or that they seek medical attention.

However, these people are likely able to live normal lives.

So only 6% of the US population experience the somewhat distracting tinnitus.

The best thing about tinnitus is that it will not kill you like other diseases.

So here you have lower percentage numbers and a symptom that will not kill you.

Tinnitus is not on the priority list here.

Just my opinion here.

 

[Bill Bauer]

The best thing about tinnitus is that it will not kill you like other diseases

Sometime I feel that this is the worst thing about T.

 

[danieluk]

Sometime I feel that this is the worst thing about T.

Exactly!

I genuinely wish it would kill me, i think about killing myself constantly, im just too much of a wimp to do it myself, yet. However, i think its inevitable as it progressively gets worse over the 7 years ive had it, I sigh every day i wake up. It really infuriates me when i see "The best thing about tinnitus is that it will not kill you like other diseases. " Nonsense, for those with severe tinnitus this is the worst thing about it.

 

[GregCA]

So, the reason a cure is not forthcoming is because severe intrusive tinnitus is rare.

I wouldn't consider 1% of the population "rare". Compare with other conditions that pretty much everyone "knows about":

• Multiple Sclerosis: 0.1%
• Huntington's Disease: 0.01%
  
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS): 0.005%

Now don't get me wrong: it's great that we spend resources towards a cure for these diseases (and others that I didn't mention), but they have a much smaller footprint than severe T, sometimes by 3 orders of magnitude.

It seems to me that the lack of resources behind T is mainly because it lacks awareness, it's invisible (which is one reason for the lack of awareness), it's not deemed fatal, and because it's lumped with a global "tinnitus" condition for which the majority of sufferers are only mildly annoyed (so it is not considered serious, as we've all witnessed when we get a "it's only a sound, nothing serious - learn to live with it" from our ENT docs).

Rarity isn't the one: there are other reasons that are much more influential, in my opinion.