Tinnitus who suffers from it

[darael]

I hope this is allowed. I've read an article the BBC News website about building support for a tinnitus biobank so they can store a library of human tissue samples, enabling further research into treatments. I'm all up for this and have already signed up. I'm struggling to see any downsides to this.

Links below for those who are interested:

• Tinnitus biobank needed to explain ringing ears condition - BBC News
• Tinnitus Biobank - British Tinnitus Association

 

[Bassmansam]

Tinnitus is a really weird conditon but i'm sure now that stress is a huge factor. Example being that i saw Romesh Ranganathan last week and Rob Beckett on Saturday. During the pauses in Romesh's set i could hear my tinnitus, during the pauses in Rob's set i could not hear it.
The first gig was on a Friday and i had stressful work day and the second was a Saturday and i had been in a pub before so felt much more chilled out.

Glad there is more attention being paid to it from a medical point of view. I'm looking forward to the release of this device, sounds very promising from what i have read.

https://www.tinnitustreatmentreport...nitus-is-almost-ready-for-commercial-release/

 

[LeoK]

Yes, I have it.

How long have you had it for?

I've had it my whole life, or at least as far back as I can remember. I vaguely remember being pushed up Streatham Hill, in a pram, to see a specialist. Assuming memories are consistent, etc; when going back that far.

What brought it on?

Biological dad mentioned I had lots of ear infections when I was very little. No idea if true; congenital, dropped on head, who knows.

Does it bother you anymore?

Sometimes. It's indirectly caused other issues; e.g. proximal vertigo (I get dizzy easily by moving around). The sound itself generally doesn't both me too much. If I pay attention or have a problem with my ears (infection etc.), then it's like the volumes been turned up. When I have an ear infection, it's hard to hear.

And what sound do you hear?

Mostly a constant ringing. One ear has a single tone. The other ear, I hear two single tones. It's similar in sound to untuned TV.

 

[Thumpsta]

My wife suffers from this. She describes it as a constant ringing in her ears with certain audio frequencies spiking the ringing in her ear.
She has trouble getting to sleep some nights and usually wakes up early.
She avoids using telephones as putting any speaker to her ear makes it worse.
Stress also aggravates it.

 

[koolpc]

I gave up a very long time ago about finding some cure. I just live with it now. Not nice but nothing else i can do.

 

[Bassmansam]

When ive had a stressful day i find it hard to relax as tinnitus is usually worse.

So I just bought one of these sleepbands. It has bluetooth so you can play sounds to it from your phone. Tried it out last night with an app called sleep machine which has all sorts of calming sounds, really impressed so far.

Sleep Headphones Personalised... https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0852W5RR2?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

 

[UTmaniac]

My tinnitus feels like it has got worse in frequency and intensity since having Covid in late September.

 

[Gixer]

My tinnitus feels like it has got worse in frequency and intensity since having Covid in late September.

Same for me, since April this year I've had mine and I'm sure it's become slightly worse in the past few months too annoyingly.

 

[Relentless81]

Mine 100% gets worse the more stressed I am, Christmas plus building work plus work plus cost of living etc etc and it's really bad at the moment, watching TV or just trying to relax is hardwork

 

[Bassmansam]

Mine 100% gets worse the more stressed I am, Christmas plus building work plus work plus cost of living etc etc and it's really bad at the moment, watching TV or just trying to relax is hardwork

Ditto and though i can sleep most of the time in silence i dont think im relaxed enough to reach deep sleep.

So thats why i bought the sleep band, i will try rain sounds or a fire place on a 30 min timer to fall asleep too, hopefully will do the trick.

 

[builder22]

I find background noise helps - TV on - road noise outside - actively listening to whatever...

going to bed drunk helps falling asleep

 

[darael]

I've found that relaxing muscles can help me, to the point where I almost forgot about my tinnitus for a brief time - perhaps because I'm concentrating on the relaxation techniques instead?

