With chronic tinnitus, it’s not the ringing in your ears that’s the actual problem. The real issue is that the ringing won’t stop.
At first, this may be a moderate noise that’s not much more than a little irritating. But after a day or a week or a month, that ringing or buzzing can become aggravating, frustrating, even debilitating.
That’s why it’s crucial that if you are living with tinnitus you adhere to some tips to make life easier. When you’re lying in bed, having difficulty falling asleep because you keep hearing ringing from your left ear, having a plan is going to do you a world of good.
Your Tinnitus Can be Exacerbated
Chronic tinnitus, after all, is frequently 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 sounds will be screeching in your ears so loudly it’s impossible to dismiss.
This can be a really uncertain and scary situation. Perhaps you even experience panic attacks while driving to work because you’re concerned about your tinnitus flaring up while you’re in a meeting. 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 prepare for and control the effects. And, because there’s no known cure for tinnitus, control of symptoms is essential. There’s no reason that your quality of life has to suffer if you put in place the proper treatment.
Think About Tinnitus Retraining Therapy
Many treatment options for tinnitus incorporate some kind 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 train your brain to push the tinnitus symptoms into the background of your thoughts so you will have an easier time tuning it out.
It can take training to get this technique down.
Get Your Brain Distracted
One of the reasons that tinnitus can be so frustrating is because your brain is continuously looking for the source of that noise, trying to signal you to its presence. So supplying your brain with more (and varied) stimuli to focus on can be helpful. You could:
- Enjoy some time outdoors listening to the sounds of nature.
- Do some drawing or painting while listening to music.
- Take a bubble bath and read a book.
You get the idea: engaging your brain can help you manage your tinnitus.
Meditation, as an alternate approach, helps you focus your attention on a mantra, or your breathing which helps take your attention away from your tinnitus. Some people have discovered that meditation decreases their blood pressure, which can also help with tinnitus.
Consider a Hearing Aid For Tinnitus Management
Many hearing aid companies have developed hearing aids that help decrease the ringing in your ear. Hearing aids are an ideal solution because you put them in and can forget about it the whole day, you won’t need to carry around a white noise generator or constantly use an app. The ringing will be managed by the hearing aid and you can relax and enjoy your life.
Have a Plan (And Follow-Through)
The impact of some tinnitus episodes can be minimized, and your stress response can be managed if you have a practical plan for any surges in your symptoms. Plan on having a “go bag” containing things you might need. Anything that can help you be ready for a tinnitus surge, even generating a list of useful exercises will be good because it will keep you from having a panic attack!
The Key is Management
Chronic tinnitus is an affliction that has no known cure. But that doesn’t mean that people 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.
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
