Tinnitus Support Group

I've had it for about 10 years. I can understand the frustration of the OP. It took me many years to come to grips with it. I still have my bad days. I no longer get frustrated that there is no cure. I no longer think there is no hope. I guess that at some point most of us realize that it's pointless fighting it, getting frustrated, being angry.
What I eventually learnt was that the whole key to the tinnitus equation was not reacting to it. I can still remember that it used to drive me nuts and I thought I will never be able to live with this sh*t. The doctors that I saw were basically useless.
I know of people who ended their lives. I suspect that tinnitus and depression had a big part in there decision. The ATA had a fund at one point(The FDL Fund) that provided assistance to people who did'nt have the financial resources to pay for treatment. The Fund no longer exists unfortunately.
All I can add is that 12 months is early days and the more time that passes the better you will feel.
When you think about your life and tinnitus. Your life is worth more than the lousy $3k that it will cost for TRT. Find a dedicated specialist and you will never look back and never think of suicide again. The ATA has a list of them or just ask and I know there are several that will be recommended.

OzGreg: You are right on the money - if a person sits around thinking of ways to kick off from this life - they might as well sell the second car and go for TRT -

I am hoping a tax refund and perhaps some other things may get me into TRT next year -

My husband does not want to do it on credit.

some days I sit and think - If I am going to go nuts - should I just get an interest free credit card on the net and then go and join TRT -

But I want a good marriage - I need support - I can't have someone screaming at me about debt while trying to do a very difficult therapy.

I am praying to God - if there is money in this family some way - pray for me as I seek wisdom - I want to do the TRT -

I think I have a good chance at it - because I have had severe T for two whole years and I have tried all pharmaceuticals -

So now I am mentally ready to listen to a piped in noise all day -

I think it would help me because I turn something on in every room I walk into - I turn stuff on -

I am wondering about that Zen aid still - it plays the eastern chimes in 100 variations. I listen to it on my computer - for hours at a time - and I don't get tired of it - I can sit there with it on all day long - but other types of music - like white noise or the faucet or the downloadable fans - those things - I get tired of it and click it off -

So I don't know if that Zen thingy is good or not - I still test it out on myself - to see if I find myself thinking , "ah I hate that music!"

But you know to listen to something on some good computer speakers and to have it piped in one's head - that's two different things.

Hey Joy - are you out there? We care about you - we suffer badly and we cry - don't drop all contact.

Dear joy80
I believe that you have the right to do with your own life what you choose.

You wrote:
Then whenever I reach the moment in which I'd be left with no chances to get silence, I'll end with it.

Well, I've interviewed a bunch of people who have healed themselves of tinnitus.

I feel like I had very similar logical thoughts about tinnitus, and I too figured that ending my life would have been a good idea. Not really emotional, just a good idea. If life is like this, with this constant ringing and pain, why go on living?

The thing is that since, I've learned that that there are a lot of things one can do to help with tinnitus. And I mean DIRECTLY REDUCE THE VOLUME ITSELF.

So, that's when even a logical person can start looking at belief.

If you believe that there is nothing you can do, then you can make your own decision about your life.

If you research the facts, you find that there are many people who've either reduced their tinnitus to the point where they can hardly hear it, or they've reduced it to the point where they can live with it, or they've reduced it to the point where it's completely gone.

One of the people I interviewed was Paul Tobey, and even if he does sell a tinnitus product called "Tinnitus Free Living," I can say that he went through a whole lot, that my interview with him was deeply revealing about tinnitus and the road to healing, and that I fully support Paul having packaged his information into a product.

Sometimes it takes just that extra factor to increase "believability," the factor of cost.

I feel more comfortable in the realm of facts and investigation than in the world of "beliefs," and frankly, with the way you write, it would not surprise me if you would follow a similar path that I did, which is:

1) Before jumping out of a plane without a parachute, I figured I'd try a few treatments to see if they could help.
2) I tried NCR, learned BioMental training, and though I don't talk about this at my cure tinnitus website, I also started practicing urine therapy.
3) The stupidest thing was that I discovered that I could reduce my tinnitus at will using the BioMental training techniques. I also eliminated allergies, a liver pre-condition, and a bunch of other stuff.

The reason I say "the stupidest thing" was because it was contrary to what many doctors and medical practitioners told me. They said "you have to live with it, there is nothing you can do," and they were flat out WRONG.

There is no other way to put it.

I made a YouTube video to share the info, it's titled "Is tinnitus curable?"

4) My next step was to create an online community for people who wish to go from "tinnitus to liberation," which seems aptly titled.

Many of the tinnitus eProducts out there are created by people who have healed themselves, it's just logical that they would have a hard time standing on firm scientific footing. I have experience in logic, reason, and science, so I do a bit better than most. So, sure, you might order an eBook and well "it didn't work for me," and that makes perfect sense, but in general the eBooks are based on one author's story, not on a survey of people with tinnitus and what has helped.

So, as tempting as it is to check out and say bye, doing so because of the "incurability" of tinnitus is a suicide built on a false premise.

It is clear that you are very, and I mean VERY intelligent. Good for you. It is entirely up to you whether you want to investigate what I am reporting here.

