I am writing mainly for the benefit of people who are new here and desperate for help and relief from their unwelcome visitor. A little over a year ago my tinnitus came on suddenly and out of nowhere, what followed was at least a month of total hell and several more of near hell. All I wanted was for it to go away and could not accept that it is permanent. I obsessively listened to it for hours and could not devote my attention to anything, I restarted smoking, stopped exercising, to sleep I drank myself into a stupor, my performance at work dropped, my personal relationships suffered terribly. I wasted time and money going to every ENT in the area, getting MRI's, useless sleep studies and advice from people who just couldn't understand. I found this forum and found that the words of encouragement from longtimers were heartening and very encouraging. Unfortunately, other forums and posts aggravated my anxiety as I read about horror stories of suicide and "100 decibel ringing." I obsessively combed every post to find people who were just like me, I'd stay up until 4AM doing this. I shutter recalling the hell I was in.
So I am posting to say that IT GETS BETTER. To be clear, my tinnitus is still with me and as almost as loud as when it came on (I had a noise reduction, see below), but I have been able to get better at stop noticing it, almost entirely. It bothers me when I am stressed or tired, but I have been able to acknowledge and accept. I did go to a reputable tinnitus clinic, not covered by insurance -- they were good, but didn't tell me anything I couldn't have figured out on my own. They were able to measure the subjective tinnitus sound, which I guess gave me some perspective. I bought an in-ear noise generator and wore it for about a two months until my cat destroyed it (funny story). I slowly grew accustomed to it and learned to deal with it.
Here are some items that I think worked for me to finally stop noticing it 98% of the time:
1. I have filled my world with sounds. I was never a big music person, but I have become one, I have music on regularly now, all different types. If not music, then some talk, anything in the background helps. I have a zen like water fountain thing too, works great.
2. I learned meditation. I was never into this kind of thing, but silent meditation (any technique) really did wonders for my tinnitus. Doing this enabled me to hear, objectively the sound, recognized it, acknowledge it, and then move on in a mindful way. I don't practice as often now, but to get over the torture of it all, it did absolute wonders and I recommend that anyone try it not just for T, but other lifes ailments as well.
3. I took the benzo route. I was prescribed ativan and took them regularly for two months. At six weeks, I did get a noticeable noise reduction (one clinical study supports this), I slowly tapered off the ativan, eventually quitting. Quitting was not a problem except that I have very disturbed sleep still. Doc recommended ambien, I take most nights, I'm dependent but hope to get off. Some folks (both in this forum and in the rest of the world) are very judgmental about this and issue moral panics about benzos and "addiction." People hear the word addiction and think heroin or cocaine or something, totally not the same, and I can say that they are 10 times easier to quit than say coffee and nicotine. Of course this is my own opinion, but xanax or ativan works. One key though: do not ask dr. for benzos to treat T, tell them you have anxiety because of the T, and would like temporary relief from that. A technicality but many dr's won't prescribe if you ask the wrong way.
4. I got some perspective. Yes, T is annoying, yes it totally upset my life for several months before I learned to accept and acknowledge it, but there are way worse things out there to have. Thats a cold truth about being a human, we were made to suffer. I went to a lot of doctors when I first got this thing and I saw people in waiting rooms with way worse ailments and problems, I thought I had the worse thing in world when it came on, but lets face it, unless your T is caused by a tumor (which it likely isn't), I'd take it over a host of other ailments.
To the newbie: You will read horrible stories in these forums, people do really suffer from this to the point of it being debilitating, but most people with T learn to live with it just fine with only a minor downgrade in life quality (if any at all). People who are not bothered by it don't post in this forum precisely because they are not bothered by it. Don't let the horror stories get to you, most people get over it, for some it is three months, others take three years, but I do think the above items will expedite your recovery from this little demon.
Finally, to the veterans who still post in this forum to give advice, guidance and perspective, thank you for your help and caring, you really help people out. I will try to "play it forward" the best I can.
Cheers
