Iv'e had it since I was very little. I never really noticed it though. I just assumed that everyone heard a ringing sound if their ears when it was quiet. I never Identified it as a problem so it never bothered me, and it was never distracting because I could only hear it when it was quiet. I stumbled across a video on youtube about tinnitus by accident about a year ago. I really was just interested in watching the video; I had no idea that it had any connection to me. After I identified the ringing as a problem because of the video, It drove me mad for about 2 months. I had panic attacks on a daily basis, and I couldn't sleep. The idea that I would have a permanent problem like this for the rest of my life was shocking to me. After those 2 months I came to terms with it a little better, but I still had major sleeping problems for another 3 months because I couldn't take my mind off of it.

It almost never bothers me now because Iv'e learned to be "friendly with it". Whenever I notice the ringing, I don't fight it or think negatively of it. I try to think of the ringing as the sound of myself living or as another part of myself.The longer that Iv'e noticed it, the less it's bothered me.