With chronic tinnitus, it’s not the ringing in your ears that’s the real problem. It’s the continuous never ending ringing, that’s the real problem.
Initially, this may be a mild noise that’s not much more than a little annoying. But the ringing can become aggravating and even debilitating if it continues for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s essential that if you are coping with tinnitus you follow some tips to make life easier. It can make a big difference if you have a plan when you’re lying in bed struggling to fall asleep because of the buzzing or ringing in your ear.
Your Tinnitus Can be Exacerbated
It’s important to keep in mind that tinnitus is often not static. There are increases and decreases in the presentation of symptoms. Sometimes, your tinnitus might be an afterthought, lost in the background of daily life. At other times the noises will be screaming in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to dismiss.
That can leave you in a very scary place of uncertainty. Perhaps you even get panic attacks while driving to work because you’re worried about your tinnitus flaring up during a meeting. And the very panic attack caused by this worry can itself trigger the tinnitus.
Tips For Living With Tinnitus
The more you know about tinnitus, the better you can prepare for and manage the effects. 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 put in place the right treatment.
Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a standard approach to tinnitus management. The sound of rain on a roof is a common analogy: very noticeable at the beginning of a storm, but you stop paying attention to it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound goes into the background. It’s the same basic strategy with TRT, teaching your brain to move that ringing into the background of your attention where it’s easier to disregard.
Mastering this technique can take a bit of practice.
Get Your Brain Distracted
Your brain is constantly searching for the source of the noise and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so frustrating. So supplying your brain with a variety of different sounds to concentrate on can be really helpful. Try these:
- Enjoy a book while soaking in a bubble bath.
- Have music playing while you paint a picture.
- Take a book to the park and listen to the birds while you read.
You get the idea: engaging your brain can help you manage your tinnitus.
Alternately, many individuals have found that meditation helps because it focuses your attention on something else, your breathing, a mantra, and etc. Some individuals have discovered that meditation reduces their blood pressure, which can also help with tinnitus.
Consider a Hearing Aid For Tinnitus Management
Hearing aids that help minimize 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 it the entire day, you don’t need to carry around a white noise machine or constantly use an app. You can relax and let a discreet hearing aid manage the ringing for you.
Make a Plan (And Stick to it)
Making a plan for unforeseen spikes can help you control your stress-out response, and that can help you reduce certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from exacerbating them). Think about having a “go bag” full of things you may need. Anything that will help you be more prepared and keep you from panicking, like making a list of practical exercises, will go a long way toward management.
The Key is Management
There’s no cure for tinnitus which is usually chronic. But that doesn’t mean that individuals can’t regulate and treat their tinnitus. These everyday tips (and more similar to them) can help make certain you are living with tinnitus, and not suffering from tinnitus.
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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