With chronic tinnitus, it isn’t the ringing in your ears that’s the real issue. It’s the continual non-stop ringing, that’s the real problem.
At first, this might be a moderate noise that’s not much more than a little annoying. But the ringing can become frustrating and even debilitating if it continues for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s crucial that if you are coping with tinnitus you follow some tips to make life easier. When you’re lying in bed, having trouble falling asleep because you keep hearing buzzing from your right ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.
How You Can Worsen Your Tinnitus
Chronic tinnitus, in fact, is frequently not a static problem. There are increases and decreases in the manifestation of symptoms. Sometimes, your tinnitus may be an afterthought, lost in the background of everyday life. At other times the sounds will be screeching in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to ignore.
This can be a very uncertain and scary situation. You might be so concerned about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting that you get a panic attack while driving to work. That panic attack, in and of itself, can trigger the very episode you’re concerned about.
Tips For Living With Tinnitus
You will be in a greater position to prepare for and control tinnitus the more you know about it. And, because there’s no known cure for tinnitus, management of symptoms is essential. With the proper treatment, there’s no reason that chronic tinnitus needs to negatively affect your quality of life.
Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Many treatments for tinnitus involve some kind of tinnitus retraining therapy (or TRT). The analogy that gets used frequently is the sound of rain on your roof: very apparent at the start of a storm, but you stop focusing on it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound fades into the background. It’s the same basic strategy with TRT, teaching your brain to move that ringing into the background of your thoughts where it’s easier to disregard.
It can take training to master this method.
Get Your Brain Distracted
One of the reasons that tinnitus can be so frustrating is because your brain is constantly searching for the source of that noise, attempting to alert you to its presence. So giving your brain more (and varied) stimuli to concentrate on can help. Try these:
- Take a book to the park and listen to the birds while reading.
- Take a bubble bath and read a book.
- Do some drawing or painting while listening to music.
You get the gist: engaging your brain can help you control your tinnitus.
Meditation, as an alternate path, helps you concentrate your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your focus away from your tinnitus. Some people have found that meditation reduces their blood pressure, which can also be helpful with tinnitus.
Consider a Hearing Aid For Tinnitus Management
Many hearing aid companies have manufactured hearing aids that help minimize the ringing in your ear. Hearing aids are an ideal solution because you put them in and can forget about them the whole day, you don’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly listen to an app. You can relax and let a discreet hearing aid take care of the ringing for you.
Make a Plan (And Stick to it)
Having 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 worsening them). Plan on having a “go bag” containing stuff you might 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.
Management is Key
There is no cure for tinnitus which is often chronic. But that doesn’t mean that people cannot regulate and treat their tinnitus. 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
