I have not lowered my tinnitus at all and I have found no triggers in 2 1/2 years but I just want to congratulate you!
Sue

I have discovered very little that helps my T. If
you have a regime that lowers your T over time
then please post it.

Damned, i must be lucky or something??

I narrowed it down to no sugar at all, no processed meat at all, nothing that would require a preservative at all (grocery boxed stuff).. i really only eat chicken breast at home and juice, that's it... some veggies and fruit but not too much of either, some of them trigger me.

Also, i stay the hell away from anything loud OR annoying... sound don't have to be loud.. they just have to be non-stop or annoying to the ear... if it sounds bad, it usually stays with me so i block my ears.. ooohh.. 20 times a day in public... i really protect my ears a lot these days.

Also, as always, magensium and a basic daily supplement....

You have to undersand what i'm seeing with chocolate and msg is that even one miserable little piece and it affects me.. if i stayed clean but had one hotdog every 3 days i'd still be ringing 24/7.... if i have 1/2 of a chocolate bar at time, i ring for a few hours in the morning.. it's really a sensitive thing i see.

i also stear clear of major salty...but i do drink black coffee alot.... and yes, the coffee gets me ringing but only 2 hours and i just need my coffee too badly...

lemme say at last that sugar salt and coffee give me my annoying eee tone back... but msg gives me back the real crazy muli-toned scary, i wanna kill myself, kind of tinnitus.

It makes both my ears have 5-10 second scary spikes every few minutes... some of them are screeching sounds like a tiger being kicked in the groin... the msg is just the worst stuff out there, i wish i could take an anti-msg pill that would probably help a lot.

not just msg.. salicytates..glutamates... i'm learning anything that constricts blood vessels or over-stimulates neurotransmitters, or stimulates my hearing too much...

BUt i didn't get here without major massage on my neck, shoulders, major relaxation exercises, and turning all the damned masking noise off.. i really think my brain needs to hear it to diminish it... and more, the masking sounds were not silence, and only silence can make it truly go away (takes 10+ minutes until i'm almost baseline zero).

relaxation in the muscles, mind, no salt, no sugar, no salycytates, msg, glutamates, as much silence as possible, lots of vitamins and magnesium esp.

I have read that this pretty much is what most people are doing to help control it as much as possible... one of these if out of whack.. just one.. any one.... i get the eeeee back.. but if i take care of all of them, it's petty much a faint ding way inside the ear.

F___ it.. i'm gonna say it again.. MSG.. that one is in everything and until i figure it out i was really having some pretty terrible days and i had absolutely no idea why.. i thought msg was only in chinese food but ironically it's often NOT in chinese food anymore (no msg is a selling point there) but it's in everything else we eat... especially restaurants..

Relaxation is so important too.. i can have a good ring going.. then lie in bed, breathe deep, let the T seep into me, and before you know it, i've reach a zen state and the tinnitus is barely audible...

i feel it's an auditory nerve that needs to f_n relax any which way it can, it's over-excited very very very very easily. Whereas it used to take a 3-hour mega-concert, it now takes one little kid screaming for two seconds.

I apologize for the swearing and the typos, it's been a rough day to say the least.... and let me explain.. was in court today and my tinnitus was NOT ringing.. that is absolute proof the msg/sugar thing is helping me.. there is no way i could have had a day today with major spikes if i was eating those things.. you see it's not that the sugar spikes me itself.. it's the sugar makes me more sensitive to noise and stress and that spikes me more.... can't explain it but it works.. standing in front of the judge and all i could thing about was msg actually :)

No need to apologize. I found your posts very interesting and encouraging.

MY tinnitus has been lowered from full blast can't sleep symptom to not even noticeable sometime tinnitus in 2 months its 99% gone most of the time

Alright Charles.. that's amazing.. can you tell us what, if anything you did, or didn't do?

Thanks.

