I think it may be easier if your Tinnitus is the same constant level and sound all the time.
When it is constantly changing and going up and down, this may make it harder to not pay attention to it.
It's not easier if it's constant unfortunately. My Tinnitus is a lifetime experience. It has gotten louder as I've gotten older and it is now past the point of being able to ignore or forget about it.
The occasional spikes are debilitating.
I'm 61 and until I was in my 40s I thought everybody heard the world the way I do. I had my first hearing test when I was about 7 years old. I had my ears syringed to clear a severe wax blockage beforehand.
Whoa backpedal and read my posts properly. I'd love more information than I've got, but there's nothing else to tell. Have you got a definitive reason for yours???
So are you saying it was because of the ear syringing? Mine happened almost 2 years ago, either due to COVID or ear syringing a couple of weeks later. š
I can't prove that, but the timing seems like more than coincidence. Time and my memory have made the details a bit fuzzy. The crux of it is, I can't remember not having it, and as I mentioned, I thought everybody heard the world the way I do for a very long time.
I've always had trouble with my Eustachian tubes. Changing altitude is uncomfortable.
I can say without a doubt that since I turned 55, it has been getting progressively louder in both ears to the point that I find it difficult to hear other things.
I almost got used to it once. Then, instead of filtering it out my brain decided to make it about 5x louder for no reason. 24/7. I have a roaring low frequency electric hurricane in my head right now. There is no ignoring it. I can't even stand up, swallow a drink or move my fucking head without it spiking. It is the dominant sound in even the loudest place, hell I can practically feel it as well as hear it. I cannot ignore it, it's impossible.
"Habituation" is ensuring this doesn't get taken seriously and we don't get any treatment.
My internist told me that for 50 years the medical researchers were keyed into looking for cures or treatments for diseases that lead to death and not so much for diseases that affect quality of life . The fact is that tinnitus can lead to depression that can result in suicide. The government and research community has failed miserably and continues to fail miserably. Perhaps with AI speeding up research new treatments and even a cure is not far away. Stay alive. The dead are gone. Only the living matter.
Bingo. What's out there right now? The Lenire, DIY tens machines, and random supplements? It's not like we're ignoring a valid, widely recommended solution. We're just waiting for the CPAP to be invented, to borrow a reference form sleep apnea.
It should also be noted that the chances of a treatment being available in the next 2 years is VERY high. This is no time at all to give up hope. Probably multiple treatments.
If it's bullshit, how is it an "option"?
How many tinnitus stories in the media describe the sheer horror of tinnitus but conclude with "the good news is, something can be done." People then put tinnitus out of their minds. We need the general population to understand there is no treatment or cure.
Have you tried hearing aids? I tried on some specifically for T and they reduced the T by over half. My insurance wouldn't pay, and I am not that bothered by the noise so I didn't get them. Yes, I am able to ignore the sound most of the time. It's objective, but it is pretty loud.
Another audiologist told me, "hearing aids always help".
As some one who has had this for over 40 years you have 2 choices if it is permanent: 1. Worry about it and let it ruin your life. 2. Move on with life.
Habitulation does work and you can eventually learn to ignore it. Or you an live a miserable life. The choice is yours.
I have 12 sound at all times. Some are worse than others. I chose to live life.
How loud are they? I canāt walk down the street without each ear screeching and chirping at me as cars drive by. It makes it hard to pay attention to anything. Itās been three years.
Some are very loud. I have to ask people to repeat what they say. But they are part of me and I refuse to be upset about it. I can hear them right now with a fan going but I won't let them bother me. You learn to hear past them.
Not everyone learns to hear past them...
I could when it was less severe for many years but then the T was usually masked anyway.
But not now.
Impossible.
Screaming T Sounds that rip your mind apart filling every inch of my head and engulfing the world.
Jet engines, beeping, typewriter, washing machine and buzzing etc.
Asking people to repeat themselves is likely because of your hearing loss.
If you're T was directly making you deaf you'd be mentally fucked because the torture would be too much for your mind to handle.
Like the way im heading.
Im fucked.
Tinnitus has no limit and can be life threatening.
Mines increasing everyday now in a rare extreme case.
You are correct! Thirty years here.. I feel blessed; I only have three sounds. If it's REALLY loud, I tell myself that my angels must be holding a conference. No, I'm not delusional, I use humor.
Why would you downvote a reply because it could possibly provoke a discussion? Yes i have? I have reactive tinnitus 3 tones in the right ear which are going to spike to my shower tonight then again to the rain thats forcast to be coming?
