Tinnitus Emergency — What Can Be Done in an Emergency, When It Comes too Loud to Tolerate?

[tinnitussufferer]

what can be done in an emergency? when it becomes too loud to tolerate? sometimes you just feel like youve had enough of this ringing. i know that the ambulance wont be able to help me even if i called them

 

[billie48]

I guess two things that may help a newer sufferer. One is that the doctor may prescribe some mild tranquilizer to help ease the nerve attack which is a big part of the mental suffering of T. Also, if drug is the last resort, some T sufferers do report that drugs such as Xanax, Klonopin, Ativan etc can help reduce the T ringing to varying degree. It is not the most desirable, but at least there is the last resort to try. It is highly doubtful that they will give you enough drugs for that though. They will give the drugs for anxiety control but not for T.

Two is that by being able to talk to others on the suffering, a T sufferer can channel out some of the anxiety and stress and prevent the CNS from stress overload. Perhaps they will provide some counselling if you are lucky and it is highly doubtful that emergency doctors can give the kind of CBT oriented counselling we need. As far as treating for T at the emergency, there isn't much they can do.

 

[tinnitussufferer]

its a scary thought that you may be in an emergency situation where the emergency doctors cant help you.

 

[billie48]

Let's keep our fingers crossed that AM101 & Autifony will be successful in trials, and will be available soon. New drugs may follow if they sell $$$ of tinnitus remedial drugs, like in the billions. So never give up hope.

 

[Crake]

Masking can help, play a sound that blocks it out. For me it's the shower, I can't hear my tinnitus in the shower. Depending on your tinnitus, different sounds might help mask it, for example, high pitched noises are masked well by "violet noise":

If you've never tried it, it can be a slight help, even if it's only for a few seconds, to temporarily decrease the sound with something called "Residual inhibition." It works for a lot of tinnitus sufferers. Basically you play the same sound as your tinnitus, and afterwards for a few seconds you can't hear it. For me it works for about 5 to 10 seconds. Some people say it works for a minute, or even 20 minutes.

Use something like this to find your tone, and then play it for a few seconds.

http://www.audionotch.com/app/tune/

It's just a few seconds of silence, but that can help you feel in control of your tinnitus.

 

[Richard zurowski]

I see that you have had tinnitus for some time now. Has it got worse?

 

[tinnitussufferer]

Masking can help, play a sound that blocks it out. For me it's the shower, I can't hear my tinnitus in the shower. Depending on your tinnitus, different sounds might help mask it, for example, high pitched noises are masked well by "violet noise":

i have never understood masking. It just adds even more noise to your brain when what you really want is silence not more noise. It doesnt work for me.

 

[tinnitussufferer]

I see that you have had tinnitus for some time now. Has it got worse?

A bit.

 

[Ann C.]

Thanks for posting the violet noise. I'm sitting in my office on my lunch break, so I thought I'd give it a listen. It definitely masked the high pitch tone I hear.

 

[cocolui]

I have T almost 4 years and nothing really helps. From T I started to have Migraines up to 3 times a week. My head is total mess. Now I am on Xanax and for sleep the Dr. gave me Valium. For some reason past few weeks is louder then ever.

 

[Inge]

In terms of masking you can use the whitenoise app for iphone. This app has white, brown, pink and purple noise. This way you can select the noise to match the pitch of your T. My T is between 6000-8000 hertz and I use violet noise. I would not be able to sleep without it

 

[linearb]

I have T almost 4 years and nothing really helps. From T I started to have Migraines up to 3 times a week. My head is total mess. Now I am on Xanax and for sleep the Dr. gave me Valium. For some reason past few weeks is louder then ever.

I have known a number of people for whom tinnitus is a side effect of benzo use. So, if you've recently gone on benzos and your tinnitus seems worse, that may be a warning sign, and I would personally take it as a good reason to stop taking benzos...

 

[Crake]

i have never understood masking. It just adds even more noise to your brain when what you really want is silence not more noise. It doesnt work for me.

Silence would be better, but I can't really have that. Masking just helps me forget about the tinnitus.

Residual inhibition from playing the same sound can give you a few seconds of silence, aka, play your tinnitus tone and you won't hear it for a few seconds, or even a few minutes for some lucky people. But that's a lot of work for a few seconds, whereas masking is an easier way to forget about the tinnitus for hours.