Important Information for New Tinnitus Sufferers

What YOU MUST KNOW to Get Through the Early Days with Your New Tinnitus.

For most of us with a new tinnitus it isn’t so much a condition with which we are suddenly afflicted as much as a condition whose presence we gradually become aware of. That is not always the case of course, for some of us it is a sudden awareness of something that may actually have been there for some time.

Tinnitus, or perhaps more importantly, the sounds of tinnitus are not something that you “catch”. It is not a disease. It is not an illness. It is a condition. It may only be a susceptibility.

It is possible that many of us are merely hearing noises created within our own bodies that previously we have not heard, noises that perhaps we are not meant to hear at all.

With pulsatile tinnitus the sounds we are hearing are often those of our own blood flow. It may also be that we are tuning in to the electrical impulses generated within our own nervous system.

Too little is certain about tinnitus, too little research has been conducted to date and there is a dearth of tinnitus support. That is possibly because tinnitus is not seen as a life threatening condition and funds generally get directed towards those that are.

       
My own tinnitus came as a realisation that the slight occasional hissing in my left ear, which never really bothered me, had become a constant companion. I initially put this down to an over reliance on Ibuprofen tablets I had been taking to relieve what I believed to be stress induced headaches. Ringing in the ears or tinnitus was listed as a possible side effect of taking Ibuprofen, so I stopped using them. ....My new tinnitus stayed with me.

My research has shown me that my experience in those early days with tinnitus is a common one. Having the sounds of tinnitus (which is the very best way to describe a noise which although different for everybody has a common effect) with you and inside you wherever you go and whatever you do, is to say the least uncomfortable.

At first I was content that it would gradually go away, so I really didn’t give it too much thought.

When it didn’t go away I started to listen out for it. I paid it the attention that it wanted. To actively listen to your tinnitus is akin to trying to put a fire out by pouring paraffin on the flames. The more I thought about the noises in my head the louder and more persistent they became.

The more intrusive that new tinnitus got the more I fretted about it, and so I began looking for some form of tinnitus support. I started spending hours looking on the web seeking tinnitus information. The more tinnitus information I found though the more I fretted and the worse my tinnitus became.

Eventually I made an appointment to see my doctor. After a physical examination of my ears he told me not to worry. He told me I probably only had tinnitus. There was nothing he could do for me. I would probably have to live with it for the rest of my life.

This was a bad time for me. It is a bad time for many of us with tinnitus. It could be so easy to sink into a state of deep depression right here. Being told that this intruder into your life is likely to be with you morning, noon and night and without respite sounds like the stuff of nightmares.

Like everyone my ideal is for peace and quiet. I had some serious issues with that prospect and of course, the more I thought about my new tinnitus the worse those symptoms of tinnitus became.

At this point I, like many before me, started to envisage the worst. Could I have some form of tumour developing in my head? Will I end up becoming totally deaf? Was there something serious going on behind this noise in my senses? I needed to find more tinnitus information and a confirmation of that tinnitus diagnosis.

I revisited my doctor and insisted on a referral to the Ear, Nose & Throat Department at the local hospital. There I had another physical check over. I was put in a sound proof chamber and had hearing tests. They found that apart from a minor loss of high frequency perception all was as it should be. However because my tinnitus sounds were very biased toward my left ear they recommended that I have an MRI head scan as a precaution.

I waited nearly three months for that MRI scan. I was eventually called to attend a mobile unit at 6.00 pm on the Christmas Eve! The results came back four weeks later – from South Africa – I am in the UK! Again all was clear and a final consultation with the ENT specialist pointed me in the direction of a hearing therapist.

Very kind though she was, I found no appreciable long term benefit from my appointments.

I struggled with various dietary restraints, particularly living without tea and coffee. I was told to avoid stress. That was impossible, my work was very stressful and of course I was stressed as a result of my new tinnitus experience to date.

What did give me some hope was being given a pair of white noise generators to wear in my ears. Once used to them, it did give me a sense of getting somewhere. However they made my ears sore and I stopped wearing them.

I have only related my experience up to this point because it represents a very common series of dramas played out by so many new tinnitus sufferers.

When I sat down and analysed my experience and situation at this point I recognised that:

	I had tinnitus and it was unlikely to be going away.
	I was not alone with this – one in ten people are likely to experience tinnitus symptoms.
	There is no recognised cure for tinnitus.
	I would have to find a way to control it rather than have it control me.
	Crucially, the more I focussed on my tinnitus the more power I gave it.

Whilst I would refute that generalisation there may be a thread of truth in what is being said. That truth is that such people find it very difficult to divert their own attention away from whatever is the cause of their overriding anxiety. In their current state of mind that problem becomes a fixation, with potentially devastating results.

Particularly in the early days of living with a new tinnitus it is extremely difficult to think about anything else. Yet it is that destructive focus that feeds the very cause of one’s anxiety.