I'm with you 100%. Chicken breast is the only meat I eat. I can handle most veggies and fruit but not berries (salycytates) and I'm now in the habit of taking the skin off all the fruit and veggies I eat b/c i'm so paranoid of the salycytates. I also stopped all sugar (and caffeine, alcohol, all salt, and artificial sweeteners ) so I have never tried juice. I assumed the sugar would be too high. What kind of juice are you drinking?

i'll have to try magnesium again based on your results.

How is the msg sneaking up on you? Are you being brave enough to eat out? I'm scared to try.

The relaxing is also true for me. I use guided meditations and acupuncture for that.

Neilster I am curious do you drink any alcohol at all? I think alcohol may be one of my big triggers. I only drink beer and love having a good decent crafted brew from time to time. It helps to relax me but afterwards I seem to pay the price with my T spiking.

Geohydro - You were not talking to me but I thought i'd say that I am able to have 1 craft brew daily as long as it's low alcohol (no more than 5 ish abv) Homebrewed - not hop heavy (but some - balanced) - munich and vienna malt seems to be okay.

I have had for 11 years or so. I don't notice it unless I listen for it. When I listen for it, it doesn't bother me.

I had a loud hissing teakettle sound for the first 9 years. It's with me 24/7. Two years ago I came down with another ear problem that kicked a couple more sounds into the mix. I had surgery to correct the ear problem last year. It didn't help the ear problem, and it kicked all of the sounds into high gear. I was so used to tuning out the T by the time the other ear thing started, that I barely noticed when the extra sounds kicked in.

My T is loud and clear when the room is silent. My other condition is very reactive to noise -- noise makes me sick and dizzy (and is sometimes quite painful). So I can't win. I thank God every day that I'm able to handle the T without much difficulty, because I need to be in a quiet place as much as possible.

I learned to ignore my T, I think, by forcing myself to listen to other things. Now it's like background noise, no different than my computer humming or my refrigerator running.

It makes me sad to see the newbies who are suffering so much. I pray for relief for them. I hope my story offers some of them a little hope.

I have no idea what triggers my T. I don't drink coffee or alcohol. I eat a ton of salt. Not eating salt doesn't change my T at all, but I should stop eating salt because I'm starting to have a bit of edema. I don't eat much chocolate. I don't eat much MSG. Most of what I eat is lean protein and vegetables (and cookies -- I love cookies). I started on the cookie thing only last year, so I know it's not responsible. There was no event that preceded the start of my T. One day I was soaking in the bathtub, and all of a sudden, there it was. I thought it would go away. It never did.

I'm babbling, I think. I type random thoughts as they come to my brain. That's usually not a good thing.

Neilster, I'm glad you've habituated, too. I wish more people would. I truly believe getting your mind off the T and focusing on other things is the only answer. It's the only thing that's ever helped me.

I still pray for everyone else.

I feel very much like JustShoot... As I have accepted my t, and it has become background noise to me most of the time. I do have spikes at times and it can change throughout the day. I mostly use distraction for helping me to get through the day and watch salt and caffeine, as I notice they can trigger mine. Stress is also a big one for me along with allergies.

I think in time we all find what works for each of us, or will at some point.

I hope it was not my "I can't stand it anymore" that prompted you to hear from people who are having success in controling or getting rid of their T.. I am not a long time T person, but not exatcly a newbe either.I have been suffering rather seriously for 18 months. I am happy that you have found things that are giving you success and will read with interest and note what you have found in an attempt to help me.

Justshoot, is your T loud and clear outside too?
would you describe the sound as all head encompassing?
were you ever in great distress about your T?

This is the kind of thread that is great to see out here. Success inspires us all, more than complaints. I'll be honest with everyone on this thread. I can't say that my experience with cutting all of the things mentioned on this thread is quite as successful, but I too have found cutting these things out helps. Unfortunately I do not have the same fortitude as all of you. I like going out to eat, drinking beer, having coffee, pizza and sugar. I guess I like them more than I hate this ringing. So I put up with a little t, for the things in life I enjoy. I think we have to find a level we can live with, and go on with life from there. But I do believe that you can control some of this through the same success seen on this thread. Good luck everyone.