Tinnitus Noise: Threat vs. Annoyance

[gameover]

When our emotional reaction to tinnitus is described, there is discussion of perceiving tinnitus as a threat, and the fight-or-flight reaction of the brain.

I am not sure it is applicable in my case. I consider tinnitus sound as an annoyance and distraction that makes me focused on it, not necessarily a threat. My depression and anxiety comes from the fear of the future - losing ability to do things I liked or needed to be doing (working), not necessarily from the sound itself. Although that too - I cannot relax because of the sound, so the constant stress and tiredness contribute to the depression and anxiety I am sure.

So a lot of coping techniques suggest that one should tell oneself "it is not a threat". But it sounds like I should tell myself "it is not annoying". That's tough, if something is annoying, it is annoying. It would be like telling yourself that somebody behaving in an annoying way, is actually like, pleasant? It would be like eating food that you do not like taste of, and telling oneself "oh, it is tasty".

Any thoughts?

 

[RunningMan]

Mine is automatically causing depression and anxiety, so I guess it's that automatic fight or flight response. But it's a very strong force, so talking back to it that it's not a threat wouldn't do any good.

It's been 16 months since my tinnitus jumped to a new disturbing level that's changed my life, and it's not getting any easier, complicated by the fact that the tinnitus has actually gotten worse with a new tone this year and more piercing squealing sometimes even more recently, so I'm having one of my worst periods of anxiety and depression in months. I weaned off an antidepressant over months after side effects but not sure if I ever took enough to help sufficiently.

I consider the tinnitus to be an annoyance and distraction which makes it harder to focus on other things. I suppose if tinnitus was mild enough, it would be easier to convince yourself to just ignore it.

 

[BrOKeN_1]

"It's fine. I'm fine. Everything is fine." Recycled thoughts of my own. Everyday. Primarily upon waking but also before bed. This is how I reason with tinnitus. A tepid war treaty with an currently unforeseen resolution.

 

[Ngo13]

I personally believe there are two aspects to this for those not habituated: the initial fight or flight acute response of "what the heck is going on, something is not right here, this noise is killing me!" and the chronic stress response. I don't think that initial acute response is the same as the chronic stress response once the initial shock eases. I think the chronic stress response causes anxiety and depression in many people with tinnitus as well. Chronic stress is also known to increase inflammation in the whole body which may inhibit healing.

The way I see it, the chronic stress response still feeds off of your emotions around your tinnitus, the "annoyance". It's still a fear, so fight or flight may still be activated in a way. I can see this manifesting in many different ways in someone with tinnitus: the startle reflex when exposed to a perceived loud/dangerous sound, the catastrophic, predictive thinking ("it will only continue to get worse") and the constant monitoring (searching for a perceived "threat"). I've read that hearing is our most basic, primal sense. It's why people can still hear while in a coma, and it's why it's one of the last things to fade in/out when your state of consciousness changes. I also personally believe it's why tinnitus is so distressing, even when it's mild.

From what I understand, while some may be able to achieve the ignoring "my tinnitus is not annoying" mindset to habituation, I think it is more probable for those with intrusive tinnitus to reach habituation with the "I don't care if it's annoying" mindset. Certainly not easy, but to me it's more realistic. I can't ever imagine the noise not being annoying, but not caring about it means you can make some sort of peace with it while not minimizing its impact on your life.

 

[gameover]

I've read that hearing is our most basic, primal sense. It's why people can still hear while in a coma, and it's why it's one of the last things to fade in/out when your state of consciousness changes.

Indeed there is something profound about hearing that I did not realize. We know so little about ourselves. But - I still blame the society and education system. They teach you about some various useless bullshit, yet won't teach about something elemental to survival and health.

We did not need to be taught about intricacies of hearing. We needed a serious scare/warning what loud noise can do to us. Warning about other things, like infections/drugs/etc would be nice, too.

 

[DaveFromChicago]

So a lot of coping techniques suggest that one should tell oneself "it is not a threat". But it sounds like I should tell myself "it is not annoying". That's tough, if something is annoying, it is annoying. It would be like telling yourself that somebody behaving in an annoying way, is actually like, pleasant? It would be like eating food that you do not like taste of, and telling oneself "oh, it is tasty".

@Michael Leigh is the Go-To-Person for all the advice necessary for (what is to me) a mammoth but (as far as he is concerned) readily achievable Act of Orwellian Doublethink. All you have to do is be in thrall to his beyond-tiresome, Charles-Dickens-Schoolmasterish, empirically disprovable, stupefying banalities.

I have had migraines since the sixth grade, and my ENT Doctor said that a lifetime of this probably exhausted my brain such that it no longer possessed the essential components for achieving habituation. That explains why I have been unable to enjoy food that tastes execrable.

Now that it will soon be Cicada Season, I am going to live in the Elk Grove Forest Preserve in a Neolithic Hut; at least the whirring Cicadas will provide sonic coverage.

 

[Jupiterman]

We needed a serious scare/warning what loud noise can do to us. Warning about other things, like infections/drugs/etc would be nice, too.

Not enough people get debilitating tinnitus to merit this kind of warning; not at school, not in TV/Radio public information, not even worthy of a poster in a doctor's waiting room.

There are too many other 'more serious' ailments that the population can be taking measures now to avoid getting later in life - these are the posters you will see in hospital waiting rooms.

Tinnitus becomes a nothing for the majority who get it, most not even takes a day off work over it.

We are talking a fraction of a percentage of the normal healthy population who end up like us.

What I do think would be a reasonable request and would be beneficial is if doctors could warn new mild tinnitus sufferers of the consequences if they are not careful to protect their ears. (Better tinnitus training for doctors). This could be an information card, a website, or even simply a very stern warning from the doctor.

To assume a new mild sufferer will not become severe is a short falling.

Posters at power tool sections of stores wouldn't go amiss either. It sickens me that there is a TV advert in the UK at the moment advertising mail order power tools for garden. There is a scene where a woman puts on safety glasses and proceeds to operate a 90-100 dB lawnmower (no ear protection of course, that would make her look uncool, even unappealing). It's like being told to put on gloves while using spray paint.

 

[RunningMan]

Thinking back even to my high school days, the only time I can recall the need for hearing protection being used was in an outdoor sports class where we used a shot gun shooting trap. I don't recall it ever coming up in classes for automotive, electronics, or shop classes, even when we used power tools, ran engines, etc. Even decades back, I remember coming home after listening to blaring music most of the evening, and hearing the ringing. It went away by the next morning, so I felt it wasn't causing permanent damage, and I never dreamed of it getting to this point until early 2022. The education just wasn't there, or frequent and convincing enough over the decades to change my poor habits with hearing protection, and over decades of not protecting ears, it finally got to this point. It wasn't a single trauma that go me here, but rather a lifetime of abuse.

Yes, it's a small fraction of the people that have tinnitus badly enough it affects their life. Like 1/2 of 1% or something like that.

Whether acute or chronic, it's still the sympathetic nervous system that gets activated more, which can also cause depression. You don't have to consciously think about your tinnitus for that to happen. I'm annoyed by my tinnitus, but I would never feel as much anxiety and depression about the tinnitus simply by how I feel about it, just like other annoying things and stresses of normal life. But there's that automatic link between the tinnitus and engaging the sympathetic nervous system. And since it varies a lot with multiple tones and squealing coming in and out and different loudness levels at times, it's always triggering the sympathetic nervous system, pretty frequently over 16 months now.