Recovery chance

[Toughmathew]

I am not being negativr however i think the establishment of this bta indicates most people.has to live with t rather than having a chance to let it disappear

Hope everyone can live happily

[Happyrosie]

yes absolutely. It may fade away but it may not.

If there was a cure you would have heard about it a long time ago!

[Toughmathew in reply to Happyrosie]

Hows your t now pal

[surreycccfan]

Hi,

As there is no cure (at the moment), then yes one of the BTA cores missions is to help those with the condition live well with their tinnitus, as part of this misson they not only act as a trusted source of evidence based techniques they offer invaluable support via this forum, web chat, support groups, helpline etc. Without this support I know I would have struggled to be where I am now, which is living well with my tinnitus. Its important to stress the BTA also works with the government, clinical agencies, researchers, gps, etc. to not just improve clinical support and promote greater awareness of the condition BUT also heavily invest in research to try and find a cure for tinnitus. Initiatives like the Tinnitus BioBank are critical activity to helping both those with the condition and those may experience it in the future, I would encourage you to check out tinnitus.org.uk/biobank and maybe sign up. All the best

[Hidden in reply to surreycccfan]

Can you do normal things like you did before your T? Like watch television, i miss being able to watch tele without the invasive T.

[surreycccfan in reply to Hidden]

Hi Smokey, Yes I pretty much do what I did before. However, I understand I may have to manage my T in certain situations so I have techniques in my 'toolkit' which I think about before I go out to reduce any anxiety and/or focus on my T when I am out. Examples ofthese include:

- I use alpine ear plugs (others available) when attending large sports events or concerts and make sure i position myself where I am not exposed to excessive noise

- If I am out with close friends I let them know I may struggle to hear them if noisy environments. Plus I have no 'fear' of saying I can't hear someone to reduce any feelings of isolation

- If my T spikes, then I have a structure where I exit from the situation and either do a breathing/muscle relaxation exercise and/or talk to someone from my immediate support group to help ground myself and understand the spike will pass as it has before.

- I have made numerous adjustments at work both technical and working practices to accommodate my T, work have been really useful as they understand this is a hidden disability for me and its important I am not discriminated against

It is only natural for T to shrink our lives and I found by having these techniques and being kind to myself I can pretty much do what I did before (albeit with my toolkit and new way of thinking). There was a definite shift in my thinking when I realised my T was controlling me, this realisation allowed to shift one of my objectives to be 'I will control my T rather than it controlling me', I learnt from the BTA and other in BTA support groups to build a toolkit of evidence based techniques to unshrink my life.

Hope this helps in some small way, stay safe

[Hidden in reply to surreycccfan]

Thanks surreycccfan. I'm going to try and not let the T control me. Hopefully i will get to the point where it isn't as intrusive.

[Toughmathew in reply to Hidden]

Good for u

[Toughmathew in reply to Hidden]

Yes i can

[Toughmathew in reply to Toughmathew]

Could u show me the link of eare plug

[surreycccfan in reply to Toughmathew]

I use the party plug and the music safe pro from Alpine alpinehearingprotection.co.uk/ . I like them as (1) they have adjustable grommets so can change for differing sound exposure and (2) they used to sell them in the BTA shop so I know they are from a trusted source.

Don't forget to follow audiology advice, we should not wear ear plugs all the time as this is not good for our T as we need to hear external sound to help our brain adjust to our T, blocking external sound out is only going to focus our brain on our T and make it harder for us, I only wear them when going to be exposed to excessive sound as per audiology. Good info on ear plugs at the BTA plug em campaign site plugem.co.uk/