Tinnitus - ways to reduce effect and cope

[LivLL]

I’ve had sudden onset of tinnitus in one ear starting a few month ago suddenly from no where.

It varies from barely there to a loud buzz that sound to me like it’s in the room and can be quite annoying.

I’ve had checks, tests etc and nothing wrong other than very mild age related hearing loss and the Doc tells me it’s no concern unless the noise pulses and that long term CBT may be offered to help psychologically to ignore the noise.

White noise helps, being really busy helps and occasionally I think it’s gone only for it to return again.

I’d love to know if anyone has had similar and how they’ve dealt with it. The only correlation seems that it appeared after a flu type bug that left a coughing symptom for many weeks. That completely cleared months ago.

Doc tells me it may go suddenly one day in a few months or it may just remain and then I’ll need to look into CBT to train my brain to ignore it rather than a physical cure.

Seems a tricky one to nail down a cause and fix but I’d be grateful if others experience.

[lizardbrain]

I had white noise machines in year one but these days I honestly don’t even notice it unless I actively listen for it. My brain just learnt to tune it out over time.

Reducing stress, excercise and sleep are helpful in my case

[gus607]

I've struggled with this for forty plus years, in the early days it was a real pain but over the years i have learned to live with it.
Reading your post just happened to remind me I have tinnitus !
I find listening to music through headphones helps quite a bit & mostly try to live in an environment with a bit of noise around me.

[LivLL]

Thanks both, lines up with the Docs advice nicely. Such a weird thing to appear from seemingly no where.

It is also nice to hear that it can be tuned out to some extent mentally over time.

[dan98]

If it appeared from nowhere, it's more likely to disappear than not. As opposed to a reaction from loud noise which tends to be more permanent.

But it can very often be stress related, and an early warning sign to slow down a bit or have an extended break - this would be my first priority.

Ultimately though it's most important to not get hyper-focussed on the noise..it can effectively merge into the background over time if you don't allow it to become a distraction or annoyance.

[xx99xx]

Many years ago, I had flu like symptoms one evening, just aching legs, bit of a fever. It had gone by the morning. About an hour later I noticed my hearing in one ear wasn't great and I had tinnitus.

Turned out I had (according to ENT) an inner ear infection which caused permanent hearing loss and tinnitus.

You do get used to it with time. Some times can be worse than others. But yes, as most people say, white noise is probably the most effective solution.

[bloomen]

I caught a puking and stting bug off some little creep in a supermarket. I was left with destroyed balance for six months and tinnitus that hasn't gone away for a second for ten or more years.

It's not overtly loud, but it's enough to drown out softer voices and sounds.

I'm not often aware of it any more unless I concentrate on it. I've either learnt to ignore it or the brain has tuned it out. Didn't seek out any methods.

[Smint]

Wifey suffers, and her hearing is not great anyway especially higher frequencies.
She sometimes uses hearing aids, for some reason the tinnutus is reduced considerably with the aids in place, don't need to be £3000 jobbies, as with glasses cheaper products are available that do everything you want of them.

I have mild tinnitus and have for years but am able to tune it out.

[Slow.Patrol]

I suffered after a nasty bout of chickenpox in my 40s.

Thankfully I am so used to it, I am able to zone out. However, I do need the radio on to get to sleep. My hearing isn't to bad, but when I am tired, I can hear, but it isn't always defined, especially if the person speaking isn't actually facing me.

I have also found that certain medication such as paracetamol make it worse.

[a311]

Long term hearing aids help. The Dr said after a while your brain can learn to tune it out which seems to have happened to a certain extent with me.

[Bazsm]

I've had tinnitus for some time (tbh I can't recall when it started), I tend to notice it in the evening when watching tv or if I think about it. It's a bit annoying once I recognise it but I've done nothing to try and fix it as I understood it was just one of those things.

[thepritch]

I’ve had tinnitus for years, probably from playing music too loudly or standing in the student Union right next to the speakers at gigs.

I’ve somehow learnt to ignore it, but as soon as you mention or think about it, it appears. Like now, writing this it’s suddenly become louder than the TV.

I had an episode where it suddenly increased in volume a few years ago after a sinus infection, which left me unable to sleep, and I was in tears. Didn’t know what to do. I sought help, and the docs referred me to a specialist. He was apparently a top specialist in the country (Prof valentine I think?) who immediately put my back up, and told me it was simply stress and nothing to do with the infection. However he recommended CBT. Thankfully symptoms calmed down after the course and 6 months later my tinnitus was at the level I had been used to. As much as I didn’t warm to him, his team helped me.

When lying in bed with my head against the headboard, I can hear new sounds which pulse. Quite odd, but I guess I’m doing pressure on a vein or something.

Have confidence that it will recede. Either you’ll learn to block it out subconsciously, or the conditions that are causing it (infections etc) will ease and it’ll disappear.

I would recommend a CBT course though, it does help.