Any positive tinnitus stories

[candle18]

My 23 yr old ds is prone to anxiety and around a week ago said he was hearing ringing in his right ear. He’s been to the GP and was told his ear looks healthy. He’s now extremely anxious and down, talking about worse case sensations, not able to focus on anything else etc. He’s also decided he’ll have this forever and won’t be able to cope. He did go to a nightclub a few days before it started but also had a bad cold the week before. Has anyone had tinnitus that only lasted a few weeks/months?

Yes, me! Had it for about 4 months. Now I’m not aware of it at all. I saw an ENT doctor who said actually most people have noise in their head if they were to focus on it, and lots of people find that if there’s no cause for the tinnitus (such as hearing loss), they become attuned to it.

Lots of people say white noise helps. What helped me was to breathe and focus on the sound of my breath so I couldn’t hear the ringing, if that make sense.

I hope he feels better soon

I get it when I'm stressed or ill. As soon as I can get my stress/anxiety down it becomes more manageable. So I can have long periods where its not really there.
It really is awful and most people don't realise how ill you can feel with it.

On a slightly different tack, mine didn't go away, but I was ill with anxiety and convinced I wouldn't cope when I first got it. Now I still have it but it doesn't bother me. You can learn to live with it, it just takes time.

I've had it for years and years. They did investigations, including CT scans, but never found a cause. It was likely me having headphones turned up too high as a teen. I'm used to it now, I think I'd find it too quiet without it. The only sound that annoys me is the one that sounds like the heating ticking over, which has me up and down in the night to check that it's not.

Thanks for your replies, it’s reassuring to hear that things can improve.

I don't have tinnitus but I just read an article today that it could be down to histamine intolerance or mast cell activation syndrome. Anxiety is also a symptom. Might be something to look into.

I have tinnitus and my local hospital does a really good support group. It’s all done virtually because of covid but I’ve found it helpful and they will be able to give him advice on how to manage and they also have video calls where he can ask questions like this.

I've had tinnitus since the age of 19 (now early 40s).
I was incredibly depressed when I first got it and for about a year after. I honestly had thought I'd go insane. I contemplated asking to have my ears surgically removed. On top of the depression, I developed hyper acuity too.
I went to see an amazing psychologist at the ENT Hospital - Dr Laurence McKenna - who helped me to come to terms with the tinnitus and live with it.
I've learnt to live with it and I'd say it hardly bothers me now.

P.s. I would second what @MsFrog above says.

Came on suddenly in 2008 after a period of intense stress. I was very distressed as a consequence for about a year after. Like the majority of people, I have become accustomed to it or ‘habituated’. I now couldn’t give a rat’s arse about it. I have spikes when the ‘noise’ seems really loud and very real but can quickly talk myself down from it. In fact can think ‘wow. That is really loud. No wonder I was so distressed.’

Anything written by Laurence McKenna or David Baguley are really good. They are both highly respected clinicians working in the NHS.

I developed Tinnitus as a three year old following measles. You have to come to terms with it and learn coping strategies.