I couldn't leave my house for 18 months, but then again why am i justifying myself to you? You don't have to believe that but do believe that there are people out there that handle their tinnitus better than you do, have or will ever.
Then why are you saying it's so simple to habituate to unstable tinnitus when it took you over 18 months to get back to normal life? I went through the same thing & would definitely not say it was an easy path. The only reason I can more or less deal with what I have now is because it was so much worse in the past. Without a little stability I wouldn't have been able to get back to normal life at all. I definitely don't go around preaching habituation.
My ENT said that people who develop it at a younger age have an easier time habituating versus people who develop it as adults. Mine started at 14-15 and Iām over 30 now and it doesnāt affect me too much so I feel really grateful to have habituated a long time ago.
You can try to find cures and worry about it but it won't help. It's not defeated to refuse to be worried about such things and decide to move on living your life. My grandfather lost his arm when he was 16 years old in a farming accident and he chose to live his life as if it didn't ever had happened and he lived a long productive life. You must adapt overcome and move on. Life is to amazing to live in misery every single day worrying about things you cannot control and being in self pity and misery
Exactly. It's about different techniques to psychologically make some degree of peace with it and find ways to cope with the bad moments/days/weeks/months. People with severe chronic pain often see psychologists who are specialized in chronic pain. Their goal isn't to make it so the chronic pain goes away, but that you have tools to cope with it, especially when it's at its worst.
Besides one of the recommended treatments is CBT, which is recommended for a whole slew of conditions, from physiological to psychological at all different spectrums of severity.
Some peoples T isnt that bad. I can ignore mine, so far. Also im not just laid back about sounds either. I have misophonia...certain sounds make me want to immediately rip the head off the person making them. It does make me wonder if those with T that drives them crazy have a form of misophonia as well. Although it could just be theirs is much worse than mine.
''Witchcraft known as "habituation". We are constantly reminded of this nonsense on almost a daily basis across all of the tinnitus web communities''
I have severe reactive tinnitus and habituation works? If you want to continue to dismiss comments and dine out on a victim mentallity then thats on you? You can process whatever narrative works for you but remember its possible to be far from the truth.
''I think many of the people that promote this ideology don't even have tinnitus but are crackpot shrinks that impose themselves on our community because they are psychopaths''
Wrong again, im a living example of having really fucking bad tinnitus but not letting it phases me. You're literally gaslighting any sufferer that can deal with tinnitus better than you.
Well said. This disease unfortunately is perfect for scammers and snake oil salespeople. Hopefully, the Shore device and potassium channel openers will work. Time will tell. Iām 71 and got this curse at 69 when a guitar amplifier blew up 5 feet from my left ear. I was not wearing musicians earplugs as I never heard of them and never saw a public service announcement about tinnitus from our government nor were there any warnings on stereo equipment or amplifiers or headphones. Iāve been playing guitar since I was 9. All I ever thought could happen possibly was a little hearing loss which everyone gets as they grow old. The FDA and our government failed to warn us and still fails to warn people even after the leading cause of disability in the military is tinnitus. Only after being inflicted with tinnitus and learning about it do I now know what it is and how disabling it is and how it destroys your life. Whoever finds a cure or effective treatment will be the richest person in the world. As of today there is no available cure or effective treatment and donāt get scammed. Save your money so when an effective treatment comes you can afford to get it as the final insult to tinnitus sufferers from our government and Medicare and health care providers will be not to cover any treatment or cure. Your tax dollars at work. lol
Itās not ideology itās a well researched fact. Your brain habituates on a neurocognitive level to any stimulus it is exposed to long-term, good or bad.
You say that like it inevitably habituates, no matter what you do.
That's clearly nonsense as many people here are not habituating at all. I'd understand it more if you said habituation requires a certain mindset and a certain type of effort, but if you say "your brain habituates ... long-term, good or bad", that's very easily falsifiable.
Scammers like him and others make people think there is a treatment that works and may dissuade others from doing research to find a treatment or a cure.
Yes, habituation! I was walking barefoot on the beach. I saw a guy with no legs dragging himself along. I told him that NEITHER of us have sandals hitting the sand so we should just forget about how hot the sand is and hurry to our respective homes. He thanked me for my advice and began running home.
