Mine never goes away. If I'm lucky I get a low day or two a month. I don't think that is normal though, it seems through my years here most people don't have it constantly and they also learn to live with it fairly easily.....hopefully you will be one of those people.

You have my sympathy. I also have just realized that I have tinnitus and I am horrified. I also have no hearing on my left side and decreased hearing on the right due to a perforated ear drum - it's a long story. No one ever warned me about tinnitus. I am also suffering from anxiety and depression and this has only made it worse. I wish I could be more help to you. I also will be seeing my ENT and audiologist but I already have the feeling they will not be very helpful. Any suggestions as to where to start would be helpful. Are any of these natural products helpful?

Hey LGRich. If there is a bright side...you got it at age 62 and went all those years without it....again....if that were a bright side as i have had it for three years now am i will turn 50 next year. Many others have still had it even earlier than me........some even much younger....thus, the comment i made.

I suffer everyday for three years now. Right at this moment while writing this, im sitting in my office with an MP3 playing on earbuds to mask the Tinnitus with cricket sounds i downloaded off of Youtube. I have been listening to this sound all the time. Outside and inside.

But im not going to use this opportunity to talk about my self. My advise to you is to not expect anything at all other than putting "easy" money into both your audiologists and especially your ENTs pockets. These professions are useless when it comes to Tinnitus. But.....you will receive something for your visit and it will come for sure from your ENT.....the dreaded statement...."you just have to learn to live with it!". Your audiologist may say the same, but i have found ENTs tobe a bit crude a profession.

anyway. Not much here other than hang in there and take it a day at a time. I keep praying for a cure...and dreaming what it would be like to have the energy and motiviation stripped from me with this Tinnitus over the years of having it. I feel i would be the man i once was....reduced now....

Good Luck.

SO sorry. I know the anxiety, depression, and sleep loss that comes with T. It's awful. Over time, you do learn ways to cope, such as focusing on something else (not easy), masking, and even meds for the anxiety and depression. But it's always a constant thing to think about. :(

Things that have helped me are:

Masking/mixing with water noises or white noise, esp at night
Being in sound at all times (I have the radio on all day)
Meds for sleep, anxiety, and depression
Eating only natural sugars, not processed sugar or processed foods with MSG or "natural flavors" in them
Seizure meds
Helichrysum essential oil (therapeutic grade) ingested and rubbed on the back of my neck before bed
A sympathetic doctor or audiologist so you don't feel so alone
TRT
Learning to focus on other noises or things going on instead of the sounds in my head
Talking to people here on DS

My T does stop sometimes and it often changes sound from day to day--locusts, sizzling bacon, an electric whine like and old TV, a brain buzz, and so on. Sometimes it's just a hiss in one ear like air escaping from a radiator or tire.The change in sounds is hard to deal with but one thing is constant: it's always VERY high-pitched. :(

Thanks for the various comments. I had my hearing tested today, and (surprise, surprise) they found high-frequency hearing loss in the affected ear, presumably from some type of nerve damage. I still have to wait a week to see an ENT, although from what I see here it won't be much help.

I can't read, work, or concentrate on ANYTHING, with this loud whining whistle in my ear. It's like a cross between a smoke alarm and a dentists drill. It never stops, and it never varies, other than it seems to be getting louder every day. It's not only disturbing, it's actually painful. I haven't been able to eat, and have been seriously contemplating suicide. I can't imagine living like this.

My girlfriend is on an extended trip out-of-country, and I don't have any family, so it's even worse just being alone here. Before the T, I looked forward to weeks like this, where I could just be alone in my quiet rural location. Now it has become like being tortured in a prison.

I'm sorry. The first 6 months can be extremely difficult. I advise anti-anxiety meds and sleeping pills so you can get at least a little rest. IMHO it is torture. It's not a bad thing that you have no family around, mostly friends and family trivialize tinnitus which makes you feel even worse. I was suicidal too, if I didn't have kids there is no question in my mind I would have done it. Please know that many of us have been where you are and it does slowly get....better, not sure if I want to use that word really but it gets livable. I strongly advise anti-anxiety meds.

Also, on the bright side, I've been told it can go away within the first 3 months so there is that hope. You are in your first week so don't give up okay?

Thanks, sueera. I have been taking Lorazepam (anti-anxiety) for the insomnia, and it seems to work well enough that I get a few hours of sleep. I have also been taking Benadryl and using a "rain sound" app on my iPad at night (and at my desk during the day, too; it's on now, and it helps both for masking and the soothing sound).

