Why Can't They Just Surgically Remove the Ear and Everything Else?

[Ava Lugo]

It sucks big time not being able to listen to music or watch TV. Actually, I do watch my two favorite TV shows every week but with no sound (captions only).
Yesterday was the first time I listened to music ( 3 songs really low volume) but today I tried it again and it caused me burning pain. I read a lot. I try to get sound stimulation from doing normal things around the house... cleaning, cooking, etc. Try to get out for a walk most days (with hearing protection). Just started spending time in my sewing room again (mostly playing with fabrics and rearranging things... I think sewing machine still hurts my ears).
I'm also slowly getting back to drawing/painting house portraits.
If I am totally engaged in something that has my full attention, I still hear the tinnitus but I'm thinking more of what I am doing. It bothers me the most in the evening when it becomes much louder.

Oh ok. I sometimes watch tv with no sound and captions only too. I try drawing and painting too. Another fun thing I do is look up "Lauterbrunnen Switzerland" and they have videos of 4K resolution car drives so I like to imagine I'm on a nice car ride through Switzerland and it's beautiful. Same with Austria and places like that. I like to imagine I'm on a nice scenic drive somewhere when watching those YouTube videos. I use Google Earth Street View too.

 

[dan]

I got tinnitus back in April. At first it fluctuated but then seemed to settle down. It also got quieter. I was doing really good. Then, I had a setback, then another one. Since then, it does not seem like I'm getting better. Now my tinnitus is fluctuating again.... most sounds will make it go louder.

Also, it always gets louder in later afternoon in to the evening including bedtime.

I'm not sure what is meant by a pure tone? Can you explain this as I have come across this on other posts.

I have at 2 sounds most of the time and the odd time a sudden high frequency sound in the good ear.

Loudness can be anywhere from 2/10 to 11/10 (there are nights where I lay in bed and there is a fire alarm going off in my head).

I see you reside in Toronto. I live just north of Toronto.

Wow that's some fluctuation, the fire alarm thing should subside over time and settle into something moderate, however, there is still time for remission, or it could balance out somewhere in the middle.

A pure tone is like an eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee sound at any fixed frequency- unlike electrical static or buzzing, ticking, whooshing, rumbling, etc.

Yeah maybe I'll drop by sometime and we can listen to our tinnitus together, or no, that would be counter productive...

 

[Michael Leigh]

I find great comfort in corresponding with you. Thank you for taking the extra time to look up my previous posts in order to help me.

Thank you for your kind comments @LindaS

I have a grown son. I was a single parent for him for a number of years. Then, I became a caregiver for my mother for 16 years.
Last year, my mother in law's health deteriorated and my husband and I were thrown in crisis for 2 months until she passed away.

My mother passed away last month.
I am currently grieving the loss of my mother, and a part of me is also grieving that after almost 34 years of caregiving... it would have finally been my time... to do more things that I couldn't do before: travel, start a business, try new hobbies, worry less. But tinnitus & hyperacusis and constant pain have taken over my life and I can do even less now.

I am trying, Michael. Yesterday, I was in my sewing room for a little bit. (It is my "happy place").
I even listened to 3 of my favorite slow songs on a really quiet setting. And, I went for a nature walk (with ear protection).
Nothing I did was loud, but today, I woke up with burning pain top/back of head and my ears felt fragile with bouts of burning pain when I tried to listen to some background sounds.

Sorry to hear about the passing of your mother. You have and are going through a lot so try not to be to hard on yourself. You are trying your best and that's all one can do. I understand the effects environmental sounds have on you so just take things very slowly. If you are able to go outside do so for a short while no more than 10 to 15 minutes and see how you get on.

Take care
Michael

 

[HeavyMantra]

I read here cutting the auditory nerve is a thing. But it's a crap shoot whether it'll help or make it worse.

Cures tinnitus in some cases, makes it worse or initiates it in most cases.

 

[Michael Leigh]

I read here cutting the auditory nerve is a thing. But it's a crap shoot whether it'll help or make it worse.

