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I'm in my 50's and have had severe tinnitus in my left ear since I was 18 due to a military accident. It can be upsetting, for sure.
The best advice I can give is to try to find low background noise and to try finding ways to occupy your mind. If you can, go see a hearing specialist. While there really is no cure, there are ways to somewhat "treat" it and find ways to live with it and enjoy life.
Hearing specialists will charge you money but they will do nothing practical.
As mentioned in my and other posts here, background white noise can help it somewhat. Hearing aids can now produce those types of noises to mask the ring. Unfortunately, you'll likely need to work with a hearing specialist to dial that feature in, should that be a valid option individually.
I spent several days near constantly with earplugs in for mine. The earplugs heightened the tinnitus at first and it was hell but after the first day or two it calmed down and after I stopped using the earplugs my tinnitus had eased.
Whether it was the rest on my ears physically improving it or desensitisation of the ringing it certainly helped. I suspect it was just desensitisation.
interesting! what earplugs?
Just a set of PPE earplugs for use with machinery.
okay
Noise earplugs are all the same. The cheap foam ones are best.
Lots of great advice in the thread, the head finger thumping thing the other user suggested has worked for me when my very mild tinnitus flares up. If it's bothering you as much as you described, you should see a specialist.
To add one more piece of anecdotal advice: in a quiet space, try listening to music or soundscapes with headphones on the lowest possible volume setting, that isn't muted and that you can only hear when really listening in, and try to pay attention to the distinct sound elements like a particular instrument, singer, birds, wind, running water, background conversations. I imagine it's partially training your brain to focus away from the ringing, and partially putting your mental energy into waking up the follicles that are hurt.
The finger thumping gimmick is pure placebo effect.
Even if it's just another low bumpy noise and other sensations that distract my brain, it has worked for me. My ringing is quiet enough that it doesn't bother me and I really don't notice it until I'm somewhere quiet.
waking up the follicles that are hurt?
One of the prevailing theories about tinnitus is that it's caused by your brain compensating for damage to the tiny hair cells in your inner ear that translate auditory vibrations into electrical signals that you interpret as sound. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hair_cell Perhaps "training" the damaged receptors can alleviate some symptoms?
That's not a theory, that's how tinnitus works. No, you cannot train neurons that are dead and gone.
please tell me what you mean by training
When your ear is hit with loud noise your ears make themselves less perceptive to noise and you get temporary hearing loss, but recovering in a quiet place makes this goes away.
So while hearing loss over chronic exposure to loud noise tends to be permanent, if you can try to do the opposite to increase the perceptiveness of your hearing to quieter sounds, your brain may be able to recover the signals better. The cause and the nature of each person's tinnitus is very different, and it's a mix of physical damage to your ear and psychological effect in the auditory processing part of your brain. The former may be irreversible but the latter is where you can improve it by training.
Cup your hands over your ears with your fingers on the back of your head so you can't really hear anything.
Tap your fingers for 30 seconds
You might get a minute of silence to enjoy
Not much but remember life is all about the little things
Second this, it works but is very temporary. Sometimes getting those few extra silent seconds is relieving.
Can't offer much help, but I'm right there with you.
For me it was an hour in a loud bar last month. With earplugs and headphones. Didn't help much. The inability to think clearly is making it especially hard to find some kind of distraction.
There are some experimental procedures being tested, but to be honest I was always too scared to actually research any of them.
Let me save you time. Tinnitus treatment is an industry of charlatans.
Those neurons in the brain are gone, it leaves a gap in your auditory range which the brain fills with noise. It also makes the remaining neurons more sensitive so you need to wear hearing protection for areas like movie theaters and music venues.
There is no treatment, other than behavioral therapy to teach you to ignore the tinnitus. There are no upcoming treatments, nothing even at the lab stage so nothing is coming for at least a decade. What research was being done on tinnitus has been cut completely by Trump, so there is no hope for the future.
You may want to look into specialist counseling. Tinnitus can’t be cured but there are definitely techniques to help you ignore the symptoms and focus elsewhere so they fall into the background.
I've had tinnitus for a few years now and I've noticed I go through episodes of the ringing getting worse. When I first got tinnitus it was so loud I couldn't focus, sleep, or hear anything else.
Currently when my episodes hit I go through the same thing; loud as fuck and unrelenting. For me it was anxiety that made my suffering unbearable and once I worked on that, with that understanding, I could deal with the episodes much easier.
These days I always come out of the episodes fine and life goes back to normal. 98% of the year I'm completely unaware I have tinnitus because I don't notice it anymore.
I have tips on dealing with tinnitus if interested. Learning to cope was the best I could do and it worked fabulously.
i am so fucking interested
Things that helped:
Find noises that help mask your tinnitus. For me it was rushing water or specifically a running shower. I then downloaded an app called "relief resound" that is designed for people with tinnitus. I setup a rushing river sound and would play that at night to help me sleep. The sounds from my phone acted more as a distraction for my brain to focus on something else other than the tinnitus. After a few weeks of doing that sleeping became less stressful and even easy. I also found some sleepy bed time stories on Youtube that helped distract me as I feel asleep.
Changed my thinking. I would remind myself that my real issues wasn't tinnitus but my fear of hearing it, not escaping it, and general anxiety around it. I would constantly remind myself it's okay to hear it and to slowly practice focusing on new sounds like a show/movie I was currently watching or music. After a month or two my anxiety over it subsided and I was more accepting of my new reality and it didn't feel as scary anymore.
Developed patience. I figured getting accustomed to tinnitus would take some time so I took it slow and let myself not feel pressured (and more anxious). This helped me keep positive when hope was slipping for me. I still had episodes but patience let me deal with it and eventually come out on top.
Find a tinnitus buddy. I had an IRL friend who had tinnitus worse than me. It was incredibly therapeutic to talk to this person and discuss my fears. They informed me how they dealt with it and this gave me hope along with new ideas of overcoming it. It was really an aha moment for me to see someone not only "dealing" with tinnitus but actually living their life normally and not caring about it that turned everything around for me.
All these things in combination helped me cope and accept my new screaming ears. I can now sleep, don't really notice it, and have gone back to living my life like pre tinnitus. I was really really hopeless at one point but kept fighting at it and I'm very happy I did. Chronic issues can be really scary but attitude can change everything for the better.
<3
I used to have bad tinnitus (Would wake up hearing ringing) till I bought some good noise cancelling headsets (JBL Quantum 810/910) and it seems to have helped me.
From personal experience, I suggest you see an ear-nose and throat specialist. Tinnitus is often times a symptom of hearing loss.
thanks i'm reaching out
Tinnitus is hearing loss. You can see all the specialists you want, there is no treatment.
Quoting a specialist: “wearing a hearing aid will feel like the first time you wear glasses”
I didn't have any tinnitus until I read this post.
Changing my diet really reduced my tinnitus to the point where I totally forget about it unless someone talks about tinnitus. Low carb / keto