Really hard time lately

[DFoster 0]

Steve I'm sorry your dealing with this and I can tell you as a tinnitus suffer I'm as frustrated as you are. My condition is regrettably self inflicted.  I've been a professional musician since 1986 and after a gig on St Patrick's day 1988 the ringing never went away.  It's gotten much worse over the years.  Hearing test indicate I'm at about 30% of normal hearing.  I purchased and wear what were top of the line hearing aids back in 2016.  I've had them adjusted dozens of times and they have never gotten them right.  I still have to watch almost all TV with captions.  The ambient noise in restaurants and bars makes hearing impossible while wearing them and I can't hear other anglers over the noise of the river.   In short they're great at amplifying  everything but someones voice.  What I've learned the hard way is that a lot of these "audiologist" are glorified salesmen.   I haven't seen the same one more than a few times so apparently there's a lot of turn over in the industry.   My insurance pays zero towards hearing aids and I won't ever pay thousands of dollars out of pocket again.  In keeping with the fine traditions of commission sales my first "Audiologist" lied to me saying the aids I bought would last a lifetime.  His replacement informed me it was more like 4 to 5 years and the most recent "audiologist" is constantly badgering me to come in and try out the latest $8000 pair.  Why is it that if I spent 8 grand on any other electronic device it would last almost forever?  On the final phone call I told him "I'm sorry I can't hear what your saying because your hearing aids suck, what is it you think I'm going to buy again"?  Seriously they're like care salesmen, once they have a way to reach you there's no escape.

I need hearing aids because I can't hear at all with out them.  I have no choice and I can't work my day job without being able to hear.  The new high end models have gotten so expensive they now offer lease programs.  The one in my right ear is beginning to fail and I'm not sure at this point what I will do.   

Take care of your hearing folks, there still is no substitute for the factory equipment.

[Steeldrifter 0]

22 minutes ago, DFoster said:

What I've learned the hard way is that a lot of these "audiologist" are glorified salesmen

I honestly agree with that for sure. When I had my ears cleaned of the impacted wax about 3-4 weeks ago the audiologist told me I had otosclerosis (bone growth in my left ear) that was blocking my ear canel by 75% and he wanted to scedule surgery for me. I thought a second and didn't say out loud, but I thought....if it is that bad, then how come I can hear better than anyone I know. Seriously I can be downstairs in the shop working and have TV on at the bench, and yet I can clearly hear my cat upstairs meow. So I know if that bone was anywhere near as bad as he said it was then I would not have (as Big Bang Theory says about Sheldon) "Vulcan hearing" 😆 Plus I did not have the tinnitus issue like this just a month ago, so a bone cant grow that fast in 4 weeks to cause it. He also said I need to have my ears cleaned every 4 months so made another apt for a cleaning for me in July. Which I plan to cancel before it gets here. He was a nice enough guy, but sure seemed like he was trying to set up a lot of stuff for me which I don't think I really need at this time.

I had an apt with my GP yesterday. He gave me three RX's...beta blocker, Xannax, Lunesta. The beta blocker I am taking daily now, the xannax he said to take daily but I am not taking it unless my anxiety gets so bad I have no choice. So I'm being very careful about that one. The Lunesta I started last night, but didn't seem to help much with sleep so far.

To be honest, I think the past day yesterday and now today, I'm doing a bit better than I have in 3-4 weeks now. The sound (high pitched noise so hard to say true "ringing") is still there, but it's more in the background now and there are times I will somewhat forget about it for a few seconds here and there. My biggest problem the past couple weeks has been my mind latching onto it and then my emotions taking over and thinking "my God how can I live the rest of my life like this". Once I start going there, then its a vicious circle of anxiety=louder ringing=anxiety=louder ringing.

I have a friend in Tx that has went through exactly what I am going through 11 yrs ago that has been helping me a lot. He has habituated to the point of his not bothering him in the least anymore. So he's helping me a lot. So I'm just working on trying to keep my mind from constantly focused on it and not letting my emotions get involved with it. 

[essequamvideri 0]

Steeldrifter. Your update is an inspiration and a relief. It is good to hear that you are on your way to a solution. 

Micheal

[Lesg 0]

 Steve, maybe this guy is a quack but the video shows some simple techniques to possibly help your tinnitus. I've had tinnitus for years but mine comes and goes and I am lucky enough that I have pretty much learned to ignore it. Good luck.

Les

[DFoster 0]

Steve sound therapy has been helpful for some.  It's free and might be worth a shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKo4jYDO9FQ

 

[mikechell 0]

Well, I listened to the first few minutes of "Dr. Mandel's" reason for tinnitus.  (I've never heard anyone pronounce it like he does)

His explanation of the cause ... that the brain is "turning up" the volume to receive information it no longer gets ... assumes you have lost hearing ability BEFORE getting tinnitus.  I know, in my case, that is not what happened.  I've had tinnitus much longer than I've had reduce hearing.  Steve's example of hearing his kitties upstairs is more proof that loss of hearing isn't the only reason for tinnitus.

I've heard or read before that the main cause IS damage in the Cochlea or auditory nerves.  That's why there are no cures for it.  Unfortunately, it's nerve and tissue damage that cannot be repaired.