Focussing elsewhere, filling your life with interests away from that lurking monster within, starves and strangles that tinnitus much as keeping oxygen from a fire puts it out. It is your reaction to the sounds of tinnitus rather than the symptoms of tinnitus themselves that will ultimately subjugate it or bring you crashing down.

Once an acceptance of the situation is achieved and a positive attitude towards dealing with it adopted the first hurdle is over. In almost every case the central defence against this condition is to turn your back on it.

The thing with accepting the situation is that it reduces the focus on the sounds of tinnitus. You start listening and tuning in to the sounds you do want to hear rather than the sounds you don’t want to hear.

This in itself is the start of a self induced therapy. In keeping yourself occupied and busy with the things you want or have to do you push your tinnitus to the back of your consciousness where it rightfully belongs.

I would suggest that if you find yourself with a lot of time where you have nothing specific to keep yourself occupied with then look for a new hobby. Become involved with something new. Whether it be drawing or painting, playing a piano or guitar or even ballroom dancing or photography, it will keep your attention away from your tinnitus and is in itself very therapeutic. I started learning to play the guitar. A lifelong ambition became a defining element in my own journey to defy tinnitus.

Because quiet times are often the times when tinnitus sounds push themselves to the fore it is always best to have some form of sound masker playing quietly in the background. Either some gentle soothing music or a recording of natural sounds such as the sea or birdsong.

Special tinnitus masking recordings are available that can be continuously played on a loop, even through the night and are very effective for those whose tinnitus disturbs their sleep.

To summarise what we have been saying here:

	The early days of tinnitus are for the vast majority of people the darkest days of tinnitus.
	There is a natural instinct to panic and stress at first about this uncontrollable invader of your senses.
	This intense focus on the issue greatly exacerbates the symptoms and invokes a vicious circle of stress.
	Remember that this is a very common condition you are far from alone.
	It is very important to seek medical advice right from the start.
	The likelihood is that there is no physical cause for your tinnitus which should in itself reduce those levels of stress.
	Remain positive and take steps to keep yourself occupied.
	Make the decision to listen to anything but your tinnitus.
	Try to relax, eat sensibly, exercise frequently and stop worrying.
	Live your life normally and to the full.

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More page titles within www.tinnitusliberation.com:

• A Tinnitus Cure. Most people probably have their tinnitus symptoms long before they start looking for a Tinnitus Cure.
• A Video Diary of a New Tinnitus Sufferer. A must watch 12 part insite into one mans struggle with his new tinnitus. 
• The Symptoms of Tinnitus. The term Tinnitus is a label given to a condition in which noises or sounds are perceived to be heard but where there is no apparent source for that sound external to the ear.
• The Ringing Sounds of Tinnitus. Tinnitus is a very private complaint. No one can see it, there’s nothing to see. No one else can hear it, there’s nothing for them to hear
• Ringing in the Ears. There will be very few people who will go through life without at some time being aware of a loud ringing in the ears.
• Pulsatile Tinnitus. For most tinnitus sufferers the sounds of tinnitus, that familiar hissing, buzzing or ringing in the ear tends to be a steady unchanging noise that comes and goes or is perhaps omnipresent
• The Causes of Tinnitus. Surprisingly in this day and age relatively little is certain about the causes of tinnitus. Many of us know what it is to suffer with tinnitus yet no one is absolutely certain what it is that actually generates those sounds of tinnitus.
• Stress Related Tinnitus. Life in the twenty first century can be very stressful indeed. The pressures placed upon us all to earn the wherewithal to feed ourselves literally, as well as to feed the desires created in our lives by the endless consumer society we live in can be overwhelming.
• Lipitor Tinnitus. Many of us that suffer from high levels of cholesterol in our blood live with a greatly increased risk of being struck down by a heart attack or with a stroke.
• Hyperacusis. Hyperacusis is a medical term used to describe a condition defined by a collapse of tolerance to normal environmental sounds
• Ménière's Disease. Ménière's Disease is a most unpleasant condition brought on by a disorder of the inner ear.
• Consequences and Effects of Tinnitus. Just How Much do the Effects of Tinnitus Cost You?
• Tinnitus Treatment. Tinnitus treatment is never going to be a precise formula because in the majority of cases there are no apparent physical causes of tinnitus to treat
• Tinnitus Relief. Those of us that suffer with the intrusion of ringing in the ears will know that the condition is at its worst when there is no other external noise to dilute the sounds of tinnitus that we are hearing in our heads.
• Natural Remedies for Tinnitus. There are as many remedies for tinnitus out there as there are possible causes of tinnitus.
• Tinnitus Relief by Lifestyle. Having consulted the doctor and been told that there are no physical reasons for your symptoms of tinnitus the search begins for a tinnitus cure or a route to at least some form of tinnitus relief.
• The Tinnitus Miracle. During my own search for help and information on the subject of tinnitus I came across an e-book entitled Tinnitus Miracle written by Thomas Coleman, a certified nutritionist and health consultant
• Tinnitus Relief by Hobby Therapy.  Probably the biggest issue for the tinnitus sufferer is the inability to find some respite to escape the sounds of tinnitus even for a short while