I may try to take more of the Lorazepam during the day, to ward off the terrible thoughts, but I'll need a refill soon (and probably a higher dosage than the 0.5 mg my doctor gave me).

The good news/bad news is that I am retired, so I don't have to go to work (good), except that it leaves me with big chunks of unstructured time to listen to the ringing and worry about everything (bad).

Thanks for being there/here.

Many of us have been in that "contemplating suicide" state. We understand. Many of us take Amatryptaline or Nortryptaline for depression and/or sleep because those two dont usually mess with our T (make it louder).

Keep trying things to distract yourself or mask. Stay in sound at all times.

Your T sound or volume may shift over time. When I first got mine it was the high, super-loud loud whine of a jet engine. On a scale of 1-10 it was an 11. I still have bad days, but now my bad days are mostly about an 7 or 8 and more often a hiss or locusts than a whine.

Be careful about Benedryl. If it doesn't affect your T, great...but some people find it makes their T worse. :/

Having been through all this for over 7 years, I can tell you two things . First that you are getting great advise here and second it does get better over time because you learn to cope with it. The thought in coping is to find a way to release the anxiety that t causes so that the t is not worsen by this same anxiety. You have received great suggestions. I have accomplished methods to cope utilizing distractions. That is at first making the efforts to not concentrate on the t. This is the best time in your life to pursue things that you may enjoy. I like to cycle, and doing that is an escape in spite of the noise. Any water sound has also giving me an escape from being subject to the irritant sound. Sound pillow has helped many sleep at night. At one point, it may become a sound that you may eventually mostly ignore. Also it may become intermittent. I have found that various foods may make it worst or if I avoid them the sound is not as intrusive. For me, sodium and MSG are the worst. Fruits and veggies are the best. Hey, if any thing the t, is almost like a alarm telling me to eat right and do my heart a huge favor.

At first every day was bad, but it has aleviated to the point that I may have a couple of louder days a week. Oh, I recently saw an ENT for something else, and he suggested a hearing aid to mask the noise. I decided that after all these years, that I didn't have the desire to pursue this. But he felt it would help.

Hope that it gets better for you.

Masking will help you immensely -- so that you forget you have it, and start thinking of other things, and even planning trips! Go to the American Tinnitus Association website www. ATA.org, and use their sound mixer to mask over the noise in your head (I have mixed several sounds for mine). Also buy a sound pillow on the ATA website. Then, if you don't have an iPod, go buy one, or get one online from the Apple store. Save the audio file (you will then need to convert to MP3 file -- there are free converter programs online). Then transfer that sound file to your iPod and plug it in to the pillow. It will help immensely with your sleep! I travel with a (travel size) sound pillow. Since buying it 3 years ago, it's the only thing that has helped me sleep (without taking heavy duty sleeping pills). You can also use your smart phone as an iPod... transfer the file to your phone, and plug it in to your sound pillow.

I know it's not a cure, but you specifically mentioned night time as the most troubling. This will solve that.

I can say that I have had this for about 7 years now. At first it drove me crazy. I was desperate when I first joined this group.
I now, have t 24/7 but it is mostly a low hissing sound. There are some days that it may interfere with my day, and then I use distraction and music to help me through. I have what is called Reactive t wish is not maskable, sound of any type raises the t, but I do sing in a choir and am exposed to many loud instruments. I use an ear plug when necessary. And I live a good life.
I can promise you are in one terrific group. I know you and already have have received excellent advice.
God bless you.

If the sound pillow doesn't work, it didn't for me, I just use the earbud 100% of the time and bought one of those pillows with the hole in the middle so the earbud isn't uncomfortable. Masking does help a lot:)

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will try the sound pillow, and can plug my iPad into it.

Had a wonderful respite last night. The T went away *completely* for a few hours, around 6 pm until I fell asleep. It was back when I woke up, but it seems a little less shrill and more of a hissing sound, which is less objectionable.

Although it's a long shot, my ENT saw the audiology test that indicated no specific cause for the sudden tinnitus, and prescribed a Prednisone series on the outside chance that it's virally induced. Last night was after my first day on the Prednisone, so I'm hoping there's a correlation there.

That is very encouraging LGRich. Having a sound reduction after taking Prednisone would be good news for you. It may be the viral infection that you have alluded to. I believe that there have been others who had a sudden onslaught of t, just to learned that they eliminated it with medication. Certainly hope and pray that may be your situation. Please continue to consult with your doctor regarding the usage. I guess we all may know for sure in a positive way, if you don't post much here within a relatively short period of time. Wish you the best of luck.