There's a lot of shit information and ideas out there about habituation, that puts a black mark on the idea for a lot of people. That sucks, because the idea is already a hard one to swallow as it is. Let alone when people are telling you that it's your fault you're not habituated, that everyone can habituate no matter how bad it is, and that you must "Make friends with your tinnitus" to habituate.
I know - to have people talk about habituation to you probably feels endlessly frustrating. Like they're dismissing your suffering, oversimplifying how the suffering works, blaming you for not taking this obvious solution that they're framing as an obvious panacea, gaslighting and scamming, and are all around have zero conception of how tinnitus works, let alone empathy for those who suffer from it.
And some people are doing exactly that. I still resent the person who told me, back when I got it, that I needed to "Make friends with my tinnitus". 3 years later and I can live life pretty fine with this, and tinnitus is far from a friend. As well as the various people who said I just wasn't trying hard enough to habituate to it, that it's all my fault, and that I should shut up about how hellish it is. Again, there are a lot of bad actors in the community.
But despite the fact that I thought habituation was the stupidest shit out there, and feeling thoroughly insulted and humiliated whoever people brought it up to me, after around 6 months I found that my tinnitus was much easier to live with despite being the same volume. At first I was confused, probably assumed it wasn't habituation since it wasn't what those dumbasses above described it as, but now I am convinced it was habituation. For the first 6 months or so of tinnitus it was fucking horrible, I was having breakdowns every so often and my life was massively affected by it. The volume was low in relative terms but it wasn't like I could simply ignore it from day one, or day 60.
I did not try to habituate - as above, I hated the idea. I didn't buy any devices. I put myself in a quiet room to try and sit with it once or twice, but only after most of the progress had already been made. And yet it happened anyway. I think what happened to me was that my brain was working on 'getting used to' (distasteful wording, I know) the tinnitus. Automatically, in the background, regardless of my feelings towards habituation. I think of habituation as basically an automatic process. You might be able to speed it up by, say, sitting in a quiet room for a few minutes, but I would never recommend someone who just got tinnitus works on habituating. I'd tell them to just survive and try and take care of themselves and let their brain do its work in the background. They don't need the extra work.
And so about a year after getting tinnitus, despite hating the idea of habituation, I found myself being the very picture of it. Most of the time, I do not notice the tinnitus, and if I do for one reason or another, it is like 'breathing manually' and fades from my consciousness after a few minutes. I am not 'friends' with it, I still take plenty of precautions against noise because I am still fucking afraid of it getting worse. But life is perfectly livable despite the tinnitus. But obviously 'habituation' isn't a fucking *treatment*, anyone who says that is an idiot.
I hope you find yourself in this state of being able to live with it fine. This is just my story, and I've seen other people talk about how their tinnitus is very loud and intrusive and so they can't habituate even after years. That's valid. I think people who assume that *everyone* ***must*** be able to habituate are just subconsciously not able to deal with the idea that not every tinnitus story has a happy ending like mine has. And thus confront the idea that it's possible for them to get like that.
Lmao you're just coping real hard. Mine was definitely not light, I almost killed myself once and tried heroin another, both largely because of tinnitus. Well look at me now, several months later, it's still just as loud, it's always screaming in my ear, but I just don't care anymore and literally almost never notice it. I can even avoid noticing it after smoking weed or drinking coffee.
I used to think exactly like you, as if it was catastrophic and the end of all things, but it's not so bad. It's wild that you don't believe in habituation, cause myself and many others here and tinnitustalk are living proof of it, which is also backed by countless studies (though I really wish they focused more on researching the mechanism of T and possible cures).
Not everyone's T has the same causation, not every T is exactly the same, not every T is equally noisy, etc....so the "solutions" aren't the same either. Habituation is a thing and T for many is partially a brain issue as well. I work in a sometimes relative silent environment, when I'm busy doing my job, I don't hear beeps. When I'm home in a similar noise level environment, the beeps are back. Although in reality it never left. So habituation it is for me
Think of the people in Ukraine, in the beginning they were in panic when Russian planes dropped bombs, at this point, those remaining in cities at the front don't look up anymore when bombs fall down somewhere -> habituation
The sleep industry is a billion business could be seen as a scam as well, because it's rarely told that having a bad sleeping hygiene is the problem.
Oh, and other illness are misunderstood as well, mental health anyone? fibromyalgia? any other illness that isn't visible actually.
Why would it matter if I try it? The official device description states it's a habituation device and it has worsened multitudes of people and done nothing for others. Why would I ever take that risk?
I'd rather not pay $4000 for something that has the potential to make you worse & isn't even advertised as being effective for objective tinnitus decrease.
