[Closed] Tinnitus, aaaaaargh!!!!

You aren't alone, suffer from it myself. Heres a useful thread.. http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tinnitus-anyone

Very mild but still annoying, can only offer sympathy really.

My old boss used to suffer a lot, although he would consistently (and unwittingly) refer to it as Tintinitus 😀

Welcome to my world.

As hard as it sounds try not to listen to it. I always have a background sound on to mask it.listening to White noise for a while in bed did help.

Have had it my whole life. Unfortunately my experience is that you just have to suck it up and get used to it. Been told as much by audiologists and ENT consultants.

I can imagine that it would be especially annoying if you didn't have it and it suddenly started.

All you can really try are diversion tactics. Listening to music will help stop your mind focusing on the tinnitus.

yep, I listen to music most of the day, although mine is quite mild - like when you have a bad cold.

If you do you headphones to listen to music get some IEMs and not buds or even on-ear phones, as the pressure levels needed from IEMs are a lot less, especially compared to buds.

You certainly don't want to make your tinnitus worse because you have been listening at too high a volume level.

Get some of these in case you are in a loud environment - like a concert even :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Elacin-ER20-Hi-Fidelity-musicians-hearing-protectors-earplugs-/361019240096?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item540e6c6ea0

It might help to hold your nose and gently inflate your eustachian tubes and some problems are caused by the inner ear not getting ventilated well, but yours sounds a bit too severe for that.

What StefMcDef said, you will have to get used to it or it will drive you insane. Drink less alcohol and ride more. Mine goes wild if I have a hangover, I don't notice it when riding. You may just have short term tinnitus, from an infection etc (hopefully) and it may lessen or go away completely.

Sorry I didn't give enough info, I've had tinnitus for about 12 years now, until recently it was only in one ear and reasonably easy to ignore.
Lately over the last six months it has progressively gotten worse, now I have it in both ears and the volume of it is considerably higher.
It's a nightmare.

Have had it my whole life. Unfortunately my experience is that you just have to suck it up and get used to it.

I'm in this boat. Came on first time I went to a night club at 16, been there ever since. Kept going (drunk) to night clubs / loud pubs for years and lucky enough to get away with it - it plateauxed years ago and I generally don't notice it but its always with me. Hardest thing is being in the hills on a still day and someone says "listen to the silence". Mmm-hmmm.

I've had it since I was about 5 or 6, along with hearing loss. Obviously after 18years I've kind of got used to it but echo what people above have said about loud music and alcohol. These definitely don't help!

Every now and again I'll get these moments of clarity where my hearing suddenly seems improved and everything sounds really clear, and then the tinnitus will return with a vengeance for a bit!

But unfortunately as people have said, its just something you learn to cope with. If you focus on it it'll drive you mad, if I notice it whilst I'm in bed I just start reading or something ro take my mind off it as theres no chance of me falling to sleep!

I have pretty bad tinnitus...it's in both ears, but louder in my left and I'm pretty much completely deaf in that ear.

Mine was caused by Meniere's, which knackered my left ear...the ENT consultant says that that ear is stuffed, and it's 'unusual' for both ears to be affected, but not unheard of.

I go to see him a couple of times a year unless it gets worse then I have to see him straight away to be poked and prodded.

I last went to see him a couple of weeks ago, he said that as it's been fairly stable for a couple of years and I haven't had any dizzy attacks I don't need to see him for another 12 months for a check up...which is nice.

He said that dizziness can be treated, but tinnitus and hearing loss quite often can't. I'm used to it, but at times it can be annoying.

I've got a hearing aid, but I don't use them - he said this can sometimes help with tinnitus as it will help you to drown out the noise as you're hearing more ambient noise...or something. Still haven't used them though - I'm not that bothered about how they look really, I just think they're a bit gross as they get all sticky with ear gunk.

Hardest thing is being in the hills on a still day and someone says "listen to the silence". Mmm-hmmm.

This is also the only time it really annoys me...my dad lives in a remote part of Italy and once he said "it's so quiet here"...not for me it isn't.

from another thread : [img] [/img]

Have it here too. Particularly in the right ear. Went to the doc, and explained I've had a life of shooting firearms of all types. He shrugged his shoulders and basically said 'what do you expect'!
So, I've never been able to get rid of it, and try and concentrate on something else, music or other 'noise'. If you think about it, especially when in bed and all else is quiet then its worse.
I'm sorry you've got it, it's not nice but just try and displace your thoughts on anything rather than the noise. I think eventually you can re-educate the brain to focus on other types of sound.

Unfortunately my experience is that you just have to suck it up and get used to it. Been told as much by audiologists and ENT consultants.

off work with tinnitus?! Blimey, I'm missing a trick here.

Had mine 20ish years, from a previous life in the Army. I know it sounds daft but my advice is 'don't listen to it'. Works for me. If I 'listen' to it, it seriously upsets me, so I don't.
It's massively worse when I'm tired, so good sleep discipline helps.

Stress, being tired and too much coffee makes mine worse. Try to work out what aggravates it is my little bit of advice.
Other than that ... as already said. Try to ignore it.

I've had it since the 80's, after a Grand Slam gig where I was stood in front of the speaker stacks. Not a mistake I've made since, and I always use earplugs at gigs now. Fortunately mine was never more than the usual whistling that you get after a loud gig, slightly louder in my right than left, and it's got quieter as I've got older.
Difficult to know what to suggest, other than try various things and hope that it alleviates the noise and puts it back to little more than background noise, like mine is.
Good luck, I hope you can find a solution.

Cheers guys

Hey mitusmonkey - feel your pain (also had noise induced tinnitus for nearly 20 years) but can't offer any useful advice for your new situation. I think there's going to be a period of adjustment to getting to "not listening" to it. I suspect that may be a path worth pursuing - ie finding some professional help on getting your head around it.

As with others, I'm not sure there's much "medical" that can be done.

Born deaf in both ears, a long time sufferer of tinnitus for about 20 years now. My ways of getting rid of it is ignoring it. Focusing on something else, going cycling or fishing or going out walking or doing home tasks. Hope you find something that helps.

I had got to the stage where I could ignore it but that was when it was in one ear. Riding the mtb does help, fishing too even listening to the birds singing dampens it down to a manageable level.

Reading some of your posts above gives me some perspective on my condition, I'd like to thank you for sharing and your support.

I thought some hearing aids can help manage it.

jkomo - the only way hearing aids would help is by putting white noise into your ear to help break up the sounds you hear.

I used to use an iPhone app with headphones which played things like the sound of waves etc. which covered the tinnitus and was a bit relaxing.

I used to use an iPhone app with headphones which played things like the sound of waves etc. which covered the tinnitus and was a bit relaxin

This is a good one OP, actually good even if you don't have tinnitus. http://www.noisli.com/

jkomo - the only way hearing aids would help is by putting white noise into your ear to help break up the sounds you hear.

From my understanding, hearing aids will amplify ambient noise thereby making it easier to filter out tinnitus.

The ENT consultant I see has said that hearing aids can help reduce tinnitus - he didn't mention white noise generating hearing aids.