Time spans to habitualise?

[RobWG]

Hi

I can't decide if my tinnitus varies (spikes) or my ability to cope does. I'm relatively new to new to it, started in October 2020 as a constant very high pitched whine in left ear.

I had a couple of weeks around a month ago when I was able to almost ignore it completely but the last week or so it's back to its irritating self.

I have the accompanying sense of pressure in ear, jaw and surrounding area of head. I've had mri on head that showed nothing significant so from a doctor / consultant perspective I've been told to get used to it as there is no more they can do.

Seeing dentist this week and will ask about jaw.

I think the discomfort aspect of it which also varies tends to draw my attention to it more than the sound.

I assume habitualise times are personal, I think i had a perception of it taking 12 months or so but hadn't based that on anything?

Rgds

Rob G

[rabbits65]

Hello Rob , I too started my T in April last year. Mainly right ear, fullness and pressure etc. Some dizziness which might be Meneries too. Cannot tolerate too much Tele !!!!

What I mostly wanted to say was that I know about that jaw pain as I get it if I have dental treatment that involves an injection into jaw area to numb the tooth for fillings and extractions etc.. it is the Torambidular (can’t spell it). It’s called TMJ for short. I’ve asked for different sort of sedation as I need another tooth to fill . I do hope you sort yourself out soon .

[Happyrosie]

Hello RobWG. I think you’re right - how long it takes to habituate is an individual thing. Personally, I got it very young and mild, so I thought it was part of growing just like getting taller is part of growing up. So I consider myself very very lucky compared to other sufferers. Saying that, it’s very loud now so I can hear it above my car engine when I’m driving at sixty - but because I’m habituated I don’t notice it.You are wise to discuss this with your dentist.

I expect you’ve looked through the British tinnitus association website?

[doglover1973]

Hi Rob. T started a year ago and I'm getting used to it now. There have been ups and downs along the way. Some adys it's easier to live with than others. There's lots of good advice on the BTA website - as rosie says. If you experiment you'll find the things that work well for you. All the very best.

[Hidden in reply to doglover1973]

What have you done to get used to it out of interest? I'm 6 months in, better than I was but still not great. Evenings are the worse.

[doglover1973 in reply to Hidden]

Hi Angel. I took a big step forward when I read Living with Tinnitus last october. It made me feel normal again. Then in january I joined the BTA forum. It's helped a great deal to talk to other people with tinnitus. Lastly I'm watching Julian cowan hill on YT. One video every evening helps me to wind down.

[DR650SE in reply to doglover1973]

Hi Any chance of letting me know who the author is please for "Living with Tinnitus" as there are several publications with similar titles

Thanks :-))

[doglover1973 in reply to DR650SE]

Hi. It's 'Living with tinnitus & hyperacusis' by Baguley, Macferran & McKenna 🙂

[DR650SE in reply to doglover1973]

Many thanks for the instantaneous reply

[doglover1973 in reply to DR650SE]

No problem. Usually online early.. Hope you enjoy the book. It really did lift me out of panic mode . This forum is great too.

[DR650SE in reply to doglover1973]

I am in NSW Australia but came from Fife originally .The combination of 53 motorbikes and a viral ear infection did me

[doglover1973 in reply to DR650SE]

Ahh. I bet it's lovely & warm out there now. That's a lot of motorbikes .. I guess you only had one at a time 🙂

[DR650SE in reply to doglover1973]

A year ago ,I had four bikes and now i have one .I am very cautious about riding it as I don't want more T noise.I really enjoy riding and it is a big part of my life

[doglover1973 in reply to DR650SE]

I understand. I'm cautious about noise these days - just in case it affects my T but there's some great ear protection out there. I expect you wear plugs and / or muffs . We musn't let T take away the things we enjoy!

[DR650SE in reply to doglover1973]

I have custom ear plugs rated at 30 decibels.The helmet is supposed to equate to 5 decibels.If at 60mph the wind noise is 110 decibels ,I should be experiencing 75 decibels which is safe . After 3 hours of riding my tinnitus is bad .The 75 decibels seems to still it up.I hope that I am not doing more damage

[doglover1973 in reply to DR650SE]

That's a very good level of protection. My plugs are only 19 and my muffs 25 . I didn't realise it was the wind . I just assumed it was the engine. Goes to show how very little I know about motorbikes .. T can get louder in loud settings so it's not unusual. You could ask the BTA about it - if you're worried.

