The trouble with internet research

[want2habituate]

I found this link after a troublesome day with T and the fact that it is a UK ENT surgeon peaked my interest - How I Cured My Tinnitus - youtube.com/watch?v=y4zuVk5...(Not working as expected?)

The guy is well meaning but it just sent hares running. Essentially he distracted himself to breakdown the negative feedback cycle - the Jastreboff loop.

I loved the message that he believes anyone can reduce T the point of not noticing it.

However, having listened to the whole 40 minutes, the negatives for me were:

- it appears he only had really noticeable T for 6 weeks.

- he seems to talk about distracting himself at quiet moments at home, where most T sufferers would be delighted if that were the only time they noticed it.

- he did try identifying the pitch of his tinnitus and using a 180 phase reduction app (which is no longer available) but had a workaround for noise cancelling headphones (led me to a fruitless search for mine). My ENT surgeon scoffed at me knowing the frequency of my T.

- he mentioned hearing loss and that made me focus on my small amount of high end frequency loss that I have that I was told wasn't worth correcting....but made me wonder if I actually should get a second opinion about correcting that.

-For therapies he hadn't tried, he mentioned lidocaine, and lidocaine patches....and again, the devil on my shoulder has me wanting to get some and try this.

- he talks about getting your GP to send you to a Tinnitus clinic. As best I can see, these clinics are few and far between, and not available on the NHS?

I realise now, this may not be a very helpful post....but I guess it just has me thinking I need to limit my searches on the web, even when T is bothering me.

Then again, mindfulness and meditation are supposed to be good, and the web can be a good source of new material for that....

Cheers,

Andy

[Happyrosie]

I found him quite soothing to listen to, and I don’t think he ought to have mentioned “cure”. But a lot of what he says might be helpful to some people and indeed the video got a good reaction a few months ago when someone else posted this.

[want2habituate]

I tried to look up lidocaine here....for what people have tried....but there are 4 matches including this one, the other 3 cannot be found....what's that about?

[bluedawnstar]

Hi Andy,

If posting has aided you to realise that the answer doesn’t lie in the internet then indeed it has been helpful, and it’s good to just vent sometimes anyway.

As you have some hearing loss I would advise that you get this checked out again. Sometimes the degree of loss is not noticeable to the individual but it may have changed to the extent that HA may be required which may help with habituation anyway. You have nothing to lose by requesting an appointment. Good luck.

[Tal-r789T]

Generally Google and other search engines are a bad place to look up things like T. Given companies can pay to have their site returned when people search for words means you will be hit with people selling services/'something'. I've been there as have a lot here I should imagine.

I have started watching this but also thought it didn't really give me other information that the tinnitus society can give.

On hearing loss, that was the thing with me - I just didn't realise it had happened and thought my T was why I couldn't hear, not the other way around. It wasn't until I got HA I realised what I was not hearing. Always good to get it checked, the loss can be so subtle.

[want2habituate]

Thanks all - I did have a proper hearing test recently that identified the slight loss, but not warranting hearing aids.

And yes, absolutely, the tinnitus society would report back on anything helpful.