In short, the solution is to manage the symptoms. What you described is exactly where I've been the last few years. I've tried hearing aids which just made me more sensitive to sound. Masking sounds though headphones during the day and sleep headband at night work adequately.
Though, lack of sleep is my biggest challenge which in turn makes my tinnitus worse or more reactive. I've also started taking new sleeping tablets called Quiviviq (Daridoxant), which are designed to help you stay asleep. I suggest you speak to your doctor.
I recently purchased some Loop earplugs which help immensely with noisy surroundings and can help focus on conversations. However, this can be exhausting after long periods.
Acceptance is key I'm afraid. Finding time to be alone with it and sitting listening to it. I like to think of it as like sitting and listening until you learn to detach from it. That's not to say ignore it and wait for it to go away - it won't; at least it might occasionally, but never when we really need it to. Another words, think of it as not part of you.
is Quiviviq (Daridoxant) a new pill? My doctors said that they wouldn’t give me sleeping pills as they are designed to help you fall asleep but not help you stay asleep through the night. Is Quiviviq (Daridoxant) working for you?
They've been fantastic. Yes they are new and people I've recommended them to say their doctor hadn't heard of them. Lack of sleep was having severe impact on my quality of life including a car accident (luckily no one else was involved and I walked away from).
I understand that magnesium has a similar property that can help you stay asleep, as well as reduce anxiety. These didn't work very well for me, but probably worth a try. I take them along side the Quiviviq.
I was taking high dose magnesium then I was advised to take 3 in 1 magnesium glycinate as that had a better formula for helping sleep, I’ve been on it for just over a week now, my sleep has certainly improved from 2 hours a night broken sleep now occasionally getting 5 hours broken sleep, but ideally I would like more sleep and un-broken. Does the Quiviviq have any side effects at all?
I haven't had any negative side effects from Quiviq, but I have noticed I have vivid dreams most nights.
Of course, as BlackSwamper says routine is very important - and probably the most important. I still need my routine to help me get to sleep. Such as not using my phone before bed - oops!
Fwiw my first GP put me on Zopiclone which knocked me out even if I was going to bed stressed, but it's short-acting. I would often wake up at the end of the first sleep cycle, 90 minutes to 2 hours, then never sleep properly after that. It was awful. Another GP switched me to Promethazine which is less potent but more relaxing, it's even available OTC. Hey presto, I went from getting about 1 decent night's sleep a week up to 6.
That sounds like it worked for you that’s great!! How many hours sleep were you getting on promethazine and was it sleeping straight through or broken sleep?
Everyone has broken sleep, we have several cycles a night, but normally the brief waking gets forgotten. So I think the difference was the promethazine was putting me in a more relaxed state so I could drift off again instead of lying awake for ages. Main thing was I woke up refreshed!
I’ll ask my GP about it, is there just a standard dosage of it?
Every day is a school day I never knew we all had several sleep cycles a night. I just assumed when you go to bed at 10pm and wake at 7am you’d slept straight through. That makes me feel a bit better about waking up through the night.
Will certainly look into promethazole though.
How many hours sleep a night do you think get on promethazole?
I got a good 6 - 8, depends how tired I was and living in Aberdeen I have no doubt the winters mess with my body clock. You could even try light therapy. Exercise is a big help, I'm in my 60s but thankfully took up running in 2011 and stuck with it. It makes a massive difference as to how I feel by bed time.
I stopped the promethazine because I had a backlog of unused Christmas booze to get through, and that doesn't mix, LOL. Also stopped just because I was feeling better. Now sometimes, especially if it's been a dull day with no exercise, I do lie awake at night with my mind going 19 to the dozen for a while but so long as I'm not tired in the morning I don't worry about it!
Yes I get the same I’m in Inverness and the winters can seem a long time here.
I gave up alcohol just after Christmas, and I’ve been reluctant to even have a small drink to see if it might help me sleep better as I’ve read that alcohol can make the tinnitus worse, do you find that at all?
