Where Do I Go? What Tinnitus Treatment Options Are Out There?

[MRItechssuck]

My ears have been screaming since having an MRI. I am being consumed by anger and hatred. I measured about 80 dB with a sound generator. My tinnitus 15 years ago was simple compared to this.

I've had floaters since the age of 12, chronic back pain... a good job, but one that a baseline of health is required. I can't use mood altering drugs operating heavy machinery.

My wife is telling me I am driving everyone away... so I need help.

Choices? Lenire... not ready yet... Dr. Susan Shore from University of Michigan... years off... Drugs... years off.

Counseling... where? TRT... I've been offered to go look at iPhone apps from 5 ENTs, that's it.
Masking hearing aids... no one seems to know what it is. I'm not even sure what they do and how they'll work on a 14 hour flight to China.

I'm located around Chicago... and again... having been tinnitus free (essentially) for 15 years I have no hope. Back then it was only TRT and Dr. Nagler in Atlanta, all that seems to have happened are a handful of dead ends over the last decade.

Maybe it's easier for these "doctors" and these ENTs to just wait us out until we habituate or end the noise forever by ending all brain signals, self-induced... but unfortunately my belief system won't allow that either.‍

Hey I forgot about my tinnitus for about 10 seconds while I was ranting... so there is that.
If I could get a summary or point me to a focused thread on where to go, etc., I'd appreciate it.

Thanks, and good luck to all the sufferers out there.

 

[Dr. Nagler]

Hello @MRItechssuck -

I am sorry to read of your suffering and frustration. I do not know if I have all the answers you seek; indeed, I may not have any of them. But I definitely understand where you are coming from.

As far as a summary of where to go and what to do goes, that one is tough - because each of us brings something unique to the table. That said, however, we all share a number of things in common ... so hopefully our commonality can provide the basis for some generalities.

Maybe the best way to respond would be to tell you a few things about my own experience – what I have learned along the way. Some of it may apply to you; some of it may not. But at least it will give you some things to think about.

……….

I am a 70-year-old physician who has had tinnitus for twenty-five years. My tinnitus is incredibly loud – it sounds like a cross between a screaming teakettle and a roaring jet turbine. I hear my tinnitus in both ears. My tinnitus is continuous. Nothing masks it. Initially I was totally miserable and could barely function. I spent most of my time in bed, rolling from side-to-side in agony. Today my tinnitus sounds exactly like it did at the outset, but my life? My life today is wonderful.

Here in six bullets is a summary of what I consider to be the important things I have learned about my tinnitus over the past twenty-five years:

· My tinnitus is real, and its effects on my life are real. Just because my tinnitus is in my head, that does not mean it is in my imagination.

· Even though my tinnitus is real, my tinnitus is not associated with a sound wave. My tinnitus has no physical correlates at all. So unlike cancer, infectious diseases, arthritis, heart disease, a gunshot wound, etc., my tinnitus cannot cause any physical damage to my ears, to my brain, or to any other part of my body. And that is true no matter how loud my tinnitus might be. My tinnitus can make me feel absolutely horrible, but it cannot cause me any physical harm because it has no physical correlates. [The physical damage to the ears that results from prolonged exposure to a loud external noise is actually caused by the sound wave that produces the loud noise. Tinnitus has no sound wave, and therefore my 24/7 screaming teakettle roaring jet turbine tinnitus cannot possibly damage my ears.]

· Since my tinnitus has no physical correlates, 100% of the power that my tinnitus has over me must be coming from me. It is not my fault, of course, but I am the only possible source of the power my tinnitus has to make me depressed, angry, frustrated, anxious, distracted, frightened, exhausted, and sleepless.

· There is a lot of research going on, and ideally someday science will discover a way to eliminate my tinnitus or lastingly mitigate its intensity, which will be terrific! But until that day occurs my personal goal must be to gradually over time regain the power that I have unwittingly given away. That way, while I might still have tinnitus, my tinnitus will no longer have me!

· There are any number of strategies for me (for anybody!) to take the power back, but they all require time.

· I do not have to take 100% of the power back to have a wonderful life. I can have a joyful, fulfilling, rewarding, productive life without having a perfect life.

……….

So that's sort of a general start.

If you have specific questions, please feel free to ask.

Hope this helps.

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.