Basically you work your way from the bottom of your body to the top. Breath in, then tense the muscles for about 10 seconds, before slowly relaxing the muscles and feeling the energy flow out of those muscles as you breath out. For example, breath in, curl your toes for 10 seconds, then slowly relax them while breathing out. Rinse and repeat as your work your way up your body - calf muscles, thighs, buttons, stomach, chest, arms, fingers, etc.

I don't find that the noise apps work for me, but I am seriously considering the sleep headphones that @Bassmansam has linked to above (thanks).

It's said that tinnitus can be caused from all sorts of things. Stress, bad health, drinking sparkling water (I had to Google this before I believed it), anxiety. So perhaps improving general health, diet and well being will help - easier said that done as this time of year, however.

 

[englishpremier]

Think I probably have mild tinnitus. A constant ringing in the ears. I've ridden motorcycles for the past 15 years but always used good hearing protection.

I had a bad ear ache from snorkelling when I was in Lanzarote. Nothing I could do about it since I was sailing across the Atlantic. Didn't seem to cause me any issues. Fast forward a year or two and I have a constant ringing. Active Noise cancelling headphones seemed to make it worse i.e. after using them the ringing seems more apparent for the rest of the day.

I started to ride motorcycles again also, and even with good hearing protection the ringing seems to get worse. Pretty annoying, and can get vey loud the night after a long trip. It's not to the point of dizziness or anything like that, very noticeable.

 

[Hedge]

Excess caffeine tends to set mine off.

 

[unwashed potato!]

I don't find that the noise apps work for me, but I am seriously considering the sleep headphones that @Bassmansam has linked to above (thanks)

I don't use the headband (though may try it one day), however what I do is just put a airpod style headphone in 1 ear at night, and then play friends on my phone on almost the lowest setting. That and a fan in the room and I don't hear/notice the ringing any more at night and within 30 minutes the headphone has falling out once I'm asleep. It's a tiny bit of a faff doing it each night, especially when rolling over I have to change ears so the headphone isn't pushed into my head, but I do sleep much better for it.

I had a bad ear ache from snorkelling when I was in Lanzarote. Nothing I could do about it since I was sailing across the Atlantic. Didn't seem to cause me any issues. Fast forward a year or two and I have a constant ringing

Funny mine came about after an infection too.

Active Noise cancelling headphones seemed to make it worse

If you don't play something in the headphones, of course it'll make it much worse, and you're just blocking out other noises and left with just the ringing. It's why as you get older it'll get worse, as you'll go more deaf, and so the ringing will be all that's left that you can "hear"

 

[darael]

If you don't play something in the headphones, of course it'll make it much worse, and you're just blocking out other noises and left with just the ringing. It's why as you get older it'll get worse, as you'll go more deaf, and so the ringing will be all that's left that you can "hear"

I've always been told to set the volume of anything I'm listening to just below the level of my tinnitus. Quite hard to do sometimes, though.

 

[englishpremier]

If you don't play something in the headphones, of course it'll make it much worse, and you're just blocking out other noises and left with just the ringing. It's why as you get older it'll get worse, as you'll go more deaf, and so the ringing will be all that's left that you can "hear"

I didn't mean wearing ANC headphones for tinnitus, I meant that wearing them for other things e.g. noisy housemate getting ready for work in the morning, or sleeping on a bus/plane etc.., and finding the tinnitus worse for a while afterwards.

 

[Relentless81]

Ditto and though i can sleep most of the time in silence i dont think im relaxed enough to reach deep sleep.

So thats why i bought the sleep band, i will try rain sounds or a fire place on a 30 min timer to fall asleep too, hopefully will do the trick.

I'm going to have a look at these because I was tempted by the Bose sleep buds but they are expensive

 

[Cadder]

I have to put music on low volume when going to sleep. It's a short play list and I usually fall asleep before it finishes. Sometimes I don't though, and the ringing begins. Depending on my mood/state I can either drift off or focus on it until it becomes deafening and anxiety-inducing

 

[IvanDobskey]

I have learnt to focus on other sounds and wall off my tinnitus. But it can affect my sleep quite badly