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Steeldrifter

Really hard time lately

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Unfortunately, even though it may not seem like it, the tinnitus does make it harder for you to hear in certain ranges.  When you watched your shows, you likely had the volume turned up.  Mine is louder/worse after an evening of watching TV than it is if I spend the evening reading or playing online (no sound, usually).

So, it might actually be louder at times, especially following loud volume activities or taking certain drugs.  Aspirin mainly, but other OTC painkillers too, can cause tinnitus to become more insistent.

I've had mine for decades, and it gradually got louder, so it has always been background noise.  I hope you can coexist with it.  Definitely, if you have a GP physician, talk to him/her about it.  Although they're rare, there are reasons and/or cures for some sufferers.

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The audiologist said that each generation of hearing aids is a leap in improvement. When I commented on mine amplifying background noise, she said the newer ones should be an improvement. If I'm in a open area like a restaurant, I can't hear the person across the table. Hate it when they play the background at high volume! Archery team has to repeat sometimes as the open gym overwhelms their voices.

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nnit

4 hours ago, skeet3t said:

each generation of hearing aids is a leap in improvement

My new ones are like night and day but I have been back to have them adjusted a couple of times. Still have problems in crowd setting (restaurant) but better than before, they mostly manage my tinnitus to a comfortable level when wearing them. My left side is far worse than my right. Steve I strongly agree with Mike about talking to your physician they are making a lot of improvements in hearing & tinnitus. Event the VA is using a modern approach. Used to be no hope for the noise but that isn't always the case today. 

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I know that mine is really amplified by my anxiety. When I can calm my thoughts down I would say it decreases the sound by at least 50% or maybe even 75%. A friend today sent a link to an article about CBD used for anxiety/tinnitus. I have never been a believer in CBD but I did just go get some and took it about 45 mins ago. We'll see how it goes. In all honesty I do already feel a bit more calm. Not sure if it is working or if its the placebo effect, but at this point I don't care lol...long as I can find some peace and get past this constant anxiety over it then that's all that matters to me.

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Been living with tinnitus more than 40 years, since late 20s;  always crickets, sometimes peeper frogs or cicada and the volume is variable, but never really off;  have had multiple frequency hearing loss  for decades but only got hearing aids ~5 years ago.  I feel sorry for my wife more than myself for it though, I've grown use to saying "sir???" or "hanh?" and she hasn't gotten used to repeating stuff, so she yells.  Our children all have learned to enunciate. They have found that I can interpret a whisper better than a shout, that if they speak loudly and rapidly I may not even notice it as it blends with "my noise". 

With hearing aids stay out of restaurants, or stick the things in a pocket. With radio or TV turn the volume down to the point that words are barely heard, loud volume makes it all worse. Don't try to hear the radio, it should be a buzzy background. When your grandson brings out his thunderously loud guitar, take a walk outside. Tell the people around you that enunciation is ten times better than volume. Stay out of rooms with slick finished walls or glossy paint, they have echo that will set  you nerves off.

For the wax, turning my ears directly into a hot shower for a couple minutes each keeps most of it washed out, it did take me a while to get used to that but it's much better than the suction cleaning, that pulled hair roots that hurt for months.

The good news is tinnitus probably isn't fatal. The bad news is you can't read lips when people are masked. Be cheerful things can always get worse.  And not everyone gets to hear crickets in winter.

For you folks that make videos- leave the "music" out of them, it is more distracting than strobe lights and explosions.

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So Mike and TJM and others I hear ya'. Well, not hear ya' but know what you're talking about. My high range hearing is about gone such that so many of the things like watches and my Oxygen monitor have a high beep I absolutely cannot hear unless I stick it against my ear. The ringing is continuous and I've lived with for as long I can remember. It is fairly constant and consistent but there's spikes in there that screw me up because I don't know if there was a real ring or loud beep or if it's just the ear. I have a hard time sleeping if it's quiet since for me there never is a quiet time. I sleep with an oxygen concentrator and the noise actually helps me fall asleep because it crowds in with the other ringing. Cicada is a good comparison as is a pond full spring peepers calling their mates.

