Interesting article about tinnitus and spikes.

[daverussell]

I came across this article that I thought worth sharing for beginners and veterans alike. It essentially explains in a nutshell, very well, what are the main challenges we face.

healthyhearing.com/report/5...

[Thinkzs]

Hi, I've had T about a year now. I've read this and several other articles about spikes. I've also asked about them to ENT etc. I feel everytime my T gets worse it just stays that way - worse. So I've never experienced a spike as it's only ever got worse. Currently just acquired a low rumbling sound in addition to the usual high pitched squeals so hoping this could be my first spike and do one at some point!

[Happyrosie]

I remember reading this before.

I disagree with a lot of what the author says. He implies that you need to concentrate on the tinnitus whereas I always say that you need to ignore it.

[daverussell in reply to Happyrosie]

I find listening to my Tinnitus works. But that's often the problem. There are no fast and hard rules.

[Thinkzs in reply to daverussell]

Do you find that you have a choice in the matter? I find mine so intrusive it is difficult to ignore it even if I'm not listening to it I still hear it if you know what I mean

[Happyrosie in reply to Thinkzs]

I’ll explain what I mean. When I go into my bathroom and switch the light on, the fan comes on automatically. I know it’s there and I hear it, but I don’t need to take notice of it.

I live in the country so if I go to London I find the crowds are difficult: you notice there are lots of people. When I worked in London I didn’t notice the crowds but they are exactly the same as they were when I worked there.

[daverussell in reply to Thinkzs]

Acceptance is key. So, I find during spikes it helps to listen and acknowledge the problem. The long term goal is learning to ignore it or to not let it bother you.

[SUS776]

Brilliant read thanks for sharing

[Bellyboo]

Thank you, I found this to be 100% my own experience. What has helped me more than anything is to ignore the fear and dread…though it’s taken me a long while to realise it.

[Kenneth65]

my tinnitus is extreme in both sides of brain, but the last 3 days its just gone out of control, no word to say how bad it is, i wish i could plug a socket into my head attached to a set of speakers so people/doctors could hear it and understand the suffering we all through. 34 years off it

[daverussell in reply to Kenneth65]

You can get through this! Stay strong.

[Burntorangeheresy]

Waste of my time. If you are going to be headlining your column " ....solving a difficult problem" then I would hope you are world renowned expert on brains and hearing, writing breakthrough medical stuff not this vanilla mess. *Sigh*

[daverussell in reply to Burntorangeheresy]

I agree. I almost added as much. But sometimes we need it explained in simple terms. Sometime ago my audiologist gave me what I think was the best 'analogy' and I paraphrase them when trying to explain to others what causes my tinnitus.

"I have hearing loss in a range of frequencies and my brain is trying it's hardest to fill the gaps"

[Thinkzs]

The problem I have is that at the end of the day however you dress up what advice you read or people give you and however much people say doctors are wrong to tell you to just get on with and ignore it, that is what it boils down to really.

[daverussell in reply to Thinkzs]

The guess the difficulty many professionals face, is that people expect them to provide the solution, but they (and we) can only offer strategies. I think this is possibly the case with "most" mental health problems. I'm worried I'm now too reliant on Sertraline but it helps, but it doesn't help everyone. I don't envy them.

[ilovebbq in reply to daverussell]

Sertraline helps me as well, but still some days diamonds , some days stones.

[Darren6]

Thanks daverussell Ive seen this article before and I've read Glenns book on rewiring tinnitus. Whilst I don't think that using the tinnitus sound itself to get to habituation as described in his book would be easy, most of what he says about spikes, to me, is spot on.