The real issue with chronic tinnitus isn’t just that you have a ringing in your ears. The real issue is that the ringing doesn’t stop.
Initially, this might be a mild noise that’s not much more than a bit irritating. But the ringing can become aggravating and even incapacitating if it persists for days or months or more.
That’s why it’s essential that if you are living 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 left ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.
How You Can Worsen Your Tinnitus
Chronic tinnitus, after all, is often not a static condition. There are spikes and valleys in the presentation of symptoms. There are times when your tinnitus is minimal and practically lost in the background. At other times the noises will be shrieking in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to ignore.
This can be a really 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. And the very panic attack caused by this worry can itself cause the tinnitus.
Tips For Coping With Tinnitus
The more you know about tinnitus, the better you can plan for and control the effects. And, because there’s no known cure for tinnitus, management of symptoms is vital. There’s no reason that your quality of life has to suffer if you establish the right treatment.
Consider Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) is a standard strategy for tinnitus management. The sound of rain on a rooftop is a common analogy: very obvious at the start of a storm, but you stop focusing on it after a while and that rain-on-rooftops sound goes into the background. TRT uses the same principle to teach your brain to move the tinnitus symptoms into the background of your thoughts so you will have an easier time ignoring them.
It can take training to master this technique.
Get Your Brain Distracted
One of the reasons that tinnitus can be so infuriating is because your brain is constantly searching for the source of that sound, attempting to signal you to its presence. So giving your brain more (and varied) stimuli to focus on can be helpful. Try these:
- Enjoy some time outdoors listening to the sounds of nature.
- Take a bubble bath while reading a book.
- Have music playing while painting a picture.
You get the point: Your tinnitus might be able to be decreased by engaging your brain.
Alternately, many individuals have found that meditation helps because it focuses your attention on something else, your breathing, a mantra, and so on. Another advantage of meditation, at least for some, is that it can decrease blood pressure which is a common cause of tinnitus symptoms.
Consider 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 solution because you put them in and can forget about them the entire day, you won’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly use an app. The ringing will be handled by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.
Make a Plan (And Stick to it)
The impact of some tinnitus episodes can be decreased, and your stress reaction can be managed if you have a practical plan for any spikes in your symptoms. Pack a bag of useful items to bring 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.
Management is Key
There’s no cure for tinnitus which is often chronic. But management and treatment of tinnitus is a very real possibility. These daily tips (and more like them) can help make certain you are living with tinnitus, and not suffering from tinnitus.
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