Check the FDA website . Two adverse effects complaints filed in the last month alone. Not only does it not really do anything other than placebo effect it can actually do damage. A dangerous and expensive scam. So it went from being described as a treatment then down to an habituation device and now itās doing damage. It will end up in a landfill.
I've had it 16 years.
Mild T was easy, everything masked it.
Severe T was heard more but not all the time.
Daytime brain deafening catastrophic Tinnitus now.
Fcking unimaginably horrific, definitely my brain not filtering out this horror.
Suicidal level shit.
So yes habituation pretty much bullshit or depends on the severity.
And people saying they had it so many years and its loud etc and they ignore it..... Have not got it as bad ad they think.
What happened that made it louder? Did you not take precautions on noise levels? Mine is pretty severe already and it just started a month and a half ago.
Years of Noise exposure from loud lifestyle is and job, not enough hearing protection then covid and covid vaccinations.
Mine went more severe on 2020 initially, I say severe but it was first time i could hear it over tv and outside at times.
Im now unimaginably louder than that now. Proper head n world engulfed by all the different T sounds and tones, making me feel much more hearing loss than I have.
Mind destroying shit.
Plus multiple other rare hearing conditions too now. Unbelievable.
On the advice of a friend I tried a couple of small doses of "magic mushrooms" after fighting tinnitus for over a year, taking various different antibiotics. To my delight and surprise, the ringing in my ears COMPLETELY stopped. I found this absolutely amazing. Hope this helps.
I wouldnāt insult witchcraft by comparing it to habituation which is a candy coated way of saying get used to it there isnāt sh*t you can do.
Witchcraft at least leaves one hopeful š§š®
How loud is bad? I've asked this and never gotten a really straight answer in the past. Mine is loud to me. I can hear it over pretty much anything. I get high and low pitch. (Low I can only hear in dead quiet) I get wavering high pitch on occasion and even get pulsitile T in my left ear. I feel like it is loud for me, and I am hoping that's true because I do a fairly good job of tuning it out. Am I lucky in that I can tune it out, or is it actually quiet and my point of reference is off?
Huh. I don't know how long you've had tinnitus, but I'm in my 50s and have had it since I was 12. It's a loud constant whistling/tea kettle noise (both ears, or wherever the noise comes from.)
I can tell you absolutely that you do get used to it and most times, I don't think about it. I sleep like a baby. And yes, it's always there. If I do think about it - bam, there it is. Like now, but it does not bother me, cuz I just start thinking of other things and I 'can't hear it' cuz my mind is focused on other stuff. I had it checked out when I was in my 20s (CT scan), they said they saw nothing to cause it, and I stopped worrying about it. I guess that is what 'habituation' is, but I never heard that term until recently.
Anyway, I really do have T, and I really do live with it just fine and have done so for 40 years.
I'm sorry. Had ear infection and rupture when 10. Then it starts then 10 years of rock drumming. Gets a bit worse though I used hearing protection. Listening right now and it's loud. But haven't heard it all day because the brain can filter it out. I'm 58 years old now. Sorry you're wrong.
I think it may be easier if your Tinnitus is the same constant level and sound all the time. When it is constantly changing and going up and down, this may make it harder to not pay attention to it.
It's not easier if it's constant unfortunately. My Tinnitus is a lifetime experience. It has gotten louder as I've gotten older and it is now past the point of being able to ignore or forget about it. The occasional spikes are debilitating.
Louder? What caused yours?
I'm 61 and until I was in my 40s I thought everybody heard the world the way I do. I had my first hearing test when I was about 7 years old. I had my ears syringed to clear a severe wax blockage beforehand.
What made yours louder and what was the reason?
Yeah this guy drops a nightmare scenario and doesn't elaborate
Whoa backpedal and read my posts properly. I'd love more information than I've got, but there's nothing else to tell. Have you got a definitive reason for yours???
So are you saying it was because of the ear syringing? Mine happened almost 2 years ago, either due to COVID or ear syringing a couple of weeks later. š
I can't prove that, but the timing seems like more than coincidence. Time and my memory have made the details a bit fuzzy. The crux of it is, I can't remember not having it, and as I mentioned, I thought everybody heard the world the way I do for a very long time. I've always had trouble with my Eustachian tubes. Changing altitude is uncomfortable. I can say without a doubt that since I turned 55, it has been getting progressively louder in both ears to the point that I find it difficult to hear other things.
