The actual problem with chronic tinnitus is not only that you have a ringing in your ears. The real problem is that the ringing won’t stop.
The constant noise, perhaps somewhat moderate in volume, might start as little more than a nuisance. But after a day or a week or a month, that ringing or buzzing can become irritating, frustrating, even incapacitating.
That’s why it’s essential to have some tips to fall back on, tips that make living with tinnitus easier. When you’re lying in bed, having difficulty falling asleep because you keep hearing ringing from your right ear, having a plan is going to help you a lot.
How You Can Worsen Your Tinnitus
Chronic tinnitus, after all, is frequently not a static condition. There are spikes and valleys in the manifestation of symptoms. At times, your tinnitus might be an afterthought, lost in the background of daily life. At other times the sounds will be shrieking in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to ignore.
That can leave you in a very scary place of anxiety. You might be so concerned about your tinnitus flaring up during a meeting that you get a panic attack while you’re driving to work. And the very panic attack brought on by this worry can itself trigger the tinnitus.
Tips For Living With Tinnitus
You will be in a greater position to prepare for and control tinnitus the more you understand about it. And management is the key since tinnitus doesn’t have a known cure. There’s no reason that your quality of life needs to suffer if you establish the right treatment.
Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Several treatment options for tinnitus include some form of tinnitus retraining therapy (or TRT). The sound of rain on a rooftop is a common analogy: very apparent at the beginning of a storm, but you stop focusing on it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound fades into the background. TRT uses the same principle to teach your brain to push the tinnitus symptoms into the background of your thoughts so you will have an easier time ignoring them.
It can take practice to master this technique.
Distract Your Brain
One reason tinnitus can be so infuriating is because your brain is constantly looking for the source of that sound, attempting to alert you to its presence. So giving your brain more (and varied) stimuli to concentrate on can help. You could:
- Do some drawing or painting while listening to music.
- Bring a book to the park and listen to the birds while you read.
- Take a bubble bath while reading a book.
You get the gist: Your tinnitus might be able to be decreased by engaging your brain.
Meditation, as an alternate path, helps you focus your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your attention away from your tinnitus. Some individuals have found that meditation reduces their blood pressure, which can also be helpful with tinnitus.
Think about a Hearing Aid For Tinnitus Management
Hearing aids that help decrease tinnitus symptoms are already being developed by numerous hearing aid companies. Hearing aids are an ideal option because you put them in and can forget about them the whole day, you won’t need to carry around a white noise machine or constantly use an app. The ringing will be managed by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.
Make a Plan (And Stick to it)
Making a plan for unexpected surges can help you handle your stress-out reaction, and that can help you minimize certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from worsening them). Pack a bag of practical items to take with you. Anything that will help you be more ready and keep you from having a panic attack, like making a list of helpful exercises, will go a long way toward management.
The Key is Management
There’s no cure for tinnitus which is often chronic. But control and treatment of tinnitus is a very real possibility. Make sure you are dealing with your tinnitus not suffering from it by using these tips and any others that you find helpful.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3303565/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5050200/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17956798/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4447068/
https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008664