I probably could be helped with hearing aids but the prices for them are absolutely ridiculous and in normal environment I'm fine and wife actually turns TV higher than I do. Where I have no chance of carrying on a conservation is in a bar with all the background noise. Hustling in a bar back in my late teens and twenties worked fine but now it would a lost cause, kind of like me.

 

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I've been having ups & down with mine lately. Wednesday was a really really bad day/night, was not in a good place at all. Then yesterday I managed it really well and would say I was able to ignore it for 75% of the day and actually felt pretty good. Now today it's been more and more on my mind and bugging the hell out of me right now. If I could just stop letting it trigger an emotional response I know it would then stop bothering me as much as it is right now.

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Steve, I've had this issue for years. I find that if I keep some music playing, it seems that the ring isnt so bad. I tend to hear the music more and notice the ring less. It doesnt have to be loud,just loud enough to hear and understand.

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Thanks Ken, been trying to find something to cover it. Trying lots of various music and sound effects and tinnitus masking on youtube. Just can't seem to find anything to cover it enough to get it out of my mind the past day&half now. Prob got no more than 3 hrs sleep last night. By far my worst night yet in the past 3 weeks. Terrible thoughts and just vicious circle of my mind hyper focusing on it which makes it seems worse, then the worse it seems the more my mind focuses on it.

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Look online for a white noise generator. That has helped a lot of folks,but not something to use long term, Just to help through times when the tinnitus is bad

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Yup have tried white noise, pink noise, brown noise, it seems the tinnitus just gets louder with anything I try. Only thing that helps a bit is one I found that is a mix of crickets and other sounds. That helps a tad. I just got back from the doc. Gave me some meds to try to help me sleep tonight. Hopefully if I can get a couple good nights sleep that will at least break this vicious cycle I'm in with my nervous system so elevated where I can try to start accepting/habituating. Because right now my whole nervous system is just jacked out of shape in this fight/flight stage still, and going 2 days without sleep just makes it worse.  We'll see.

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Thankfully the xannax helped me actually get some meaningful rest last night. Got about 8-9 hours of sleep for the first time in a while. Woke up this morning and so far the level of the sound is not what it has been. Still there, but much much lower than it was so far. Only going to take the xannax right before bed and not during the day that way I can get a good weeks worth of sleep so hopefully that's gonna help break the cycle of anxiety my nervous system was stuck in.

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Steeldrifter my sleepless friend.  I hear you loud and clear over the ringing in your ears.  Since last fall I have been struggling with sleeplessness due to an overactive carpal tunnel in both hands.  I've been able to sleep for 2-3 hours at a time and some nights I consider it good to get that much sleep.  I wake with them throbbing then I'll be up for hours before they stop enough to try to go to sleep again.  The toughest part of this is keeping my sanity AND not taking it out on those around me. 

I truely wished I had a possible remedy to offer. I to am trying to find an answer.

Micheal

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So sorry to hear that Michael. It's really amazing how important a good nights sleep is not just to our physical health, but to our mental health as well. When I was younger I always heard that but never took it seriously. Now that I'm almost 50 I have come to realize just how much of an impact on my mental health a good nights sleep can have.

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Glad to hear the Xanax helped, Steve. 

Wife has OCD.  It ruled her life for many years.  She couldn't leave the house until all the area rugs were perfectly aligned and everything was properly put away, etc.  Would spend hours making sure everything was perfect before going to work, then do it again when she got home.

About 20 years ago, she was prescribed Paxel.  Since then, she's a normal person.  Well, she married me, so not so normal, maybe, but she doesn't suffer from her OCD anymore.  I consider myself very lucky, as she started on the Paxel a year before we married, so I never saw that side of her.

Xanax is a stop-gap measure against anxiety.  Paxel is a long term "remedy" for OCD.

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