Cutting the auditory nerve will make you completely deaf and the tinnitus louder, as the noise is coming from the brain not the auditory system,

 

[Marin]

I cannot use sound enrichment to distract from the tinnitus noise. I get burning pain and the tinnitus gets louder.

I am so depressed and feeling utterly hopeless.

Same here. Not being able to use sound enrichment, listen to music or TV is just so cruel.

I'd gladly trade the extreme pain hyperacusis to be deaf instead. If I were deaf I'd be at my sons baseball practice right now instead of locked in my room in silence with my ears on fire.

 

[Ava Lugo]

Same here. Not being able to use sound enrichment, listen to music or TV is just so cruel.

I'd gladly trade the extreme pain hyperacusis to be deaf instead. If I were deaf I'd be at my sons baseball practice right now instead of locked in my room in silence with my ears on fire.

I completely agree. I think habituation would be possible if we could get long periods of relief from the tinnitus by masking but when we have something else like very reactive tinnitus, burning hypercusis or loudness hyperacusis then habituation feels impossible at least for me. I'm jealous of people who only have tinnitus that is not affected by noise.

 

[Varda]

Surgery of the auditory cortex seems to be the most obvious way to fix tinnitus. Tinnitus is caused by high-frequency sections of the auditory cortex firing out of control, right? Wouldn't you be able to see the part of the brain that is firing constantly and target it? Especially with all these sufferers going to Switzerland for Voluntary Assisted Dying, you'd think first they'd let them try surgery that removes the 16,000 Hz area of the auditory cortex. I suppose no one cares enough about tinnitus to do something like this, and it's easier to inject the tinnitus sufferer with a lethal dose of barbiturates and collect their 10,000€.

 

[Jupiterman]

Surgery of the auditory cortex seems to be the most obvious way to fix tinnitus. Tinnitus is caused by high-frequency sections of the auditory cortex firing out of control, right? Wouldn't you be able to see the part of the brain that is firing constantly and target it? Especially with all these sufferers going to Switzerland for Voluntary Assisted Dying, you'd think first they'd let them try surgery that removes the 16,000 Hz area of the auditory cortex. I suppose no one cares enough about tinnitus to do something like this, and it's easier to inject the tinnitus sufferer with a lethal dose of barbiturates and collect their 10,000€.

Would you volunteer for this surgery?

 

[BB23]

Surgery of the auditory cortex seems to be the most obvious way to fix tinnitus. Tinnitus is caused by high-frequency sections of the auditory cortex firing out of control, right? Wouldn't you be able to see the part of the brain that is firing constantly and target it? Especially with all these sufferers going to Switzerland for Voluntary Assisted Dying, you'd think first they'd let them try surgery that removes the 16,000 Hz area of the auditory cortex. I suppose no one cares enough about tinnitus to do something like this, and it's easier to inject the tinnitus sufferer with a lethal dose of barbiturates and collect their 10,000€.

View attachment 56937

Can this stuff theoretically fix tinnitus and hyperacusis? You know, going deaf doesn't sound as bad as tinnitus.

 

[Varda]

Would you volunteer for this surgery?

Try asking that question over on the "Suicidal" or "Voluntary Assisted Dying" threads.

Can this stuff theoretically fix tinnitus and hyperacusis? You know, going deaf doesn't sound as bad as tinnitus.

It seems that way, as you are destroying the part of the brain that creates the perception of tinnitus. You wouldn't even have to go deaf if you used imaging to carefully target only the areas creating the out-of-control synaptic noise.

 

[Utdmad89]

It seems that way, as you are destroying the part of the brain that creates the perception of tinnitus. You wouldn't even have to go deaf if you used imaging to carefully target only the areas creating the out-of-control synaptic noise.

You are going to have to find a surgeon willing to do it (I very much doubt anyone would). Good luck.

 

[kingsfan]

You are going to have to find a surgeon willing to do it (I very much doubt anyone would). Good luck.

I bet this guy would be happy to do it.