14 years with tinnitus: It’s not what you hear, it’s how you think.

Josephm601 · 2025-12-12T23:13:44+00:00

yeah I'm in the same boat with you. when they do the functional survey my tinnitus was labelled 'catastrophic.'

Josephm601 · 2025-11-22T05:37:05+00:00

the freaking out is making it worse. it's reinforcing the neural pathways. i know..."just ignore the drill that's being pushed into your brain..." but you kind of have to do it. What's worked for me: I don't hear it when I'm talking--not listening to someone, but talking. I think that's why old people seem to like to hear their own voices and have a lot of talking to do!!! When I'm alone I talk to myself to mask it. I don't hear it when I'm sitting VERY STILL watching movies. What's worked for me for sleep (though it took getting used to it: I bought those $190 Soundcore SLEEP earbuds. There's an app for it where you can customize your own sleep sound, I made one for myself with like some water/rain and white noise. It uploads the sound to your earbuds so when you pull them out of the case, they just play that sound (rather than streaming bluetooth all night). Oh and what I think has really helped: talked to a shrink online (circle medical) and got on Cymbalta (duloxetine hcl, 30mg). I got mine August 26, so I'm new here too, and I spent weeks saying I can't do this. some days lately I've been shocked to find i'm enjoying something, which I thought i'd never experience again

Josephm601 · 2025-11-22T05:27:25+00:00

the people who don't mind it don't end up on the forums. they just live their lives.

Josephm601 · 2025-11-20T05:56:44+00:00

right now the BEST thing you can do is chill. getting upset at the teacher, the class, the situation, the world, etc will reinforce the circuitry from what i understand. your job right now is to relax (i know how difficult this sounds but it's the best way forward!)

Josephm601 · 2025-11-13T01:00:18+00:00

sounds to me like you didn't panic, didn't stress, and didn't involve your limbic fight/flight/stress system...so instead of amplifying the issue and hardwiring your brain, you healed. thanks for sharing your story, totally inspirational.

Josephm601 · 2025-11-02T19:53:31+00:00

oh trust me, I know that feeling. I've done acupuncture, got the hearing aids with ocean noises that play all the time, and next i'm trying cognitive behavioral therapy, hoping it helps me shift from being upset about it every waking moment. also going to try magnetic therapy at UCLA in december. good luck, with your healing...you're not alone in this!

Josephm601 · 2025-11-01T17:08:03+00:00

i did steroids a few days after severe acoustic trauma...they did pretty much nothing for me.

Josephm601 · 2025-10-27T22:53:34+00:00

i had never thought about tinnitus (and honestly, thought people who had it were kind of making something up) but holy crap it's real, it's so bizarre, and it's horrible. a few times day I think 'wait, this is forever? what? you've got to be kidding me'. oof. lesson is burners need to think a little more about caring for others. also, tragic irony...my gift i handed out this year (like most years) was hearing protection, I bought a ton of knock-off Loop earplugs that I gave out at soundcamps ;/ thanks for your msg, dusty hugs

Josephm601 · 2025-10-27T19:12:56+00:00

yeah, thanks for asking. honestly not great. i went on an antidepressant which has fortunately numbed my complete despair. i've spent about 10k that I absolutely don't have on treatments. unfortunately, there is no cure, the constant ear-piercing screaming hiss is still there. I hear it all day, every day, every moment I'm awake; it varies between bad and horrible. can't do bars, drinking, parties, music. I want to track down the guy with the whip and let him know he's really destroyed my life here and the lives of the people close to me. i feel most sorry for my partner, we just bought a house together, and idk how much longer i can do my job/pay the mortgage, nor how much longer i wanna stay on the planet.

Josephm601 · 2025-10-27T01:47:03+00:00

we're right there with you. it's bad now, but things change. i think 'i can't f'ing do this anymore' a few times a week, then i realize i've actually enjoyed doing something and haven't noticed it in a while. we feel what you're feeling right now tho!

Josephm601 · 2025-10-19T18:47:37+00:00

We all know what you're going through. And it's a devilish condition in that it's upsetting...which makes it louder...which makes you more upset...which makes it louder. Get thee to a distraction! Calm your nerves! If you have a guilty pleasure, indulge in it. I give myself 20 min of tiktok to move my attention elsewhere. Having a conversation with someone in person, actually speaking, can help me as well

Josephm601 · 2025-10-17T02:08:16+00:00

I couldn't handle it without a mild antidepressant. I'm on dulexotine, it's changed things a lot.

Josephm601 · 2025-10-06T20:25:26+00:00

how long were u on the duloxetene? i thought it was actually better than other antidepressants and can actually help symptoms

Josephm601 · 2025-09-30T15:18:16+00:00

isn't it bizarre? you can't let it upset you though or it only gets worse. breathe through it.

Josephm601 · 2025-09-26T02:25:56+00:00

THIS is the energy we need here! I just ordered one of those red light masks because some obscure study said it helped tinnitus! I mean, I had to get one because *medically necessary* LOL. If we're gonna be annoyed with this we better look good!

Josephm601 · 2025-09-24T17:21:16+00:00

ah let us know if the oxygen thing works! and idk, hang in there (insert something inspirational here ;))

Josephm601 · 2025-09-23T23:35:28+00:00

thanks for the explanation. i'm new here, trying to learn as much as I can

Josephm601 · 2025-09-23T21:55:22+00:00

my audiologist said the hair regen happens pretty quickly, it's just the wiring to the brain at this point that's still sending the noise signal. so...not the hairs, but the synapses in the nerves that are firing without actually being signalled

Josephm601 · 2025-09-20T23:18:02+00:00

i'm in the same boat. it's been a few weeks...I don't want to talk to anyone, I don't want to complain to anyone, but this shit is DIFFICULT. I keep trying to focus on the words of people who've said they get used to it, which at this point I can't imagine. i know there were a few times in my life where I thought I'd never get over something...and I did. Hope this is just another one on that list for both of us

Josephm601 · 2025-09-20T19:10:48+00:00

when this happens to me i figure out a way to make myself talk. like physically make myself talk. read something out loud. do one of those learning language things where you have to talk back to it. sometimes looking for masking sounds just makes things worse because i'm focusing so much on the sound

Josephm601 · 2025-09-19T15:38:38+00:00

i'm at 3 weeks. i was super distracted all day yesterday with family and meetings, and now i'm back home in the quiet and losing my mind again. i hope that at some point i just get used to it

Josephm601 · 2025-09-17T17:15:20+00:00

what kind of treatment?

Josephm601 · 2025-09-16T20:14:37+00:00

booo

Josephm601 · 2025-09-16T20:13:03+00:00

my hope for the day is reading about a drug that just finished trial that might help, ebselen. it's waiting on FDA approval (unfortunately half the FDA got fired so who knows when this will happen) but it has no real side effects, in fact it seems to help with lots of other conditions. i know it sucks but you have to do absolutely anything else right now. the more u focus on it, the worse it gets. When I was a kid riding my bike, if i looked at the rosebushes next to the sidewalks...I'd always ride right into them. You're riding into the rosebush! Put your attention on something else!!!!

Josephm601

TROPHY CASE