Hi Guys
I have had T for over a yr now threw going out for new yrs eve 2006. At first i was the same really upset and worried all the time.
Myn has calmed down and i am going to TRT at my local hospital but i still here myn and sill have hypersensitvity with my left ear.They have given me the hearing aid white noise generators but i try not to rely on them and i have a travel natural noise generator which i have if im on holiday.
I just wanted to know how you did it with your TRT what methods did you use in at home and in the office when away on holiday etc.

Most of the time when i busy like you said i dont here myn at the gym out at a pub with friends (i obviously avoid or if i do were ear plugs in loader places) In the office i have a radio on low and in the bedroom at home i have a fish tank with the filter on but i find anywhere i go quiet i still here it. Mayb im listening for it and i think that is part of my problem its like my brain is to aware of the noise.

I just want some advice on methods as i go the fish tank idea off here and it does help.

I believe ive alway had T as myn is from load nightclubs from my teens and i know i used to have it but i think because i just thought it would go and i didnt take notice of it it habituated itself just this time i took to much notice.

Any advice for TRT and habituating would be great as i truly believe i can do it!

Thanx

I had T for a long time and completely got rid of it through habituation. The fish tank idea is a great one, I used one of those Japanese rock fountains with the "bubbling" water.

I would suggest that the reason you're still hearing it when it's quiet is that you're listening for it! For me, it was all about confidence - being confident that the noise is simply the "sound of my brain working". In fact, when I first started TRT, I went out of my way to laugh when I heard the ringing saying to myself, "Hey dummy, you're listening for it again and MAKING it happen. Knock it off!" What happened for me was that I'd go longer and longer periods of time without thinking about the noise at ALL and now I consider myself "healed". And I'll tell you, once you get it down (habituated), it actually gets easier to do! Sometimes at night I'll wake up and hear it and I'll just laugh, take a deep breath, and go back to sleep. Remember, the noise you hear is NORMAL. Everyone hears it but T sufferers are just listening for it. Go up to anyone on the street and tell them to hold their hands to their ears and ask them what they hear and I'll bet they describe the same noise that you hear!

Be confident! Be strong! Don't be afraid! Laugh at yourself when you hear it and KNOW that it's in your head and that you can control it! And if you find yourself struggling, go to this site (http://www.tinnitus.org/home/frame/THC1.htm) (external link, opens new browser window) and read the first two sections (at least) - the Home Page and Tinnitus/TRT.

You can do it!! Good luck.

I had T for a long time and completely got rid of it through habituation.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

at night I'll wake up and hear it


I don't get it. This is a contradiction. You either have tinnitus or you don't. Tinnitus is not normal,
that is what you have been told at TRT. This is a
tenet of TRT. Changing your reaction to tinnitus is
nothing more than the power of positive thinking
and that will not solve your tinnitus. It might make
it easier for you to accept your tinnitus but is still
there and it is fallacy that everyone hears it. I
didn't hear it before my onset and even my Dr.'s
would agree that mine is probably pathologic
but essentially non-treatable. Auditory nerve
or cochlea damage. I am not listening for my T,
it just happens to be louder than my background
noise and that is not normal. To that end I do
just fine, I have accepted the fact that I have a
non-cureable malady but if more funding were
sourced for a medical treatment as opposed to
psychological approaches, I suggest we would
be further down the road towards a real cure.
If you are truly habituated as you say, and tomorrow a 100% effective tinnitus treatment were
available would you not avail yourself of it ? I would
imagine TRT would essentially evaporate over night
along with CBT and Neuromonics and all the other
non-scientific methods of getting people to accept their tinnitus as normal neuronal activity. Sorry,
but it is what it is.
tinnitus.

I developed tinnitus after having a virus. The virus caused an infection and it sounded like there was a siren going off in my right ear. I obsessed over it, constantly worried that it was something that I'd have forever, that there was nerve damage and that, at 38, I had developed something that would force me to change the way I lived.

I listened every day, noting every change. On days where it seemed "lower" I'd go to quiet rooms and listen thinking, "Oh please let it be going away".

A few months in, the sound changed. It was lower, more of a hissing sound than the original siren. Not nearly as loud but definitely annoying and still very intrusive. I had that hissing sound for a very long time and finally decided, "Well the virus DID damage the nerves and I guess this is it".

BUT, then I really started looking closely at what they're saying in TRT. TRT is NOT "the power of positive thinking", it is NOT meant to help you "accept your tinnitus but it is still there". TRT is the recognition that, for individuals who do not have any physical reason for their tinnitus, tinnitus is normal! It is simply the sound of silence that always existed in your head.

It is not a "fallacy that everyone hears it". You DID hear it before your "onset" but you weren't LISTENING for it and so your mind didn't react negatively to it. Ask a friend/relative/stranger who does not suffer from tinnitus to cover both of their ears as tightly as possible and ask them to listen closely and report on what they hear.

What I realized in the end was that when the sound in my head changed to the hissing, the virus had cleared up and the new noise was me listening to those sounds that always existed. When I said that I sometimes wake up and hear it simply means that I've accidentally tuned back into that channel and that I have to consciously tune it back off.

Everyone hears it but T sufferers are just listening for it. Go up to anyone on the street and tell them to hold their hands to their ears and ask them what they hear and I'll bet they describe the same noise that you hear!

OH FOR THE LOVE OF G O D, EVERYONE DOES NOT HEAR TINNITUS.

I DID NOT HEAR NOISES BEFORE I HAD TINNITUS. TO SAY THAT WE ARE NO DIFFERENT FROM THOSE WHO DONT HAVE TINNITUS, IS JUST AN EXEMPLIFICATION OF YOUR JEALOUSY TOWARDS THEM.

I'm sorry but i'm inclined to agree with the first point - people without any hearing damage etc CAN hear tinnitus. A test was carried out on a group of students regarding this, I cant remember the exact percentage but I think over 3 quarters of the partcipants heard noises such as buzzing hissing etc. All were 'Normal' people who were simply put into a soundproofed room.
Also I dont believe TRT is simply 'Positive Thinking' it is, as it says, RETRAINING of the brain, as it is the Brain that is creating this signal that we hear. It is only because we are so aware of it that we hear it all the time.
Please read up on the JASTREBOFF theory which, ,to this day, has never been contested.

I'M SORRY YOU'RE MISSING THE POINT SUNSHINE.

THE POINT IS, EVEN IF NORMAL PEOPLE DO HEAR IT, IT IS NOT HEARD UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES SUCH AS IN A QUIET ROOM AND FURTHERMORE, IT IS NOT INTRUSIVE.

COMPARE THAT WITH PEOPLE WITH TROUBLESOME TINNITUS WHO DO INDEED HEAR IT IN A QUIET ROOM AND FURTHERMORE, IT IS INTRUSIVE.

THAT'S THE KEY DIFFERENCE WHICH YOU'RE MISSING.

AND I THINK THE KEY DIFFERENCE IS NOTHING MORE THAN THE LEVEL AT WHICH THE NOISE IS HEARD.

TO THEN SAY IT IS ONLY THE REACTION WHICH IS THE PROBLEM, THAT IS DEBATABLE.

Of course you will hear something different if you block your ears. That is just like that old audio illusion of cupping a shell over your ears and you’ll hear the sea. Of course you’ll hear a change in tone, but very quickly your brain will adjust to that. Tinnitus is completely different, it is a very real pain in the 4rse noise.

If you are truly habituated as you say, and tomorrow a 100% effective tinnitus treatment were available would you not avail yourself of it ?

With all due respect, the question was not answered.

Even though I have learned to live with my T,
I would be the first in line to take the treatment.