Tinnitus is a constant ringing in one or both ears. Constant, as in it is always there. There is no true silence anymore, because the ringing is always there.
There is also no cure, and really no certified treatment. All we can do is distract ourselves with other sounds and try not to focus on it, but it can still be very mentally draining. Without the right mindset, it’s an extremely hopeless and depressing situation.
I only hear my tinnitus when I think about it. Otherwise my mind filters it out.
ie. "Oh, that ringing? Yeah, it's been there for years, I barely notice it anymore."
I wonder what it is about tinnitus that makes it hard to adapt to (or filter out) for some people.
You roll over, maybe you cover your ears or put a pillow over them, but the ringing sound doesn't change. In fact you realise nothing you do has any effect on the ringing sound - it's coming from within your head/ears, how do you block out a sound which is emanating from within?
You're tired, you just want to sleep, you have an early business meeting tomorrow, but throughout the perfect silence of the night, this ringing sound is relentless. You know you just need to ignore it and focus on something else, which might be easier if you weren't also trying to clear your mind so you could sleep. So you decide to get back up out of bed and take something, anything, that will knock you out.
Now that you're drugged up you get back into bed, laying there waiting for the drugs to put you to sleep, waiting while listening to that torturous sound, waiting while thinking about how easy it used to be to sleep, thinking about how you'll never know true peace and silence ever again. At some point you fall asleep, only to wake up in the morning feeling like shit from the drugs and lack of sleep.
I would give anything to be able to sleep in peace again.
How did you get tinnitus? Is the loud music thing a myth?
Is yours at least not getting progressively worse?
Now, 15 years later, yeah I do barely notice it any more. Except when I do. Sometimes when I go to bed after a bit much to drink there it is loud and proud and unignorable. Right now I can hear it clearly because I'm thinking about it, a 13KHz whine that never ever ever stops. This is a reason I only sometimes read HN tinnitus threads, not thinking about it is a big part of living with it. Imagine "The Game" only when you think of it, instead of laughing and saying you lost, something squeals in your ear for a few hours.
It's ... trying.
And I'm lucky, it's not that loud, and it's not at a frequency that interferes with much else.