I haven't noticed a difference but I haven't had tinnitus long enough to be sure what makes it worse or better. It was just that after a couple of nightmarish months I was feeling ready to get my life back to normal. I know someone who's had tinnitus since 2010 and he barely notices it now but he finds a nightcap does actually help. I've read of other people having the opposite experience. Probably better to avoid getting into that habit for general health reasons!
Hi Dave ; I agree with you that acceptance is the key. I had T for over 13 years and although it was extremely difficult to start with , eventually I managed to habituate to the sound. I never been T free for the last 13 years but somehow it ended up not bothering me a great deal and certainly it didn’t interfere with my everyday life or sleeping routine.
However I in the last few months my tinnitus has changed in intensity and paternal.
That has thrown me completely as I never had T before.
After several weeks of misery I think I’m beginning to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
I started to sleep a little more although my quality of sleep is terrible and there have been days when my T did not bother me at all.
Going to the gym and wearing headphones with music is the thing it helps the most atm.
I am sure it’ll get better ( it has to) I have done it before and I will do it again. 💪💪💪
At some point you will find that you don’t notice it - like, “ hey, I haven’t heard my T for thirty minutes! Result!”. And these intervals become longer. And eventually you will actually listen out for the noise, because you haven’t noticed it for days.
As in, I’m writing now so I can hear my T but had not today until now.
The problem is getting to that point.
Over the years I’ve been on this site acupuncture has been mentioned. And if you go to the Tinnitus UK site you will find a list of things. Some of which might be helpful to you.
Don’t believe any cures - they don’t exist - but many people find cognitive behaviours therapy of benefit.
Lucy, the only way to deal with T is toCBT cognitive Behavioral Therapy. GOT ON YOU TUBE abd look for Vic Veer, his video on how he got rid of tinnitus. It will give you an idea because he makes sense! After that look for a CbT for tinnitus psychologist.
I too have it worse in the left ear than the right. I haven't yet found anything that helps, except stress certainly makes it worse. Of course you can't avoid stress but when it gets worse I try to tell myself that the 'really bad' phase will stop in due course taking me back to just the 'bad' phase. It's exhausting as I'm constantly trying to keep myself from panicking. It does help to know that others are in the same position so this forum is fantastic.
One of the toughest things I found was waking up in a state of near panic. The body gets into that state before the conscious mind has a chance to stop it. It's a little easier in the day if you have time to intercept it with CBT methods but it's still very rough. I seem to be over that now but to be honest I'm not exactly sure why... I tried lots of things at once. The book "Mindfulness for Health" by Burch and Penman was certainly a help.
I'm not familiar with DAITH ear piercing, but the brief reading that I've done suggests that some proponents feel it helps migraines, but there's no real evidence to support this. Similarly, acupuncture has little credible evidence as a tinnitus therapy.
If your audiology appointment has shown change in your hearing, then it makes sense to view that as contributing to your perception of tinnitus, so we'd encourage you to access whatever approaches to managing the symptom which your audiology department can suggest, which may include CBT-based techniques.
If you are working why not try Shokz headphones which play sounds from your phone(favourite music perhaps) through your cheekbones. These headphones go round the back of your neck so you can carry on work conversations, phone calls etc. without anything clamped over your ears as with normal headphones. It has been of great benefit to me in masking my pulsatile tinnitus. Best wishes!
Your symptoms sound a lot like mine when my tinnitus started over 3 years ago. A lot of confusion over what was going on and visits to ENT's were met with "Nothing I can do. Learn to live with it" which caused more stress and anxiety. This resulted in lack of sleep which made the situation worse. I eventually went back to my GP who diagnosed me with insomnia and slight depression. He prescribed a mild anti-depressant which helped a lot with the sleep. I have also found a wonderful therapist who specializes in CBT and has mild tinnitus himself. He has helped me understand the emotional side of tinnitus and has me on the path to acceptance. One of the things he has told me is that "Acceptance doesn't mean you have to like it". I do use sound therapy with white noise through some wonderful postings on Youtube by Dalesnale. He is a sound engineer that also has tinnitus. Staying active also helps distract from constantly dwelling on the t. My tinnitus is still there and the occasional spikes are sometimes hard to deal but you can get to the point where it will not dominate your life. As of now there is no "cure" but you can find ways to help. I wish you all the best.
