What Is the Window of Healing Before Tinnitus Levels Can Be Considered Permanent?

[Jack V]

One doctor says 2 days, another says 6 weeks, another says 3 months.

People here report experiencing improvements months beyond even that.

I'm particularly interested in what people have experienced following onset of noise-induced tinnitus, but I'd be curious to know what people have generally experienced regarding healing over periods of time.

How long can it take?

How long are 'windows of healing' before accepting current levels as permanent?

 

[Tybs]

There is no definite answer, because research hasn't got the required knowledge yet.

The medical community usually works with a limit of one year, but there are still plenty of cases where the brain suddenly "snaps" out of it and tinnitus disappears long beyond this border.

It also depends on the cause of tinnitus: when wax is the issue, tinnitus will fade immediately after it has been cleared, no matter the time in between. If a pinched nerve is the cause, tinnitus is fixed right away when the nerve is set free (or disabled). When neck muscles are the origin of the sounds, tinnitus can fade slowly depending on the healing rate of the neck. I read a research article about a guy who got his tinnitus diagnosed as untreatable by all the doctors he had seen in 20 years, but when the researchers gave him a neck brace for three weeks, his tinnitus completely vanished.

In short: there is not really a time limit. I assume that statistically most self-resolving cases get fixed within a year, and that's probably why it is used as a boundary.

 

[Chinmoku]

It's as @Tybs said. One lady had tinnitus for two years and a half, while on a drug, while tapering and then for one year off. One day, about one year after she had stopped the drug, she woke up and it was gone.

 

[aot]

I read a research article about a guy who got his tinnitus diagnosed as untreatable by all the doctors he had seen in 20 years, but when the researchers gave him a neck brace for three weeks, his tinnitus completely vanished.

Brb, getting my neck checked.

 

[Jack V]

There is no definite answer, because research hasn't got the required knowledge yet.

The medical community usually works with a limit of one year, but there are still plenty of cases where the brain suddenly "snaps" out of it and tinnitus disappears long beyond this border.

It also depends on the cause of tinnitus: when wax is the issue, tinnitus will fade immediately after it has been cleared, no matter the time in between. If a pinched nerve is the cause, tinnitus is fixed right away when the nerve is set free (or disabled). When neck muscles are the origin of the sounds, tinnitus can fade slowly depending on the healing rate of the neck. I read a research article about a guy who got his tinnitus diagnosed as untreatable by all the doctors he had seen in 20 years, but when the researchers gave him a neck brace for three weeks, his tinnitus completely vanished.

In short: there is not really a time limit. I assume that statistically most self-resolving cases get fixed within a year, and that's probably why it is used as a boundary.

Thanks.

I noticed in the Lenire thread, UKBloke set the boundary at 2 years:

The only user reports that have interested me so far are those from people who've suffered with tinnitus for greater than two years. I take their reviews very seriously because I believe from my own experience that two years is the point where tinnitus can truly be said to be chronic.

The advent of the Internet means people are now able to access treatment programs straight away, and although this is great in one respect, it does not do our long term cause any good because it prevents that two-year window of opportunity where the condition may self-resolve from opening.

Perhaps 1 year is the "golden window" with a second year as a kind of mop-up window before most cases resolve or become "chronic." Beyond that, healing is still possible but perhaps a little less likely without intervention. Does that sound about right in your opinion?

 

[Tybs]

Perhaps 1 year is the "golden window" with a second year as a kind of mop-up window before most cases resolve or become "chronic." Beyond that, healing is still possible but perhaps a little less likely without intervention. Does that sound about right in your opinion?

To be fair, thinking in timeframes does not have any use in personal cases IMO. The case of an individual will always be different from the average.

When looking for answers, it's much more useful to make sure there is a proper diagnosis for the individual's case. E.g., ENT's easily call out "hearing loss" when one audiogram shows some gaps. This is probably reasonable for cases with one or two static tones, but they often forget that some tinnitus patients hear multiple fluctuating combined sounds and simply can't distinguish one small beep within the mass of information. The ear might be perfectly capable of receiving the beep, yet a faulty diagnosis is made in such a case, simply because the test is not objective. If the patient's tinnitus is actually caused by an underlying TMJ problem, this would remain untreated in the given scenario, which is a problem in itself.

Try to get certainty about your cause of tinnitus. If the logical diagnosis is hearing loss, then accept this, and retrieve hope from the knowledge that these cases cán fix itself, and that research foe hearing restoration is ongoing for in case when tinnitus does not disappear. In the meantime, you can work on habituating.

Focusing on a timeframe can only increase anxiety the closer you get to the "final" date: which is completely unnecessary, because there ís no limit. Trust that either your brain or research will catch up

 

[Bill Bauer]

How long are 'windows of healing' before accepting current levels as permanent?

If there is no improvement for three months or so, then it isn't looking good. If there is some improvement, then it ought to continue to improve and in that case it is reasonable to assume that one will be able to get to the "can hear it only in quiet rooms" stage.

Check out
https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...eone-else-who-has-tinnitus.26850/#post-307822

 

[Orions Pain]

I've talked to people on Twitter who reported 6 months, 9 months, and even 2 years. One lady told me she still has it but after like 3 year it's gone down in volume significantly to where she almost doesn't hear it anymore (not habituation, like it actually improved)

 

[Jack V]

I've talked to people on Twitter who reported 6 months, 9 months, and even 2 years. One lady told me she still has it but after like 3 year it's gone down in volume significantly to where she almost doesn't hear it anymore (not habituation, like it actually improved)

Hopefully we'll have stories like that too.

 

[Orions Pain]

Hopefully we'll have stories like that too.

I really hope so too!

 

[PugDog1]

My tinnitus varies from near silence or a faint hissing to unbearably, hear over everything loudness!! Mine is from a tube/sinus problem and when that flares so does the tinnitus! I also get diminished hearing & sometimes some distortion when I'm in a flare which is just lovely
I think it depends entirely on what causes your tinnitus