I know there are people who use "white noise" like radio static to drown out traffic noises and stuff to sleep.  I just see my tinnitus as a built in white noise generator.

[Lesg 0]

I did say that the guy might be a quack. I know my tinnitus comes from exposure to loud noise and Steve did say he worked in a welding shop which is a very noisy environment. As far as hearing his cats, in my case the noise related hearing loss still allows me to hear things on certain frequencies. Once again this guy might be a quack and I am definitely not an audiologist but he offered some simple ideas to try. It doesn't cost anything to try them and who knows, the techniques might help.

 

Les

[Steeldrifter 0]

2 hours ago, Lesg said:

Steve did say he worked in a welding shop which is a very noisy environment. As far as hearing his cats, in my case the noise related hearing loss still allows me to hear things on certain frequencies.

Actually the shop I worked at was pretty quiet. We only had 5 people that worked there (including myself) and only machines that would run were the TIG welder I ran and a press every once in a while. Wasn't loud there at all. My hearing is not only good, but I would say it's better than most. I can hear at all levels of frequency, low conversations in crowded areas, high pitched sounds, pretty much everything. I've never had any issues with hearing anything at all no matter the volume of frequency,  so I know that is not my problem with mine.

Since all this started I have been doing a TON of research on tinnitus. Might even be too much lol, but I've just been trying to educate myself on it. There are two causes of tinnitus. One is hearing loss where the hairs that pick up sound are damaged and die, caused by loud noises over time, veterans, going to lots of concerts, working in loud environments, etc etc.  The other cause of tinnitus is what I am 100% certain is the cause of mine, which is stress uncovering the normal filter that naturally masks the sound of your nervous system working.

When my ear wax got impacted it started the tinnitus (that's normal to happen) but what happened to me was the first urgent care I went too did not know what they were doing to be honest, and they actually made it worse. They made it so I could not hear at all out of that ear and then sent me home saying "well you need a ENT to clean it because we can't". So I spent that night unable to hear, but the ringing was louder because I couldn't hear at all out that ear. Being OCD and having anxiety problems, I had basically a moderate panic attack that night. Woke up shaking and in tears and heart racing and having very dark thoughts about life. Then the next day the ENT cleaned my ears very well and the ringing went away for about 5 hrs, then came back. The reason it was still there is because my mind made it so the natural filter that normally filters out the electrical sound of your nervous system basically stopped working because my mind latched onto the sound.

To make a long story short, The past few days I have been following a path given in a book called "Rewiring Tinnitus" of focusing on the sound during meditation so that my mind starts to accept the natural sound and not assign an emotional response to it that is negative.  So now the past few days since I have stopped trying to ignore it and be scared of it, now I'm actually accepting it and not trying to ignore it and it is starting to be better than it has been now and my mind is filtering it out at times. Still a ways to go, but I think I'm on the right path.

Tinnitus, especially when not caused by hearing lose/damage, is really crazy thing when you start researching about it. The mind can cause a really wide range of issues when stressed at the right time, but it can also fix those issues given time and proper work, and I think/hope that's the way I am starting to go.

[skeet3t 0]

Had tinnitius for years. Hearing loss is in the lower range which is hereditary. My mother refused to get hearing aids so we had to yell at her. Steve, hope things go well for you.

[Steeldrifter 0]

My Mom is the same way. She's 77, has tinnitus and hearing loss as well. I normally have to repeat 50% of the things I say two-three times to her. I've tried to get her to get hearing aids but she wont. I even bought her some of those "Game Ear" hunting ones last Christmas to see if she would at least try them. Think she took them out twice for about 30 mins and thats it.

[Lesg 0]

Good luck with that Steve. As I said I've pretty much learned to ignore mine which is definitely noise related  It used to play havoc with any hearing test I've taken because I would push the button every time I heard a noise that was only in my head. Very frustrating for the audiologist. lol

 

Les

[mikechell 0]

Meditation.  Wonderful practice that I recommend for everyone.  But I never thought about using it to quiet the tinnitus. 

Hmmm ... veeery interesting!

I sure hope it works for you, Steve.

[cphubert 0]

14 hours ago, mikechell said:

I sure hope it works for you, Steve.

X 2 . Never had any progress with meditation myself, might give it a try now that my life style has slowed down.

[Steeldrifter 0]

I've tried meditation a number of times over the past 10 yrs or so. Have had varying results. Sometimes it was good, others it was really hard to stick with it. I think when I had the problems was because at the time I felt I was failing because I couldn't clear my mind, it would wander. It wasn't until I got a bit more into it that I realized the goal is not to clear your mind, but to simply bring it back to center when it inevitably does wander.

  I think this time it is going a bit better for me mainly because I have a real goal for it (the tinnitus). Going to stick with it no matter what. Even if I get totally habituated to the sound, I want to try to set aside 20-30mins or so each evening to stick with meditation.At the moment I am only able to do about 10mins at a time, but that should increase as I get more use to it again. It really is a good way to calm your mind and make your overall outlook on your life more positive. 

[mikechell 0]

I often lose it when I get to this point ... bad experiences.

One time, I hit the ceiling ... the fall from that height can be painful.

Another time, I was brought out of my trance by someone calling me ... in a foreign language.  I'd floated all the way across the Atlantic.

 

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.