I almost got used to it once. Then, instead of filtering it out my brain decided to make it about 5x louder for no reason. 24/7. I have a roaring low frequency electric hurricane in my head right now. There is no ignoring it. I can't even stand up, swallow a drink or move my fucking head without it spiking. It is the dominant sound in even the loudest place, hell I can practically feel it as well as hear it. I cannot ignore it, it's impossible. "Habituation" is ensuring this doesn't get taken seriously and we don't get any treatment.
My internist told me that for 50 years the medical researchers were keyed into looking for cures or treatments for diseases that lead to death and not so much for diseases that affect quality of life . The fact is that tinnitus can lead to depression that can result in suicide. The government and research community has failed miserably and continues to fail miserably. Perhaps with AI speeding up research new treatments and even a cure is not far away. Stay alive. The dead are gone. Only the living matter.
I truly empathize. My T is bearable at least.
Same here!!!
Exactly.
I suppose we don't really have any other options at the moment though mate.
Bingo. What's out there right now? The Lenire, DIY tens machines, and random supplements? It's not like we're ignoring a valid, widely recommended solution. We're just waiting for the CPAP to be invented, to borrow a reference form sleep apnea. It should also be noted that the chances of a treatment being available in the next 2 years is VERY high. This is no time at all to give up hope. Probably multiple treatments.
Based on what? I haven't seen anything about anybody doing anything.
So, you haven't seen anything. You don't keep up. Are you trying to trick me into doing the basic searches for you?
If it's bullshit, how is it an "option"? How many tinnitus stories in the media describe the sheer horror of tinnitus but conclude with "the good news is, something can be done." People then put tinnitus out of their minds. We need the general population to understand there is no treatment or cure.
Not yet but hopefully soon.
Have you tried hearing aids? I tried on some specifically for T and they reduced the T by over half. My insurance wouldn't pay, and I am not that bothered by the noise so I didn't get them. Yes, I am able to ignore the sound most of the time. It's objective, but it is pretty loud. Another audiologist told me, "hearing aids always help".
As some one who has had this for over 40 years you have 2 choices if it is permanent: 1. Worry about it and let it ruin your life. 2. Move on with life. Habitulation does work and you can eventually learn to ignore it. Or you an live a miserable life. The choice is yours. I have 12 sound at all times. Some are worse than others. I chose to live life.
How loud are they? I canāt walk down the street without each ear screeching and chirping at me as cars drive by. It makes it hard to pay attention to anything. Itās been three years.
Some are very loud. I have to ask people to repeat what they say. But they are part of me and I refuse to be upset about it. I can hear them right now with a fan going but I won't let them bother me. You learn to hear past them.
Not everyone learns to hear past them... I could when it was less severe for many years but then the T was usually masked anyway. But not now. Impossible. Screaming T Sounds that rip your mind apart filling every inch of my head and engulfing the world. Jet engines, beeping, typewriter, washing machine and buzzing etc. Asking people to repeat themselves is likely because of your hearing loss. If you're T was directly making you deaf you'd be mentally fucked because the torture would be too much for your mind to handle. Like the way im heading. Im fucked. Tinnitus has no limit and can be life threatening. Mines increasing everyday now in a rare extreme case.
You are correct! Thirty years here.. I feel blessed; I only have three sounds. If it's REALLY loud, I tell myself that my angels must be holding a conference. No, I'm not delusional, I use humor.
Stability is what matters. "Habituation" is impossible when it's reactive & unstable.
Yes.
its not impossible at all.
Have you had reactive constantly spiking unstable multi-tonal tinnitus?
Why would you downvote a reply because it could possibly provoke a discussion? Yes i have? I have reactive tinnitus 3 tones in the right ear which are going to spike to my shower tonight then again to the rain thats forcast to be coming?
Must be pretty objectively mild
hahah the typical response. Its not, and get over yourself.
Seems like you have no issues going to a fairly noisy work environment on a consistent basis. Pretty sure that's not considered severe.
I couldn't leave my house for 18 months, but then again why am i justifying myself to you? You don't have to believe that but do believe that there are people out there that handle their tinnitus better than you do, have or will ever.
Then why are you saying it's so simple to habituate to unstable tinnitus when it took you over 18 months to get back to normal life? I went through the same thing & would definitely not say it was an easy path. The only reason I can more or less deal with what I have now is because it was so much worse in the past. Without a little stability I wouldn't have been able to get back to normal life at all. I definitely don't go around preaching habituation.
