How do you gauge how bad your Tinnitus is?

[Masterfox66]

Weird question but hear me out. Besides knowing that my old baseline was as mild as could be, I have no idea how to ascertain how intense my Tinnitus is when describing it to people since my chemotherapy started.

It’s a high pitch ringing noise I can hear at all times but it doesn’t drown voices out, it’s just distracting. I’ve seen people say hearing it at all times is severe, but surely my ability to hear people speak and watch TV (just with a major source of irritation/anxiety until I get the latter sorted out) means it isn’t truly severe? I can mostly mask it with cricket noises, also.

I also don’t know if my having Aspergers isn’t helping me gauge things either.

[Happyrosie]

Masterfox (love the name) - my diagnosis is that you are concentrating on tinnitus and thus giving it the attention that it loves.

The way forward is to get your brain to ignore the noises by distracting it - my own best thing is to go outside and listen to nature : birds, wind, rain ….. the more you think about the noises the happier that Mr T is!

I believe my T is severe, in that I can certainly hear it above the noise in my car when I’m travelling at sixty on a busy motorway. But it doesn’t matter how severe it is, mainly I just do not think about it so it doesn’t get any attention.

Other than now when I’m writing this of course.

[Penguinears in reply to Happyrosie]

Oh Happyrosie, I’m truely on your wavelength 😊.

Tinnitus loves attention and situations where it / he can come to the forefront.

Fortunately there’s a lot of time in my days when I don’t notice my T ….it’s the quiet times when Mr T ( love that! ), thinks hey now it’s my turn!! On a lovely mini yoga retreat recently things were so relaxing and no bother or thought of Mr T. After a light lunch we tried so meditation techniques when Mr T made his attendance well and truely known to me! It was his time to shine, the more I thought about him, the more he revelled in it!

I’ve had Mr T with me for nearly 2 years, and am exploring ways to not let him get me down! I’m considering hearing aids as I have mild to moderate hearing loss in both ears.

Stay positive folks…we won’t let Mr T have his way 👍🏼!

Always help and support to try, thanks for reading.

[Happyrosie in reply to Penguinears]

Do explore the hearing aids option. The real world is clearer and more positive so Mr T has to sulk a bit and retreat. But not to expect miracles ………

[Philip6]

I hear my tinnitus above everything and all day. But I still hear the TV and people talking perfectly well. But I hear it through a loud ringing and a low frequency humming I hear it in the car with the radio going, I hear it above the sound of the vacuum cleaner and even above the sound of my motor mower. I have to sleep with three sound generators going. I’ve had it for 20 years now, steadily getting worse. I don’t think the third Covid booster did me a lot of good.

[RobWG]

Good question. I've often thought how do I measure how bad or loud is my T.

I have a feeling my T is pretty constant and separate from the level it irritates me.I tend to notice it if I'm tired and aslo after activities I like doing that hide it. Examples are going to football or riding my bike, after those it kicks in but I know it will fade.

I'm having a good spell at the moment, DJ T as I call him is playing his tunes but it's not overly bothering me. It's taken 3 years for me to get to this point. I've had a hearing aid for a few months in my left ear, not warranted by my mild hearing loss but I'm sure it helps.

I also have secondary set of symptoms around head pressures and face tingling that are unpleasant and intermittent. These impact me more than DJ T and as they are currently quite good it's contributing to my relatively positive mood.

Not sure if this helps though, all the best.

R

[Masterfox66]

Should have clarified that I was asking because reading accounts of people on Tinnitus Talk (I really need to stop lurking there but I’m still stuck in the obsessive phase, yay anxiety) of people with loads of tones, permanent spikes, hypercusis (spelling) have me questioning what constitutes as severe tinnitus. Before I would have thought being able to hear it all day was grounds enough.

[Vangohsearache]

I have had tinnitus since childhood. I am now 56 years of age.I am at this point experiencing full time ringing in the ears, for sometime. It is not about severity in my belief, it's how you deal with it.

I never focus on it, this helps. I also work from home, as a music producer, so distract myself with sound. I did for years use alcohol, to drown it out but that goes into negatives of lifestyle ,which I choose not to divulge here. Been Dry 11 years.

Positives, I am still alive, at 56, cope with tinnitus well, have a good career.

Perspective. Tinnitus is crippling if you let it be, coping techniques do help with the management. But to not adopt the dark side of coping, it does not bode well. Good luck. It goes on as always.

[Happyrosie in reply to Vangohsearache]

well said!

[doglover1973]

Hi MF. In a way it's not a question of how severe your T is .. but how severe your reaction is. T is very intrusive in my deaf ear because it's all I can hear yet I wouldn't classify it as severe. I've come to terms with it. You will too. It's quite simply a matter of time. I hope your chemo goes as well as possible.