Tinnitus for 34 Years Now

[Wout]

Hi all,

I've had tinnitus for pretty much all my life, I remember having raging ear infections when I was little and at some point (I must have been around 6) there was the loud sound of a train stopping, constantly. Sometimes I get a lower-pitched flute sound in there as well for a couple of minutes.

I don't notice my tinnitus in everyday life, just when it's quiet I will suddenly realize I have it. I can make it worse by focusing on it, but I can't make it quieter.

I'm pretty much not worried about it, but I do wonder if this is as good as it gets. Do people that cured it actually not hear anything when it's quiet, or is it just like me where it doesn't really bother them?

 

[nills]

Hi all,

I've had tinnitus for pretty much all my life, I remember having raging ear infections when I was little and at some point (I must have been around 6) there was the loud sound of a train stopping, constantly. Sometimes I get a lower-pitched flute sound in there as well for a couple of minutes.

I don't notice my tinnitus in everyday life, just when it's quiet I will suddenly realize I have it. I can make it worse by focusing on it, but I can't make it quieter.

I'm pretty much not worried about it, but I do wonder if this is as good as it gets. Do people that cured it actually not hear anything when it's quiet, or is it just like me where it doesn't really bother them?

I don`t think anyone cured themselves, or have been cured by anything like a medicine. Tinnitus comes and goes or stays on it`s own accord. So I suspect the people that had tinnitus and the brain suddenly decided to stop creating the phantom sound indeed experience real silence.. Habituation and loudness are the very same thing in my opinion. When my Tinnitus isn`t loud I could say i`m habituated ... when it is loud i`m not habituated at all and spend all my energy hoping for a cure ... habituation doens`t mean you can except brutal annoying Tinnitus.. i think very few people can. I saw a video ones of a deaf girl that had tinnitus ... it was an artistic impression of how she experiences life ... I just had to cry knowing that someone has to go through this ordeal! ... see if I can find it ...

So if you are not disturbed by it in daily life you should be very lucky ...

 

[Jay M]

@Wout
Thanks for sharing your experience. Myself and others would like to read more of your journey with T and how you've managed this condition for over 3 decades.

 

[Wout]

@nills @Jay M Aha, I do seem very lucky... I must say I can only remember it bothering me when I was little, I told my father I had a train stopping in my head and we went to the doctor who said "tinnitus" and that was that.

Maybe because I was so small, my brain managed to sidestep the issue? I wonder if it even helped me focus with background noise... I used to study with electronic music in the background, it drives my wife nuts but I can completely move it to the background and it removes all other auditory interruptions.

My hearing is pretty bad though, it resembles that of an 80 year old, tones over 8KHz are mostly lost on me. Following conversations in noisy rooms can be a challenge... but that made me really good at guessing where a conversation is going...

So I guess it didn't kill me and it made me stronger?

 

[Robb]

@nills @Jay M Aha, I do seem very lucky... I must say I can only remember it bothering me when I was little, I told my father I had a train stopping in my head and we went to the doctor who said "tinnitus" and that was that.

Maybe because I was so small, my brain managed to sidestep the issue? I wonder if it even helped me focus with background noise... I used to study with electronic music in the background, it drives my wife nuts but I can completely move it to the background and it removes all other auditory interruptions.

My hearing is pretty bad though, it resembles that of an 80 year old, tones over 8KHz are mostly lost on me. Following conversations in noisy rooms can be a challenge... but that made me really good at guessing where a conversation is going...

So I guess it didn't kill me and it made me stronger?

Welcome Wout. Count yourself fortunate in the sense of having a manageable T. Have a good weekend