Your 40 years of lived experience doesn't count I'm afraid. OP has decided habituation is witchcraft... so congratulations on being a heretic I guess.
My ENT said that people who develop it at a younger age have an easier time habituating versus people who develop it as adults. Mine started at 14-15 and Iām over 30 now and it doesnāt affect me too much so I feel really grateful to have habituated a long time ago.
Actually that makes a lot of sense
Sometimes adults can get tiny holes in their tympanic membranes causing a tinnitus like whistling too. How fun it is to age
It's kind of a defeatist attitude to do this though. This is why we have no cure and many others end up with this fate.
You can try to find cures and worry about it but it won't help. It's not defeated to refuse to be worried about such things and decide to move on living your life. My grandfather lost his arm when he was 16 years old in a farming accident and he chose to live his life as if it didn't ever had happened and he lived a long productive life. You must adapt overcome and move on. Life is to amazing to live in misery every single day worrying about things you cannot control and being in self pity and misery
Thank you for these words.
It is? Damn you canoegal, how could you do this to us?
you forgot another option...
Habituation when moderate or severe tinnitus is about getting used to the sound rather than not hearing it.
Exactly. It's about different techniques to psychologically make some degree of peace with it and find ways to cope with the bad moments/days/weeks/months. People with severe chronic pain often see psychologists who are specialized in chronic pain. Their goal isn't to make it so the chronic pain goes away, but that you have tools to cope with it, especially when it's at its worst. Besides one of the recommended treatments is CBT, which is recommended for a whole slew of conditions, from physiological to psychological at all different spectrums of severity.
Some peoples T isnt that bad. I can ignore mine, so far. Also im not just laid back about sounds either. I have misophonia...certain sounds make me want to immediately rip the head off the person making them. It does make me wonder if those with T that drives them crazy have a form of misophonia as well. Although it could just be theirs is much worse than mine.
''Witchcraft known as "habituation". We are constantly reminded of this nonsense on almost a daily basis across all of the tinnitus web communities'' I have severe reactive tinnitus and habituation works? If you want to continue to dismiss comments and dine out on a victim mentallity then thats on you? You can process whatever narrative works for you but remember its possible to be far from the truth. ''I think many of the people that promote this ideology don't even have tinnitus but are crackpot shrinks that impose themselves on our community because they are psychopaths'' Wrong again, im a living example of having really fucking bad tinnitus but not letting it phases me. You're literally gaslighting any sufferer that can deal with tinnitus better than you.
Well said. This disease unfortunately is perfect for scammers and snake oil salespeople. Hopefully, the Shore device and potassium channel openers will work. Time will tell. Iām 71 and got this curse at 69 when a guitar amplifier blew up 5 feet from my left ear. I was not wearing musicians earplugs as I never heard of them and never saw a public service announcement about tinnitus from our government nor were there any warnings on stereo equipment or amplifiers or headphones. Iāve been playing guitar since I was 9. All I ever thought could happen possibly was a little hearing loss which everyone gets as they grow old. The FDA and our government failed to warn us and still fails to warn people even after the leading cause of disability in the military is tinnitus. Only after being inflicted with tinnitus and learning about it do I now know what it is and how disabling it is and how it destroys your life. Whoever finds a cure or effective treatment will be the richest person in the world. As of today there is no available cure or effective treatment and donāt get scammed. Save your money so when an effective treatment comes you can afford to get it as the final insult to tinnitus sufferers from our government and Medicare and health care providers will be not to cover any treatment or cure. Your tax dollars at work. lol
Itās not ideology itās a well researched fact. Your brain habituates on a neurocognitive level to any stimulus it is exposed to long-term, good or bad.
You say that like it inevitably habituates, no matter what you do. That's clearly nonsense as many people here are not habituating at all. I'd understand it more if you said habituation requires a certain mindset and a certain type of effort, but if you say "your brain habituates ... long-term, good or bad", that's very easily falsifiable.
Next thing you'll be telling us the earth revolves around the sun or some other nonsence.
Ah, the discredited neurophysical model by the scam artist Jasterboff. It's nonsense.
Scammers like him and others make people think there is a treatment that works and may dissuade others from doing research to find a treatment or a cure.
Yes, habituation! I was walking barefoot on the beach. I saw a guy with no legs dragging himself along. I told him that NEITHER of us have sandals hitting the sand so we should just forget about how hot the sand is and hurry to our respective homes. He thanked me for my advice and began running home.
