Recently diagnosed

[Rovert47]

Hello, I'm 63 and took early retirement a year ago, I've recently been diagnosed after initially being diagnosed with an ear infection even though I had neither pain, inflammation or discharge.

The second GP I saw gave me the diagnosis and I have an ENT referral in February.

I have it in my left ear, a constant hissing that is sometimes pretty quiet but other times quite intense.

I feel a bit of a fraud reading what others have to go through but if I'm honest I'm struggling to come to terms with it..

Thanks.

[Dave-G]

Hi

Everyone will say its hard to come to terms with and that's true but you have time on your side and that's a big help.

Make the most of your ENT app in February Because there are several ways forward for you to take if needed so all is not lost.

Only advice i can give is try to keep occupied and don't dwell on the sound too much if you can help it, the less you give it time the more the sound will become less important to you , not easy to do but its a start. the more you can come to terms with your T the easier it will become to accept it as it is

All the best

Dave.

[Hidden]

Yes, Dave is right but I'd go one step further and say that it is possible for our brain to push the T away so far that it is like not having it. You may have noticed already that you get short periods where you haven't noticed it because you are focused on something else. These periods get longer and longer over time. Focusing on the T just seems to help lock it in so try to avoid it despite what your emotions are telling you.

Have a read of some of the previous posts, they may help.

[Hidden]

Welcome to the BTA community.

As tinnitus invades our life it can come with lots of unwanted emotions as well as sleep loss and low moods and lack of confidence.

The sound itself can change in sound and strength as it tries to find a base sound over the first few months and can spike for a few days if come across triggers like a cold etc.

Sound therapy at night can help by playing natural sounds throughout the night set below your tinnitus through a free standing unit or pillow speakers and not headphones or earphones at night.

Your brain will focus on the lower sound you have chosen and learns your brain to not focus on the tinnitus that's louder.

This will help your brain to build up its natural filter and not see tinnitus as a threat and your emotions will settle also and this leads to Tinnitus not causing you problems as you don't focus on it.

Maskers and hearing aids can help people with hearing loss or sever tinnitus who have problems adjusting.

Most doctors leave it 6 months before refur you to ENT as you can adapt yourself as time is a great healer and refur you quicker if have other symptoms.

ENT usually send you for a MRI as a routeen procedure and audiology.

See your doctor if having trouble with anxiety or insomnia due to tinnitus as he can help you and counselling can help you greatly in the form of CBT.

Take care and keep posting for support...lots of love glynis

[Lesley2065]

Hi,

I've had T for 15 months and like you struggled with it in the beginning, wondering how on earth it happened, not sleeping, and being frustrated when it was screaming, however nowadays I'm coping with it just by accepting that its become part of my life and not letting T interfere with what I want to do. I do get days though where it becomes irritating but I also get periods where it doesn't bother me so much and I just take each day as it comes and if I have a few bad days, I know it won't last and look forward to the good days. I brought an oasis sound machine from BTA and that has helped me to sleep better as having background noise means I'm not listening to my T in a quiet environment.

Trying to be stress free is also another way to lessen the spikes and as you say you've recently retired, I hope it means you can relax and do enjoy able things. Which will help.

I also saw ENT specialist who referred me to tinnitus management clinic where they gave me a hearing aide with a noise masker. This helps your brain to push the noise into the background so you should have a hearing test and if your hearing has got worse, ask for a hearing aide with masker and see if this helps.

Talking to people on this sight also helps as you will get loads of advice and it has been very helpful for me because everyone actually understands what you're going through.

The thing is that with time, the initial impact of getting tinnitus does improve and its easier to cope with it.

Lesley

[Rovert47]

Thanks for the replies, as someone who thrives on reassurance I find the replies very helpful.

Feeling better today, had a banging headache yesterday which didn't help.

[Angela-H]

Hi, I can't add anything to what's been said in the replies other than to say that your T will settle down in time. I've had it almost 2 years and at first I believed my life was ruined. After a few months it began to quieten and now my life is almost normal. The advice and support of my forum friends keeps me feeling positive. Angela xx

[NicBTA Partner]

Hello and welcome - you've had some good advice from forum members here. And I'd just like to point out that the BTA have a special website for the newly diagnosed that you might like to check out too: takeontinnitus.co.uk

Don't be shy either about asking any questions or sharing any worries you may have!