Your life with Tinnitus ?...

[Sickle]

I've had it for at least 15 years. It's a real motherf**ker trying to sleep with WWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR in your ears so loud it drowns out white noise..

[keyman_sam]

Tinnusian here. Sucks like ass. QQQqqquuueuwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

[JeffSanders]

The whine what you can get after a loud concert is a different kind than that constant everyday tinnitus. It's just a temporal damage to your ears what should heal itself in days. Of course if you will be affected by loud sounds constantly then you might get a permanent damage eventually.

This is what heppened to me. Too many loud concerts and extremely loud, drunken jamsessions. Now I'm careful at these events, so hopefully it doesn't worsen.

[Ebenezer Squeezer]

On the subject, as i'm rather afraid of getting Tinnitus: which earplugs (re-usable) would you guys recommend for loud gigs? I love to stand right in front of the stage, and often enough the bands i go see like to play loud, so i've become more and more worried about going to a show without protection. anyone?

http://www.etymotic.com seems to have a good line of earplugs. I use the ETY plugs which reduce the sound level by 20db flat across the spectrum. They also have some higher end plugs that reduce up to 25db I think.

[Daniel Pompougnac]

I have noticed that some noises hide my tinnitus :
1 - sweet rain
2 - my bathroom cock
3 - little creek
4 - white and pink noise
5 - a steak broiling (true. I think it's the oil...)
6 - waves on the beach (but not all the waves).

I remember, I had created a CD for me five years ago with these noises. I think the rain had given to me the potency to survive.
Now, I don't need my CD and I think I've lost the waves files
The only CD (free) that I'd burned for thousands people on the net isn't a music CD

Daniel

[Hanzen]

I am suffering from Tinnitus since 8 years. It sounds like morse *eeeeb eeb eb eeeeeeeb*.

But 6 years ago I bought some Elacin ER 15 earplugs (http://www.elacin.nl/). These plugs simply rock. I go into clubs, concerts or any other loud places without being afraid of my ears. They are expensive but my health is worth it. You also get to know a lot of poeple because they are all interested what I stuffed into my ears

Hanzen

[tuzemec]

With tinnitus for about 3 years now.
I'm not sure how I've got it. Probably headphone abuse. Or result of my throat problems & treatment. Or maybe both.
I'm avoiding high levels of noise - I really can't stand it anymore - my head start to hurt and I'm getting angry (ok... that's maybe from the age )
And it's getting stronger when I'm sick or when I have hangover

[Cosmic Bandito]

I got it like 10 years ago when I went through my DJ phase. I had already been playing guitar through loud amps since I was 14, and in my 20's my friends would sit at each others houses and spin records. Of course, we all would crank the volume (because the loudest DJ is the best...right?). I actually felt shooting pain through my left ear the night the permanent tinnitus set in - it was during a one of out bedroom DJ "showdowns" - ouch!

Here's what helped me the most:

* Use headphones VERY sparingly. As a matter of fact, I didn't touch a set of headphones for a few years. They destroy hearing (there will be plenty of hearing loss after the i-pod craze...trust me). I only do music stuff a 1-2 hours a day max since it's not what I do for a living - low-moderate volumes always.

* Get some exercise - You need to bring blood to the extremeties, so any aerobic exercise helps do that. Smoking actually constricts blood vessels, so cutting down on that helps to. Learing about breathing will help - I took yoga for a while. So breathing, exercise, and cutting down on smoking will diminish it and your stress at the same time.

I can't entirely get rid of stress but I'm kind of high strung and tinnitus is my constant reminder of when to slow down, or turn down the music or to get outside for some fresh air and exercise.

[bmanic]

I can only warn you guys that tinnitus can get MUCH MUCH worse still than any of you are describing. We had an expert on tinnitus lecture us at the university a couple of years ago. He was nearly deaf in one ear and about 50% hearing loss in the other. However, the worst thing was that he has a sine tone at multiple frequencies ranging from 1kHz up to 10kHz at various levels up to over 90dB in intensity.

Yes, you read that right. Up to 90dB!!!!

It's INSANE I tell ya. He has a reference CD with some soft music on that he played. He said, "lemme just turn the volume down a bit so you guys don't faint". So he turned down the volume until we could barely hear the music and then after a couple of seconds, BOOM! A huge Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii sound echoing at ear-defening levels hit the speakers!

We were all like "What the f**k was that???" and he explained that it's a demonstration of the relative levels of him listening to a CD at home at normal, around 75dB, listening levels and his tinnitus that is in his head, day and night.

He literally has attempted suicide a number of times and still gets only 2 to 3 hours of sleep at a time, when his body gives up in pure fatigue.

I think he is the chairman or president of the Finnish Tinnitus association so any of you Finns can contact him for information if you feel like you need to talk to an expert. He has tried it all, all the remedies, everything, even the "voodoo" ones.

Sad story but a good warning to all. ALWAYS protect your hearing, especially the ones that have already some hearing damage as it gets progressively more prone to damage the more the small hairs in the ear canal die.

- bManic

[Ebenezer Squeezer]

Wow, I had no idea it could get that bad. Did he say how he got it?

[Big Karma]

I have a high pitch thing in my left ear, not all the time, usually when I am stressed or busy or tired but, since I had me crash, I have an intermittent noise that sounds like a radio playing music in the distance, it comes and goes.

[foosnark]

I woke with my left ear ringing very loudly a couple days ago. It was so loud I felt like I had "concert ears", where everything else is muffled. I also had some neck pain though and a headache, so I figure it was all related. The ringing quieted down a lot but isn't completely gone yet (I can only hear it when everything else is quiet and I'm listening for it) and my ability to hear seems back to normal, but it scared the crap out of me that morning.

I don't listen to loud music, and don't go to clubs more than a couple times a year. I do use headphones but generally at low volume.

[Ubiety]

Mine seems to have all but disappeared. It was much, much worse than this during my Boston days but within the past few years it seems have practically disappeared, though it's just barely noticeable sometimes.

[John Vulich]

2 - my bathroom cock

[John Vulich]

I've had it for about 30 years. Got it from a nasty ear infection that I had when I was a kid. Can't believe that they haven't figured out a way to cure it yet.

Oh well, I've had it for so long that I rarely even notice it any more. Usually just when I go to bed.