The real issue with chronic tinnitus isn’t just that you have a ringing in your ears. The real problem is that the ringing doesn’t stop.
The continuous noise, perhaps rather modest in volume, may begin as little more than a nuisance. But the ringing can become aggravating and even debilitating if it persists for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s crucial to have some tips you can rely on, tips that make living with tinnitus easier. It can make a huge difference if you have a plan when you’re lying in bed struggling to fall asleep because of the ringing or buzzing in your ear.
Your Tinnitus Can be Exacerbated
Chronic tinnitus, in fact, is commonly not a static problem. There are spikes and valleys in the manifestation of symptoms. Sometimes, your tinnitus might be an afterthought, hidden in the background of daily life. In other moments, that ringing could be as difficult to ignore as a full-blown, personalized symphony.
This can be a really uncertain and scary situation. Perhaps you even get panic attacks while driving to work because you’re concerned about your tinnitus flaring up during a meeting. That panic attack, in and of itself, can lead to the very episode you’re concerned about.
Tips For Living With Tinnitus
You will be in a greater position to plan for and manage tinnitus the more you understand about it. And, because there’s no known cure for tinnitus, control of symptoms is vital. With the right treatment, there’s no reason that chronic tinnitus needs to negatively affect your quality of life.
Tinnitus Retraining Therapy is One Approach
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a standard approach to tinnitus management. The analogy that gets used frequently is the sound of rain on your rooftops: very apparent at the beginning of a storm, but you stop focusing on it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound goes into the background. It’s the same basic strategy with TRT, training your brain to move that ringing into the background of your attention where it’s easier to disregard.
It can take training to master this method.
Get Your Brain Distracted
Your brain is continuously searching for the source of the noise and that’s one of the reasons why tinnitus can be so aggravating. So supplying your brain with more (and varied) stimuli to focus on can help. Try these:
- Enjoy some time outdoors listening to the sounds of nature.
- Take a bubble bath and read a book.
- Do some drawing or painting while playing music.
You get the gist: Your tinnitus may be able to be decreased by engaging your brain.
Alternately, many people have found that meditation helps because it concentrates your attention on something else, your breath, a mantra, and so on. Some individuals have discovered 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 manufactured by several hearing aid companies. Hearing aids are a great solution because you put them in and can forget about it the entire day, you don’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly listen to an app. The ringing will be handled by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.
Make a Plan (And Follow-Through)
Making a plan for unexpected spikes can help you control your stress-out reaction, and that can help you decrease certain tinnitus episodes (or at least keep from worsening them). Plan on having a “go bag” full of stuff you may need. 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 certain you are dealing with your tinnitus not suffering from it by utilizing these tips and any others that you find helpful.
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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