Habituation is it for everyone

[vincentchan]

Quoted by another member

Menu

Habituation doesn’t happen for everyone - Tinnitus UK

Tinnitus UK

10,284 members • 5,327 posts

Search community

Home

Posts

Members

About

Habituation doesn’t happen for everyone

ArtyPants46

2 years ago•64 Replies

Don’t mean to put a downer on things but having had loud T for nearly 2 years, I have not habituated and I’m not sure I ever will. I still hear it, think about it and focus on it all day every day. Yes, I have tried everything from yoga and meditation to ‘making friends’ with my tinnitus’ and sound therapy. Nothing works.

I live my life, work, look after my kids, do everything I would have done anyway but I never forget about it. The uncomfortable metallic radio tuning buzz which makes me dizzy. Even when swimming, on the tube in a busy place, there it is!

I try to remain positive - I’m a very passionate, upbeat person but there’s no denying it’s affected the quality of my life hugely.

I remain hopefully but think T has stolen that deep sense of well-being.

Just putting an honest post out there go or those of us who don’t habituate. T is not an easy thing to live with. Not everyone learn to accept it but hopefully most find ways to cope.

We are all warriors.

Written by

[Ray200]

Is your tinnitus variable? I get some relief, if you can call it that, with mine being that. It is rather profound as I type this, 9 o'clock in the morning, but have every expectation it will lessen some time before midday.

The other thing is Ginkgo. Not taken daily, but occasionally. Click on my username for my posts to see how I do it.

[toughmathew38 in reply to Ray200]

Seems same pitch most of the time , is ginkgo awesome? Anyway sleep is really bad even with noise background

[Ray200 in reply to toughmathew38]

No, not awesome. Just lowers the level the day after taking it. Or the day after that. For a period. If it works for you, Tinnitus will come back as it was but for a few hours...

[Aesop2 in reply to toughmathew38]

I agree with Ray ginko taken as he has posted earlier on this site does help . Its not a cure but man oh man for a few hours ....anyways as for habitation I can honestly say at one point early on I was on the edge of the cliff. Nowadays I'm sitting in a chair a bit further back from it . As many have posted here there's plenty in life to keep you busy being grateful. It could ALWAYS be lots worse and yes oh yes We are all warriors here

Regards

Aesop

[Terence1955]

I totally sympathise

[toughmathew38 in reply to Terence1955]

Yes hope there is a cure some day

[Happyrosie]

Vincent, I remember you posting when you first came on here. If you look back to that time, you are clearly in a much better place than you were.

Sadly, this is life, isn’t it.

I can hear tinnitus above the noise of a car at sixty on a busy motorway so it’s LOUD.

BUT if I had the choice to give up my excruciating arthritis in exchange for even louder tinnitus I would.

Civilisation allows us to live much longer lives than in previous centuries, so various conditions have a chance to insinuate themselves into our bodies.

I’m very thankful I don’t have multiple sclerosis, or a bladder problem meaning I dare not leave the house for long, nor have a had a stroke leaving me with a weakness.

[Sassyjax1 in reply to Happyrosie]

Even with loud T I note you have habituated Happyrosie. I live in hope of habituation. Simply because any ENT or audiologist I have seen, (and people such as you), have told me it’s very possible. Thank you for your continued support on this site.

[Happyrosie in reply to Sassyjax1]

Thanks! When I get posts such as yours, it’s worth it!

[toughmathew38 in reply to Sassyjax1]

Wish u great life buddy

[toughmathew38 in reply to Happyrosie]

Yeah let quote how people replied

think this statement is incorrect.

Define healing? Define most people? Most of the population of the planet have some level of tinnitus but it is at a level that they do not hear it unless in a quiet room.

Most people that 'heal' from tinnitus do not come back on the forums to pass their story on.

Posts like this one are not helpful for people that are suffering and looking for the guidance of what they can do to manage their tinnitus.

There is a lot you can do to manage your tinnitus and habituate over time.

Habituation is possible for most people.

Most people?

Yeah, Tinnitus is bad news. But you know something? so is diabetes, so is MS, chronic leukaemia, being stuck in a wheelchair is no fun either....the list of chronic conditions is l o n g and sad, and no, it is not easy to live with a chronic condition, but it is possible. People do. Hold this thought and it will give you comfort and hope.

We try to do the best we can. We take courage and hope from people who are in the same boat as us. A treatment which would alleviate one person's T, might not touch another's. That is because we are all so different, our psyche, our mind, work in different ways.

Are peanuts bad? Of course not; yet they would send a susceptible person into an anaphylactic shock.

Same is with CBT, it may work wonders for some but leave others out in the cold. This in NOT because CBT is no good. This is because we are individuals and may or may not relate to it.

Same is with sound therapy, white noise, black noise, waterfall, whatever pleases your brain will do.

One thing I can tell you, vincentchan, venting your anger is not going to help you. Banging your head against the solid brick wall of T is no good.

Tinnitus is a bastard this way: the more you stress about it, the more heavy handed it becomes.

Please remember, there is light at the end of the tunnel. Hold this thought and believe in it, because it is true.

[toughmathew38 in reply to Happyrosie]

I would exchange too, yes i understand tinnitus usually wouldnt get you in trouble physically like u said bladder problem etc,But anyway its debilitating

[vincentchan]

Like Bruce Hubard and Ben Thopson

I do trust this kind of medical profession who have severe tinnitus

They are audiologist and psychologist, and its amazing they can handle t like a champ

[MAC0811]

I’m the same now mate! Altho I did experience habituation 15 years ago about 6 months after first started with T (my T started in 2009 btw) and I think it was Prozac that helped? And for a few years I had it in my hand and then it slowly fell away as the drugs stopped working and having an effect (something I wasn’t aware of!) and ever since about 2012-13 onwards I have spent my days looking / hunting for anything else that will help to get me back to that place? Infact if you’re old enough I feel like David Banner out of The Incredible Hulk constantly looking for a treatment or cure to help reverse his condition from turning into the Hulk?? Anyway yes I’ve since tried CBT and countless other therapies plus more pills (anti depressants, anti anxiety pills etc), acupuncture, massages, but never had any success with it any of them either. So I too mirror exactly what you are feeling. Plus I do wonder if my T (and Hyperacusis - as of course I have to have that too!) has gotten worse over the years?? But it’s so frustrating as you can’t tell if indeed it has or is it your perception which is worsening it?? As there’s no f’ing way to actually know - like a scan or having some test or whatever?? Although in more recent years i have since learnt that I also have ADHD on top of OCD which I already had - so I do wonder if having these too doesn’t help? I am currently awaiting further ADHD assessments / treatment - so I’ll let you all know if this helps the T?? As once read somewhere about a woman who had bad T and ADHD and after having the ADHD treated her T calmed down quite a lot! But anyway yeah it’s a real f’ing fight every day having this T and H! I do also wonder if having bad T is responsible for the many suicides we hear about?? But it’s not disclosed that it’s due to T?? Makes me think anyway?

[Kellythecat-74]

the first time my T surfaced , it took years maybe 4 or 5 before I hardly noticed it . A very slow process so you dont even register that it gets quieter. I can’t say it’s the same for everyone . A friend got hers 6 months after mine. (20 odd years ago ) mine faded away , but hers stayed the same . She learned to cope in her own way . I did take Gingko for years .