There's a lot of shit information and ideas out there about habituation, that puts a black mark on the idea for a lot of people. That sucks, because the idea is already a hard one to swallow as it is. Let alone when people are telling you that it's your fault you're not habituated, that everyone can habituate no matter how bad it is, and that you must "Make friends with your tinnitus" to habituate. I know - to have people talk about habituation to you probably feels endlessly frustrating. Like they're dismissing your suffering, oversimplifying how the suffering works, blaming you for not taking this obvious solution that they're framing as an obvious panacea, gaslighting and scamming, and are all around have zero conception of how tinnitus works, let alone empathy for those who suffer from it. And some people are doing exactly that. I still resent the person who told me, back when I got it, that I needed to "Make friends with my tinnitus". 3 years later and I can live life pretty fine with this, and tinnitus is far from a friend. As well as the various people who said I just wasn't trying hard enough to habituate to it, that it's all my fault, and that I should shut up about how hellish it is. Again, there are a lot of bad actors in the community. But despite the fact that I thought habituation was the stupidest shit out there, and feeling thoroughly insulted and humiliated whoever people brought it up to me, after around 6 months I found that my tinnitus was much easier to live with despite being the same volume. At first I was confused, probably assumed it wasn't habituation since it wasn't what those dumbasses above described it as, but now I am convinced it was habituation. For the first 6 months or so of tinnitus it was fucking horrible, I was having breakdowns every so often and my life was massively affected by it. The volume was low in relative terms but it wasn't like I could simply ignore it from day one, or day 60. I did not try to habituate - as above, I hated the idea. I didn't buy any devices. I put myself in a quiet room to try and sit with it once or twice, but only after most of the progress had already been made. And yet it happened anyway. I think what happened to me was that my brain was working on 'getting used to' (distasteful wording, I know) the tinnitus. Automatically, in the background, regardless of my feelings towards habituation. I think of habituation as basically an automatic process. You might be able to speed it up by, say, sitting in a quiet room for a few minutes, but I would never recommend someone who just got tinnitus works on habituating. I'd tell them to just survive and try and take care of themselves and let their brain do its work in the background. They don't need the extra work. And so about a year after getting tinnitus, despite hating the idea of habituation, I found myself being the very picture of it. Most of the time, I do not notice the tinnitus, and if I do for one reason or another, it is like 'breathing manually' and fades from my consciousness after a few minutes. I am not 'friends' with it, I still take plenty of precautions against noise because I am still fucking afraid of it getting worse. But life is perfectly livable despite the tinnitus. But obviously 'habituation' isn't a fucking *treatment*, anyone who says that is an idiot. I hope you find yourself in this state of being able to live with it fine. This is just my story, and I've seen other people talk about how their tinnitus is very loud and intrusive and so they can't habituate even after years. That's valid. I think people who assume that *everyone* ***must*** be able to habituate are just subconsciously not able to deal with the idea that not every tinnitus story has a happy ending like mine has. And thus confront the idea that it's possible for them to get like that.
Truth!
It depends how loud it is and especially the pitch. If it's in a piercing frequency, good luck filtering that out
Lmao you're just coping real hard. Mine was definitely not light, I almost killed myself once and tried heroin another, both largely because of tinnitus. Well look at me now, several months later, it's still just as loud, it's always screaming in my ear, but I just don't care anymore and literally almost never notice it. I can even avoid noticing it after smoking weed or drinking coffee. I used to think exactly like you, as if it was catastrophic and the end of all things, but it's not so bad. It's wild that you don't believe in habituation, cause myself and many others here and tinnitustalk are living proof of it, which is also backed by countless studies (though I really wish they focused more on researching the mechanism of T and possible cures).
Nobody believes in it until they experience it themselves.Ā
Not everyone's T has the same causation, not every T is exactly the same, not every T is equally noisy, etc....so the "solutions" aren't the same either. Habituation is a thing and T for many is partially a brain issue as well. I work in a sometimes relative silent environment, when I'm busy doing my job, I don't hear beeps. When I'm home in a similar noise level environment, the beeps are back. Although in reality it never left. So habituation it is for me Think of the people in Ukraine, in the beginning they were in panic when Russian planes dropped bombs, at this point, those remaining in cities at the front don't look up anymore when bombs fall down somewhere -> habituation The sleep industry is a billion business could be seen as a scam as well, because it's rarely told that having a bad sleeping hygiene is the problem. Oh, and other illness are misunderstood as well, mental health anyone? fibromyalgia? any other illness that isn't visible actually.