Trazodone. My GP prescribed it at 50 mg twice a day but told me to start at 25 mg. It took a week or so to get used to it but I am still on the 25 mg and doing well with that dosage. I take it about 45 minutes before bed. My GP prescribed it because it is not addictive or habit forming. Hope this helps and I wish you the best.
It was prescribed as a sleep aid and a mild antidepressant because of the insomnia and depression I was experiencing due to tinnitus. I don’t think there is a direct correlation between the trazodone and the tinnitus but getting better sleep certainly helps. I still have days where the tinnitus spikes and I am learning to deal with those but the insomnia has greatly improved along with my depression symptoms.
I sympathize with you, pre-habituation can be a tough time, and even habituated, some days are better than others.
What helped me is establishing a routine for bedtime. That is the time that tinnitus tends to be the most invasive and consequential. One thing helpful is going to my bedroom when I'm ready to sleep, not before. I have a routine of immersing my feet in a bucket of water that is hot as I can handle (nervous system reset) and then do a series of massages and stretching centered on the neck, jaw and shoulders, which helps me to relax. What's really key for me is turning off the tv at least an hour before bedtime and putting my phone on the charger, taking my hearing aids out and reading a book. It calms me and I get used to not having the hearing aids in, as they do help me cope with the tinnitus better.
Also, acceptance and habituation are a work in progress. You will have good days and bad days. The key for me is remembering that and acknowledging the noise. As invasive and distressing as it can be, it's noise. The noise does not define me, it's a part of me. Granted, it's a part of me that I could do without!😂😉
Hi. Getting to sleep has always been my biggest challenge with T.My Doctor has given me calming tablets, not really strong enough to be classed as sleeping tablets.
I have tried different noise and music to get me off...sometimes works. Now have a Lava Lamp. I find that watching that takes my head to a calmer place away from my T.
I tried (in this order) reading books on tinnitus, sound masking, sleeping pills (via GP), counselling, antidepressants (GP again), mindfulness-based stress reduction, and finally (due to the wait over Christmas), private consultations with a top audiologist and an ENT consultant, both with a special interest in tinnitus. It's been the toughest experience of my life.
At my worst I'd say I had under 20% of my normal quality of life. I could barely get out of bed some days. Depressed and exhausted. I have no doubt part of that was due to some unfortunate side-effects of the drugs. A few weeks on, my quality of life is 90% and after I get my free precautionary NHS MRI scan (99% chance it shows nothing) I'll be booking foreign holidays again. So there's definitely hope.
Best thing was the professional consultations, at nearly £600 it was still money well spent to get my life back instead of sitting in an NHS waiting list. They found a credible underlying reason to do with some high frequency hearing loss in one ear. Best advice came from the audiologist who said I will "habituate" but only once I stop having an emotional reaction to the tinnitus. He was bang on. There's no magic formula for stopping the emotions - I wish! -but tinnitus does eventually become normal and even boring, surprisingly quickly in my case.
I've dumped sound masking and all medication. I can sleep better now without them. I've enjoyed making up for lost appetite over Christmas. I've started going out more and exercising again. Counselling is good in that I'm prone to depression and any stress reduction can only help. Mindfulness is a big subject but again, it's all about looking after myself, so I want to stick with that long term. Especially since the wisdom of taking SSRI drugs when one already has over-active neural activity is questionable.
So do I still have tinnitus? Yes, it's the same perceived volume when I listen in, irritating sometimes, but it's no longer distressing. It's the difference between what the mindfulness folks call primary and secondary suffering, the primary being the condition and the secondary being the reaction. The difference in my morale is huge. I was lucky, I'm retired. If you are holding down 2 jobs you are doing amazingly well! But you will need to make time to rest, no question, you're only human. It takes time, and anything you can do to reduce stress is worth a try.
Good luck, the better you can take care of yourself rather than merely "cope", the sooner you'll be back to full strength.
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Advice for tinnitus and hearing aids
