Very New to This. You Guys Are Awesome.

[Chrisakky]

@daiso My T is defiantly the same as when it spread to both ears. I make efforts to keep myself busy but you can't be busy all the time. Sitting watching TV I hear it loud and clear but, while it was very distracting in the beginning, I generally don't listen to it anymore so it effect my brain doesn't register it. It may be just a state of mind thing.

The last couple of days has been harder, a massive spike in my usually quite quiet ear with a different tone. Think it was caused by a mixture of popping my ears a lot and being under an unusual amount of stress at work. That pushed me back into a bit of anxiety and trouble sleeping. Nowhere near as bad as the start because I knew it would very likely quiet down soon. It's getting better now, I am sitting in a car which is quiet and all I can here is the T but it 'feels' nowhere near where it was over the past few nights (i sleep in silence).

I can't give any advice that everyone else hasnt already gave but I would like to say: keep active, don't just sit around feeling sorry for yourself and thinking about the T. I would like to go against common advice which seems to work for me. (Obviously you may be different so results may vary) If you can't help but think about it then fine, don't try to mask it, you will eventually get bored of listening to it and you will notice it less and less. At least thats what i think is happening to me. When ivs asked people, who have had T for a while and cope well with it well, what they do to treat it. They have said "nothing I just don't care about it anymore, I still hear it but I don't think about it". I am sure the same will happen for you, and hopefully me totally and well Do you have any hearing loss at all? I dont mean in certain frequencies I just mean in general? That can be a major factor.

 

[daiso]

@Chrisakky "I still hear it but I don't think about it" sounds easy but extremely hard when T is physically interfering with what you are trying to listen to, like dialogues from TV. It is easier when I'm doing physical activities. Like most people here, I don't have hearing loss based on hearing tests. But my theory is that hearing tests only shows non-measurable hearing loss, it does not mean the ear hair cells are perfectly intact. All it takes is just a tiny damage or change to the ear hair cells is to cause ringing.

 

[Chrisakky]

Sorry for the late reply been busy over the last few days. But yeah I understand it can be hard to concentrate and listen to things especially on TV. It doesn't exactly mask the words but it prevents you from actually listening to what they are saying. For me this has reduced drastically since the begining. If I get into the trying not to listen to the T which makes you listen to the T loop of annoyance, it still prevents me from listening and understanding dialogs etc. Like everything this has gotten better over time so all I can say is it's probably just an element of habituation. Yes exactly I think so too. It seems to be a common element for people with T that perceivable hearing loss does not always go hand in hand with T. However the addition of hearing loss seems to be major problem for people trying to habituate. I myself, like you, have no percievable hearing loss which is an encouraging part of it and yet makes me even more eager to protect it.

 

[Chrisakky]

Well a spike in my T has reminded me about this post so going to give a bit of an update.

Things are basically the same as they were around a year ago. I have now had tinnitus since Oct 2017 due to a completely unknown reason (the docs have discounted ETD). High pitched like an old CRT tv in both ears but loudest by far in the left.

I still notice my T a lot but it just feels like life now. It doesn't really bother me anymore day to day and most of the time I don't pay attention to it. Even if I do notice it, for example if the the show on tv goes quiet, I forget about It quite quickly. It hasn't kept me awake at night for many many months now and I still sleep in silence.

It still is loud and I don't think the volume has went down at all over the last couple of years. I can still hear it over the tv or the sound of my car on the motorway. Lately I have been getting a lot of fleeting tinnitus which has scared me a couple of times when it lasted for an hour or so. Very loud when it happens, orders of magnitude louder than my usual T. I guess keeping positive and keeping busy is the trick with living, sometimes, however, it is easier said than done.

I might go in for another round of checks due to the fleeting tinnitus just to make sure and I will update if I do. To be honest as long as my T doesn't get any worse I am okay living with it. I hope you all are doing well and coping. For many of you this will be a temporary ordeal even if it not a short one. I'm not sure about me but for many of you it will be. Any queries il answer, no expert but I can give you my experience.

Thanks
Chris