I'll give you another stepping stone: I dedicated my research on learning from people who have healed themselves. Find them and then get back to us. Might mix up your plans a bit, but then hey, life's a ride ain't it?

I have spent almost no time reading research about "the condition" itself, though I have spent a lot of time studying "what makes tinnitus better."

Does that make sense?

joy80

i've been where you are. in april 3007 , i was an innocent bystander inside an auto shop when someone exploded a tire right next to me.
i dropped to the ground and thought i would be completely deaf.
i suffered severe hearing loss and raging fucking tinnitus , 24/7 .
by july 2007, i tried to commit suicide because of the tinnitus.

please print your blogs, walk in the ER closet to you and tell them you are afraid you are going to hurt yourself because you have tinnitus and you cannot take it anymore. show them the blogs you are posting.
it is the only way for you to get better. you have to realize that this is out of your hands now, you need help, and they will help you, and you will get better.

do not do what i did. it makes everything worse, not better .

there will come a time when you are sitting somewhere with a smile on your face and you will think back,, ' oh my god, i almost killed myself '.

the doctors have seen it before, you are not the only one who has felt this way over tinnitus.

do it now.

joy80, you need to understand that "habituation" is more than just a "learn to live with it" non-solution. It is actually a substantial cure for the very symptom of T itself.

T causes anxiety, and the anxiety causes even more T. Since your own suffering is extreme, I am certain you are caught in this loop. I was.

But if you can habituate, you will break this cycle, this self-perpetuating feedback loop that you are trapped in. Then the T volume will get much lower, eventually to the point where you honestly don't notice it anymore unless you actively listen for it.

You seriously can get your T volume reduced to the point where you don't care about it. But what is novel and ironic is the fact that you have to "not care" first, and then the T volume goes way down after that. It requires a conscious effort on your part to do that somehow, or else via meds. It won't happen by itself.

And I do get it. It's nearly impossible to "not care" about something so horrible. If you come to the sincere understanding that it really is necessary to "not care," then you may be able to pull it off.

Personally, I couldn't bring myself to "not care." I was so fixated on the suffering, and so at my wit's end, I had to take meds to keep my mind from focusing on it quite so much, and that worked. Paxil in my case helped after a couple months, but other people are saying Xanax really helps with T after only about one month.

But the thing to understand is, drugs really do help, and they work indirectly - they work by reducing your anxiety, and it's this reduction in anxiety which reduces the T.

So take a freshly informed look at habituation. Reduce your anxiety somehow, whatever way you can. Force yourself to exercise some daily. Don't be afraid to get some meds for your anxiety, because of course, you really do have a life-threatening condition.

Doctors unfortunately don't get it, and they can't prescribe an SSRI specifically for T, but they will prescribe it for anxiety or depression. So if you ask for meds for your T, you'll get nothing. Ask for Xanax to help with your anxiety & depression, and you'll get a med which indirectly but seriously helps with your T.

I have Paul Tobey's recording, and I would highly recommend it. It is only a few dollars for an mp3 download. He isn't asking much. You'll find encouragement if you can hear his story, about how unbelievably bad his T was, and how he has effectively cured himself.

You have the ability to do the same!

I found that after weaning myself off of Paxil, I can get similar benefits by eating plenty of turkey (for the tryptophan) and taking magnesium supplements - so that my brain can produce almost enough serotonin on its own rather than using an SSRI to prolong the expression of what little serotonin I did have. And I feel better.

If you're an intensely intellectual person, that's possibly what got you into this trap. In fact you are probably brilliant. That's definitely how I fell into it! My IQ is over 160 and I was overusing the brain, basically. Too much concentrating, constantly being in a state of vigilant arousal of the sympathetic nervous system, without ever truly relaxing. Being a little "on edge" so much that it actually seems normal. That's all it takes, and you can develop tinnitus & hyperacusis in a very short time. We're in very good company though. Brilliant minds like Charles Darwin had it too. Bu we know far more about the condition now.

Best of luck!!! I signed up here solely to send you this message, to get you this info.

Such a great message and all of it hits home. Thanks for coming on and giving us your thoughts on what it takes to find T relief.

I first developed T as I was concentrating and researching for my work. I didn't even notice the ringing until I walked away from my work and then this debilitating ringing just followed me everywhere.

It has taken several years, but I've learned thanks to posts like yours-Rugmeister, that I needed to live life differently. I'm still working on being positive, not letting T be important, distraction with exercise and things that I enjoy and making best attempt to let go of this T curse.

I'm partial better, but I think eventually I will be able to habituate. With posts like yours, it reinforces the process it takes to feel better. Thanks for this effort and I wish everyone well!

I can only echo the other posters who urge you not to do this. It have has tinnitust 24/7 since an operation on my neck three years ago. I alos have neuropthic myosfascial pain.

However I eventually too the decision that I would beat these disabilities( i.e., take charge of them) not them me. I understand your despair, but by taking your own life you wil destroy what is beautiful about you and put an end for ever to the opportunity to experience joy.

I guess you are not religious, but if you are then please pray for help. If not, then I and I suspect many other people too, will pray for you instead . Please talk to someone who can help! Go to http://www.samaritans.org