[RobWG]

Thanks all, yes I find the British Tinnitus website very useful.

[Amanda_Brighton]

Hi Rob, I have T in both cases, very high pitched (8khz). I have had hearing tests and MRI. MRI was normal but mild/moderate high frequency loss in both ears.

I'm now using hearing aids and they seem to help, they seem to make the T easier to deal with. When the T gets bad (as it did yesterday), I can stream music/noise straight to them without anything visible which I find easier and distracts from the Tinnitus. I also think generally the aids "change the nature" of the tinnitus, at least when it's at low levels - they make it "mooshier" somehow, and that's easier to deal with. It's worth saying I don't need the aids for general hearing, that side of it is fine and without the hearing test I'd never have known I had high frequency loss.

As far as the T itself "being easier some days" and "really hard others" - I think the level is genuinely changing for me and it isn't just habituation or perception. I can wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to perceive the tinnitus (and I've genuinely tried), go back to sleep and wake up a few hours later with a full blown squeal in my ear which then just persists. This morning in bed it was squealing loud as ever and as I listened to it, it dropped off, like someone turning down the volume and as I continued to listen, it wound itself up again - so I've no doubt it really is changing for me.

I can also change the nature of the tinnitus by pushing my jaw forward which indicates a nerve issue and something going on with the TMJ - but despite MRI and other exams, nothing relevant has been found. The way humans are made everything, nerve and muscle wise, is so tight in that area; it's hardly surprising things interact. A bit of hair damage in the cochlea, the auditory nerve firing a bit oddly and then it runs a bit close to a joint or muscle and gets stimulated, a bit of neural (over) feedback in the brain as it tries to compensate for loss of hearing and bang - you have all the ingredients for tinnitus.

Perhaps have a hearing test/try aids (if only for the fact that they are unobtrusive for streaming background music and sound), other distraction techniques, habituation and a bit of mindfulness in learning to accept your Tinnitus as a guest, an unwelcome one but still a guest, and listen to the tinnitus rather than push it away, don't be scared of it. Have some tinnitus therapy (CBT/Mindfulness). There's no single magic bullet but there are ways of dealing with it.

Good luck!

[MattyP101]

I find it does vary and as does your ability to habituate. I slowly got used to mine few months back then recently came back with a vengeance (after lots of alcohol which may have been a trigger) and bothering me ever since. It’s a long road but I know if I’ve done it once I can do it again so take encouragement in that

[Andy79]

I've had T less than four months. I learned that a lot of it is mental focus, not on the T though!

I had to take sleeping tablets for a few weeks in order to get decent sleep, but last couple of weeks I haven't and had decent enough sleep.

I'm waiting for an audiologist app but the wait is a bit longer. Hopefully I will be able to rule out a couple of things once I have it.

I thought I had mini spikes with louder noise exposure at work during the day, possibly but I never have tinnitus during the day. I don't wear headphones anymore and I do find ambient noise before I sleep helps. I limit my caffeine intake to zero after 5pm and I take cold shower therapy. These things help but tinnitus for me is mostly a night problem.

I think training yourself to forget about it helps to a degree but I can't be sure how bad it can be for other sufferers.

Good luck 🤞

Andy

[surreycccfan]

Hi,

As you say habituation depends on the individual. For me I found when I accepted I had tinnitus (ie there is no cure and probably not going away) this allowed me to start moving forward on my T journey as i began to move out of the emotional fight/flight response we all have when we get T. As I started to no longer see it as a 'threat' it allowed my mind to focus on other things (it stopped be the first and only thing I thought about) and I began to habituate. I had a lot of things in my T toolbox, both distraction and behavioral techniques that I had seen had worked in others, so I stuck at them and now I live very well with my T and it rarely (if ever) bothers me. Hope this helps in some small way. Stay safe