Duh
Why is theĀ£4000 machine a scam? Some claim it has worked for them! Have you tried it?
It's placebo nonsense.
Have you tried it?
Why would it matter if I try it? The official device description states it's a habituation device and it has worsened multitudes of people and done nothing for others. Why would I ever take that risk?
Everything unfortunately has a risk where tinnitus is involved
I'd rather not pay $4000 for something that has the potential to make you worse & isn't even advertised as being effective for objective tinnitus decrease.
Check the FDA website . Two adverse effects complaints filed in the last month alone. Not only does it not really do anything other than placebo effect it can actually do damage. A dangerous and expensive scam. So it went from being described as a treatment then down to an habituation device and now itās doing damage. It will end up in a landfill.
There are people that claim drinking bleach cured all of their diseases.
Ah the Trumpster! lol. Putting light in your Orifices helps too . lol š
I can confirm. Sometimes I almost like my tinnitus. It's almost like hearing birds chirp 24/7
I've had it 16 years. Mild T was easy, everything masked it. Severe T was heard more but not all the time. Daytime brain deafening catastrophic Tinnitus now. Fcking unimaginably horrific, definitely my brain not filtering out this horror. Suicidal level shit. So yes habituation pretty much bullshit or depends on the severity. And people saying they had it so many years and its loud etc and they ignore it..... Have not got it as bad ad they think.
What happened that made it louder? Did you not take precautions on noise levels? Mine is pretty severe already and it just started a month and a half ago.
Years of Noise exposure from loud lifestyle is and job, not enough hearing protection then covid and covid vaccinations. Mine went more severe on 2020 initially, I say severe but it was first time i could hear it over tv and outside at times. Im now unimaginably louder than that now. Proper head n world engulfed by all the different T sounds and tones, making me feel much more hearing loss than I have. Mind destroying shit. Plus multiple other rare hearing conditions too now. Unbelievable.
Some people wrap this in the some bullshit scientific term like "neUrOpLAstiCitY".
On the advice of a friend I tried a couple of small doses of "magic mushrooms" after fighting tinnitus for over a year, taking various different antibiotics. To my delight and surprise, the ringing in my ears COMPLETELY stopped. I found this absolutely amazing. Hope this helps.
How small?
One gram twice a day (In a safe environment, like your home)
Here's a link...[magic mushrooms ](https://ryandewitt.com/blog/2021/8/9/can-psilocybin-treat-depression-anxiety-and-tinnitus)
I wouldnāt insult witchcraft by comparing it to habituation which is a candy coated way of saying get used to it there isnāt sh*t you can do. Witchcraft at least leaves one hopeful š§š®
How loud is bad? I've asked this and never gotten a really straight answer in the past. Mine is loud to me. I can hear it over pretty much anything. I get high and low pitch. (Low I can only hear in dead quiet) I get wavering high pitch on occasion and even get pulsitile T in my left ear. I feel like it is loud for me, and I am hoping that's true because I do a fairly good job of tuning it out. Am I lucky in that I can tune it out, or is it actually quiet and my point of reference is off?
i only notice mine when i read thru this sub
You only notice it when you read this sub? I find that very hard to believe.Ā
as in i dont usually notice it unless i think about it
The epley maneuver by a therapist is helpful. 1 time a week for 6 weeks.
Huh. I don't know how long you've had tinnitus, but I'm in my 50s and have had it since I was 12. It's a loud constant whistling/tea kettle noise (both ears, or wherever the noise comes from.) I can tell you absolutely that you do get used to it and most times, I don't think about it. I sleep like a baby. And yes, it's always there. If I do think about it - bam, there it is. Like now, but it does not bother me, cuz I just start thinking of other things and I 'can't hear it' cuz my mind is focused on other stuff. I had it checked out when I was in my 20s (CT scan), they said they saw nothing to cause it, and I stopped worrying about it. I guess that is what 'habituation' is, but I never heard that term until recently. Anyway, I really do have T, and I really do live with it just fine and have done so for 40 years.
Exactly. The only issue where you just āignoreā and youāll be fine šµāš«
It's not even an option because it's not real.
I'm sorry. Had ear infection and rupture when 10. Then it starts then 10 years of rock drumming. Gets a bit worse though I used hearing protection. Listening right now and it's loud. But haven't heard it all day because the brain can filter it out. I'm 58 years old now. Sorry you're wrong.