Tinnitus – reducing or getting rid of it?

i’ve had tinnitus in my left ear for about two months. it’s quite loud and high pitched and can be very distracting. it only started when the local practice nurse was draining my ears with one of those water machines. i need both ears draining regularly as they have been damaged by two bouts of head and neck cancer plus radiotherapy and they get blocked quite easily.

if anyone’s got any advice on how they reduced tinnitus or got rid of it, that would be fantastic.

You need to be sure that it’s not something that can be physically fixed.

If it isn’t, then the answer to addressing it is in your mind.

I’ve had tinnitus for 20 years. One night in an incredibly loud nightclub and it never went. And it’s gradually worsening.

The best description I can give is that I’ve learned to live with it. As a result, only at the very quietest of times does it become noticeable or intrusive.

Of course, going to bed is the most noticeable time – there’s a sudden change from some movement/sound to “silence”. Some people will listen to something via earphones and fall asleep to that. For me, I just go to bed so tired that I fall asleep before I notice it.

At work, even in very quiet offices I can concentrate enough (work or, ahem, STW) not to notice.

At home, there’s either conversation or I’ve got the radio/hifi on listening to music (or we’re watching TV). If I’m outside or doing jobs I don;t notice it.

When I first developed it, it was very noticeable. But I think the passage of time (less than 20 years!) meant that other thoughts and stimuli were higher in my concentration and so it’s gradually slipped into the background.

I protect my hearing doing very noisy things (DIY, gigs/bars/clubs). Otherwise I continue as normal.

There was a useful thread on this last year Tinnitus anyone?
But as yours started suddenly and recently, I’d be asking for a referral to a specialist clinic.

There was something in the news recently about a new treatment, only effective in the early stages.
Edit: I think this article is about the same thing.

As above – need to understand if there is something physical causing it 1st.

If not, it’s unfortunately a case of learning to live with it. I’ve had tinnitus for about 6-7 years now – chronic in both ears (although left is louder) after too many nightclubs and working in a loud environment (I think)

It used to really get me down and going to bed was a nightmare as I would really focus on it when the world went quiet. I used to think about it multiple times daily. However over the past few years I’ve learned to just forget/ignore it and TBH rarely notice it when I go to bed anymore. I go weeks/months without really thinking about it. The psychological side of tinnitus is massive.

Good luck with it – I hope you get sorted one way or another cos it can be a king size pain in the ******* arse.

There was a thread back in 2012 on the subject too:

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/tinnitus-aaaaaaaaaargh

as yours started suddenly and recently, I’d be asking for a referral to a specialist clinic

Firstly this ^^^

Secondly and I know it sounds weird, don’t listen to it, it’s amazing how you can get caught up in just listening to the tinnitus, but it will get quieter if you ignore it.

Get the nurse to do the other ear until it develops tinnitus as well, it is easier to cope with if it is symmetrical…

At least when I die I will have silence…hopefully

Thankfully do not suffer with it (grandad did after working on rad gangs for electricity board) but have dealt with claims for tinnitus before and having read the medical reports, first thing as all say above is to see a specialist, some forms can lessen overtime, but for most it is a permanent thing. There are treatments now such as “tinnitus re-training therapy” which seeks to help the brain block it out and also white noise devices that seek to block from memory.

So here’s my tinnitus story –

Approx 20 years ago I was thumped on the side of the head by a rather unfriendly prop forward. It did give me ringing in the ear at the time and my hearing hasn’t been as good since. I learned to live with it, and the tinnitus got worse to the point where I had to have music or noise on in the background all the time. It was stopping me sleeping, it was basically really annoying.

Fast forward twenty years. I finally went to the Dr to see if anything could be done about my poor hearing and the tinnitus. I was given a MRI scan and a very full hearing test.

Diagnosis is that the clout on the head has caused nerve damage, possibly a fracture at the time.

The tinnitus has been caused by the extreme deafness in my ear at mid to high frequencies. The audiologist explained that basically my ear is continuing to “hear” noises in these frequencies but these are uncontrolled sounds effectively created by my own ear. (stick a shell over your ear, you’re not hearing the sea, you’re hearing yourself).

The solution to the tinnitus has been a small hearing aid, tuned to increase the volume of sounds only in the frequency band that I can’t hear.

I have to say that the improvement was immediate and very noticeable. I now get a residual effect from the hearing aid that means the tinnitus is reduced for a period after I remove it so I can get to sleep.

The very welcome side effect is that I can now hear in stereo perfectly well.

I’m 46 and married with two kids so the days of me being vain about wearing a hearing aid are long gone. I would highly recommend getting to the Doc and inveestigating what can be done for you.

Good luck, I hope you find a solution. I’m now enjoying a substantially more peaceful life since I got my hearing aid. It’s lovely.

I have had it bilaterally for a few years, I think possibly caused by using woodworking machines with no ear protection in my early 20’s for a short time. I find in ear phones with the radio on low works for me when I sleep. I used to worry about throttling myself with the lead, but I have learned to turn over carefully. I now get a much better nights sleep. I don’t do this every night, and some days I don’t notice it much. Just typing this has made me more aware of it! I suppose I have got used to it.

Edit: my brother also has it and he wears a hearing aid as above. It solves it for him too, but finds driving with the aid distracting so takes it out then. We have both been down the MRI, audiology route too.

Forgot – my mother has tinnitus (more whoosing than ringing) and wears hearing aids to do as BigG does.